What do I do after I found out I have a virus?

Question

My computer has been acting a little funny lately so I had my Norton Anti-Virus software do a scan. It detected one virus, and it said it wasn't fixed. How do I get rid of it?

Answer 1

It really depends on how good you are with computers if you really don't know any thing then i would take it to a computer shop (if it can be fixed)...if it can't be fixed then it is your discion to bascilly "throw it away"...if it is a older computer with many problems other than a virues with it then i would say "throw it away"..and then buy a good used computer or brand new...

Answer 2

Some viruses are malicious codecs which most antivirus programs will NOT remove.

Try the following:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware works in many cases so is the first choice:

http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Ant...

Download, install, update and select Quick Scan.

Remove all infections that it finds after scan.

Spybot S&D:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/downl...

Download, install, update and Immunize, then click 'Check for problems' then when complete select all and then 'Fix Checked'

Spyware Doctor Free Basic Edition - Realtime monitoring:

http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_inst...

Its free with Google pack, untick all boxes except Spyware Doctor. Download install, update and run.

A format is a somewhat drastic action as the majority of viruses have antidotes, there are very few that require a reinstallation of the OS.

I would agree that Norton is pretty poor at removing many viruses and would use either Avast antivirus, Avira antivirus or Comodo antivirus.

Avast:

http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Editi...

Avira:

http://www.download.com/Avira-AntiVir-Pe...

Comodo:

http://antivirus.comodo.com/download.htm...

Answer 3

it depends on how bad the virus is. Norton might be able to remove it; If not you might have to get some different software.

sometimes the easiest (and best) thing to do is reinstall windows. Then you know you are running on a clean system without a virus, (since some viruses are hard to get rid of).  Just make sure you back up your data before you try this.  

Answer 4

in this case it means that the Norton Anti-Virus software is not up to date

do this, go to avast.com, download the home edition, is free don't take as much space as norton, when u installed it, run it.

and get rid of norton is does not work

Answer 5

Update your anti-virus, remember to only have one anti-virus installed on your PC

Download SuperAntiSpyware

http://www.superantispyware.com/superant...   [Free home edition]

Restart your PC in safe mode, and run a full scan with both.

http://www.pchell.com/support/safemode.s...

While in safe mode, you may also want to have a look at your start up items by using msconfig.

http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/

Be careful with the items you uncheck, you can have a look here to see if they are necessary

http://www.greatis.com/appdata/index.htm...

You should also have a look at your IE Add-ons while in safe mode.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using...

Disable any you do not use.

After you reboot back to normal mode, download and install ccleaner to fix any registry problems and clean up old temp files.

http://www.ccleaner.com   [Free]

Answer 6

Some virus arn't deleteable. too bad.......

Only way is to do a reformat which delete everything and i mean everything you have....

or you could try some other antivirus.

Zonealarm.com get secruity suite and try.