Can my computer get a virus from my camera?

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Thanks.I could probably still get the photos if i take the card to walmart to get them printed, right? thank very much for such a quick response!

Honestly don't know - if the virus destroyed the photos, then not. If the virus did not destroy them, then you would be just as likely to be able to copy/recover them yourself.

- Leo
20-Dec-2008

Posted by: jessie at December 19, 2008 7:26 PM

If your card/camera is seen as a drive such as e: f: etc. then it can be scanned for viruses by your anti virus program and possibly cleaned. I have never heard of the scenario given but I have heard of infections from stray jump drives.

Here's why I'm uncomfortable relying on that: you had to plug it in to scan it. Thus if infected, it could have transmitted that infection to your computer before you had a chance to scan. You're also assuming that the scanner will catch every possible virus, which is simply not the case. Prevention is much, much preferable to the risks of getting an infection.

- Leo
20-Dec-2008

Posted by: Steve Myers at December 19, 2008 8:23 PM

Just write-protect the memory card before inserting in another computer. It can then read the pictures but the virus cannot write to the card.

A good suggestion for those cards that support being write protected. Not all do.

- Leo
20-Dec-2008

Posted by: Ronny at December 20, 2008 6:17 AM

What about a file recovery utility such as Recuva which says, "It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!"

http://www.recuva.com/

Coincidentally I was just looking at / evaluating recuva yesterday. It's done by the same people who do ccleaner. It, and file un-delete utilities, may be able to help if the files have simply been deleted. But of they've been damaged then they cannot. In the case of the questioner, he seems to have files that appear to be image files present, not deleted, but they appear to have been modified or damaged.

- Leo
21-Dec-2008

Posted by: Mary at December 21, 2008 2:39 AM

Download an Ubuntu live ISO, burn it, boot it, bang the card into the computer, drag any valid picture files you can find onto the desktop, format the card and put the images back on. Job done.

Posted by: Scott at December 22, 2008 2:29 AM

This past summer I took a few pictures with a relatives camera. I inserted the SD card in my computer (Vista) and after downloading, the top line when I open Internet Explorer says "Hacked by Godzilla". Nothing seems to be affected. After that I switched to Firefox. I'm running AGV anti-virus.

Posted by: Merri at December 23, 2008 3:15 PM

I was "hacked by godzilla" and eventually had to wipe my hard drive. It progressively got worse and worse.

Posted by: mralan45 at December 23, 2008 4:46 PM

What about inserting a camera card in the card machine at Wal-Mart to make prints? Can I pick up a virus by doing that? I use Wal-Mart because I can't print on my own computer for anywhere near their cost, for paper and ink alone.

I don't know. I would assume that those dedicated single-purpose devices are not prone to infection, and I've not heard of it happening, but ... it seems like it could if the particular device is poorly architected or configured. Right now I consider the risk very low, but would be interested to hear from others if they've heard of or experienced an infection from a photo-printing kiosk.

- Leo
24-Dec-2008

Posted by: Bob Conlin at December 23, 2008 6:19 PM

yes, these solutions are effective, but stopping the autorun.ini is not the actual solution. i think that the computer should have a firewall( other than windows default) and the system should be kept in the show hidden files system, because by which anyone can these autorun.ini files and can delete the same. 2nd most imporatant thing is if there is any risk of virus then we can prefer to log on to the computer as a guest, after that the virus cat get intrusion in the registry of HKmachine hives.

Posted by: ritunath at December 24, 2008 6:18 AM

I agree with the suggestion to boot a linux live cd. Linux wont get infected by this virus you speak of and will safely allow you to retrieve any images (or anything else for that matter) then safely restore your card to how it was when new. The best tool for the job is often not Windows....

Posted by: TP at December 26, 2008 5:02 AM

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