I had to do that a few days ago, too. My system allows a restore of only the OS and applications, so all data is kept. Even the status (last read point) in my newsreader was kept.
FireFox has been taking care of that for me. Often more bother than it's worth, though.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again.........
I've been messing with computers for 30 years, building, repairing, writing programs. I have NEVER had a virus. I don't run any anti-virus software either. I thought I had a virus once, turned out to be a bad CD-rom.
It seems to me that most problems are NOT viruses as many think, but the operator or a hardware problem.
Computer hard drives are not perfect, they can corrupt files, not necessarily a virus.
I'm not saying there isn't any viral programs out there, All I'm saying is they're not as common as one thinks. Knowing what to do and what not to do is the real answer.
Hank
--------------------------reply-------------------------- A lot of it depends on the sites or links you visit.
But then you may be a Mac user. No one wastes their time writing viruses for such a small installed base.
I have a hunch that Apple is about to achieve some level of interest with the iPhone. Viruses for those will be the news next year.
Colbyt
I've run into occasions though where restore wouldn't run because it said no changes had been made since the restore point I selected, even though that point was days or weeks prior. In other words the virus didn't trigger a change. That's why I use Acronis backup and can restore from it if windows restore doesn't work.
And I've learned the hard way that when those virus windows pop up, I immediately kill power to the cable modem before I hit any key on the keyboard.
The backup/restore I use is part of the Lenovo ThinkVantage application on a ThinkPad. The restore doesn't require any changes. It just asks whether you want a full restore or a quick restore (OS and apps only). There is a way to select which backup to use but no changes are necessary. I've done full restores, too, after disk failures. Everything works quite well, if a little scary.
I would imagine that in 99% of the cases, by the time you see any evidence, it's too late.
You are correct. I do have a firewall. Only because it came with Windows. I have never owned a Mac.
I keep all my important files on a separate computer and only use this one for internet. They are not linked in anyway. I transfer files manually using a pen drive. Yeah, I know its old school. :-)
Hank
Your personal experiences can not be extrapolated to the general world. Tens of millions of computers belong to various bot-nets, mostly unknown to their owners. ALL thes bot-net computers were established via a virus. Millions of other computers have in place stealth programs to harvest credit card and other personal information.
It's a jungle out there.
But do you only transfer files one direction, and scan and reformat the pen drive between uses? Air gaps only work when nothing is carried from the untrusted system back to the trusted system. Because of a little oopsie over in the sandbox, I can't use pen drives or burn portable CDs at work any more.
-- aem sends...
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