How Does VRDB Exactly Work?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Recently, my pc was infected with a virus (Winvestigator Software from Tropical Software to be exact!) and my technician tried over-writing windows.

The virus destroyed my internet connections so that was the best solution he could think of.

In the process, all my files were erased!

He tried retrieving them again using some software (I don’t know exactly what) but they came out as text ASCII only with 0kb!!!

I told him that maybe the VRDB could help.

The moron updated it without me consulting here first!!!

What a dumbass!!!

Anyhow, it’s a good thing some of my sfx were on discs so it took me 2 weeks to upload.

Getting back to my question about VRDB, how does exactly work besides updating it?

Please help me here…

Thanks for the time to read this concern!

Tommy Tambay ;D

2

VRDB is ONLY for file infectors (viruses that attach their own code to other executables/programs). And even these are sometimes too complex for VRDB. Polip virus is one of these for example…

3

Actually, VRDB scans all the local hard disks for executable files and stores some info about them. So, it doesn’t care if the files belong to Win98, Win2000, or to a third-party application (as long as it is able to access the files - i.e. NTFS partitions certainly won’t be scanned from Win98 OS).
The rest, however, is true - VRDB is not a backup system, the stored information is very small (not the whole files). Besides, only Win32 executables are processed. The VRDB data are stored in \Data\Integ\avast.int

4

So VRDB isn’t a back-up system…

What good is it for then?

Also, what’s a good back-up software just in case something like this happens again?

Here’s another scenario btw, my boss’s pc won’t update.

What could I do?

Thanks for the time!

5

Recover from infections on some executable files, or ‘repair’ the files in technical language.

Google ;D ;D
Joking, you can search SnapFiles, Download.com, FileForum and ask for the freeware ones…
Cobian Backup, Back4Win for file backups.
DriveImage XML, XXClone for full hdd backup.