Timeline for Closing virus-related-issues questions
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2013 at 18:10 | vote | accept | rtf | ||
| Jun 3, 2013 at 9:53 | comment | added | Austin ''Danger'' Powers | @allquixotic this applies to useless techs as well. I've heard people who should know better blaming things they couldn't fix (or understand) on "overheating", "a virus or malware or something", or "a power surge". These things happen, but MUCH less than a lot of techs out there seem to think. | |
| May 31, 2013 at 13:52 | comment | added | allquixotic | By the same token, we shouldn't automatically close any question that says "virus" anywhere in the subject or body, because it may be that the user is mistaken in believing that they have a virus, when in fact, it's just good old fashioned broken software that may be able to be fixed somehow. My dad, for one, being extremely tech-unsavvy, thinks it's a virus when almost anything goes wrong with his PC. Many users come to us having already "pre-diagnosed" the symptoms they're seeing with their PC, and, not being experts, can easily get the diagnosis wrong and mislead themselves and us. | |
| May 31, 2013 at 0:51 | comment | added | Karan | While I do not agree that nuking should always be the recommended solution, I guess tech savvy users who can attempt a proper system cleanup wouldn't really be posting here desperately asking for help either. I agree with @OliverSalzburg, IMO such questions are far more suited to any of the various malware removal fora where users can be hand-held through the process of providing HiJackThis logs and subsequent follow-ups. A Q&A site like this is just not suited to the extensive back and forth required for successful resolution of such problems. | |
| May 30, 2013 at 15:06 | comment | added | rtf | This sounds like a bit of an edge case to me. If licensing (or anything else) prevents format/install from being a solution, backups need to be available (What if the HDD dies?) There's also no way of having certainty that 100% of the virus has been removed. All future problems with the machine could be the result of the virus. | |
| May 30, 2013 at 15:06 | comment | added | Oliver Salzburg Mod | While I agree with you, it is nearly impossible to actually assist a user in virus removal. You simply can never know enough about their system to get a satisfactory result. Even if you could reference a tool/guide that is the perfect removal tool for SomeVirus.3xyz, it's nearly impossible to determine which malware the user is actually infected with. These circumstances usually qualify a question for being too localized. | |
| May 30, 2013 at 14:57 | history | answered | allquixotic | CC BY-SA 3.0 |