Hacker News Reader

Can someone explain why bricking an infected computer is a good idea?

I might understand it if the boot sequence just gives a warning with information, suggestions and a "Don't warn me again" option, but from what I hear it just makes the machine unusable.

View on HN

Windows 8 is meant to be used by people who don't know much about computers. Thus, the approach they take might not fit skilled users.

Ideally the novice user will take their machine to a clueful technician who will wipe the drives and reinstall the OS, and then offer to set up firewalls and anti virus software.

Unfortunately novice users often do not back up their data so wiping the drive is unpopular.

And there are many technicians who think that malware removal without wiping the drives is acceptable.

This is because the primary goal of most malware writers is not to make the machine unusable, but to hide the malware and use the machine to spam, DDoS, collect site and bank credentials etc.

Also, you can go and turn secure boot off to boot your infected machine, so it's not really bricked or unusable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com