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General discussion

Keep Quarantined OR Delete.??

Nov 29, 2008 9:11AM PST

I always post questions in the "newbie" section to at least hold off the laughter from the "Experts" until they have read the question.Please excuse my computer ignorance.My question is: I was told by a few so-called experts that when you run a scan,and find Trojans,to quarantine them,and leave them that way,as opposed to deleting them,because,if you delete them,they will find their way back into your system,and be a problem once again.I just want to delete them.Should they be deleted OR be kept in Quarantine.??Please answer,then have a good laugh.Thanks for any SERIOUS answers.Better to look stupid,than to never ask,and remain ignorant of the facts.Thanks for your time.

Discussion is locked

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As I used to tell my students . . .
Nov 29, 2008 10:43AM PST

The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.

That said, delete them. "they will find their way back into your system". Only if you visit the same infected sites or open the same infected email. Quarantining them has no effect on whether you get infected again.

Some AV programs might ask you to save them and submit them for further analysis. Don't hold your breath.

Wayne (IBM freak - 7)

Click here to see the CNet faces, learn a little about analog and digital data, Internet connections, Spyware removal, and download free software (and a GREAT chocolate-cherry cobbler recipe).
There are 10 types of people who understand binary; those that do and those that don't.

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(NT) Thx.I DO trust YOU.!!
Nov 29, 2008 10:59AM PST
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(NT) ALSO,THX FOR THE EXTRA SECTION.!!
Nov 29, 2008 11:02AM PST
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encouraging
Jun 27, 2012 5:07PM PDT

this might be off topic but i really like what you said:

The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.

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What they 'the experts' may have said about Quarantine
Dec 5, 2008 11:59AM PST

I have read in a couple security programs and I can almost hear my IT buddy saying something to that effect, that you quarantine to see what the file is and to determine if deleting it could take out something running on your system. If so then they have a few options depending upon the situation. I have never ran into this situation, but I have read that before.

But the norm is that a Trojan would come in on a recent download, otherwise you would hope your security suite or whatever security you do run would have caught it and not let it hide in your system.

This post is nothing more than why you may have heard that from some peeople. Keep it clean!

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Delete
Dec 6, 2008 2:00AM PST

When a trojan is discovered by your anti-virus program, you need to perform two tasks!
1 You need to turn off your system restore. (click on the start button then proceed to All Programs and click on Accessories, then System Tools and then System Restore. Click on System Restore Settings on the bottom left corner of the open window. Under the System Restore tab click on Turn off System Restore. Click apply and then click OK.
2 You should then delete the trojan and run a virus scan one more time to find out if the trojan had moved. Again, delete any trojans and then turn on the System Restore.

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THX.!!
Dec 6, 2008 10:43AM PST

Thanks to everyone for all the good information,AND advice.Appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.That goes for ALL questions I inquire about.Thanks again,everyone.!!

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no they wont.
Dec 6, 2008 6:41PM PST

no they wont, but a trojan is something that masquerade as something else. taken from greek history of the trojan war where they built a big wooden horse as a gift to the trojans, but inside was a small platoon of soldiers who waited untill nightfall before exiting and killing an entire garrison. so a trojan is a program that pretends to be something legitimate, like a windows system file. if a trojan was found to be a windows system file and you deleted it, good things wont always happen. thats what quarentine is for. its a safe guard so to speak. delete it or quarentine it, it makes no difference. quarentine is entirely safe, and a good safety net.

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Hmm,back 2 orig. query.!
Dec 7, 2008 3:17AM PST

The above reply brings me full circle to my original inquiry.NightmaresOnwax has an opinion that concurs with the "experts" that I spoke of in the original post.I guess every comp. user has to make the decision for themselves.There is some validity in BOTH opinions,the user just has to decide which makes more sense to them personally.Thanks again to everyone who took part in this discussion.Very intriguing.If anyone else would like to enter an opinion,feel free to add to this discussion.More thoughts to choose from,better helping someone to make a wise choice.

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RE: Keep Quarantined OR Delete.??
Dec 7, 2008 12:58PM PST

Since most of the time trojans are non system related files, and they just come off the web, you'll be fine to delete them.

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Not Necessarily..
Dec 8, 2008 12:42AM PST

One major exception to your statement that "most of the time trojans are non system related files" is a common trojan that infects "winlogon.exe".. Without that particular "system file", the computer doesn't boot.. I've cleaned up a number of infected computers where removing the infected "winlogon.exe" file prevented the computer from restarting.. Each one required a replacement of the said file from the Recovery Console for the machine to start correctly.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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delete, but with care
Dec 7, 2008 10:20PM PST

Some have already hinted at this, but no one explained it clearly. Anti-virus programs are not perfect. Sometimes they delete files that are NOT trojans or viruses by mistake. Sometimes they delete important system files, or programs that were just installed. If you quarantine instead of delete, then you have the chance to check the files and check your system performance. If something was flagged by mistake, you have the opportunity to restore it. Once you delete it, it's too late. Sometimes, software instructions tell you to turn off your antivirus before installing to avoid just this sort of problem (only trust such instructions if they're from a trusted, name brand company, only only if installed from a retail CD or downloaded from a well-trusted source).

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piggybacking on the subject
Jun 27, 2012 12:30AM PDT

so my bf got a trojan which was quarantined and deleted but my bf happened to reinfect the pc by accident w/ the same trojan and the the virus protection did not detect it the second time around. i read somewhere that it's a good idea to leave items quarantined because the same trojan, virus, etc. could have a different strand that won't be detected if deleted. so therefore i had to to install a different program which detected it and now it's sitting in quarantine. so my question is should it just sit in quarantine indefinitely since there is a possibility of reinfection and non-detection? i currently have 3 virus protection programs on my pc one that is a paid subscription and the least effective Sad

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woah! A little side action here
Jul 1, 2012 5:51AM PDT

I take advice from the folks here at Cnet all the time and trust them without a doubt! One of the things that's always been preached here is to only have one anti virus running on your computer...I wonder how three A/V would deal with one trojan

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How it deals? Not well. It's very simple why!
Jul 1, 2012 5:56AM PDT

Why most antivirus fail to deal with trojans is simply because these have to know about the trojan or the trojan's behavior.

Since this is a PC and we don't have a locked down App Store that is under draconian rules, it is possible to install a new trojan and get around the antivirus.

Again, the AV doesn't know about this one so it's let by.
And since this is a PC, we get to install anything we want.
Bob

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Is that no longer the general recommendation?
Jul 1, 2012 6:01AM PDT

If so, I will have to remove my post below and re-post.

So you're saying, install as many anti-virus scanners we wish?

Mark

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look up
Jul 1, 2012 6:04AM PDT

a couple of posts at Piggybacking on the subject

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Didn't answer the multi-AV issue.
Jul 1, 2012 6:05AM PDT

I only addressed that today's AV must know the trojan by either action or signature so 1 or a dozen would not matter as none may find "Waldo."

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My error and my apologies
Jul 1, 2012 6:08AM PDT

I read your, 'we get to install anything we want" incorrectly.

Mark

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I hope they get the message.
Jul 1, 2012 7:59AM PDT

It's a PC. We can install anything we want. And that could be a trojan, malware or such.

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Yep, only one AV is the general recommendation.
Jul 1, 2012 5:59AM PDT

And about quarantine. If an infection is quarantined that would not prevent the same malware infecting the computer again. Sadly for these quarantine does not immunise, it just 'locks' that particular malware infected file away.

I would be looking for the source of this infection, web site, download, email attachment, infected CD disk or other external media, and so on.

Mark

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My recommendation
Jul 1, 2012 10:09PM PDT

I suggest deleting them (you won't delete anything from your computer) and installing a good antivirus to block them! And watch out on what website do you browse so you won't have anymore this problem.