How to protect your computer from viruses on an external HDD?

At a certain point in time, a real zoo appeared on the computer - a bunch of viruses. As a result, despairing of curing them all, I simply copied the information that could not be restored to an external HDD, and the internal hard drive formatted and rolled up the old system image without viruses.

It's time to return those saved to external drive documentation. However, there are fears that if I connect it, it will share with me all the viruses that are in it. In principle, there is an antivirus (licensed Dr.Web). I want one hundred percent certainty. How to protect your computer as much as possible while connecting this drive from viruses that almost certainly live on it? Please advise. Thank you in advance.

Alexander | December 14, 2013, 21:56
You need to install an anti-virus program that provides comprehensive protection.

xoma | December 14, 2013, 21:24
There shouldn't be any viruses there. Connect the drive, enter safe mode (when the system boots, press and hold F8 and select safe mode), open the disk, enable hidden and system files(alt - Tools - Folder Options) make sure there are no extraneous files. You can check the disk with your antivirus.

Vladimir | December 13, 2013, 11:32 pm
If there are viruses on the external drive, it will share them. No antivirus will give you a 100% guarantee. There are many examples of this, when some well-known antivirus detects a threat where there is none at all, but allows real viruses into the system.

It seems to me that if you copied all your documents with viruses onto optical discs (for example, Blu-ray), and then restored from them to the computer’s hard drive, then optical disk viruses would not have penetrated into the computer, if, of course, you know where the documents are and where the viruses are (viruses are not touched). But what is the volume of your documents? A regular 465 GB hard drive, if copied onto DVD discs, will cost about 100 pieces. If two or more antiviruses can work on one system, then this significantly increases the security guarantee, but I have not yet found out whether this is possible.

seroz | December 13, 2013, 6:42 pm
Basically, an external HDD is something like large flash drive, That. and the way to fight the enemy is the same. Weber can be thrown out (a big hole in the system - many viruses and Trojans easily bypass such protection or simply disable it).

Find a more durable one (better

Hard drive - popular modern device, which allows you to expand your computer's memory without opening system unit. Modern exterior hard disks can fit into any handbag, which means you can always have large amounts of information at hand. If you store confidential information on your hard drive, then The best way Protecting it means setting a password.
A password is a universal means of protecting information, which is a key that can consist of any number of letters, numbers and symbols. If the user enters the password incorrectly, then access to the data stored on the external hard drive cannot be obtained.

How to set a password on an external hard drive?

We have already covered this on our website before. Moreover, the question of the correct one was also considered. Below we will talk about how to apply a password for of this device.

Setting a password using built-in Windows tools

Setting a password in this case is used successfully both for regular USB drives and external hard drives, which are characterized by large amounts of disk space. The main advantage this method is that you will not be required to download and install third-party programs.

Connect your external hard drive to your computer, and then open Windows Explorer. Specifically, we are interested in the “This Computer” section, which displays all connected drives to the computer. Right-click on the external hard drive and in the displayed context menu go to the point "Enable BitLocker" .

The utility will start launching on the screen. After a moment, a window will appear on the screen in which you will need to check the box “Use a password to unlock the disk” , and in the lines below specify the new password twice. Click the button "Further" .

Next, you will be asked to choose the option of saving a special recovery key. You have three options to choose from: save to your account Microsoft, save it to a file on your computer or immediately print the key on a printer. In our opinion, the second option is most preferable, since this file you can upload, for example, to the cloud, and at any time, if the password is from an external hard drive will be forgotten, open it.

The next setting item asks you to configure data encryption. You can either select to encrypt only the occupied space on the disk, or encrypt the entire disk.

Please note that if you choose to encrypt the entire disk, you need to be prepared for the fact that the encryption process may take many hours. Therefore, if you do not have a lot of time, it is also recommended to open the hard drive modern computers, we recommend choosing the first encryption option.

The final stage settings, you should select an encryption mode from two available: new mode encryption and compatibility mode. Considering that we are working with an external hard drive, check the option "Compatibility Mode" , and then move on.

Actually, this completes the BitLocker setup process. To start the password process, all you have to do is click the button "Start encryption" and wait for the process to complete.

Having opened the disk twice, a miniature window will appear on the screen in which the user will be asked to enter the password for the connected external hard disk.

Setting a password using archiving

Many users do not trust the data encryption process because this way you cannot access the entire drive. Therefore, we will use this method in a slightly different way - we will place the information saved on an external hard drive in an archive without compression, i.e. An external hard drive, if necessary, can be used without a password, but to access the information stored in it, you will need to enter a security key.

To set a password using archiving information, you will need almost any archiver program. In our case we will use popular instrument WinRAR , which you can download from the link given at the end of the article.

As soon as the archiver program is installed on your computer, open the contents of the external hard drive, select it with a simple keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A, or select certain folders and files in case you need to hide not all information on the external hard drive under a password. After that, right-click on the selection and select the item in the context menu that appears "Add to archive" .

A window will appear on the screen in which you will need in the block "Compression method" select option "Without compression" , and then click the button "Set password" .

In the window that appears, you will need to enter a password of any length twice. Below, if necessary, you can activate encryption of the data contained in the archive (without activating this item, the names of folders and files will be visible, but access to them will be limited).

When the creation of the archive is completed, the root folder of the hard drive, in addition to the files, will also contain the archive you created. Now files on the disk, except the archive, can be deleted.

When you try to open the archive, a window will appear on the screen asking you to enter a password. Until the archive password is received, access to information will be limited.

What's the result?

Most effective method storage of confidential information - use standard means BitLocker. This is a wonderful utility, which, perhaps, cannot be found with analogs that are superior in quality. The second method, which involves using an archiver, can be considered the most preferable, since it does not restrict access to the external hard drive, but only to the information that you want to password-protect.

Of course, there are still a lot of information encrypting programs, but we did not focus on them, since the two methods described in the article are the most optimal for most users.

To the question How to protect a portable HDD from viruses? In order to be calm when you insert it into a computer that does not have an antivirus. given by the author Donnie Darko the best answer is If you use only Venda for all purposes, no. But I would absolutely not recommend this type of work to anyone.
Here is the most reliable recipe:
1. Do not use Venda to work with a removable hard drive on your machine. The dual boot with Venda should have Linux for dirty environments - in particular, for such disks.
2. Nail (with Linux) potentially infected files on a removable disk after it has been used on someone else’s machine with Venda without an antivirus. These are autorun.inf, desktop.htt, folder.htt, everything that these three refer to, and the RECYCLER or RECYCLED folder with all its contents.

Answer from 22 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: How to protect a portable HDD from viruses? In order to be calm when you insert it into a computer that does not have an antivirus.

Answer from Strabismus[guru]
no no - besides it will take several hours depending on the volume
and wait several hours for verification every time - no one will agree
you have to watch where you put it
there are some blockers for individual attacks - autorunner tap - that's all

Answer from Neurologist[guru]
No way. You can download and block Autorun.inf for recording. The disc will become "safe" for normal double-click opening. But the risk that an evil virus will gnaw on the files remains.

Answer from Interrogative[guru]
if a virus enters the system, then it will be fast there, and it doesn’t need your external one... it has nothing to take from your external one... I see you don’t worry about the system at all, but are afraid for the disk :))

Answer from Alspas[guru]
The Panda USB Vaccine program is a free “vaccination” of flash drives against viruses.
Protect USB devices.
Removable devices (memory cards, USB flash drives, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc.) are often used by attackers to distribute malware. Malicious programs distributed through removable devices use (on these devices) the AutoRun file. Malicious programs (mostly from the Conficke worm category) rewrite (modify) the file source. This allows the malware to run when a removable device is connected to the computer. automatic installation(implementation on a computer).
To prevent this process it is necessary to disable the AutoRun file on the removable device (and in such a way that it cannot be read, modified or moved malicious code), as well as the autorun feature in Windows. But these processes (manual shutdowns) are not easy for most ordinary users incomprehensible.
To automatically solve this problem, an excellent free program Panda USB Vaccine. The program is very simple. A beginner can handle “vaccinating” removable devices against viruses (!!!IT!!!) using this program.
you can download Panda USB Vaccine 1.0.1.16
link
although it starts with protecting flash drives from viruses, it goes on to protect flash drives, and a USB HDD is, in fact, a large flash drive :)

USB Disk Security- This free application to provide complete protection against all kinds of malware distributed via removable USB drives. The application works with external hard drives, memory cards, digital cameras, flash drives, as well as other devices that can be connected via a USB connector. Disk Security is based on special threat detection technology; Like an antivirus program, the utility is able to work in hidden mode, only making its existence known only if malware is detected.

Basically, a personal computer is infected with viruses at the time of use. global network Internet, a little less often this happens during the installation of a dubious or unverified program. An infected file can also enter a PC through the most ordinary flash drive.

When connecting an infected flash drive to a personal computer, the malicious software penetrates the hard drive, and most importantly it happens so quickly that the installed antivirus programs They don’t always have time to react in time. Especially for such cases, it is necessary to use programs that can easily cope with this type of threat. Today Disk Security is one of the best programs to protect against infected files distributed via USB drives.

When viruses are detected, the application, depending on the settings, will delete or block them, thereby preventing them from launching automatically. In addition, the utility is able to restore the system after it has been infected with malware, clear the hard drive of temporary files, prohibit copying files from the computer’s hard drive, check URLs, completely block USB ports, manage startup, force scan hard drives.

The program is equipped with a convenient and simple user interface in Russian. The control panel is located on the left side of the working window, consisting of seven main points. The following sections deserve special attention: data protection, scanning and USB shield.

The last section is responsible for displaying a full report on all detected threats. You also need to take into account that by default the utility automatically removes any malicious application. So in order to avoid deleting important documents, it is better to disable this option, for example, after deleting boot file your USB drive will not be able to start. After disabling, Disk Security will act as follows - it will automatically move the infected file to quarantine or simply mark it.

In addition to tools for automatically checking flash media, the “Scanning” section is equipped with a vaccination function. Vaccination can be done as follows: removable media, and in fact personal computer. In this case, a special file, which prevents some malicious applications from running. If desired, vaccination can be turned off.

The “Data Protection” section is able to provide devices with higher protection; for example, you can set a ban on moving data from the computer to a memory card or even block access to the PC through USB port. To close access, you will need to restart the computer, only after this the settings will take effect.

Key features of USB Disk Security:

• Perform a more thorough scan external drives. If malware is detected, it is either deleted or quarantined.
• Availability of a resident anti-virus scanner that is triggered when a new one is connected USB media. Without making changes to the settings, infected files will be automatically deleted.
• If necessary, you can perform complete shutdown automatic launch on PC.
• When using the utility, you can view the content without the risk of infecting your personal computer.
• Sites are scanned for infected applications. The following services are used during the scan: Trend Micro, McAfee, VirusTotal, Symantec and Google.
• The search service linkzb.com provides the opportunity to safely use the Internet.
• The application is able to prevent unauthorized USB connection media to PC.
• Blocking the copying of unauthorized data to USB is done by using the Access Control tool.
• Using a system for cleaning temporary files, if the virus is located in temporary directories, it will be deleted immediately.
• You can set a password in the program settings.
• Full control over applications included in startup.
• Availability of a built-in system for restoring important directories in the registry that were affected by malware.
• You can download Disk Security completely free of charge.
• Works on Windows XP, 7 and 8.
• Automatically checks for updates.
• The application does not need to update the virus database, since it does not work like a standard anti-virus program.
• Due to its small size, the utility can be installed even on a weak personal computer.
• Seems to be fully compatible with many modern antivirus programs.
• Using a multilingual interface, a total of 12 languages ​​are available.

USB Disk Security is a simple and effective program to use to provide complete protection against malware distributed through removable media.

Viruses cause significant harm to the system, so you should promptly protect your equipment and flash drive in particular from viruses. One of the system’s vulnerabilities is USB drives, which carry malicious software between devices.

Is the flash drive infected?

Any flash drive that was used on an infected device will also be affected. Most often transmitted in this way Trojans and worms. There are several characteristic characteristics of infection them:

How becomes infectedUSB flash drive? It connects to the system and, along with the files transferred to it, receives malicious software, since it is contained in the files and system code that is involved at the time of copying. As soon as the media is connected to the device and the system launches the infected files, the virus starts working along with them and infects the system of this device. Any flash drive connected to an infected computer contains the body of the virus, which also affects the autorun.inf file, thanks to which it immediately starts working on the new PC.

How to protect a flash drive

You can protect your flash drive from possible malware infection using system tools. The most important thing is to disable automatic media startup to prevent a virus from downloading to your device.

Disable autorun

This can be done in 2 ways. The first includes group policies:

In addition, when connecting a flash drive, you can hold down a keyShift– this will also prevent autostart.

The second method uses the Registry Editor:

After these procedures have been completed, the media will no longer start on its own.

Using the autorun inf file

The virus usually gets onto the media with the autorun.inf startup file, but if it is already created on the media, this will not happen:

Closed access

Sometimes it’s enough to simply block the device’s access to the drive:

All of these are system tools that help block access to the media for malware.

Applications and antiviruses

In addition to system tools, there are also programs that protect USB drives from infection.

Bitdefender USB Immunizer

Download free version The utility is available from the official website, it does not require installation and is extremely simple. After launching it, all connected devices will be visible in the window that opens. removable drives. Having selected the required one, the user will indicate to the utility the object to be protected. She immediately disablesautorun viruses and blocks their automatic launch.

Panda USB Vaccine

After downloading the program from the official website, you need to install it on your PC. It is more complex than the previous utility and has a wider range of actions:

It's quite simple to use:

The procedure must be repeated with each USB drive.

Ninja Pendisk

After downloading the program, you do not need to install it. It works automatically and is capable of:

After downloading it works independently, checking each disk.

xUSB Defense

You can download the program from the official website, it's free. Installation is quick and simple; the program itself weighs only 1 MB and appears in the notification panel immediately after installation.

The program can:

• automatically delete or quarantine viruses;
• do hidden files visible;
• restore data hidden by the virus.

However, the utility does not distinguish malware from regular programs, so you should rename all their files in advance. In addition, it can automatically delete documents from the media, so in the settings it is better to disable the “ Work with documents».

When working with the utility, just left-click on the icon for the settings window and right-click to open the program menu. Clicking with the left mouse button opens the settings window, right clicking opens the menu.