Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 12/25/2009

Question
sorry if you received an question with a similar email. i type my email wrong before.

Can virus affect your motherboard and usb flash drives?
1:If my usb flash drive which has important files is connected to my pc when its affected with virus (trojan worms, key-loggers, etc...) can it be affected as well?

2: Also can my motherboard be affected as well?

3: what if my pc is already affected with virus and then i install my usb flash drive, will my usb stick be affect?

Answer
All this depends upon what infects your various devices. For example, if your flash drive is infected by a boot sector infecter, just plugging it into your computer will infect any other drives on your computer with the exception of read-only devices. Even if you have an antivirus program, if you plug a flash drive into your computer before turning it on, a boot sector virus could infect your computer before it has had a chance to load your antivirus program. Your antivirus program might still be able to remove the infection, but if the virus is programmed well enough, it might resist removal.

Not knowing what devices are on your motherboard, I can't tell you all of what could be vulnerable. However, the BIOS on your motherboard (basic input/output system) can be modified and thus could get infected -- and this can get really ugly!

In a perfect world, instead of plugging a known infected flash drive into your computer, you would instead get your files off an infected computer by using a file transfer program over a local area network or the Internet to move just those files you are certain you need to save, and you would only move them to devices protected by a complete, up to date Internet security suite. For example, if you have an online storage system that you can use with ftp, you could upload your files there, and then download them to your home computer which presumably would be running a complete and up to date security system.

You could set up an ftp server on one computer, and install an ftp client program on another to transfer files on a home network. You can get such programs for free (trials) at Download.com.