How to Remove a virus

Virus

Usually every virus has two aspects – a finder and a replicator.

The finder searches for the new uninfected files and the replicator actually targets these files and infects it by multiplying itself.

How a Virus Affects a System

· It corrupts files

· It slows down the speed of the computer system

· It causes the system to hang frequently

It deletes various files

Sources of Virus Infection

A virus can enter the system and infect it through various sources. Some of the sources are

· Infected CDs, DVDs, pen drives, etc

· E-mail

· Browsing infected sites

Downloading files from the internet

How to Remove Viruses

Removing viruses, though technical, is yet a very simple process if all the required steps are properly followed.

The basic steps are:

· Buy or download an antivirus software

· Install the antivirus software

Update antivirus software with the latest virus definitions

· Do a complete system scan

A safe way to remove viruses is to use a bootable antivirus CD (containing the latest definitions) to scan the drive. Alternatively, you can attach the drive to a friend's computer that has an antivirus installed (with the latest updates) and perform a full disk scan.

However, if you cannot do any of the above options, you may want to try the following steps:

Steps to Remove a Virus from the System

Step 1
Install an Antivirus Program in the System

What is Antivirus program? An antivirus is a program that searches for, identifies and removes potential viruses existing in the computer system.

Antivirus software: Some of the commonly available antivirus programs in the market are -

· Symantec Norton antivirus

· AVG antivirus

· McAfee Scan

· Microsoft Antivirus

The antivirus software should be updated regularly to retain its effectiveness.

Before installing the antivirus, close all open applications and terminate any suspicious processes using Task Manager. Sometimes, you may need to boot into safe mode or safe mode with command prompt to delete suspicious programs and references to them in the Windows Registry (run regedit from the command prompt to open the registry editor).

Search engines are excellent tools to find out whether a certain process is harmful or not. You can also get steps on how to remove a specific virus manually.

Removing the virus beforehand might be necessary, as some viruses will not allow an antivirus to operate. However, if you are not successful, you may still continue with the installation.

Step 2
Scan the System to Identify and Locate the Virus

Usually, the antivirus will run automatically when the system reboots after the installation.

Therefore, it might identify the virus automatically.

Moreover, you may want to run a quick system scan to locate the virus.

Step 3
Troubleshooting the Virus Infected Areas

After the antivirus identifies the infected areas, the next step is to rectify those areas.

Methods of Eliminating Viruses

Generally, the antivirus adopts one of two methods to eliminate the virus:

· Removing the virus – When the virus can be easily identified and can be removed without affecting other files, then the antivirus removes it from the host place.

Quarantine – This is done when the virus cannot be easily identified removed from the file and the removal of virus means the removal of the complete file. In this method, although the virus is not eliminated, it is rendered inactive by moving the file into "quarantine" and renaming it.

Step 4
Perform a Full System Scan

Even after the virus is removed from the system, the next step is to scan the whole system to ensure that no infected files remain.

What if the Antivirus Fails?

It may happen that your antivirus fails to detect and get rid of the virus. In such a case, you can follow the steps given below:

· Take a backup of the entire data.

· Format the infected disk partition.

· In case the entire system is infected, the system will have to be reinstalled.

· Install the antivirus and the latest updates.

· Restore the backup.