Are ISO images more imune than usual files from infection ?

[paul11]

When saving copies of DVD Video and Program DVD/CDs on big hard-disc, I was wondering if they were better protected from

virus/other malware, if saved as a disk single ISO file, rather then in usual folder/file form.

 

VLC can as easily play DVD films saved on hdd as an iso, so I thought maybe an advantage to store them that way.

 

Having little knowledge of file types virus/other malware can infect, I don't know if .WMA, .MP3, .AVI & other film media can

be infected.

 

Can anyone throw any light on this ?

 

Years back, there were seasonal reviews of the best types of freeware protection of systems using WinXP.

 

I used just 2 types of protection: AVGfree, and Spybot SD for my WinXP laptop. I always suspected the protection wasn't

enough, due to a few small odd behaviours: One being, when using Windows Explorer to Create a 'New Folder' - the default name was often not 'New Folder', but name of a species of bird, like 'chicken', cuckoo, partridge - this behaviour replicated onto a new system hdd after old one failed, so I assume the cause came from infected data or program saved on a backup drive. I would like to remove this infection but AVG & Spybot report no problems.

 

Can anyone point me to some websites that recommend the best mix of freeware protection for Windows7 systems ?

[eSkRo]

Yes! here --> http://remove-malware.com/forums/

Edited May 26, 2010 by eSkRo

[ilitws]

@paul11

 

yes .WMA, .MP3, .AVI can be affected by virus

 

I don't know about .iso and so I too would like to know

[eSkRo]

http://remove-malware.com/forums/

[ilitws]

I went through that forum as advised by you. It is mainly focused on comparison of software. So I could not find an answer to whether ISO also can get infected by virus.

 

Therefore grateful if you could kindly therefore let me know if virus can infect ISO too? Please

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Viruses can infect just about anything but they do need to be designed for the task... and I don't recall ever seeing or hearing about one that can patch itself into an ISO.

[ilitws]

Thanks a ton. So storing an ISO seems to be a smart thing to do for 2 reasons.

1. Creating an ISO from a DVD folder takes very few minutes
2. Writing a DVD from ISO also is possible

Thanks again.

[ianymaty]

I think storing as ISO is convenient because it is a single (sometimes with additional descriptor file) compact file vs. a lot of files/folders that are inside.

[ilitws]

You are absolutely right.