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[Fedora]

I don't wanna sound scary, but you may have bigger problems than just a virus. Do you have a hardware firewall of some kind on your internet connection?

Yes, I have Norton Internet Security which has a firewall. The firewall picked up two virus attacks shortly before my system locked up. One it said it deleted, the other it was unable to repair. Usually when that happens it's no big deal, so I didn't run the antivirus scan right away--was going to do it later--now I wish I would've run it.

[Ramius]

it should boot first from a CD in the drive. If it doesn't, you will need to change the boot order in your system BIOS. Not hard to do.

[Wneighbor]

No such things...

heh! Last week you had an unwelcome wench!

[Fedora]

Thanks--appreciate everybody's help.

[Rose in RoseBear]

Yipes ...

Yep, boot 'er up to the CD .... you should be able to clean from there, or at least scan.

[Fedora]

it should boot first from a CD in the drive. If it doesn't, you will need to change the boot order in your system BIOS. Not hard to do.

Okay. I used to know how to boot from BIOS, haven't done it in a while though and forgot. I will wait a minute to see what Rose has to say before trying to boot from the CD; then if that doesn't work I'll probably have a question about BIOS.

[Ramius]

It might not be a virus. It might be someone exploiting an unpatched vulnerability in your system.

I'm a big fan of hardware firewalls. Software firewalls are still a good thing, but a good hardware device, like a Netgear ProSafe device... is indispensable. They'll cover you even if your system is vulnerable.

[300winmag]

I think I have the CD I used to install Norton Internet Security. How do I boot to it?--you mean put it in the drive and hit "Run"?

A firewall CD won't help you. Borrow or buy an ANTIVIRUS CD (I recommend Symantec), and boot from it. It's designed to be bootable, and it starts a basic anti-virus system to scan your PC.

Most PCs have a BIOS setting that lets you use a CD as a boot device.

[Ramius]

Back in a few...

[Fedora]

Okay, sounds like it's consensus I should boot to the CD, so I'm gonna try that--back in a bit.

[Fedora]

Okay, I did that, I think. It gave me an option of booting to the disk, which I selected, and then it said it was doing a scan. The scan only took 1 second--does it scan faster in that mode or something?--usually it takes an hour to scan my whole system. Anyway, it scanned and said it found no viruses, and now it's giving me the prompt for the "A" drive. Now what?

[Fedora]

A firewall CD won't help you. Borrow or buy an ANTIVIRUS CD (I recommend Symantec), and boot from it. It's designed to be bootable, and it starts a basic anti-virus system to scan your PC.

It's the 2003 version that has Norton Antivirus integrated with the firewall. It uses Symantec's antivirus updates. I think maybe the basic anti-virus system you mention is what it just did--is the "basic" part why it went quicker than my normal weekly scan?

[Wneighbor]

heh. I'm sittin' here right along with ya waitin' for you answer! Think they all deserted us for a bit? :-)

[Fedora]

Either that or it's a scarier problem than they want to tell me :)

[Wneighbor]

or .... maybe they're just as stumped as you and I!!! hehehe

Winmag is prolly working at the moment. Rose is prolly looking at something else for the moment... or talkin' ta Bear. And Ramius is drivin' home... or picking up or avoiding wenches. :-)

They'll get back to ya.

[Wneighbor]

Whoa! The storm just hit here with a fury!!! It was loud!

[Fedora]

Or they're stalling 'cause they're gonna charge me by the hour for tech support :)

Yikes on the storm! Is it a bad one?

[Wneighbor]

Well, this is the Hobbit Hole. If they charge you it will be pints or food... or both! :-)

They say it's a bad storm possibly. Hail and high winds. Flash flooding. It hasn't started to rain yet. Just really loud thunder and bright lightening. I love that part of it! Just don't want any more damage to the house!

[Ramius]

Hey WN... hope the storm passes....???

[Ramius]

The reason the scan is only taking seconds is because it is probably scanning only the startup Norton CD itself, and not your hard drive. Can you change it to scan the c: drive instead?