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.wmf on CD


sonsie

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This is probably really elementary for a lot of you, but I don't know the answer:

 

I have an old homemade CD with data on it. I'd like to copy the data to my hard drive. I know there's a bug on the CD because last time I used it, a scan found a bug on my computer and I traced it to the CD.

 

I have no idea how a bug on a CD interacts with the computer, so please bear with me if I ask some 'well duuuhhh' questions. The bug is xpl.wmf, but the CD is about 7 years old, so I don't know if it's the same as the recent windows exploiter bug, which is what I get when I look it up.

 

Is it safe to insert the CD at all?

 

If so, is it safe to insert the CD, copy it to the HD, take the CD out and immediately delete the file that the bug's in?

 

Can you copy a CD to HD in safemode? If so, is that my best bet?

 

Any help appreciated.

 

sonsie

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Scan the disc or that file with your antimalware apps, and even upload the file to be scanned by multiple antivirus apps to http://virusscan.jotti.org/. If the file is some sort of exploit it shouldn't cause any harm so long as it isn't opened, if it is an exploit delete it once copied, or don't copy it at all.

 

Edit:

I personally wouldn't copy it in safe mode hence if it does contain any malware code you av won't stop it! Just make sure you hold the Shift key whilst inserting the CD so that it can't autorun, that should avoid any problems.

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I agree with Andavari. But, can't you just delete it off the CD too?

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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I agree with Andavari. But, can't you just delete it off the CD too?

 

I've always been under the impression that you can't delete individual items off of a CD. Just checked Windows 'help' - it says you can erase a whole CD but not individual files. Good golly miss molly! That may be the first time I was actually able to find what I was looking for in Windows help! And it answered my question!

 

 

Scan the disc or that file with your antimalware apps, and even upload the file to be scanned by multiple antivirus apps to http://virusscan.jotti.org/. If the file is some sort of exploit it shouldn't cause any harm so long as it isn't opened, if it is an exploit delete it once copied, or don't copy it at all.

 

OK, kind of lost here - as I understand it, I should insert CD, scan with ewido, AVG, Ad-Aware, and MS antispyware. - I'm assuming that once it's detected with a program I don't need to continue scanning with any programs I haven't used yet?

 

Then I'm to upload the file to that addy and have it scanned. I don't understand the reasoning behind that...if I locate it with my scans, copy files to HD, remove the CD, and delete the file from HD, why scan at that address?

 

Just make sure you hold the Shift key whilst inserting the CD so that it can't autorun, that should avoid any problems.

 

Oh cooool!! I've had problems with that happening with other CDs. I never knew about the shift thing!

 

 

sonsie

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Just upload the file on jotti's website. That will scan the file with a lot of scanners. ;)

 

Edit: Sonsie, if this is personal CD with files then you don't have to copy that file onto your computer at all. Hold the Shift key down, and use the arrows to select the files that you want to copy.

 

Did I explain that clearly?

 

PS - You were right about deleting. They are write-protected (or something). ;)

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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If I scan the whole CD on that site, it won't keep a record of the files, will it? It's all personal files like letters and employment records, and I don't know exactly where the bad file is, so would have to scan the whole thing.

 

Sonsie, if this is personal CD with files then you don't have to copy that file onto your computer at all. Hold the Shift key down, and use the arrows to select the files that you want to copy.

 

Yes, you explained that clearly. It's a lot of files, but I guess would be worth the time and hassle since it would be pretty risk-free. Actually, if I look for and find the bad file first, it would go pretty fast - just select everything else.

 

Possible Dumb Question Alert - if I copy the files that way and plan on trashing that CD and making a new one, do I even need to scan the bad file?

 

sonsie

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If I scan the whole CD on that site, it won't keep a record of the files, will it?

You can only upload one file at a time. So you need to find the exact file that is the problem first. Also, I don't know for sure if records are kept of the files or not. But only upload the one in question.

It's all personal files like letters and employment records, and I don't know exactly where the bad file is, so would have to scan the whole thing.

This is what you need to do.

1. Start > Search

2. In the top search box type .wmf

3. Scroll down and choose "Look in CD Drive (X:)" - X will be your CD Drive letter.

4. Click Search. This should find the file for you.

Actually, if I look for and find the bad file first, it would go pretty fast - just select everything else.

Yep! It would take under a minute. You just need to find the file.

If I copy the files that way and plan on trashing that CD and making a new one, do I even need to scan the bad file?

 

You don't have to. It's a personal choice. But if you scan the file, and it turns out to be bad all of those scanning companies can add that file to their databases if it isn't already listed. So it's up to you. :)

Windows Pro Media 8.1 x64  |  8GB Ram  |  500G HDD 7200 RPM  |  All  that I know about my graphics is that it's Intel  :)

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alrightaroonie then! Simpler than I expected.

 

Yeah, once I find the file I'll upload and let it scan. They probably already have one but that's ok. Looks like a very cool site, btw.

 

Viruses and bad things make me nervous, I don't even like getting my mouse near them. Turns out for good reason, too. Was watching a scary movie in the middle of the night recently, someone *BOOO* suddenly appeared in front of someone else, accompanied by that spooky music they play. I screamed and jumped, the cats ran, my mouse hand scooted and clamped down on buttons, and I deleted a note I was writing. :lol: Usually when there's a particularly suspenseful part I look away, sometimes even hum. Being scared at 2am just isn't the same as being scared at 2 PM! LOLOL

 

Thanks for all your help. Off to give it a go---->

 

sonsie

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I've always been under the impression that you can't delete individual items off of a CD. Just checked Windows 'help' - it says you can erase a whole CD but not individual files.

 

Sorry I poked in here kind of late, but I just wanted to mention that you can (somewhat) delete a file off a CD. Most disk burning utilities allow you to open up a multisession CD-R (disk that hasn't been finalized yet) and add or remove files. While the file is still physically there, I believe that removing it actually just gets rid of the code that points to it, sort of like when you delete something with Windows. That way, your computer won't recognize that section of code anymore. The only downside is that you won't be able to reclaim the space consumed by that file on a CD-R, as their free space can only be written to once.

 

Only a CD-RW can be erased. If you have that file on a CD-RW, you can remove the file and reclaim that space as well. If it is a purchased CD-ROM, then it is already finalized, and nothing can be done to it, in which case you'd be better off just burning the disk and excluding that file.

Save a tree, eat a beaver.

Save a tree, wipe with an owl.

 

Every time a bell rings, a thread gets hijacked!

ding, ding!

 

Give Andavari lots of money and maybe even consider getting K a DVD-RW drive.

 

If it's not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!!!

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Most disk burning utilities allow you to open up a multisession CD-R (disk that hasn't been finalized yet) and add or remove files.

 

It could be done if the disc was written with packet writing software.

 

If there's an infected file on the disc it may be worthwhile to create a new CD-R that is clean without any infection to avoid any possible future mishaps, plus you'd have a known new backup copy since CDs overtime seem to degrade and get allot of errors on them making them difficult to read.

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Only a CD-RW can be erased. If you have that file on a CD-RW, you can remove the file and reclaim that space as well.

 

Turns out it's a CD-R. Space wasn't a concern since there's still some open, I mainly wanted the ease of deleting the bad things from the disk. There's so many things I don't do on the computer on a regular basis that I have to think them thru and concentrate. Like with this task, I scanned to find the bad files, then went to that folder first while it was on my mind, selected the bad ones, inverted and copied the good ones to HD. Done - now just copy the rest of the files without having to keep an eye out for the bad ones. Not all files were cooperative so it took about 30 mins of success/failure and reboot to get the rest copied. The bad files were in a folder within a folder and by the time I got to it, it had been so long that I forgot and copied the whole folder, bad files and all! :wacko: Luckily I ran a scan and caught them.

 

 

It could be done if the disc was written with packet writing software.

 

hmmm...don't know what packet writing software is. I have Nero Burning ROM and Nero Express, and ULead DVD MovieFactory and I wish I knew how to use even one of them really well. I think a large part of my problem is that the software developers assume that if I'm going to use it, that I must have a certain level of knowledge, and they write instructions from that knowledge level - but I don't; sometimes I'm not even really sure what the software does, I just know it has something to do with making my pictures look nice (or whatever). I got one program that I got specifically because I could have sworn it said it joined movie parts, and was in that section on the site. I think it even mentioned it in that category on a review site like download.com. But when I looked at the instructions, it said it changes AVIs into MPEGs. I get all motivated to learn something, like how to join/splice all of the movie parts I have, but when I get started I end up spending 30-60 minutes traipsing around the net looking for definitions of terms. By then I'm fed up and quit.

 

But hey! I have the correct time on both my VCR and DVD players! :P

 

Thanks for all your help!

 

sonsie

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hmmm...don't know what packet writing software is.

 

Packet writing software which is included with many bloated commercial CD/DVD authoring programs formats a CD-RW disc into a format in which it can be used similarly as a floppy, e.g.; drag n drop, send to, etc. However unlike a floppy the files aren't actually deleted as the packet writing software is just modifying the TOC (table of contents) so "deleted" files are hidden from Windows, however restoration software may be able to recover the file.

 

In short packet writing software can cause system stability issues (Win9x), and you eventually have to full erase the disc because you never regain disc space after "deleting" files, which is the reason I hate all forms of it and don't use it.

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Viruses and bad things make me nervous, I don't even like getting my mouse near them. Turns out for good reason, too. Was watching a scary movie in the middle of the night recently, someone *BOOO* suddenly appeared in front of someone else, accompanied by that spooky music they play. I screamed and jumped, the cats ran, my mouse hand scooted and clamped down on buttons, and I deleted a note I was writing. :lol: Usually when there's a particularly suspenseful part I look away, sometimes even hum. Being scared at 2am just isn't the same as being scared at 2 PM! LOLOL

 

Thanks for the great story! LMAO!!!

 

Laughing with you, not at you!

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Packet writing software which is included with many bloated commercial CD/DVD authoring programs formats a CD-RW disc into a format in which it can be used similarly as a floppy, e.g.; drag n drop, send to, etc. However unlike a floppy the files aren't actually deleted as the packet writing software is just modifying the TOC (table of contents) so "deleted" files are hidden from Windows, however restoration software may be able to recover the file.

 

ahhh, ok - so mndftwod lkriweh hbdgwtqa. :lol:

 

That's pretty foreign to me, but from what I can understand it doesn't sound like a very brilliant concept.

 

Thanks Andavari!

 

sonsie

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That's pretty foreign to me, but from what I can understand it doesn't sound like a very brilliant concept.

 

Well, yes and no. For example:

 

If you have a CD on which you keep your antivirus installer, which is naturally updated often, it can be beneficial to keep "deleting" the old installer off the disk and burning on the new one. That way, if you need to reinstall your antivirus, you have the newest version on a disk, and you don't have to waste a brand new CD-R reburning the newest version bi-monthly and throwing out the old disk. This is also useful if you have documents that you update periodically.

 

But, like Andavari mentioned, the downside is lack of compatibility with older versions of Windows; that said, I have never used burning software that doesn't warn you of this first. And I don't consider lack of compatibility with older versions that big of an issue, at least in this particular scenario. Older versions of Windows didn't support anything larger than 137 GB hard drives; is that to say that 300 GB hard drives are a bad thing?

 

Basically, if you are using the disk in a Win2000/WinXP computer, and you don't want to waste a blank disk every time a change needs to be made, multisession disks are fine, and can even be beneficial. But, if this disk may be used by others with older computers, or if you aren't totally sure what is good and what is bad to delete, just make a new disk.

Save a tree, eat a beaver.

Save a tree, wipe with an owl.

 

Every time a bell rings, a thread gets hijacked!

ding, ding!

 

Give Andavari lots of money and maybe even consider getting K a DVD-RW drive.

 

If it's not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!!!

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I wasn't talking about compatibility issues with older versions of Windows. My only mentioning was of stability issues, e.g.; Adaptec/Roxio had some program included with Easy CD Creator many years ago that did packet writing which would cause Win9x machines to lock up - even just using a disc that was packet written could crash those OSes.

 

I think it's just better to just use CD-RW discs for reoccurring backups like the constant updating of an antivirus installer since CD-RW's can be erased, and since any Windows OS with a CD drive should be able to read the disc.

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