4 ms·

> Most of my revenue has been been from virus and malware removal. I coupled the virus/malware removal with an antivirus installation service for $19 and most p

> Most of my revenue has been been from virus and malware removal. I coupled the virus/malware removal with an antivirus installation service for $19 and most people gladly paid it. Once a computer has become infected, it's fairly impossible to determine if the infection has been completely eradicated.[1] I wonder that that $19 buys you. A few executions of anti-malware software until they claim "Clean"? [1] I realize that even in the absence of a known infection it's "impossible" to know whether you're infected.

martey 17y ago
I agree with you completely in the difficulty of being certain that a computer is clean once infected, but some people (a la http://xkcd.com/694/ http://xkcd.com/694/ ) are not willing to deal with "starting from scratch" because it means having to backup their data, reinstall all of their applications, and redo their application settings.
stuff4ben 17y ago
I'd rather trust a geek with their own business than some HS dropout at BestBuy to run the anti-malware software. Or rather, I'd trust sending my friends and family to that person rather than BB. I can usually do the same pro-bono, but I just don't have the time anymore.
barrkel 17y ago
What I would expect: * fewer crappy apps running on startup * improved startup time * no unknown apps running after a clean boot (Previous 3 can be monitored with e.g. SysInternals AutoRuns) * no browser / networking stack hijacking extensions showing popups / interstitials / DOM modifications etc. at random intervals (As evidenced by e.g. HijackThis) * no unsigned DLLs / drivers of unknown provenance loaded in any process or the kernel (As evidenced by e.g. Process Explorer's Verify Image Signatures option - look in loaded modules of the "System" process to see all loaded kernel drivers and modules), with a representative sample of applications running (browsers, productivity, etc.) * no apparent rootkit-style hijacking of the process / registry / disk inspection routines, as would be shown by e.g. RootkitRevealer And of course, a commercial virus scan, for what it's worth. I personally don't run a real-time virus scanner; I rely on monitoring what the system is doing directly.

martey 17y ago

I agree with you completely in the difficulty of being certain that a computer is clean once infected, but some people (a la http://xkcd.com/694/ http://xkcd.com/694/ ) are not willing to deal with "starting from scratch" because it means having to backup their data, reinstall all of their applications, and redo their application settings.

stuff4ben 17y ago

I'd rather trust a geek with their own business than some HS dropout at BestBuy to run the anti-malware software. Or rather, I'd trust sending my friends and family to that person rather than BB. I can usually do the same pro-bono, but I just don't have the time anymore.

barrkel 17y ago

What I would expect: * fewer crappy apps running on startup * improved startup time * no unknown apps running after a clean boot (Previous 3 can be monitored with e.g. SysInternals AutoRuns) * no browser / networking stack hijacking extensions showing popups / interstitials / DOM modifications etc. at random intervals (As evidenced by e.g. HijackThis) * no unsigned DLLs / drivers of unknown provenance loaded in any process or the kernel (As evidenced by e.g. Process Explorer's Verify Image Signatures option - look in loaded modules of the "System" process to see all loaded kernel drivers and modules), with a representative sample of applications running (browsers, productivity, etc.) * no apparent rootkit-style hijacking of the process / registry / disk inspection routines, as would be shown by e.g. RootkitRevealer And of course, a commercial virus scan, for what it's worth. I personally don't run a real-time virus scanner; I rely on monitoring what the system is doing directly.