Here's the story: My customer's PC crashed. It said Invalid System Disk during boot, but stopped there and wouldn't boot to Windows. I used a boot disk and typed "sys C:" to restore the system files - this got windows running again, but there still seemed to be problems and their Norton Antivirus (NAV) Software seemed corrupt or something because it couldn't find a file for it (maybe the "sys C:" thing removed it or something - but not sure how the "sys C:" thing works). So I uninstalled and then re-installed the anit-virus software , downloaded all the latest updates, and scanned the hard drive. It did find a virus (it was one of the W32.Magistr.xxxxx@mm files). The updated anti-virus software said that it removed it. I guess my question is this. Is there software that you can run from a boot disk or cd-rom that would scan the hard drive and remove viruses without having to get Windows up and running? Also, if the customer doesn't want to purchase Anti-virus software, this would save me the time of installing my copy and then having to uninstall it (I'd hate to leave my registered copy on their PC:). PS - I didn't know the name of the virus or that the PC even had one going into this repair. If you can boot to a floppy, could you read/view the files on the C: drive to determine if it's infected before proceeding? Is there something in the autoexec.bat file that would provide a clue? Just trying to brush up my debugging skills so I appreciate any positive feedback. If you know of any web sites with detailed instructions on this type of thing, please point me there also.

Most antivirus software come with an option to create emergency bootdisks. These disks will boot your system and allow you to run a virus scan on a PC that is otherwise unbootable do to a possibly virus. I know NAV does have this. On a PC that already has NAV loaded, one of the program options should be to create emergency boot disks. Some versions of NAV will have this feature on one of the installation CDs (this is for the Corp. Edition). Here's a link on the topic for NAV ver. 5.0 http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/pfdocs/19982483935

Kyle,I know where you can get a program that will scan your computer for virus on boot up. you can reach me by e-mail at carbar81@hotmail.com. This set of disks will scan your computer in dos, working under the windows system. Myself,I wouldn't leave home without them...