viruses imported from memory cards ?

[noborders]

During my last passage in Cappadocia, a student in computers cleaned my hard disks that had been contaminated in my favorite shop for photos there : I had brought once a disc for printing some photos, it seems that the computers in that shop had viruses, (from various SD and memory cards) - that's how all my system got infected, including eventually my laptop and the other hard disk that I'm also using.

One of my SD card also got a virus (from somewhere else, how can that be - could you tell me ?) which made it unreadable but the same guy could recover most of the photos and get the card working normally again.

=> My question is, does my gear get any risk of being contaminated again if, for my next short travel I'll frequent internet cafes *without* any of the following equipment that I'll safely keep away =
- the smallest and lightest (and cheap) computer, just to view the result of my photos and type some notes, even on a very small screen,
- a hard disk to store the photos and texts, and
- several SD cards or similar (and never give them directly to shops for prints) ?

( => Should I anyway try to get an antivirus for that small computer as well ? ... The laptop with which I'm typing this has had its connection secured and impossible to share my connection with any other computer at home, so - I'd have to go to a wifi zone to get at least some "avast" protection or something else... ?)

Thanks in advance for advice !
Cath.

[thea0211]

cath,
i for one think any computer should have an antivirus.
and that should be constantly updated.
and sometimes even so you (not you but the pc ;o) of course, can get infected.

and also if possible, double checked with other scanners.
and i don't think i'm paranoid ;o)

just my 2 cents.

dora ;o)

[Floydian]

Cath,

As soon you are connecting to the internet hou have to be prepared. A decent firewall and anti virus software is a must. If you only use the laptop for storage you are pretty safe when installing the software you need and you only use it for browsing and viewing your images...

Your camera is normally safe, but when uploading the files from an infective card you (your computer) are at risk.

Good luck,

Henk

[bibiweb]

I couldn't agree more with Dora. Every computer should have anti-virus program which should be updated everyday or at least every time the computer is started. Personally, I would never trust a PC in an Internet Café or in a photo store, either when traveling or even in Geneva. As we say in IT Security, the only safe computer is a computer that is shut off and locked up in a safe! :o))

Bibi

[noborders]

Thank you all, friends... I intend to travel for only 2 weeks in Jan. and what if I keep a safe distance between all my equipment and the internet cafés ? I guess that in a closed circuit nothing would happen but the only risk now are my SD cards :

as I first planned to go farther, in Turkic speaking zones in China where I could get the chance of having my memory cards confiscated by the authorities if they hear me speaking with local Uyghurs (a language that most of the Chinese don't know), I have now a collection of 1 Gb SD cards that I'm recycling, instead of only a few 4 or 8 Gb (also because one of these small cameras was stolen once, from my bag which was closed),

... and about their being infected or not, I am not quite sure (one at least refused to work at some point and I don't know where the virus came from !) => how can I be sure that the other ones are not infected, by the way ?

I'd like to understand but all the same, I'll get an antivirus downloaded (even if difficult to get it updated everyday !)

Cheers and thanks to all of you,
Cath.

[Juntas]

You say it refuses to work. I had a card with that problem, but it was not virus: I search the net and found a free software that have recovered 90% of 1.90 Gb I had in it. It's called PhotoRec and it's easy to use, I think. Hope it can help you. Paulo

[Vato_Law]

Hello Cath.
Maybe I'm late but if you want an Antivirus which is cheap, and doesn't slow you down try using AVG.
It can be downloaded free and works perfectly i used to have Norton's system but it's heavy, slow and I was constantly being 'bombed' with messages.
This one is fast, very light and the only thing it does is to make a download every times you connect to internet to update the database but it's a matter of seconds after this you can go out and surf at your will that it won't bother you no more.
I use it at home and I can only say good things about it.
Oh... by the way beware using WIFI zones it's so easy to download a small program from internet and use your account to be surfing on internet or even to be watching what you have in yr. laptop, the guy right next to you could do it easily.
Also I think that if you use a card infected on your camera yes it can be infected also.
Hope this will help you.
Paulo

[AdrianW]

How did you catch it? Well, there's a neat little feature in XP and earlier versions of Windows. It's called Autorun.

Basically the idea was, whenever you insert a new disc or card, the content the author thinks is most useful to you is run automatically. So when you insert (say) the Microsoft Office disc, it automatically starts the Office installer. Useful, yes?

Unfortunately some virus writers realised that it would make a very nice method of attack, so when any card or disc is inserted into an infected machine the virus writes itself to the card or disc as an Autorun.

This means that as soon as you insert an infected card or disc into your computer *blam* you're infected, unless your anti-virus software manages to stop it first.

There's a useful feature on most SD cards which should save you in future; SD cards have a physical Lock switch. Make sure you lock the card before inserting it into a strange computer.

If you then unlock and reformat the card in your camera it should stop any currently known method of infection.

I'd also recommend disabling Autorun so that hopefully you won't transfer the infection automatically. I'd use Solution2 for XP here

I currently travel with two standalone portable hard disks which I've reviewed here. I'd recommend the Nexto, but I'm less keen on the PD70X/HD80. I don't let my cards come into contact with internet café or photo store machines at all.

[josuecollado]

Sorry if I use this topic to ask an unrelated question.
I posted a new topic asking if anyone knows of a web page to download frames and borders and nobody has answer me yet. I hope this doesn't have anything to do with the number (17)next to my name. Thank you for your help.

[mikeyeats]

Cath,
I am not an expert on computers, but I know some people buy a really cheap and small laptop,or a so called net book. If it get stolen it is not the end of the world. Use a non Microsoft operating system, use a free office program like Open office (available from Sun Microsystems) use one of the free browser like Firefox and and a free anti virus so essentially have a Microsoft free system.
I think that goes a long way to avoiding viruses.
Write protect your SD card when you put it in to a computer to download pictures. Format your picture cards every time you empty them.
All the best on you travels. Look forward to your pictures
Mike