Our desktop support folks at my work site incorrectly installed Norton several years ago. This installation interfered with keeping the signatures up-to-date. As a result, I just got hit by a virus two weeks ago. I have since rebuilt the laptop after formatting the disk.
I had some interest in using data files from the infected disk, so I made a copy and scanned it with a healthy, updated Norton at work and my AVG installation at home. They both found the same infected files. This gave me some degree of confidence in my AVG.
I made a disk partition copy of the infected disk using a live knoppix boot. Then I used an outboard “SATA/IDE to USB” adapter to mount the copied drive on the machines with the healthy virus detectors. I use the same adapter to copy data from the backup disk. Even though all infections are supposedly cleaned, now, I will not use any executable files from the copy of the infected disk.
I just love the way you guys talk ... if this was a war zone and we had a prisoner and you were explaining the whys and wherefors of said prisoner ... I’d hear you out, say “whatever”, and blow the bastards head off.