_______ Dealing with virus infections_______

First, keep in mind "Nick's First Law of Computer Virus Complaints":

"Just because your computer is acting strangely or one of your programs
doesn't work right, this does NOT mean that your computer has a virus."

1. If you haven't used a good, up-to-date anti-virus program on your computer, do that first. Many problems blamed on viruses are actually caused by software configuration errors or other problems that have nothing to do with a virus.

2. If you do get infected by a virus, follow the directions in your anti-virus program for cleaning it. If you have backup copies of the infected files, use those to restore the files. Check the files you restore to make sure your backups weren't infected.

3. For assistance, check the web site and support services for your anti-virus software.

4. The "[alt.comp.virus]includes an excellent section on initial steps for dealing with a suspected virus infection.

Note: in general, drastic measures such as formatting your hard drive or
using FDISK should be avoided. They are frequently useless at cleaning a
virus infection, and may do more harm than good unless you're very
knowledgeable about the effects of the particular virus you're dealing with.