Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 7/23/2008

Question
Hi.  My Microsoft word is acting very weird.  Any document that I open it has a paragraph symbol every time I press enter and a little dot for every time I press the space bar.  Apparently it doesn't show up to anyone else b/c I sent one of my documents to someone and none of those marking were on their computer, but I am still extremely concerned.  The other day I had received a "Hallmark ecard" and I tried to open it and there was a big warning about it being a possible virus and today I found out apparently I don't have virus protection anymore.  And something popped up on my computer today saying that a virus was trying to get in but it was blocked.  I am super concerned and I don't know what to do!

Answer
First of all, your computer probably is OK right now. There are simple explanations for what you have been seeing.

What you see in Word is OK because it is simply showing paragraph marks and spaces. You can get rid of those symbols by clicking the paragraph mark on the tool bar at the top of the screen (it looks like a backwards "P"). If you don't see the backwards P, click View --> Toolbars --> Standard and it should appear.

Next, that Hallmark ecard thing was almost certainly a hoax. A lot of people have been sending around warnings about Hallmark ecards and these warnings have always, so far, been false. It is true that you can get an attachment in email that carries a virus, but if what you got was a real Hallmark card, it wasn't a virus.

Next, how do you know you don't have antivirus protection any more?  Usually your antivirus program will create a small symbol on the toolbar at the bottom of your computer screen. If you see a red shield, and double click it, it will tell you if your antivirus isn't running any more. If you don't see a red shield, and you have Windows XP or Vista, then your antivirus is still running. It also will warn you every time you start up your computer if you don't have an antivirus program running.

Alternatively, you can check on your antivirus program by clicking Start--> All programs and look for the name of your antivirus program. Click on it and it should bring up a control panel where you can see if it is still protecting your computer.

Finally, a message saying a virus was blocked from entering your computer could have come from either your antivirus program or your firewall. If you see such a warning again, the warning should include the name of the company that manufactures your firewall or antivirus. You can use that information to use Start--> All Programs to bring up its control panel.

If you are still certain after trying all this that your antivirus program has stopped working, please let me know and I'll give your some more help.