>>892133It is better to just reinstall the whole OS, since you can do that in <2 hours. It is the only way to know that everything is [probably] gone.
You can try saving off any personal files first, but you should make sure that all the internet methods are disabled (no ethernet and wireless turned off).... And sometimes the malware won't let you do this however, to block you from loading any antivirus software that way (it won't recognize any external drives if you connect them).
With WindowsXP Microsoft has admitted that it is possible for their OS to get a virus that it cannot remove from itself. Also many times multiple malware is installed: if #A doesn't run, then #B runs, and if #B doesn't run, then #C runs, ect. And if any of them connect to the internet at all, whatever one is running often re-downloads all the malware again. Sometimes they include an old malware in there that is easy to find and remove, just so you remove that one and think that you won,,,,,,,,, but you really didn't.
If you REALLY wanted to search for the virus the best way to do it would be to take the hard-drive out and attach it as a slave in another computer, and scan through it that way. You won't have a chance by running it in the PC itself. Malware can alter file-search and file-explorer results so that you literally cannot see them on-screen.
The antivirus programs are pretty useless after an infection... They all say that IF you made a recovery CD, and IF you kept it updated, then it may work--but regular people never update that CD every week, or even regularly at all. And if it isn't updated it probably won't work, since there's new viruses all the time. So it's really a pointless feature.
