I've pretty much been over how to remove a virus from your computer for free, but I figure since there are people searching for this term directly, I would make a post on it so everyone could just find it easier.
The first part of the question, how to remove a virus from you computer, is probably the hardest part. Even when you have the right sofware, ie: anti virus, anti spyware, anti malware, anti rootkit, etc. it's not always a walk in the park.
First off, you'll need to know you limits on the infected computer. Can you get on the internet? Can you search? Do you get redirected? Do you already have an anti virus program and it keeps finding the exact same virus, malware, trojan horse, rootkit, etc. again and again even though it says it removes it? Can you even run the infected machine? Is it so slow you want to beat your face with a keyboard? It's these things you want to pay attention to, because it will effect how "free" fixing your computer will be.
Take into account that doing this yourself "for free" might take several days, so if you need the infected machine for school, college or business you may want to consider the catching up you'll have to do, or how much you'll be losing business wise per day you are trying to fight this thing, by yourself, little/no experience doing it, and removing a virus for free instead of paying.
But, I digress, lets get back to how to remove a virus from your computer for free. I mean, thats what you're here for right?
To begin, you'll need a few different anti virus and anti spyware programs. You should download (in no specific order): Malware bytes, AVG, Avira, Avast, Hitman Pro, AVG Anti Rootkit and the free 30 day trial of Kaspersky Anti Virus or Kaspersky Internet Security.
If you can't use your main computer, download them on another machine, put them on a CD or a thumb drive and put them onto the infected computer. From there, try to install one of them. If one doesn't work, try the next. If none of them work, you may need to restart in Safe Mode. For those of you who don't know, Safe Mode is where ALMOST nothing starts up on the machine, leaving you with Windows required files only. You need to restart you computer, and on most machines you just keep hitting F8 until the screen comes up for you to choose how you want to start up. You will want to choose "Safe Mode With Networking" if at all possible. If for any reason you get stuck at one of the startup items, the virus, malware, trojan, rootkit, etc. likely damaged windows.
Assuming you made it in, begin installing each of the anti virus/anti spyware programs in turn and run them. Be sure they are updated if they offer an update button on their interface.
IF you can, from this point, clear out the restore points if at all possible. Generally speaking, a virus, malware, trojan horse, rootkit, etc. will hide in the system restore. To clear them out, all you need to do is turn off system restore, and it's done differently for every operating system. If you want to know how, read one of my other posts, I've talked about how to clear out system restore and don't want to write about it again. I just might, at a later date, edit those post and add it for fun.
Anyways, after you clear the system restore, and scan your machine with as many of the free anti virus/anti spyware/anti rootkit programs as possible, restart your machine normally. If that works, you did it for free. If not, you'll need to pay someone else to do it, or read another one of my posts on some tools that you can buy to hook up your infected hard drive to another clean hard drive and scan that way.
I hope I was able to help you learn a bit on how to remove a virus from your computer for free.
TechSavvyT
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
What is a computer trojan horse
What is a computer Trojan horse? To start off, I'll put it into perspective. Back when the Greeks were invading the Trojans, the greeks battered against their shield and their walls but could not successfully infiltrate the castle and take over. After so many failed attempts they decided to build a wooden horse that the Trojans would allow past their doors without a fight, and after everyone in the castle was drunk and asleep, because the Trojans thought, "Hey, we won!" The greeks popped out of the "Trojan Horse" and they opened the gates, and the slaughter began.
So, if that little bit of history didn't help you figure it out, heres exactly what it is... When it comes to what a computer trojan horse is, it's a malicious virus or malware they infiltrates a computer through subterfuge. In other words, they trick the computer/firewall/anti-virus/anti-spyware, etc. that they are a "friendly" program, or string of code, or anything else that may "ping" the computer and the computer unknowingly lets it in. Sometimes, a Computer Trojan Horse will simply "follow" another computer in through a backdoor or in an open, unwatched port.
Essentially, once a Trojan Horse gets in, they can turn into things like Antivirus 2009, XP antivirus pro and any other slew of malware meant to look like an anti virus program. By the way, once you get these, they usually disable your internet, stop you from using Ctrl + alt + delete, disable your system restore (even though it hides in your system restore) and essentially bug the snot out of you until you decide to purchase their fake anti virus software because you have been infected by 27 viruses, 15 malware, and 200 spyware!!! Oh my! But, don't worry, for the low low low low cost of $49.99, they will happily "remove them" for you! Of course, if you do this, they will take your money onto an offshore account never to be seen again, and the program still won't disappear.
So, for those of you who wanted to know what is a computer trojan horse, now you know. The best thing you can do when it comes to a computer trojan horse is to prevent it. Once they get in, they can be a REAL pain to get out. I have several other posts on how to remove them but they usually are not fun and are very time consuming.
To prevent such a thing, you need a decent anti virus program, even an anti spyware program can help as well. Why? Because like I said before, if a door is opened for a piece of spyware, and a trojan downloader follows it in, the trojan downloader will simply open up other ports in your computer and let more in (just like the greeks did to the trojans).
What else can you do to prevent them? Well, I've said it before in other posts but I'll mention it again: Don't open e-mail from people you don't know, don't click strange links from friends or family that look like this http://www.gejrgegepoijk1123pfergfe.com/. Those are VERY OFTEN a virus or trojan horse attempting to get into your system, possibly keylog you, or phish you out. None of those end well, they usually end up identity theft and the like. Thats all you'd need is to receive an e-mail from uncle fred, click "his" link to view his "cool picture", then it asks you to create a new account using your username and password from your e-mail, so you type that in, and they put a keylogger on your machine and you never receive the cool picture from uncle fred. Not cool. Then, to make it worse, they keylog ALL your usernames, passwords, etc. and have full access to your bank account, social security number, checking, stocks, whatever you have.
So, a word to the wise, it's not so much the question, what is a computer trojan horse? It's what can I do to prevent a computer trojan horse?
TechSavvyT
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
So, if that little bit of history didn't help you figure it out, heres exactly what it is... When it comes to what a computer trojan horse is, it's a malicious virus or malware they infiltrates a computer through subterfuge. In other words, they trick the computer/firewall/anti-virus/anti-spyware, etc. that they are a "friendly" program, or string of code, or anything else that may "ping" the computer and the computer unknowingly lets it in. Sometimes, a Computer Trojan Horse will simply "follow" another computer in through a backdoor or in an open, unwatched port.
Essentially, once a Trojan Horse gets in, they can turn into things like Antivirus 2009, XP antivirus pro and any other slew of malware meant to look like an anti virus program. By the way, once you get these, they usually disable your internet, stop you from using Ctrl + alt + delete, disable your system restore (even though it hides in your system restore) and essentially bug the snot out of you until you decide to purchase their fake anti virus software because you have been infected by 27 viruses, 15 malware, and 200 spyware!!! Oh my! But, don't worry, for the low low low low cost of $49.99, they will happily "remove them" for you! Of course, if you do this, they will take your money onto an offshore account never to be seen again, and the program still won't disappear.
So, for those of you who wanted to know what is a computer trojan horse, now you know. The best thing you can do when it comes to a computer trojan horse is to prevent it. Once they get in, they can be a REAL pain to get out. I have several other posts on how to remove them but they usually are not fun and are very time consuming.
To prevent such a thing, you need a decent anti virus program, even an anti spyware program can help as well. Why? Because like I said before, if a door is opened for a piece of spyware, and a trojan downloader follows it in, the trojan downloader will simply open up other ports in your computer and let more in (just like the greeks did to the trojans).
What else can you do to prevent them? Well, I've said it before in other posts but I'll mention it again: Don't open e-mail from people you don't know, don't click strange links from friends or family that look like this http://www.gejrgegepoijk1123pfergfe.com/. Those are VERY OFTEN a virus or trojan horse attempting to get into your system, possibly keylog you, or phish you out. None of those end well, they usually end up identity theft and the like. Thats all you'd need is to receive an e-mail from uncle fred, click "his" link to view his "cool picture", then it asks you to create a new account using your username and password from your e-mail, so you type that in, and they put a keylogger on your machine and you never receive the cool picture from uncle fred. Not cool. Then, to make it worse, they keylog ALL your usernames, passwords, etc. and have full access to your bank account, social security number, checking, stocks, whatever you have.
So, a word to the wise, it's not so much the question, what is a computer trojan horse? It's what can I do to prevent a computer trojan horse?
TechSavvyT
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
How to remove a computer virus for free
Nobody wants to pay to remove a computer virus, so I'm going to go through a few details on how to remove a computer virus for free and some of the programs you can use, but most importantly how to prevent them.
Preventing a virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit and boot sector virus should be your first step. They seem like common sense now a days, but I'll go over a few.
Don't open e-mails from people you don't know. Even when opening e-mail from friends, if the URL/Web Address is something like http://www.jhrgserglkjser.net/com/gov/whatever don't click on it. These usually install a tracking cookie or some type of keylogger once you hit the website. Something these sneaky links are hyperlinked behind a word. Simply move your mouse over the hyperlinked word and on the bottom left of your screen it will usually show you the URL/Web Address. If it doesn't, it's better to be safe the sorry and not follow the link.
Don't visit illegitimate sites. I shouldn't have to state their names. Specifically, because the search engines don't list a site with their names in them very quickly. You're an adult, do what you want, but those sites a cest pools for viruses (viri), malware, trojan horses, adware, spyware, rootkits and boot sector viruses (viri). As well as anything that lets you download software thats not yours. Enough said.
Even if you "follow the rules", there will still be times where you just get a virus. Nothing you can do about it. Even the best anti virus programs miss some. They are never 100% effective at finding, preventing, and blocking a virus. Especially when you change the rules of th program, don't update it, have a free anti virus program, and many more. Anyways, back to how to remove a computer virus for free.
First off, download something like avast, AVG, super antispyware, malware bytes, AVG rootkit, Microsoft Malicious Software tool, The Hitman etc. My personal favorite is Malware bytes, because it doesn't interfere with my other Anti virus or anti spyware programs and it's been VERY effective in the past at removing a computer virus, even with the free version.
Attempt to install the program. If you can't install it the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus is defending itself. If you already have a program installed and you scan the computer but don't find anything it's defending itself by likely removing the definition from the anti virus program's database. Not cool. Anyways, theres always another option but you have to have another computer for it.
At this point, it's not really "free" anymore, but if you buy the tool one time and use it a couple times or clean out a friend or family members computer for a few bucks, well, you're right back to free again! Anyways,
you can get a USB transfer cable, the one that has a two sided USB. You can usually find this at a Best Buy or online for $20 or so. Otherwise, you can always Google Universal USB Hard Drive Adapter. This costs aorund $40, but you can adapt it to pretty much any hard drive. This is the better of the two options because the infected machine doesn't have to be turned on or booted into windows. When windows is booted, the virus is active and it can defend itself. When windows is not booted, the virus is dormant. If you get either option, simply hook it up to an uninfected computer and scan using whatever program you want.
If for any reason you do all this, it finds virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus, and you turn the infected machine back on and the virus appears again. Then, it's hiding in the system volume information. What is the system volume information? Well, it's a fancy thing that many people call "System Restore". The system volume information holds the... information needed for windows to restore the machine back to a previous date called a restore point. So, you need to wipe this out. For windows xp click start, right click my computer, click properties, go to the system restore tab, and checkmark the check box. Click apply or ok, this can take something like 10 seconds to 20 minutes to remove all the restore points. After they are removed, rescan the machine in whatever way is most effective, remove the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus againa and reboot the (previously) infected machine. If all went well, it won't appear again.
Essentially, this is how to remove a computer virus for free. There really aren't much better ways to do it except to use specific tools to remove specific viruses (viri), malware, trojan horses, adware, spyware, rootkits and boot sector viruses (viri).
TechSavvyT
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
Preventing a virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit and boot sector virus should be your first step. They seem like common sense now a days, but I'll go over a few.
Don't open e-mails from people you don't know. Even when opening e-mail from friends, if the URL/Web Address is something like http://www.jhrgserglkjser.net/com/gov/whatever don't click on it. These usually install a tracking cookie or some type of keylogger once you hit the website. Something these sneaky links are hyperlinked behind a word. Simply move your mouse over the hyperlinked word and on the bottom left of your screen it will usually show you the URL/Web Address. If it doesn't, it's better to be safe the sorry and not follow the link.
Don't visit illegitimate sites. I shouldn't have to state their names. Specifically, because the search engines don't list a site with their names in them very quickly. You're an adult, do what you want, but those sites a cest pools for viruses (viri), malware, trojan horses, adware, spyware, rootkits and boot sector viruses (viri). As well as anything that lets you download software thats not yours. Enough said.
Even if you "follow the rules", there will still be times where you just get a virus. Nothing you can do about it. Even the best anti virus programs miss some. They are never 100% effective at finding, preventing, and blocking a virus. Especially when you change the rules of th program, don't update it, have a free anti virus program, and many more. Anyways, back to how to remove a computer virus for free.
First off, download something like avast, AVG, super antispyware, malware bytes, AVG rootkit, Microsoft Malicious Software tool, The Hitman etc. My personal favorite is Malware bytes, because it doesn't interfere with my other Anti virus or anti spyware programs and it's been VERY effective in the past at removing a computer virus, even with the free version.
Attempt to install the program. If you can't install it the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus is defending itself. If you already have a program installed and you scan the computer but don't find anything it's defending itself by likely removing the definition from the anti virus program's database. Not cool. Anyways, theres always another option but you have to have another computer for it.
At this point, it's not really "free" anymore, but if you buy the tool one time and use it a couple times or clean out a friend or family members computer for a few bucks, well, you're right back to free again! Anyways,
you can get a USB transfer cable, the one that has a two sided USB. You can usually find this at a Best Buy or online for $20 or so. Otherwise, you can always Google Universal USB Hard Drive Adapter. This costs aorund $40, but you can adapt it to pretty much any hard drive. This is the better of the two options because the infected machine doesn't have to be turned on or booted into windows. When windows is booted, the virus is active and it can defend itself. When windows is not booted, the virus is dormant. If you get either option, simply hook it up to an uninfected computer and scan using whatever program you want.
If for any reason you do all this, it finds virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus, and you turn the infected machine back on and the virus appears again. Then, it's hiding in the system volume information. What is the system volume information? Well, it's a fancy thing that many people call "System Restore". The system volume information holds the... information needed for windows to restore the machine back to a previous date called a restore point. So, you need to wipe this out. For windows xp click start, right click my computer, click properties, go to the system restore tab, and checkmark the check box. Click apply or ok, this can take something like 10 seconds to 20 minutes to remove all the restore points. After they are removed, rescan the machine in whatever way is most effective, remove the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus againa and reboot the (previously) infected machine. If all went well, it won't appear again.
Essentially, this is how to remove a computer virus for free. There really aren't much better ways to do it except to use specific tools to remove specific viruses (viri), malware, trojan horses, adware, spyware, rootkits and boot sector viruses (viri).
TechSavvyT
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
Monday, March 8, 2010
How to find and remove a virus
This post is on how to find and remove a virus, which is fairly similar to my post on how to remove a virus from a laptop.
There are many anti virus programs out there that you can use to find and remove a virus, but there are a good lot of them that either take up too many system resources or don't remove enough viruses (the plural of virus is viri, but for search engines, I want them to see and use the root term virus.) There are plenty of anti virus programs out there than you can use, and I will delve into those in a later post.
Like I stated in the post previous to this, you will likely want to start by doing the easiest route (unless you already scanned your computer for viruses (viri). You'll try and set the computer back to a previous restore point in hopes that the virus didn't exist during that time.
So, the restore point didn't work? Well, then you decided to scan your machine again right? Did you reset your computer like the program said you would have to, then low and behold the virus came back? Yeah, thats not uncommon anymore. Any good virus programmer knows how to use windows restore points to "resurrect" the virus after it's been removed. Anyywas, I'm here to talk about how to find and remove a virus so lets move on.
So, you'll need to remove all the previous restore points. If you have windows xp you go to the bottom left of your computer and click start, you then right click "My Computer". In the next window that opens up you'll see a tab on the top left that says "System Restore" Click that and you'll find a checkbox on the next page that says something about turning off system restore points. Check the and hit ok. This can take anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes depending on the speed of your computer.
For Vista and Windows 7 users, it will be very similar. Instead of "Start" it's a little windows symbol which symbolizes "Start", instead of "My Computer" it's simply, "Computer". On the next screen, you follow to the System Restore tab and turn off restore points as well.
After this is done you'll want to run your antivirus program again, full scan, and once you reset your machine the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, or spyware should be fully removed. If this is not the case, you'll either want to try a new one, or hookup your infected hard drive to a clean computer. How? Let me explain.
Go online and google "Universal USB hard drive adapter", they generally cost around $40. Cool, so you get that, and you remove the infected hard drive (laptop or desktop) and hook it up to a clean computer (laptop or desktop) using the universtal usb hard drive adapter. Simply run the anti virus program that is on the clean computer and make it scan the infected hard drive and it should remove it without problems. If for any reason this doesn't work, your next best options are to get a windows OEM disk (disclaimer: acquiring one of these through an online source that is not Microsoft can lead to lawsuits with penalties including but not limited to monetary fines and/or prison time. Consult a lawyer before you decide to find an ISO or other burnable image file and download it. I do not suggest this, but many of you already likely know how, so I put it up as an option ) or use the recovery partition or recovery disks for your machine.
Using the recovery disks or partition will wipe out your entire computer, including all of your personal files. You will want to save these to an external hard drive or something similar before doing a full system restore. With an OEM copy of your windows, you'll need to reinstall ALL drivers after you reformat (delete everything) your machine. This will of course wipe out your personal files and programs as well. You cannot save programs, so be sure you have an install disk or file available.
Essentially, this is how to find and remove a virus. Best of luck and good virus hunting!
TechSavvyT
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
There are many anti virus programs out there that you can use to find and remove a virus, but there are a good lot of them that either take up too many system resources or don't remove enough viruses (the plural of virus is viri, but for search engines, I want them to see and use the root term virus.) There are plenty of anti virus programs out there than you can use, and I will delve into those in a later post.
Like I stated in the post previous to this, you will likely want to start by doing the easiest route (unless you already scanned your computer for viruses (viri). You'll try and set the computer back to a previous restore point in hopes that the virus didn't exist during that time.
So, the restore point didn't work? Well, then you decided to scan your machine again right? Did you reset your computer like the program said you would have to, then low and behold the virus came back? Yeah, thats not uncommon anymore. Any good virus programmer knows how to use windows restore points to "resurrect" the virus after it's been removed. Anyywas, I'm here to talk about how to find and remove a virus so lets move on.
So, you'll need to remove all the previous restore points. If you have windows xp you go to the bottom left of your computer and click start, you then right click "My Computer". In the next window that opens up you'll see a tab on the top left that says "System Restore" Click that and you'll find a checkbox on the next page that says something about turning off system restore points. Check the and hit ok. This can take anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes depending on the speed of your computer.
For Vista and Windows 7 users, it will be very similar. Instead of "Start" it's a little windows symbol which symbolizes "Start", instead of "My Computer" it's simply, "Computer". On the next screen, you follow to the System Restore tab and turn off restore points as well.
After this is done you'll want to run your antivirus program again, full scan, and once you reset your machine the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, or spyware should be fully removed. If this is not the case, you'll either want to try a new one, or hookup your infected hard drive to a clean computer. How? Let me explain.
Go online and google "Universal USB hard drive adapter", they generally cost around $40. Cool, so you get that, and you remove the infected hard drive (laptop or desktop) and hook it up to a clean computer (laptop or desktop) using the universtal usb hard drive adapter. Simply run the anti virus program that is on the clean computer and make it scan the infected hard drive and it should remove it without problems. If for any reason this doesn't work, your next best options are to get a windows OEM disk (disclaimer: acquiring one of these through an online source that is not Microsoft can lead to lawsuits with penalties including but not limited to monetary fines and/or prison time. Consult a lawyer before you decide to find an ISO or other burnable image file and download it. I do not suggest this, but many of you already likely know how, so I put it up as an option ) or use the recovery partition or recovery disks for your machine.
Using the recovery disks or partition will wipe out your entire computer, including all of your personal files. You will want to save these to an external hard drive or something similar before doing a full system restore. With an OEM copy of your windows, you'll need to reinstall ALL drivers after you reformat (delete everything) your machine. This will of course wipe out your personal files and programs as well. You cannot save programs, so be sure you have an install disk or file available.
Essentially, this is how to find and remove a virus. Best of luck and good virus hunting!
TechSavvyT
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
How to remove a virus from a laptop
If you want to learn how to remove a virus from a laptop, it's the same way as you would a desktop.
Run you antivirus program and there you go. Though sometimes this is not possible, the one you have isn't effective which we'll deal with later.
Often times a virus likes to hide in the restore points in your computer. To stop this from happening, you need to wipe out all the restore points. For those of you that don't know the difference restore points are not the same as a recovery partition.
The recovery partition allows you to format (delete all files) from your C: drive (hard drive) and start over from the beginning aka: the way the manufacturer built your machine. This will delete all your files, and any virus, malware, trojan horse, adware or spyware you have as well. Though for those of you familiar with a boot sector virus or a rootkit, this is often not the case. Instead of the recovery partition, you can always use your recovery disks if you made or purchased them. This post is about how to remove a virus from a laptop, not the "wonders" of recovery partition/disks. I digress.
Your first move should be to try and use a restore point that was automatically saved and see if that works. If you can't boot into windows, you have other options because it is likely for you to be reading this you have another computer. I'll come back to that later as well.
If going back to a previous restore point does not help then you will need to run your antivirus program. Of course, if you have restore points the virus will simply come back when you reboot the machine. Back in the day this was not the case, but the designers of this little miscreants have gotten smarter as they have watched their work get wiped off the internet and our computers one virus definition at a time.
To wipe out all your restore points in windows xp simply click the start menu (bottom left of your screen) and right click on "My computer" or for Vista and windows 7 users, "Computer" then click properties. On the next window that pops up you'll find "System Restore". Simply click the check box that says "Turn Off System Restore" and it will delete all restore points. This can take between 20 seconds to 20 minutes depending on the speed of your machine.
After you are done wiping out your restore points, you can scan your laptop for a virus, malware, trojan horse, adware or spyware. If the program you have is successful, upon rebooting into windows you will find that the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware or spyware is gone and did not "resurrect". To turn restore points back on, do what I described before, except uncheck the box and hit ok.
If you can't boot into windows, or your antivirus program cannot find the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus the virus may be defending itself in some way. The next best option besides doing a full system recovery is to buy a universal hard drive adapter (around $40 online), pop out the infected hard drive, hook it up to a computer that works, and run your antivirus program from the working machine on the newly attached infected drive. Generally this takes care of the issue because the virus isn't active unless you boot into windows on the affected drive.
Well, there you have it. Answered the question "How to remove a virus from a laptop"
TechSavvyT,
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
Run you antivirus program and there you go. Though sometimes this is not possible, the one you have isn't effective which we'll deal with later.
Often times a virus likes to hide in the restore points in your computer. To stop this from happening, you need to wipe out all the restore points. For those of you that don't know the difference restore points are not the same as a recovery partition.
The recovery partition allows you to format (delete all files) from your C: drive (hard drive) and start over from the beginning aka: the way the manufacturer built your machine. This will delete all your files, and any virus, malware, trojan horse, adware or spyware you have as well. Though for those of you familiar with a boot sector virus or a rootkit, this is often not the case. Instead of the recovery partition, you can always use your recovery disks if you made or purchased them. This post is about how to remove a virus from a laptop, not the "wonders" of recovery partition/disks. I digress.
Your first move should be to try and use a restore point that was automatically saved and see if that works. If you can't boot into windows, you have other options because it is likely for you to be reading this you have another computer. I'll come back to that later as well.
If going back to a previous restore point does not help then you will need to run your antivirus program. Of course, if you have restore points the virus will simply come back when you reboot the machine. Back in the day this was not the case, but the designers of this little miscreants have gotten smarter as they have watched their work get wiped off the internet and our computers one virus definition at a time.
To wipe out all your restore points in windows xp simply click the start menu (bottom left of your screen) and right click on "My computer" or for Vista and windows 7 users, "Computer" then click properties. On the next window that pops up you'll find "System Restore". Simply click the check box that says "Turn Off System Restore" and it will delete all restore points. This can take between 20 seconds to 20 minutes depending on the speed of your machine.
After you are done wiping out your restore points, you can scan your laptop for a virus, malware, trojan horse, adware or spyware. If the program you have is successful, upon rebooting into windows you will find that the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware or spyware is gone and did not "resurrect". To turn restore points back on, do what I described before, except uncheck the box and hit ok.
If you can't boot into windows, or your antivirus program cannot find the virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit or boot sector virus the virus may be defending itself in some way. The next best option besides doing a full system recovery is to buy a universal hard drive adapter (around $40 online), pop out the infected hard drive, hook it up to a computer that works, and run your antivirus program from the working machine on the newly attached infected drive. Generally this takes care of the issue because the virus isn't active unless you boot into windows on the affected drive.
Well, there you have it. Answered the question "How to remove a virus from a laptop"
TechSavvyT,
Answering all your obscure virus, malware, trojan horse, adware, spyware, rootkit, boot sector virus and worm needs.
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