Those extra scans are the key: Once you know that your PC is malware-free, you can then connect a drive and perform your backup, confident that you’re not spreading any infection to your backup files.Įditor's note: We feature an abridged Q&A from Fred Langa's LANGALIST, a column available exclusively to paid subscribers of the Windows Secrets newsletter. But before running my monthly whole-system backups (to a different external drive), I verify that the PC is truly clean by scanning with a separate tool such as ESET’s online scanner. Ideally, use a scanner that’s not part of your full-time anti-malware setup it will help catch any infections that might have slipped past your primary defenses.įor example, I use Win10’s built-in Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Pro for the daily defense of my PC’s files and its ongoing File History backups. When the drive is disconnected and offline, its files are totally safe.īut for maximum safety, do this: Before bringing the backup drive online and running the actual backup, thoroughly scan your system with a good anti-malware tool. The only time the backup files are vulnerable to new infection is during the relatively brief time when the drive is actively on line and connected to the Windows PC. In short, simple tricks simply won’t protect you.īut there is an additional backup step that can help ensure that no malware of any type gets saved into your backups. But, again, that would fool only the most rudimentary forms of malicious code.
It’s trivially easy for well-coded malware to look past a file name or file-extension to see what’s actually inside. The same is true for another clever-sounding trick: placing data files in nonstandard locations. Disguising your backups by renaming would seem to be a good plan, but it won't result in any meaningful extra protection. Because ransomware looks for data files to encrypt but otherwise leaves your system running, I think that renaming my backup files to backup.exe should make them safe. I use Acronis True Image, giving me backup files named backup.tib. My backups are stored on a networked drive that’s actively connected to my PC only once a week, when my system is making a new backup. I’m afraid of ransomware, so I’m looking for a way to protect my backups from infection.
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