I believe I have a virus, and I can't seem to get rid of it. I've reformated the hard drive, but it's still there when I reinstall XP. Can a virus be in the ram or bios? If so, how can I get rid of it?

" Can a virus be in the ram or bios?"

Anything present in RAM disappears once the power is off. I have heard reports of infected BIOS but that is (imo) extremely unlikely (certainly rare, if even possible)

Now, the 64 dollar questions is: Why do you think you have a virus? Maybe you do, but there is a tendency to ascribe any unfamiliar computer activity to virus.

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I'm not sure if it is a virus or spyware. Whenever I'm connected to the internet, there is a extraordinary amount of traffic whether I'm using it or not. Also when I'm not connected, there seems to be a lot of resources being used.

There is a difference.

You need to try and rule things out. A decent firewall will allow you to control internet traffic on your machine and prevent rogue applications from 'phoning home' - it's my understanding that the XP firewall may not be the best thing to rely on.

Adware can be checked for by using Ad-aware & Spybot, among others - see Computing.Net's 'Security Tools' at the top of this forum's page - lots of links. A good AV scanner and perhaps even a separate scanner for Trojans is advisable - also there are online scanners for virus, trojans and even adware.

Keeping the various (installed) scanners updated is essential for the best protection.

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jboy, a virus can get into the bios a lot easier than you think. if you do not disable write to bios either by jumper or in the bios, a virus or wrong bios autoupdate can get in & screw the bios royally even with dual bioses. happened to a friend who got auto update for bios that was bad, ended up replacing board

david

Y'know, I was just waiting for the inevitable anecdote. It never fails.

There are viruses that can affect the BIOS, either by clearing or corrupting it (W32.Kriz, W32.Magistr.24876@mm, W32.Mypics etc) but they don't actually 'infect' the BIOS - certainly clearing a BIOS would do little to help if the infected files remain on the drive.

Maybe you can name one of these mythical virus that live in the BIOS, or provide a link?

A bad flash is not the same as a virus

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any bios gets into bios update site, rewrite the bin or rom so that when bios flashed bios screwed

david

Heh - what was that?

Sentences = good

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i meant any virus gets on bios download site, it changes the bin or rom files which are downloaded automatically or manually so when bios flashed the board might be duff

david

Good effort, anyways.

Another anecdote? Can you point out this site with the infected BIOS updates?

At any rate, stories aside, I don't believe that has thing one to do with the original question.

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clearly someone who hasnt been enlighten to all the forms of viruses,trojans,smart bombs,pitfalls,pacmans...and ah yes the bios virus. old school boys know they are around and most have a very well design. i will say its harder to get a bios virus then any other, as a matter of fact it would take a cleary stupid person to get one..as there is only a few ways to infect the bios, one being booting the computer up with a floppy.

to jboy:

i can send u a bio virus since u think they are mythical. if u crazy enough to put it on a floppy or any other boot disk then it suits u right. but be worn..u will need another mb.

W95/CIH.1019

English, please?

Yes, W95/CIH.1019 and a horde of others will flash or otherwise corrupt the BIOS - I've already listed several. Pay attention.

What keeps being suggested - and indeed, was the actual topic of this post - is that there is a "BIOS virus" that infects & resides in the actual BIOS and must be removed from same in order to restore computer function.

Thank you for your well thought out and concisely phrased input though - fascinating reading.

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what about a virus in the mbr? It could be in there when you re-load the os couldn't it?

we are microsoft! resistance is futile...you will be assimilated

One, you shouldnt be so rude when others are trying to lend a hand in helping.
I just got a call about a BIOS virus. message was "warning: boot sector is about to be modified...." You can hit Y or N. This is due to a virus that puts itself in the boot sector so that it is one of the first things loaded into memory, very common. With Virus protection enabled in BIOS any attempt to modify the boot sector whether it be a virus an application or disk diag tool will result in the warning message at boot up. You can boot from an antivirus cd if it provides emergency disk repair and this should get rid of the virus. or just disable the virus protect in BIOS setting and boot normally and make sure you have uptodate virus defs and scan. should get rid of the virus.

But remember, you ask for help you should accept help even if it is the wrong answer. All attempts to help should be noted and not dismissed in a rude manner. And your english is not completely up to par either.