Anti-virus software mostly works the same way. It scans your hard drive for particular signatures that indicate a known computer virus that is contained in the virus definitions supplied by the company. If it finds a sign of a virus, it will typically offer to quarantine or delete the infected file. Quarantining the file will place it in a tightly controlled area by the anti-virus software so that it cannot infect the computer.

Anti-virus programs work best as a line of defense. In some instances, they can repair the damage after infection. In other cases, it cannot. So, what do you do if your computer is already infected by a computer virus?

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The best thing to do is first spot exactly which virus is infecting your computer. Usually your anti-virus program will identify this for you. Next (and only if your antivirus program cannot do it for you), you will need to go online and search for removal instructions for the virus that you have. Usually you will find information on the major sites of antivirus software vendors. For example, Symantec maintains a library of removal tools for various viruses at:

www.symantec.com/business/security_response/removaltools.jsp

If there is no removal tool which automates the job for you, often you can find todo lists on how to manually remove it yourself. Many times the removal processes are not quick and easy, depending on the nature of the virus you are infected with.

A particularly bad virus may render your computer unbooatable. In this case, you will not be able to use your anti-virus software as usual in order to detect and/or remove the virus. The good news is that most good anti-virus programs give the ability to create a rescue disc. This rescue disc is usually bootable so that you can boot the machine even if Windows cannot. It will then automate the process of scanning for viruses even without officially going into Windows. If Windows itself will not work, this is usually your only way to fix the problem.

Another option may be to go into Windows safe mode and attempt to run a virus scan that way. Safe mode is a reduced mode of running Windows. In safe mode, all startup software, services and many drivers are usually disabled. This allows you to run Windows without any of the payload which may be allowing the virus to operate. You can get into safe mode by rebooting your computer and pressing the F8 button BEFORE the Windows logo appears on screen. You may need to hit the F8 button several times to ensure the system detected it. You will then get a boot menu. Option 3 will be to enter safe mode. Once in safe mode, run your anti-virus software and/or perform the manual removal actions for a virus you know you are infected with.

If your computer gets infected with a particular bad virus that does real harm to the files on your drive, your only option may be to format the computer and re-install Windows. This is a last resort option only if the computer is so far gone that you are pretty sure you will not be able to recover it properly. In this case, your data backups (which you should have) will come in handy. You will need to format the drive, re-install all your software, then restore your data files from your backup.

If you do not have valid or up-to-date backups, there is yet another option available to you. In order to do this, you will need a second hard drive.

1. Install the second hard drive to your computer and re-install all of your software to the NEW hard drive.
2. Next, attach your old, infected hard drive to the new computer as a second drive. If it is an IDE drive, connect it as a slave. If it is a SATA drive, simply connect it.
3. When you reboot the computer, make sure to go into your BIOS and make sure the NEW drive is designated as the bootable drive so that your computer does not attempt to boot with the infected drive.
4. Once the computer has completed booting, use your anti-virus software to scan all of your data files on the old drive (which should be available in Windows Explorer as a second hard drive).
5. Only when the files check out as completely clean, you can copy and paste those files over to your new hard drive.

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