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Viruses

Recovery from a virus disaster

If the problem is real
If your software has confirmed that a virus (Worm or Trojan) is on the disk, don't panic or act hastily. Removing most viruses is not difficult, providing you follow the correct procedure. If your antivirus software recognizes it by name, it should be able to remove it from the disk, but get help if you need it.

Make sure the virus is not active in memory
As a general precaution, the first step in removing a virus should be to make sure it's not in memory before attempting to remove it. Exit all programs and shut down normally, then insert an uninfected emergency/system boot floppy disk in drive A, and power up. That will start the system without the virus in memory. The antivirus program should then tell you that the virus is now gone from memory, but on the hard disk. Assuming the removal proceeds smoothly, check afterwards to make sure it's gone, and if it is, check for infect...

Posted by: Jason Cashmere

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