Solve : is the Dell (Ctrl + F11) recovery image safe from infection??

1.	Solve : is the Dell (Ctrl + F11) recovery image safe from infection??
Answer» i'm fixing my friend's Dell Inspiron E1405. it's running Windows XP Home EDITION Service Pack 2 (build 2600). i don't feel i need to add lots of info here because my question is pretty general. i just want to know if it's a totally SAFE fresh install if i use Ctrl+F11 to restore the computer to factory condition (rather than using the system restoration disks). i had cleaned infections from it, but i figure it's best not to waste any more time tracking down infections, and just do a system recovery. (if i have specific INFECTION-cleaning questions, i'll describe and ask later if it's not essential to this question.) thanks. If you are able to unhide the hidden restore partition then just right clik it and scan it with whatever AV program you are running... But judging by past experience unless the infection was particularily nasty you should be safe.Quote from: patio on January 19, 2008, 02:41:29 PM If you are able to unhide the hidden restore partition then just right clik it and scan it with whatever AV program you are running... But judging by past experience unless the infection was particularily nasty you should be safe. thanks. do you know where this file is located? i have been looking all over the internet with no success. not to get too deep into the infection discussion, but i'm not sure how to define "nasty". it took me hours to clean all the stuff on there (no trojans or rootkits that i could tell) and it still may have a last bit of spyware. it runs beautifully, though. can an infection "spread" to the IMAGE? or can it just disable the image? [meanwhile, i will head over to the Dell forums to see if i find out more.]The Dell Forums will have instructions on accessing the hidden partition...i'd bet the image is safe. To be ultra sure another option would be to burn the image to CD and then scan it before you do the restore...Quote from: patio on January 19, 2008, 05:10:41 PM The Dell Forums will have instructions on accessing the hidden partition...i'd bet the image is safe. To be ultra sure another option would be to burn the image to CD and then scan it before you do the restore... i'm getting my questions answered there now. it seems the partition should indeed be safe, as it is a hidden partition. so glad i have the recovery option on this machine. thanks!No problem. Let us know how it goes and Welcome Aboard !the system recovery went GREAT, thanks. it is amazingly fast (15 minutes or so). it's the windows update and getting everything set up and secure that took many hours. she was happy with her laptop. i shall tackle my other problems/questions, like the ominous-sounding "nbsess" that i gave permission to Comodo for internet access, later (i'm never satisfied!). Now that you have a "clean" install you may want to consider investing in an imaging program. The advantage to one of these is after you have all your programs installed and have everything tweaked to your liking you run an image and it creates an exact replica of how things are. If you get into a pickle again you simply "restore" the image you created and you're back up and running in 15 minutes... I Use Acronis True Image but there are others such as Ghost... If you need more info post back. patio.

Answer»

i'm fixing my friend's Dell Inspiron E1405. it's running Windows XP Home EDITION Service Pack 2 (build 2600). i don't feel i need to add lots of info here because my question is pretty general.

i just want to know if it's a totally SAFE fresh install if i use Ctrl+F11 to restore the computer to factory condition (rather than using the system restoration disks). i had cleaned infections from it, but i figure it's best not to waste any more time tracking down infections, and just do a system recovery.

(if i have specific INFECTION-cleaning questions, i'll describe and ask later if it's not essential to this question.)

thanks. If you are able to unhide the hidden restore partition then just right clik it and scan it with whatever AV program you are running...
But judging by past experience unless the infection was particularily nasty you should be safe.Quote from: patio on January 19, 2008, 02:41:29 PM

If you are able to unhide the hidden restore partition then just right clik it and scan it with whatever AV program you are running...
But judging by past experience unless the infection was particularily nasty you should be safe.

thanks. do you know where this file is located? i have been looking all over the internet with no success.

not to get too deep into the infection discussion, but i'm not sure how to define "nasty". it took me hours to clean all the stuff on there (no trojans or rootkits that i could tell) and it still may have a last bit of spyware. it runs beautifully, though.

can an infection "spread" to the IMAGE? or can it just disable the image? [meanwhile, i will head over to the Dell forums to see if i find out more.]The Dell Forums will have instructions on accessing the hidden partition...i'd bet the image is safe.
To be ultra sure another option would be to burn the image to CD and then scan it before you do the restore...Quote from: patio on January 19, 2008, 05:10:41 PM

The Dell Forums will have instructions on accessing the hidden partition...i'd bet the image is safe.
To be ultra sure another option would be to burn the image to CD and then scan it before you do the restore...

i'm getting my questions answered there now. it seems the partition should indeed be safe, as it is a hidden partition. so glad i have the recovery option on this machine. thanks!No problem. Let us know how it goes and Welcome Aboard !the system recovery went GREAT, thanks. it is amazingly fast (15 minutes or so). it's the windows update and getting everything set up and secure that took many hours. she was happy with her laptop. i shall tackle my other problems/questions, like the ominous-sounding "nbsess" that i gave permission to Comodo for internet access, later (i'm never satisfied!). Now that you have a "clean" install you may want to consider investing in an imaging program.
The advantage to one of these is after you have all your programs installed and have everything tweaked to your liking you run an image and it creates an exact replica of how things are.

If you get into a pickle again you simply "restore" the image you created and you're back up and running in 15 minutes...

I Use Acronis True Image but there are others such as Ghost...

If you need more info post back.

patio.

Solve : is the Dell (Ctrl + F11) recovery image safe from infection??

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