You work for a small city IT department and one of the custo

You work for a small city IT department and one of the customers in the vehicle maintenance department is complaining that her computer has become very slow, unusual icons have spontaneously appeared on her desktop, and whenever she opens a Web browser, an endless stream of pop-ups and browser windows open uncontrollably. It seems obvious that her computer is infected by malware, and you are concerned that the infection could spread to other computers on the network. How can you quarantine the infected PC while you are trying to remove the malware?

A. Use the computer’s antivirus software to quarantine the virus.

B. Use the computer’s software firewall to block all ports.

C. Unplug the Ethernet cable from the computer’s network port.

D. Shut down the computer and unplug the power cord.

Solution

C. You will need the computer to be powered up in order to work on it, but you can protect the rest of the hosts on the network and prevent malware on the PC from installing more malicious software by unplugging the Ethernet cable from the computer.