There are two types of antivirus software, Windows and DOS version.
I was told that some virus locate themselves in the memory during the Windows startup, then most Windows-version antivirus softwares can’t kill these virus, the only way to delete them is to boot the computer from floppy drive(or other removeable drive) where there is a DOS-version antivirus software, that is, only in the DOS environment, the virus can be cleaned up, not in the Windows.
I am not sure if this kind of remarks is correct, Thanks for any help!
Hi,
this is basically correct, although MBR/Boot&COM-viruses have gotten pretty rare in recent years, and don’t pose as much a threat as earlier
as a protection you can:
- disable booting from floppy in your PC’s BIOS
- configure avast to scan disks on boot and shutdown (which is imho default setting)
Which WIN do you have ? what filesystem (FAT/FAT32 or NTFS) ?
Simple AV-Bootdisks work only well on Win9x&ME (FAT) systems
IF you really need a bootable AV-Disk, you can use a clean, write-protected Windows/DOS-Startdisk together with avast for DOS (see
homepage or board-search here) or www.f-prot.com
For Win NT/2000/XP with NTFS-filesystem, scanning with Bootdisks/-CDs is also possible, but cleaning infections can be done only with special Tools, like avast’s BART-CD or LinuxDefender
for just cleaning MBR/Boot-Infections on NTFS systems, you can use the utilities fixboot & fixmbr from your WIN-Setup-CD
Thank you whocares.
The OS is Windows XP with FAT32, the virus is some kind of boot virus(detected by some other AV released more than 1 year ago, so the boot virus can’t be cleaned). the mouse froze at the center of the desktop windows just after the Windows started up and desktop appeared. then I could do nothing.
I am also very new to avast!4 free edtion and don’t know how to use it.
in whocares’ signature there is a link called “trendscan” click on it and see what it will do. Sorry i cant be of more help but i have never had a virus like that
MacLover2000
I love your new Avatar. ;D
Quote from http://www.f-prot.com/support/dos/dos_index.htmlPlease note that there is a problem with running a DOS antivirus scanner on Windows NT 4.0 / 2000 / 2003 / XP systems. It is not guaranteed that all files will be scanned. The reason for this has mainly to do with long filenames and non-ASCII characters in file names. DOS only “understands” 8 character long filenames.
Therefore use F-Prot Antivirus for Windows to scan Windows NT 4.0 / 2000 / 2003 / XP systems.
Therefore use F-Prot Antivirus for Windows to scan Windows NT 4.0 / 2000 / 2003 / XP systems.
I am using Windows XP, so f-prot for MS-DOS doesn’t work on it, does it?
phcb,
I’ll bite what or rather where is the :
Index of free internet phone services??? If it's supposed to be a hyperlink, then you forgot to select the YABBC tag and put the link between the two url brackets. Thanks
Hi,
F_PROT it should at least detect! the virus, so we can see it’s not a false alarm
what other scanner/version? DID detect it, and what exactly was the virus name ?
what about Onlinescanners (Trend, RAV) and FixBoot/fixMBR ?
I will try Onlinescanners (Trend, RAV) later, but I have downloaded NOD32 for MS-DOS, I will use it first, start the computer with the floppy disks, for the viruses are some kind of MBR and boot sector viruses. I wondered other Windows-Version AV can really work.
If you are using Windows XP, why don’t you schedule an avast running at boot time? You will be able to solve what you posted first: some virus locate themselves in the memory during the Windows startup, then most Windows-version antivirus softwares can’t kill these virus, the only way to delete them is to boot the computer from floppy drive (or other removeable drive) where there is a DOS-version antivirus software, that is, only in the DOS environment, the virus can be cleaned up, not in the Windows.
You can make a bootable CD with avast for DOS or, better, you can give a try on Bart CD from Alwil Software.