How do you get rid of a computer virus?

Answer by  Felix88 (74)

The only way to make sure to eradicate the virus completely is to format your hard drive after backing up essential data to portable media. Otherwise use an anti-virus software.

Answer by  dbieniek (137)

To be honest, the only way to accomplish this is to format the hard drive. However, you can mitigate the damage from this virus by purchasing anti-virus software, and maintaining it (updates, etc).

Answer by  Karthon (403)

If you know exactly which virus it is, do a search for that specific virus and its removal instructions. It should tell you what to delete, what registry keys to clean up, and how to make sure it's been removed.

Answer by  abc25 (196)

The most fool-proof method is to first backup all your data files to an external hard drive or USB flash drive. Then perform a virus-scan on that on that backup drive using another "clean" computer. Then reformat the hard drive with the virus on it and reinstall your OS and software applications from scratch, or restore a previous "clean" backup.