MAINTENANCE ANNOYANCES
RECOVERING FROM A VIRUS
The Annoyance:
I caught a virus from an email attachment. My anti-virus utility found it and supposedly erased it, but now my system stutters and coughs and crashes left and right. Do I need to wipe the hard drive and reload the operating system from scratch?
The Fix:
Even when anti-virus tools manage to locate and eradicate a virus, it can still irreparably damage critical files. This can cause all kinds of system problems and force you to start from scratch. But before you throw in the towel, do a last-minute sanity check.
Start with your anti-virus utility. Older signature definitions may not detect or remove all current virus threats, so update your virus definitions and scan the system again (you might luck out and squash that one last bug hidden somewhere on your PC). On the other hand, if the problems started after a certain date, you might prevail on the System Recovery utility under Windows XP. Select Start → All Programs → Accessories → System Tools → System Restore, choose the “Restore my computer to an earlier time option,” and follow the wizard (see Figure 1-23). If the trouble started after you installed a new program, the Add/Remove Programs wizard can remove problem programs.

Figure 1-23. The System Restore wizard
You may be able to repair the Windows XP installation if you boot from the Windows XP disc. When the Windows XP Setup ...