Can I get a Virus by...?

[peshek77]

I know I should know this by now, but I am not sure. I know it's better to ask than to asume Whatever.

I have a friend who lives on campus(FAU) and the university shut her off of the network(basicly - no Internet), because they believe her PC has a virus. She doesn't have an antivirus software installed, so I figured since she is already infected(according to the university), then installing one will probably not do much good, because the virust woun't let me install it anyway. In any case, what I was thinking I should do is get my laptop, hook them up with an ethernet cable and just scan her hard drives using my machine. Is there any chance that I get that same virus if I do that, with the understanding that I woun't be opening any files(except to share her hard drives which I'll do before connecting the PCs)? If anyone believe this will put my machine at risk please speak out :). And if anyone has better/more ideas how to fix her PC(or at least scan it) please speak out as well.

Thank you.

P.S. : "Format C:\" is my last resort :)). Of course it's the easiest as well.

[Potato Salad]

You can get her virus by doing the direct link up with your computer. Try some internet virus scans like Panda scan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm) or Trendmicro (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/) They are both free and reliable virus scans.

[TechZ]

How about running a bootable cd that has AV app on it? eg: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) Its safe to you, as it doesnt require connecting your pc to it in any way.

Easy way is to take the Hard Drive out, attach it to a clean system, with a good updated AV and lots of malware apps already installed and scan it, but it puts that clean system at risk.

Any way (short of taking the hard disk to a proper computer shop, who have the tools to do such things) that includes connecting that HD to your computer is risky to you, as you do not know the level of malware/infection on that HardDisk.

[Potato Salad]

How about running a bootable cd that has AV app on it? eg: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ (http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/) You should really give TechZ's a shot and anyways if another virus should spring up you will already have that CD rdy and waiting to pop into the comp.

[slgrieb]

Yep, if you know the machine has a bug and it is nasty, scanning the drive in another machine is the best bet. However, I use a dedicated computer for this (and data recovery) which has nothing but pest killers and recovery software. If something causes it to tank, I reformat and start fresh. If you are doing this on something other than an expendable computer, you should back up first in case you come up against something you can't handle.

[peshek77]

Thanks to everyone for the help. I will definately give TechZ idea a shot. I am downloading the ISO right now. I hope it works.