Partitioning drive to prevent a virus: Is that possible?

If I partition my hard drive into two parts and install my operating system on one but save all my files and data on the other partition, will I be able to prevent a virus from catching on all the data?

 

No. Viruses can easily access every drive and partition on your system.

 

Yes and no actually. As mentioned viruses can have access to all partitions. The good part though is most usually concentrate on the primary one and system destruction. In this manner you can usually help to protect the data. There is no way to safe lock locally a drive though from a virus...............

 

That won't meaningfully protect your data against a potential virus or other piece of malware, but it can aid in data recovery if your OS partition crashes.

Best way to prevent such infections is 1) use common sense when online and 2) keep your AV program updated and scan every so often to make sure you haven't caught anything.

 

I could not agree more! I look at the money I spend on my Anti Virus program as insurance. I personally use Norton and it has save my bacon on more than one occasion.

 

Eh, personally, I use MSE + Malwarebytes (free) on my computers, and once used Webroot as my AV. You'd be surprised how well free AV works .

Common sense is much more important than any AV program anyway, since a programs can't help you very much if you keep trying to download "100% Real Legit Poker Free Money!" or something shady like that.

 

I understand and I am not suggesting for a minute that some of the newer freeware is not top notch. I once worked for a company that used freeware AV because they were trying to save a few dollars. They ended up with a virus that cost them a lot more than a good AV would have in the first place and that does not count the lost production and time.

I use my computer for work and I have had to connect to some fairly dubious networks at times so I don't begrudge the money I have spent on Norton because if my computer is not working then neither am I.

 

Not sure about your side of Norton but they get attacked more by malware and viruses and do let some through. Norton in the beginning was good A/V but lately they got bloated and missed their original reason they were created to stop and kill A/V and malware.

 

I wouldn't say I was a Norton fan boy but I have had good experiences with it and it hasn't failed me yet. I am sure there are many good products available but no one product has a 100% success rate. When my current license expires I will do a survey of the main AV programs and if there is anything that is substantially better then I will use that.

As I mentioned earlier the cost is not the issue for me; effectiveness is and so far Norton has been effective at keeping me safe.

 

My own take on Nortron was that it was good, got bloated and then got better again to the point that the latest offerings aren't bad.

 

I use MSE but even that is fallible. I got hit by the FBI warning ransomware and so did my kids. Turned out to do this it used an update through flash to lock it up. Just used another users login to get into each machine and fix them, nothing paid and no major issues. Once I knew what was causing it I alerted the family that those updates need to be watched and all is well now.

The offending action was a video posted on Facebook we all accessed through a friends page that was infected and eventually removed. I am not sure that any AV would have caught it.

 

That hasn't been the case for at least 4 years. The 2009 editions of Norton were where the company really turned it around. The programs now take up no more resources than any other free AV.

I'm using Malwarebytes and MSE right now, and it's good enough. I've got better things to spend my money on.

 

I personally use Norton (360) since they have improve their product a lot, allowing for a much lighter impact on the computer while running in background and faster scans. I was with McAfee before but it hogged the system like crazy!

 

Take a look at Sandboxie.It has a free version too. See this one for Intro and Quick guide to Sandboxie.

Another option is to use Shadow Defender. See this one for review and guide.

 

Edit: ^As the previous poster says.

I've been interesting in this software in the past but never implemented. My thinking is if it was so good, I'd here more about it. Anyone use Sandboxie before and can attest to it?


Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing

 

Please head over to Sandboxie's forum and you will realise the amount of support given by Ronen Tzuk,Developer to the users.At the time of posting this message,forum has 16229 registered users and 76959 articles.