My PC was infected with a lot of malware (Rootkits, botnets, keyloggers, viruses, trojans you name it…:(). Some were detected, some were not.
I decided to start fresh. I copied all my files manually to my USB harddrive (1TB).
Now I don’t want to risk getting all that back into my PC again.
What can I do? I run Win 7. I am not sure which ways it can get back into my PC but two things I know are important: Disable Autorun (I do not know how to do that on Win7, any help? This to stop any autorun.inf malware) and Keep the OS updated 100 % to avoid exploits like .LNK.
Of course I will do a virus scan too after making sure there were no Autorun.inf etc. I worry more about getting malware as soon as plugging in the USB.
So the important thing I should worry about is Autorun and .LNK exploit (that we know of today of course) to avoid malware running without any user action?
Up to a point avast protects against that also as it will alert on most instances of autorun.inf, or the files that it would try to run under the autorun function.
You should run Flash Disinfector as suggested. Flash Drive Disinfector
Information and Download Flash_Disinfector.exe by sUBs from >here< and save it to your desktop.
[*] Double-click Flash_Disinfector.exe to run it and follow any prompts that may appear.[*] The utility may ask you to insert your flash drive and/or other removable drives including your mobile phone. Please do so and allow the utility to clean up those drives as well.[*] Wait until it has finished scanning and then exit the program.[*] Reboot your computer when done. Note: Flash_Disinfector will create a hidden folder named autorun.inf in each partition and every USB drive plugged in when you ran it. Don’t delete this folder…it will help protect your drives from future infection.
Panda USB Vaccine Antimalware and Vaccine for USB devices http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/downloads/usbvaccine/ will give you the option to vaccinate your machine as well as any flash drive or USB. It can be run as on-demand or resident (I keep it as on-demand as long as you remember to turn it on every time you use a new USB). It is simple to install and work.
I have been using it with no conflict with Avast. I tried Autorun Eater, but did not care for the GUI or how it worked.
It is a flash/USB autorun disinfector. It does the same thing that Flash_Disinfector, AutoRun Eater, and disabling it on your machine does. Everyone has their favorite.
The Flash drive (or CD/DVD, A:/drive, any removable drive) can be “vaccinated” so that the autorun is disabled. This means that some malware that need to use autorun cannot work anymore.
With Panda USB Vaccine, once downloaded, if you want to vaccinate your machine, this means that you are turning off the autorun feature with one simple click in the Panda USB window…you can always reverse this anytime if you want. Once you “vaccinate” your machine, you get a green check mark telling you that your machine is vaccinated. Then you can vaccinate any removable drive. When you install Panda USB, you have the option of making it resident (so that anytime a NEW removable non-vaccinated drive is inserted into the machine it will be vaccinated) or on-demand. If used on-demand, you need to remember to vaccinate it prior to using it. This software will automatically detect what drive you are using, so it’s easy and very quick to use.
