Expert: Lorry - 3/9/2006

Question
I had a WIN98 machine connecting remotely to a WIN2000 server.  On logoff from the server, I'm told other users were being disconnected.  Was told to check for virus and update to XP.  I bought XP Home Ed., reformated the HD from FAT32 to NTFS and installed XP without issue.  I also ran all updates to XP.  All was fine until AV install (AV program is provided by the cable company (internet provider) and guaranteed to stop 100% of viruses).  AV Program installed fine but on reboot, system went belly up.  Only the power is working.  The AV program provider said it was probably a virus on the system.

Is this possible?  Can a virus be that destructive and where do I start to fix a machine that won't even boot.  Could it have been a boot level virus that affected the BIOS or other hardware?

Thanks,

John

Answer
Hi John,

It's very possible that there was/is a boot virus on board. Can you start the computer in Safe Mode. To do that, keep tapping the "F8" key until given different ways to start Windows, using the arrow keys highlight Safe Mode. Once in Safe Mode, run a virus scan.

Check out the following information on boot viruses:

http://antivirus.about.com/cs/tutorials/a/bsvirus.htm

Not knowing what ISP you use, I would suggest that you download AVG, a good, free AV program available from:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Norton AntiVirus is a good program also but you have to pay for it. If you decide to go with that, look for a sale price  at the local stores.

Hope this helps!
Lorry