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Comment from A. Orcan on 2009-06-10

2009-06-10T07:19:58Z

One more recommendation would be regular registry backups. It's easy to do and I never had to reformat my HD in six years, in fact the only time I had to do something like that was when my HD crashed. If I reformat, with over 3 TB of stuff, so many hardware and software tweaks required among other things, I would be dead. Back up at least the reg and a few system files. This would suffice in 99% of the cases.
Recently one of my friend's PC was infected and the virus deleted itself after carrying out its duty. AV scanners couldn't find anything wrong. Depending on what he tried to do he got all kinds of messages including the one about restrictions too. I tracked the problem to "image file execution options", indicating a trojan attack. I couldn't clean the registry manually as there were more than 200 lines effected in the registry but downloading and running malwarebytes was enough to solve the problem.
The lesson my friend got was that a AV software is not enough for complete protection. A firewall (a good one) and anti-malware are also required. My combination of Malwarebytes, Avast and PC tools work like a charm (free for home users).

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Comment from David on 2009-06-09

2009-06-10T00:56:56Z

Please ignore all my typos/misspellings in my previous post - I can do better than that

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Comment from David on 2009-06-09

2009-06-10T00:49:06Z

You identified one possible problem when you used the word 'Norton' and Leo identified two possible solutions when he used the names AVG and Avast (haven't tried Avira).
umair mentioned why informed users advocate Linux (Macs might also be safer but I won't comment).
In the computer admin/consulting/maintenance community I've worked in for over 20 years, I have not spoken to one person in the last 5 years who would advocate using ANYTHING from Norton (Symantic). On pre-installed machines, in undertaking data salvage operations, before resorting to drastic measures such as system reinstalls, taking the computer off the network and uninstalling Norton is step 2 (backing up is step 1). Step 3 is installing something like AVG or Avast (I think Kaspersky has a solid reputation too, but it's also an expensive, effectively subscription based solution.)
Step 4 is getting running that new application once BEFORE getting back on the network - you might find the virus (if there is one) at that point. Step 5 is the risky part - hopefully the networked computers are up-to-date with 'something - anything' anti-virus software - reconnecy to the network and get any AV updates from the application provider - it's usually a button in the AV control centre that says something like 'Updates' - simple huh?
Then do a re-scan (if there is an option for a COMPLETE SCAN or some such, select it.

Step 6 is promise to never, ever, ever click on windows that pop up in browsers telling you things like "Super Dooper (insert ANY name) Anti Virus has detected an infection on your computer - would you like it to scan/run/system check/etc. now?". That stuff is as bad as a virus itself (a whole different story in itself).

Be very careful of anything you download from the internet - (hint - anything rhyming with scorn), anything from Warez sites, Torrent sites, email from strangers (or from people you do know but with words like ##AGR# (or bigger body parts ot pharmacy medicines, etc, etc.) in the subject name or other unusual subjects that just don't seem to be what you'd expect from that person.

Do LOTS of research if you're in the slightest bit hazy or doubtful about what I've just said.

If you're a friend/relative of mine, please re-read what I've just said, I can't afford to donate more time to freebies.

If you're a potential customer, ignore what I just said and we can talk about it when I come to your place to do a service call.

Cheers

PS. There will be lots of disagreement from others about my thoughts after this - their approaches might be correct too - in fact probably will be. Just do your homework and get a few opinions from other credible sites - do some Googling - it is your friend. Oh, just remember too, Google runs on Linux which is what I use too - I can't risk getting sick on my day-to-day computers.

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Comment from yalters on 2009-06-09

2009-06-09T21:03:05Z

Dear RJ Roy,

You have yet to know viruses. And if you really want to know why a virus would set a restriction, its simply to make it more difficult to be healed (for the same reason regedit would be disabled, folder options would be disabled and removed from control panel, and command prompt disabled even even logged on as admin.
good luck and happy learning
YALTERS

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Comment from RJ Roy on 2009-06-08

2009-06-08T16:28:36Z

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this message is basically because of a system security setting in Windows, right? Could it be possible that some anti-virus or other security program that was installed recently activated this setting as an optional precaution?

To be honest, while I don't disagree that it could be a virus, it just seems a little weird (to me) that a virus would want to block you from clicking links in e-mails. My own first thought would be to check my security software to see if it didn't do something silly.

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Comment from Mark Jacobs on 2009-06-05

2009-06-05T08:57:23Z

Whenever the situation calls for reformatting, I instead back everything up anddo a simple delete, shift delete of all files and directories after booting from a PE disk. (Live linux should work too). Is this as good or are there any advantages of formatting over deleting?

If done properly, that's fine, but in my mind a format it simpler, and a quick format is quicker.

- Leo
05-Jun-2009

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Comment from umair on 2009-06-05

2009-06-05T07:13:59Z

is reformat necessary or restoring a clean image, e.g. an image taken right after a re-installation,would get the same results? restoring from image is faster.

Yes, if you were organized enough to take an earlier clean image (or any full-backup image prior to the infection), restoring to that typically works.

- Leo
05-Jun-2009

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