Recently I realised my virus scanner was not correctly installed on the computer. When the virus scanner was correctly installed it immediately identified the presence of the ‘DO loader’ Trojan virus, with the unhelpful message ‘Virus cannot be disinfected’. Upon contacting the company who make the virus scanner, their help desk provided me with some commands to run through Safe Mode to remove the virus. However, all I received was ‘Bad command or file name’. My ISP recommended trying a free online virus scanning service, but that failed to even detect the virus. How can I get rid of this virus from the computer?

There is always the possibility your virus scanner has successfully removed the virus from the computer. Occasionally, virus scanners report they are unable to disinfect/clean a particular virus from the computer, but take alternative action (e.g. delete the infected file) or are able to clean the file at a later time. This may explain why the online scanner did not detect the virus. That said, there is also a possibility the online scanner just simply did not detect the virus which is still on your computer (since some virus scanners miss some viruses).

In any case, the only real way to remove the virus from your computer (other than attempting a manual removal) is to use virus scanning software. Given the trouble you have had with the current virus scanner I suggest you may wish to try a different program. My virus scanner of choice is Norton Antivirus. I have found this program particularly good at detecting most viruses, and is quite simple to use and relatively inexpensive (I have found NAV retailing at reputable stores for approximately $69.00). Be aware, Norton Antivirus 2006 only supports Windows 2000 and XP. However, according to the Symantec website, should you be running an older version of Windows, the boxed software package of Norton Antivirus 2006 also includes Norton Antivirus 2005, which is compatible with Windows 98/Me. That said, you should verify this yourself before purchase.

Make sure that prior to installing any new virus scanning software, you uninstall any virus scanners which were previously installed on your computer to prevent any potential conflicts.