Comments for How do i totally delete a virus on my computer?

Comment from Ojara Wolis OWA Uganda Limted on 2011-06-02

2011-06-02T08:58:39Z

I have been working in my small computer repair business here in Gulu Uganda, believe me the only way to be sure you are safe is to format and do a fresh install of all the programs and backing up thereafter!

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Comment from fastfreddie1959 on 2008-06-03

2008-06-03T19:35:28Z

Everyone here is missing 1 important thing to do
before you run your antispyware scan.
This is a must do.
*Turn off system restore first*.
Then run your antispyware or antimalware programs.
Just adding my 2cents worth.

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Comment from ben on 2008-05-28

2008-05-28T09:30:21Z

just keep the smallest possible partition for the op. system with only essentials on it then spend a few minutes reinstalling so never worry about malware again tho i do use endpoint reinstalling can be a lot quicker than fully removing malware guess i am lucky tho or have a good protecton on my various computers ( famous last words} still i don't care if i do get malware easy to erase and fun to examine

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A comment on: How do i totally delete a virus on my computer?

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Comment from Linda on 2008-05-27

2008-05-28T04:21:36Z

I wholeheartedly agree with Michael H. His backup strategy is good. In addition to this good advice I'm going to add that I partitioned my main drive to 4 separate partitions (system, docs/pics/music, video, programs). I backup using Acronis to an external drive. That way, if I lose my pictures,video, etc I can get them back without having to re-image everything.

One more thing I might add: I have my "quick" drivers on a flash drive AND the external drive just in case, God forbid, that I have to reformat:

Chipset
SP2 with slipstreamed updates (haven't downloaded SP 3 yet)
Video driver
Audio driver
Ethernet driver

Since I'm on satellite I'm limited to 200MB per day so the SP2 slipstreamed would help tremendously.

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Comment from hw on 2008-05-27

2008-05-27T22:00:46Z

I just removed some Trojans that were missed by both Avira and Avast Antivirus, and Panda Online ActiveScan (couldn't maintain an online connection long enough to complete an online scan). I used SUPERAntiSpyware (free) which I had downloaded with another computer, and it seemed to be extremly thorough.

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Comment from Lorne Babcock Sr. on 2008-05-27

2008-05-27T21:00:26Z

There is a only one way to be absolutely sure that you have removed a virus from your computer and that is to do a full format and reinstall.

I have been doing computer work in a small business for years and I have learned over the period of time that while the format and reinstall is tedious you will save time and money in the end. You could use Acronis and as soon as you have done your reinstall and your updates you could then backup your system using Acronis to a USB hard drive. You would then disconnect the drive and put it away somewhere until you need to do a reinstall and then and only then would you bring it back and reinstall from the drive. I have not gone to quite that extreme except that I have made backups to more than one drive on my system with the hope that if I do get something especially virulent it will not have inserted itself on the other drives and especially into the backup which as far as I know will not happen but I have always tried to error on the side of extreme caution.

When I do a format and full reinstall I always disconnect from the Internet. When the install has been done and all of the drivers have been installed I then do my backup but I do not go on the Internet to do any updates from Microsoft until I have done my backup using Acronis. I will then reconnect to the Internet and do my downloads from Microsoft. When you need to do a backup you can go ahead and do so but you should remember that you will have to go to Microsoft and get their updates because those will not be in your backup.

I always backup to more than one place just in case my first backup is corrupted. That is to say I backup my system to D. drive and to E.Drive. That way if the one backup by some unlucky chance is no good I will then have a second similar backup on another drive.

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Comment from Michael Horowitz on 2008-05-27

2008-05-27T17:59:15Z

I completely agree with Leo.

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Comment from george mastry on 2008-05-27

2008-05-27T17:42:58Z

I have an issue with Housecall. As I'm writing this, for an hour the little red bar on lower left has been back and forth with the 'opening Trend Micro housecall.' I have tried this before with the same result, never leaves the 'opening' page. I have Vista Premium with 2G of RAM. Never leaves the status page. O.K. what am I doing wrong? George in AZ

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Comment from gladys vasquez on 2008-05-27

2008-05-27T16:38:47Z

Every time i run norton antivirus i get the following message: tracking cookies security risk 'yield manager',and other cookies that i dont remember the names, also I received one message one time only that hpasset.exe,hpdiags.exe behaved suspiciously and made modifications to windows start up.Do you think my computer is in trouble??

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A comment on: How do i totally delete a virus on my computer?

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Comment from Mary on 2008-05-27

2008-05-27T12:16:01Z

And one caution. Don't have two antivirus programs running real time monitoring (AKA: live scans) at the same time. They could cause your compuer to crash.

http://ask-leo.com/can_i_run_more_than_one_antivirus_program_antispyware_program_firewall_should_i.html

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A comment on: How do i totally delete a virus on my computer?

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Comment from mat on 2008-05-26

2008-05-27T03:28:45Z

Reformat and reinstall. Next, activate Windows Firewall, WindowsDefender and virus guard. Then, updates.

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A comment on: How do i totally delete a virus on my computer?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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