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Ransomware Prevents Windows From Starting By Replacing The Master Boot Record

#1 PCWorld

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Posted 12 April 2012 - 08:30 AM

Post your comments for Ransomware Prevents Windows From Starting by Replacing the Master Boot Record here

#2 mrb186

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Posted 12 April 2012 - 11:04 AM

Wouldn't you think that Law Agencies could easily track that money trail to the scumbags?

#3 richeemxx

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Posted 13 April 2012 - 12:24 AM

mrb186, on 12 April 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

Wouldn't you think that Law Agencies could easily track that money trail to the scumbags?

They can and have in the past. The problem is most of those scumbags and banks are located in other countries that make it difficult to do any prosecution or to retrieve the funds.

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#4 waldojim

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Posted 13 April 2012 - 12:31 AM

Three great tips:
1. Move on to GUID if you have an EFI capable machine. That stops this sucker dead in its tracks.
2. Use your BIOS to write-protect your MBR.
3. Should you already be infected, remember that your Windows install CD has a wonder command line tool. Use it, and type in "FIXMBR" press enter, and restart when completed. If this is not available, download a bootable DOS 7.0 CD and type in "fdisk /mbr" at the command prompt.

Glad to know this sucker is easy to deal with.

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#5 waldojim

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Posted 13 April 2012 - 12:33 AM

Quote

Repairing the MBR is no trivial matter and usually requires booting from the Windows installation disk, getting into the recovery command console and typing special commands.

Seriously?! This is quite trivial. Start disk, enter command line, type a single WORD "FIXMBR" and your DONE. This is easier that installing Windows in the first place, and a sure bet it is easier than the recovery options... Are people really so far gone that a single word is now a difficult task?

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