Well, in a word, yes you do! Virginia tech has reported that within one week of the start of school, over 85% of the computers connected to the virginia tech network will be infected by viruses! While many of these infections can be removed using the free anti-virus and free anti-spyware tools provided by the school, many cannot be. at some point, these infections grow so numerous and so intrusive, that you simply cannot use the computer anymore. in some cases it may be 1,000s of popups that prevent you from doing your work. in other cases, the infections compromise the operating system itself. The computer may fail to enter windows - just go into a continuous reboot loop, or flash a blue screen reporting that software is missing, or it may simply freeze during the boot process. this occurs when the virus or spam has corrupted the windows files to the point the operating system can’t load.
in all of these scenarios, the solution is a “scratch/reload” of the hard drive. On the Virginia Tech antivirus webpage (www.antivirus.vt.edu), vt tells us that a scratch/reload can take up to 4 hours, and cost hundreds of dollars. And there is no guarantee that you won’t get reinfected!
vcs virus insurance guarantees the the most you’ll have to pay in a single school year is the $120 cost of the insurance -your computer can be scratched/reloaded up to four times for that one low price!
At your request, vcs will perform a scratch reload of your computer’s hard drive. here are the steps we’ll take:
1. we’ll remove your hard drive, an clone it to one of our hard drives -making an exact copy. this serves two purposes - it guarantees that all data that can be saved (uncorrupted/undamaged) will be saved, and it also functions as a diagnostic, letting us know that there is no physical problem with your hard drive (sometimes what looks like a virus problem is an actual physical failure of the hardware -no, that isn’t covered by virus insurance!)
2. we will replace the drive in your computer, and erase the hard drive, and the partition. we’ll then re-partition the drive, and reformat it. deleting the partition and reformatting guarantees that all vestiges of the infection are gone.
3. we will reinstall the operating system (hopefully you will have been able to provide us with your windows disk and your driver disks, but if not, all we really need is the COA (certificate of authenticity) - on most laptop computers, this is a Microsoft sticker that is already affixed to the bottom of your computer.
4. With the operating system reinstalled, we will then install all available drivers. if you haven’t been able to provide your driver disks, we’ll download them from the mfg’s website!
5. We’ll then reinstall any program software you provide us with. You will need to provide those disks - it’s a violation of copywrite law for us to install from software we might have. this would include programs such as microsoft office, auto-cad, frontpage, etc. We will install all the software provided free by VT: Anti-virus, anti-spyware, Acrobat, etc.
6. we will reconfigure your network drivers to make sure they are functioning with the vt network or your private network at your home.
7. using a usb hard drive adapter, we will connect the cloned drive we created in step 1 to your computer, and copy all recoverable data back to the new installation. this includes photos, music, & documents. if you use outlook express, old email can be recovered as well.
8. We will return your computer to you within 24-36 hours. you will need to reload the drivers for and install your printer, digital camera, etc. Installation for those devices usually require the devices to be connected to the computer at some point during the installation.
