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Computer Viruses
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How to determine if you have a Virus
So you think you've got a virus. Maybe you have,
maybe you haven't. This page is to help you decide. A lot of people have
problems with their computers, and problems related to hardware, software or
user error are often attributed to viruses.
Rule number one - Don't Panic
First of all, why do you think you have a virus? Is it because an anti-virus
package told you so? Like other software, anti-virus software is not infallible,
and some anti-virus packages give many false alarms. Here are some indicators
that it might be a false alarm:
 | Only one file is infected on your hard disk (viruses are designed to spread,
so a single infected file is unusual).
| The virus being reported is one of the several thousand that are not known
to be "in the wild"
| The anti-virus package doesn't name the virus that it thinks you have
| Your anti-virus says it has found "traces in memory" of the virus,
yet when you do a scan after clean-booting it finds nothing.
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Here are some indicators that it might really be a virus. Remember that they
are just indicators; none of them provides conclusive proof that you definitely
have a virus:
| According to an anti-virus package, several files on the computer are
infected, all with the same virus
| It is a virus that is known to be "in the wild"
| More than one anti-virus package agrees that you have a virus
| Several COM and/or EXE files on your computer are all larger than they used
to be, by about the same amount.
| Windows 95 refuses to use 32 bit disk access, or 32 bit file access
| If you try to save a Word for Windows document (using File|Save As), the
options are greyed-out. You cannot select the drive, folder or directory in
which to save the file; and 'Document Template is the selected option in the
'Save File as Type' box
| If your anti-virus program says that it has
identified
the virus, then it means that it has not just found a byte-signature, it means
that it has checksummed all the constant virus bytes, and they match the
checksum in it's database. So it's very unlikely to be a false alarm. |
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Here are some indicators that tell you nothing about the likelihood that you
have a virus (included here because many people think that they do):
| Your hard disk doesn't work any more
| You're getting unusual graphics on your screen
| Your hard disk light seems to come on for no particular reason
| You just ran some downloaded software |
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