Expert: Lorry - 6/16/2007

Question
Hello Lorry, and thanks for your help! I have contracted a virus or trojan that has overwritten the boot sector on my hard drive.I Have another (uninstalled,unformatted-spare) hard drive. My question is- Can I disconnect my present hard drive, and install the spare-then install windows 98 on the spare with a good virus scanner on it, and when I am sure the system is clean, reinstall my infected hard drive as a slave and clean it using the spare as my master (boot disk)??? I will want to leave both hard drives in the machine afterward. Would it be smart to leave the spare in and use it only for the boot-up? Again Lorry Thanks Alot!!

Answer
Hi Mike,

Before doing that, try using Internet Explorer and go to:

http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

Click the GO button, then under Virus Detection, click Start. You might be told that you need to download and install ActiveX Controls for the scan to work, answer Yes.

Write down exactly anything it finds, then go to: http://www.symantec.com/search/  and do a search for what was found. Symantec usually has a removal tool and/or directions for removing manually. Make sure that you follow the instructions for removal, step by step.

If for some reason that doesn't remove the threat, then yes you could do what you suggested.

Hope this helps!
Lorry