[poseidon]

Hi all,

Hopefully an easy question to answer.

In my Anti Virus program (MS Security Essentials) if a virus is discovered it is either removed or quarantined.

If it is quarantined I have the option to completely remove it if I wish.

(1) Once a virus is placed into quarantine does this mean that it has been neutralised and is no longer a threat?

(2) If I remove a quarantined virus does, or can it, harm my PC or any files installed on it?

(3) If I remove a quarantined virus and it does prevent any of my applications from working can I restore it and place it back into quarantine? Especially while using MS Security Essentials.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cy

[Curlyben]

Personally I have my anti-virus set to draconian, i.e. NUKE on discovery, no messing about.

Quarantine does place the offending file into a secure and sterile environment were it cannot do any harm. I just think this is a needless step.

[poseidon]

Hi Curlyben,

Thanks for your reply, it is most appreciated.

I can certainly see why you get rid of them as soon as they are discovered.

However MS Security Essentials does say that if you totally remove some viruses which have been quarantined it could cause problems with some programs, or indeed the OS itself.

This is why I asked about the possible dangers of the quarantine option.

Cy

[Curlyben]

Yeah I've read those dire warnings as well, but as my AV is set to scan on read and write they never get that far into the system.

No problems so far and that's on my while 200+ machine domain.

[poseidon]

Thanks Curlyben.

I have set my AV to delete all except Low Level threats.

I am allowing the AV program to do the recommended actions with any Low Lever threats.

Can't give you a rating I am afraid so please accept this as my thank you for your help.

Cy
(Poseidon)

[Curlyben]

Na problems.