McAfee VIRUSSCAN 4.5 -, Administrator'S Manual, Page: 71 / 208

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Administrator’s Guide 71
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Removing Infections
From Your System
If you suspect you have a virus...
First of all, don’t panic! Although far from harmless, most viruses that infect
your machine will not destroy data, play pranks, or render your computer
unusable. Even the comparatively rare viruses that do carry a destructive
payload usually produce their nasty effects in response to a trigger event. In
most cases, unless you actually see evidence of a payload that has activated,
you will have time to deal with the infection properly. The very presence of
these small snippets of unwanted computer code can, however, interfere with
your computer’s normal operation, consume system resources and have other
undesirable effects, so you should take them seriously and be sure to remove
them when you encounter them.
A second idea to keep in mind is that odd computer behavior, unexplained
system crashes, or other unpredictable events might have causes other than
virus infections. If you believe you have a virus on your computer because of
occurrences such as these, scanning for viruses might not produce the results
you expect, but it will help eliminate one potential cause of your computer
problems.
The safest course of action you can take is to install VirusScan software, then scan
your system immediately and thoroughly.
When you install VirusScan software, Setup starts the VirusScan application
to examine your computer’s memory and your hard disk boot sectors in order
to verify that it can safely copy its files to your hard disk without risking their
infection. If the application does not detect any infections, continue with the
installation, then scan your system thoroughly as soon as you restart your
computer. File-infector viruses that don’t load into your computer’s memory
or hide in your hard disk boot blocks might still be lurking somewhere on your
system. See
Chapter 2, “Installing VirusScan Software,” to learn about virus
scanning during setup. See Chapter 4, “Using VirusScan Software,” to learn
how to scan your system.
If the VirusScan application detects a virus during Setup, you’ll need to
remove it from your system before you install the program. To learn how to
do so, follow the steps that begin on
page 72 .
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IMPORTANT: To ensure maximum security, you should also follow
these same steps if a VirusScan component detects a virus in your
computer’s memory at some point after installation.