If you have installed virus protection software and it has detected a virus in your system, first try to get the software to “clean” or “disinfect” the files. If this doesn’t work, you’ll most likely have to delete these files from your system.
If you receive an e-mail attachment that your anti-virus software flags, delete it immediately. It is a good idea to play it safe with attachments in general and not open any that aren’t from a trusted source. If you receive an e-mail message with an attachment containing a virus you will not infect your system as long as you do not open the attachment.
In extreme cases, it may be necessary to reformat your hard drive, destroying all of the data on it. Then you’ll have to reinstall your software and data, assuming you have the original software disks and clean backups of your files.
In this case, it’s a good idea to install your virus protection software first on the empty hard drive, so that the integrity of your backup files and original software can be verified.
You might also want to contact all the people that you’ve recently exchanged data with — via floppy disks, e-mail attachments, Zip disks — and let them know your system’s been infected and theirs may be infected as well. You’d want to advise them to check their system for the appropriate virus or symptoms.