User Guide

3
User’s Guide 69
3Removing Infections
From Your System
If you suspect you have a virus...
First of all, don’t panic! Although far from harmless, most viruses that infect
your machine will not destroy data, play pranks, or render your computer
unusable. Even the comparatively rare viruses that do carry a destructive
payload usually produce their nasty effects in response to a trigger event. In
most cases, unless you actually see evidence of a payload that has activated,
you will have time to deal with the infection properly. The very presence of
these smallsnippets of unwanted computer code can, however, interfere with
your computer’s normaloperation,consume systemresourcesand have other
undesirable effects, so you should take them seriously and be sure to remove
them when you encounter them.
A second idea to keep in mind is that odd computer behavior, unexplained
system crashes, or other unpredictable events might have causes other than
virus infections. If you believe you have a virus on your computer because of
occurrences such as these, scanning for viruses might not produce the results
you expect, but it will help eliminate one potential cause of your computer
problems.
The safest course of action you can take is to install Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus, then
scan your system immediately and thoroughly.
When you install Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus, Setup starts the Dr Solomon’s
Anti-Virus application to examine your computer’s memory and your hard
disk boot sectors in order to verify that it can safely copy its files to your hard
disk without risking their infection. If the application does not detect any
infections,continuewith the installation,thenscan your system thoroughlyas
soon as you restart your computer. File-infector viruses that don’t load into
your computer’s memory or hide in your hard disk boot blocks might still be
lurking somewhere on your system. See Chapter 2, “Installing Dr Solomon’s
Anti-Virus,”tolearnaboutvirusscanningduringsetup.SeeChapter5,“Using
the Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus application,” to learn how to scan your system.
IftheDrSolomon’s Anti-Virusapplication detectsa virusduring Setup,you’ll
need to remove it from your system before you install the program. To learn
howtodoso,followthestepsthatbeginonpage 70.
IMPORTANT: To ensure maximum security, you should also follow
these samesteps ifa DrSolomon’sAnti-Virus component detects a virus
in your computer’s memory at some point after installation.