Cope With Manually Windows XP Computer That Very Badly Infected by Viruses

Cope With Manually Windows XP Computer That Very Badly Infected by Viruses

Hello Erni.

If a system is badly infected by viruses, the surest way of cleaning it is to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system.  You could try cleaning it with antiviruses but each virus has its own way of damaging the operating system.  System files, the registry are frequents targets of viruses that severely compromises the security and integrity of the host machine.  Here are my suggested steps:

1.  Obtain a LiveCD of any Linux distro.  For ease of use, I recommend Ubuntu.  You can ask someone to download the ISO and burn a DVD or create a bootable USB flash disk for you.

2.  Boot up your system using the LiveCD or bootable flash disk.  You may have to set your BIOS to enable booting from an external USB device to accomplish this.

3.  Using the Linux OS, copy all your important files to another partition, separate hard disk or network drive.  The Linux OS will be unaffected by the Windows virus.

4.  Once you have safely backed up all your data, reformat the Windows hard drive or partition and reinstall from scratch.  Make sure to do a full format to remove all traces of the virus.

Cope With Manually Windows XP Computer That Very Badly Infected by Viruses

Since your computer is already infected with different viruses, the best way of dealing with it is to use Sophos Virus Removal Tool. This is the tool best used on computers that are already infected with a virus. Take note, this is not an antivirus program that can monitor your machine for viruses and other threats. It is only a tool for removing viruses.

It is not a substitute for your antivirus and works alongside any antivirus programs you may have. You don’t need to uninstall your antivirus to use it. When installing the tool, don’t disconnect your machine from the internet. It automatically updates its virus database after the installation that’s why an internet connection is required. After the installation, start the program and scan your computer.

The tool will display the infected files at the end of the scan. Remove them then repeat the scan until it no longer detects a virus.