“How to:  Get Rid of Archived and Java-Based Viruses”

By Ron Stultz

 20 September 2005

If you use AVG as your antivirus software and are running a XP-based machine, sometimes AVG will report finding one or more viruses but then when you go to delete a virus or put it into the virus vault, AVG will report that the defined operation is not available! So, what do you do to get rid of the virus? In most cases, if you Windows XP “System Restore” function and turn it off, this will delete all restore points where the offending virus is being held. Then when you run AVG virus scan again, it should not find viruses. After you are sure that all viruses are off your system, turn back on “System Restore.” 

AVG can also report a Java-based virus, which is harder to get rid of. In cases where AVG has reported a Java-based virus, I have had to go to “Documents and Settings” and delete the entire folder holding the offending virus.  In some cases, this has meant removing Sun’s Java machine software from my computer, which, if you need it, can be easily reinstalled. 

It is interesting to note that when AVG has found a virus and cannot either delete it or move it to the virus vault, its suggested solution is to connect to Microsoft and run their free virus removal tool. I have used Microsoft’s virus removal tool several times and it never finds the virus reported by AVG, much less removes it. Not sure why Microsoft even claims to have a virus removal tool.