what is the benefit of quarantining virsuses?

[joko]

often it gives you the option to quarantine it or delete...but whats the point of quarantine?
does it mean the same virus cannot infect you again in the future if its in quarantine?

whereas just deleting leaves you open to re-attack?

cheers

[ChuckFickens]

AV programs do make mistakes (false positives) so if it flags something as a virus when it's not really quarantining will give you the chance to restore it in case it's something that is required.

(a bit like the recycle bin)

[rojash]

Nope. It's the same benefit as putting things in the recycle bin instead of deleting them forever.
While in quarantine, the file can do no damage. If it turns out that it's (a) not a dangerous file after all or (b) a file that can be disinfected at a later date (due to updates to the AV software), it's can be returned to its original location.

In other words quarantine is just delete with a "change your mind feature".
999 times out of 1000 you will never need the file again, so you can just delete it from quarantine - i.e. wipe it out forever.

[rojash]

That sod is hiding under my desk again.

[rojash]

...and there was I banging away, thinking "this new Accuratus keyboard is fantastic, I can type twice as fast, and never need to worry about chickenlicken getting in first again"

[tenrec]

LOL