Avast does a scan and says that I have this virus on my computer. Then Avast says that it cannot delete this virus. Then when I go looking for the virus that Avast names, I cannot fiind it anywhere on my hard drive to manually delte this file. What am I do do?
Firstly deletion isn’t really a good first option (you have none left), ‘first do no harm’ don’t delete, send virus to the chest and investigate.
What is the infected file name, where was it found e.g. (C:\windows\system32\infected-file-name.xxx) ? Check the avast! Log Viewer (right click the avast icon), Warning section, this contains information on all avast detections.
Windows in its infinite wisdom protects files in use (even malware) or in system folders, so it is likely that avast! can’t delete or move files in use. So schedule boot-time scan in avast’s menu if you have XP, win2k or NT, otherwise boot into safe mode and run an avast scan. This should ensure that the file isn’t in use and avast should be able to deal with it.
If you have XP or Win2k, you could enable a boot time scan. Right click the avast icon, select Start avast! Antivirus, Menu, ‘Schedule boot-time scan…’