"I Think I Have a Virus...What Should I Do?"

If you suspect your computer is infected, the action you take will vary somewhat depending upon your particular scenario, as described below:

1. 'My antivirus program discovered it!' If your antivirus software identifies a malicious program and quarantines, deletes, or fixes it, you should do a little research about the virus. Find out what it does, how it propagates, and how long it may have been on your computer. If necessary, contact your local computer support professional, Microcomputer Services (microhelp@lists.uoregon.edu), or the UO Security Group (security@uoregon.edu) for advice on preventing reinfection. If your antivirus program identifies an infected file but does not quarantine, delete, or fix it, reboot your system in safe mode and do a full system scan for viruses. This can be a common problem with Windows NT, 2000, and XP systems.
   
2. 'Network Security discovered it!' Unless you're capable of removing the virus yourself, turn your computer off until technical support can assist you. We strongly recommended not using a machine that is virally infected. The longer a virus is on the system, the more damage it can do to your files. There has been an increase in extremely malicious viruses that will delete or modify files on compromised systems. These types of viruses not only cause problems for you, but due to their potential access to network shares they can also modify, delete, and infect files belonging to your co-workers.
   
3. 'Someone I know told me my computer is virally infected.' To be on the safe side, verify that your computer definitions are up-to-date and run a full system scan. It could be that a virus is forging (“spoofing”) your email address account in infected email. In such cases you will see rejected email that you did not send arriving in your Inbox with a notice that your message had a viral attachment or was otherwise undeliverable.
   
4. 'I have Norton AntiVirus installed but it doesn't work.' This is often a really bad sign. Immediately contact your local technical support or Microcomputer Services for assistance.
   
5. 'My computer has gone wonky.' Your system instability could be due to a variety of factors, including infrequent rebooting, failing or conflicting hardware, corrupted files, insufficient memory—or last but not least, a viral infection. Contact your local technical support or Microcomputer Services for advice.