Restoring Files After An Infection

My wife's laptop recently suffered a virus infection that I couldn't fix, so I used a Live Linux CD to backup her files and then installed Windows 7 with MSE.

I used MSE to scan the files, which doesn't reveal any problems, but I feel uneasy about them since a lot of her files were downloaded from the Internet. She wants to keep them, however, so is there anything else I should scan the files with?

Thanks!

 

If you use Hitman Pro to check for viruses and it comes up clean thats a pretty good indication that nothing is on the computer. Another good scanner is Malwarebytes which is great at scanning for malware.

If you need a good boot CD to scan for viruses the Avira version is effective and fairly quick:

http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-antivir-rescue-system

 

Prevx free is quick and accurate.

 

Thanks for the help guys!

 

What I'd do in your situation is to look at the age of the files,when determining their safety.The files over a month old are highly likely to be picked up by one of the afore-mentioned scanners,the very newest files less so.Perhaps just reinstall the older ones for now then reintroduce the latest stuff when you're reasonably confident of their status.

This isn't a foolproof plan of course,but even running the files through the likes of CIMA, Threatexpert or within a VM aren't 100% effective,it's all a balance of probabilities.

 

You can also try AVERT.