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My only operational computer has shown some wierd signs like disapearing logs, rotated logs gone random files getting updated and so on.

Tho this is my only operational computer and I have decided to nuke it. My question is can I trust this system to download and burn my OS? If not what can I do to nuke this computer safely.

user36976
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2 Answers2

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Get a trusted computer, download the ISO on there and use that as installation disk.

Lucas Kauffman
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  • As I mentioned above that is the only operational computer I can use for now. What are the chances that something would actually infect the iso during the download or during the burn proccess? – user36976 Jan 11 '14 at 19:22
  • It's very much possible. – Lucas Kauffman Jan 11 '14 at 19:25
  • during the download I am not worried since I check the image with sha256 hashes but is it even possible to alter the image during the burn proccess? – user36976 Jan 11 '14 at 19:29
  • @Nick It's possible even during the download. If your system has been compromised, it might report the expected sha256 hashes but corrupt the files. It's unlikely, but possible. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Jan 11 '14 at 19:39
  • If you only own one computer, try borrowing a friend's. – cpast Jan 18 '15 at 00:20
  • @Gilles If it were possible to infect/corrupt/modify the image an keep the hashes the same, that would render the whole point of people posting hashes along with file downloads moot. Simply checking the hashes to what is posted with the download is sufficient, unless you believe you've got state-level sophisticated malware operating on your computer that is smart enough to find the hashes given over HTTP payloads, match the hashes to the image its modifying, and modify the hash before you see it. –  Mar 21 '16 at 23:02
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Maybe you have another trustworthy live system CD (such as knoppix) available. You can boot your computer from that CD, mount your filesystem in the live session, download and burn from within the live session. Then you can boot off the downloaded/burnt CD.

Hagen von Eitzen
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