Originally Posted By: buickman50401
Jimmy if you want to make things relatively bulletproof in case you do have a serious problem I suggest the following.
1 a.) First and foremost do not run an account with Admin privledges. Go into User Accounts and create a new user. Name it "generic admin" or something. Grand it admin privledges and give it a password - it doesn't even have to be anything fancy (could be as simpole as the name of your dog+1) The purpose of this is to just create an admin account for management and install of software and to harden the "regular" user account you'll be using for everyday needs.
1 b.) Log into the admin account you just created and go back into the User Accounts and change your current account that you initially set it to "standard user" - no password required on this one. Log off the admin and into the standard user account to make sure everything is still working.
1 c.) Everytime you operate your machine, use the "standard user" account, with UAC (usaer access contol) set to its highest setting. You'll still be able to install software from and make changes within your standard account, you'll just get a prompt to enter the admin password when installing software or making changes to systemwide settings. Setting up your accounts in this fashion helps to prevent some forms of malware from installing as they usually require admin level privileges to get their hooks into the system. If you get a popup asking for an admin password for a program you don't recognize or even as a random event, don't enter the password unless you're certain.
You can still operate your computer normally and will not ever really need to touch that Admin account you created ever again, but you have to set one up so that you can elevate the privileges of the standard user account to admin status when necessary.
2. Next, install (if you haven't already) all of the programs you regularly use (and those you think you might need in the future). This is an important step so that you're prepapred for the next step of creating a cloned image of the disc in its "clean" state. Make sure to install your AV of choice along with MWB or whatever other secondary scanner you are going to use.
3. Go into disk management and partition the HDD so that you have a separate partition for storing all of your user created files (music, video, word docs etc) and use that partition only for the purpose of storing these items.
4. Go to
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/ and buy yourself a copy of Acronis True Image Home for $40. IIRC you have an external HDD which is great. Install Acronis but don't start the backup process yet.
5. Defrag your main partition (the one with the OS) using something like Auslogics
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download/.
6. Launch Acronis and follow the step by step guide to creating an image of your main partition (where the OS resides). Make sure you create a back-up rescue disc through the program as it is what allows you to boot from in order to reinstall the image you will be making with Acronis. Put that image on your external hard drive.
You now have a system with an AV plus a "hardened" standard user account which you will use for everyday computing. Should something get really messed up, you can always reload the cloned image of the disc using Acronis' boot CD and you'll still have all of your user data files located on the separate partition which won't be affected by having to reload the disc image you have created.
If you want to be super cautions, create an new Acronis disc image once every couple of months to make sure if you do have to reload the cloned image you have a relatively recent one.
Good advise, just be sure that if you need to use the mirror image due to a virus you remove the virus before re-installing the mirror image. These viruses are tricky and can actually re-infect the system even after a full restore if the drive isn't wiped clean or the virus completely removed. At least this is what I was taught. If I'm wrong please advise.
I had good luck with Macrium Reflect free version for creating a mirror image of my system
