Broken Windows: Clean-up or Rebuild?

Washington Post Blogs ^ | 1/24/2007 | By Brian Krebs

[Swordmaker]

I received a few e-mails over the weekend from readers who took issue with advice I recently gave to a Web chat participant who asked what he should do to help an elderly friend who was having PC trouble. The questioner said the woman knew nothing about computers and that her Windows machine was besieged with pop-up advertisements.

I probably get two or three variations on this question in the course of each Web chat, and I usually ignore them in favor of more targeted questions because of the difficulty in diagnosing what precisely may be ailing the questioner's computer.

In this case, I bit, and here's what I recommended: "Yes. You can spend many, many hours trying to diagnose the problem, or you can spend perhaps a bit less time backing up any documents and pictures she'd like to keep and then re-installing the operating system."

One reader wrote in to say he thought my advice was jumping-the-gun; another called it "overkill" and said I should have referred the questioner to one of the myriad online forums that try to help people in such situations.

I read both comments several times and after much reflection came to the conclusion that I would give that same advice again to anyone else who asked. But I also decided that I could have offered a bit more of my rationale behind my recommendation, and a bit more instruction on how to do it.

Allow me to explain, but with a caveat: This post represents the fruit of much personal reflection onthe topic. After reading this entire entry, I hope some readers may look at the appearance of problems on their Windows machines (security related or not) as an opportunity to start fresh and set up their computers to block most online threats.

[rlmorel]

I recommend taking the computer to a professional to fix it. It may cost $100 to do so, but they can figure out what things are causing the computer to bog down, and delete them.

Most people do not have the skill or knowledge to do it themselves.

[Swordmaker]

Mac users will appreciate this quotation:

". . . Some readers may become deeply discouraged, perhaps thinking, "If what I'm doing already isn't enough, well then I can't keep up with this anymore. The heck with Windows!" I heartily encourage those readers -- if they have the means -- to listen to that sentiment and consider buying an Apple Macintosh computer. The annoying TV commercials aside, Macs are far simpler to maintain from a security perspective. Mac users still must apply patches from time to time (even that can be automated), but they still have little -- if anything -- to worry about from spyware, viruses or computer worms (at least for now). . . " - Brian Krebs, Washington Post tech columnist

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[rawcatslyentist]

I recently did a similar good deed for an elderly web surfer. Pro Bono. She had clicked on every ad in the known galaxy, gambling sites you name it. No AV or AS. I spent 10 hrs dling tools and cleaning her system.

I wont make that mistake again, reformat is now the only option I use on hacked machines. RF takes 2 hrs max. And the system is clean. AV AS & AM cleaning is a labor intensive process. Boot reboot clean rinse repeat ad nauseum.

Then she was upset because she lost her cookies. LOL...

[Swordmaker]

I recommend taking the computer to a professional to fix it. It may cost $100 to do so, but they can figure out what things are causing the computer to bog down, and delete them.

I am one of those professionals. There is a line where it is actually cheaper to buy a new computer than to pay a professional to rebuild the OS, do the updates, re-install the applications, and restore the documents and data on the old one. If that job has to be done anyway, it is often better to take the opportunity to upgrade the computer to gain speed and greater capability.

[FreedomGuru]

"""Most people do not have the skill or knowledge to do it themselves."""

Actually its most Mac users that dont have the skill or knowledge to do it themselves.

[Terpfen]

You know, I wonder how practical it would be to have users save all of their important files--Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, tax-related information, resumes, etc--on a thumb drive or remote server. When it comes time to deal with the inevitable build-up of malware and general system crud, nuking from orbit and reinstalling becomes far more viable, as the user's data is on a separate, uninfected drive.

[rlmorel]

Please. That was a gratuitious comment. Are you going to tell me that most windows users know how to get rid of spyware and adware? Are you really saying that? I am really curious to know. Please answer.

[Swordmaker]

Then she was upset because she lost her cookies. LOL...

Did you have to clean up that mess, too?

[rlmorel]

This is true. But, on the other hand, if you say to someone, for an hours worth of work, and you charge $70 minimum charge to work on their PC, most people will pay that to get back to where they were before they were infested, rather than have a whole new Windows install with all that goes along with that.

[SlowBoat407]

Actually its most Mac users that dont have the skill or knowledge to do it themselves.

What percentage would that be? Or do you have exact numbers?

By the way, "its" requires an apostrophe when used as a conjunction of "it is".

[rlmorel]

Hehe, he can figure out spyware (and needs to) but apostrophes completely baffle him.

[Swordmaker]

Actually its most Mac users that dont have the skill or knowledge to do it themselves.

I think you would find that lots of Mac users are very Windows savvy... they have to use them at work. They choose to use Macs at home.

Re-installing OS X, if it ever should be necessary, is a twenty minute task. Add another 30 for downloading and installing the update to the latest version.

[rlmorel]

Not to mention the proper use of quote marks...:)

[6SJ7]

Re-installing OS X, if it ever should be necessary, is a twenty minute task. Add another 30 for downloading and installing the update to the latest version.

And the neat thing is the OS can be reinstalled without obliterating existing user accounts and data.

[Swordmaker]

You know, I wonder how practical it would be to have users save all of their important files--Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, tax-related information, resumes, etc--on a thumb drive or remote server.

One of the problems with that comes from Windows' applications' tendency to place user files willy-nilly, all over the place. It has gotten much better with XP... but a lot of legacy apps store data in the programs folder, in the HD's root directory, in odd places elsewhere. Backing up completely can be a problem.

I have some Chiropractors whose vertical solution software stores the patient files ONLY in alphabetically named multiple directories (A, B, C, AA, BB, CC, AAA..., etc.) on the C: disk's root directory. The data can't be put anywhere else and work.... but the index to the data is written to the Application's own directory in the Programs directory. If you have a backup of the data but not the index, it is a worthless backup as the software will not re-index it.

[zeugma]

Actually its most Mac users that dont have the skill or knowledge to do it themselves.

I'd say that the most pertinent point to the discussion is that most Mac users wouldn't have to worry about it, because spyware and viruses are not a problem in the Mac (or Linux for that matter) world.

[TheBattman]

Ummm... a rather biased, and incorrect statement to make there - you sound a lot like EchoTalon and his nonsense on these computer threads...

A problem on my Macs that I cannot handle quite simply is VERY rare. The one issue I have had any problem with at all was a hard drive that died....and the OS had absolutely nothing to do with it (although the recovery of a bit of important data was probably made slightly easier by the OS).

[Terpfen]

The situation described in that last paragraph makes my head hurt. You really earn your keep with situations like that.

As far as my idea goes, I meant for home users. Businesses are a totally different bucket of worms.

[Swordmaker]

But, on the other hand, if you say to someone, for an hours worth of work, and you charge $70 minimum charge to work on their PC, most people will pay that to get back to where they were before they were infested, rather than have a whole new Windows install with all that goes along with that.

Sometimes being professional is knowing WHEN to toss in the towel, quit applying band-aids and recommend major surgery... and maybe eat the hours you have already put in trying to resurrect a lost cause and just charge for the re-format/re-install.