Computer Threat with a July 9, 2012 Deadline

Here is another verified threat.  It is a complicated story that involves FBI intervention, but that intervention stops on July 9.  Tech2 gives a good short summary:

http://tech2.in.com/news/web-services/fbis-cutting-off-internet-to-dns-changer-infected-users-on-july-9/301012

Digital Trends provides a good explanation of the problem:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/fbi-web-will-go-dark-for-350000-infected-internet-users-starting-july-9/

PCWorld also has a good article along with a "How to Tell you Have a Problem" section and a "What to do if You have a Problem" section:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/255137/protect_yourself_from_dnschanger.html

What is the bottom line?  Follow this link to see if you have a problem.  http://www.dns-ok.us/   If you do have the problem, the PCWorld article should help you find a solution.

SpinRite Hard Drive Recovery

Another Leo Laporte recommendation is SpinRite.  This tool will attempt to recover a hard drive by reading every sector and marking those which are bad.  In the process, if it can move data to good sectors, there is a chance that the hard drive might be salvageable and also a chance that the data might be recovered.

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

EaseUS Data Recovery

I heard about this on Leo LaPorte's podcast.  If you have access to forensic tools, this might not impress you, but for everyone else, this might be a good resource for recovering data on a hard drive after it has been deleted.

http://easeus.com/