does a virus in the restore folder ever execute? or does it just sit there waiting to be restored?

Personally, I have only used "restore" once. In my case, I discovered that it restored folders I had lost but not the contents of the folders (folder restored but empty? Thanks for nothing, literally) Everyone has advised to disable restore, reboot and then reenabling restore to wipe it's memory of viruses and trojans. Hopefully others more intune with System Restore can be more informative as to how it actually works. If you are not adverse to spending money for a reliable alternative, GoBack is a program that does the same thing but with a lot more options (full HD restore, file recovery and lets you view a log of exactly what programs were created or modified and EXACTLY when the changes took place). _________________________ Computers work with absolute flawless perfection, until the first person touches them!

Its a good idea to delete the contents of your system restore folder after a viral attack, Make sure your system is free of all viruses by doing the necessary scans with your AV software. Right click on My computer select properties click on the system restore tab, tick TURN OFF SYSTEM RESTORE ON ALL DRIVES. your computer will delete your restore files. Reboot, then reverse the above to turn back on system restore! Tim

this is a theoretical question. Do viruses in recovery ever get a chance to execute or are they dormant?

In theory they should lie there dormant until they get deleted as the restore file is deleted to make room for more restores or, if you are really stupid, that restore point is used. But then again, as I read somewhere on these forums, I would love to live in Theory, everything works in Theory......... D4