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WHY DOESN'T BULLGUARD REMOVE THIS VIRUS? Most likely, the detected virus is placed inside an archive-file or packed file. An archive-/packed file is characterized by being 1 file containing a bunch of other files. The most common example is your mail-archive: Most mail-programs use 1 file which contains all the mails you sent and receive. Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora are examples of mail-programs using an archive-file to store all emails. Each mail-program has its own special way of keeping track of the individual files inside the archive-file. This is why it's very dangerous for 3rd party companies - like BullGuard or other anti-virus producers - to mess around inside these files: Since we can never be 100% sure to know the internal logic of the file there is a great risk of messing up the archive-file and making it unreadable to the mail-program. This danger is very real: The world of anti-virus is full of horror-stories telling the tale of anti-virus products trying to remove a virus from an archive-file and ending up accidentally deleting the entire inbox for the user. This is why BullGuard doesn't offer an automatic removal in these cases. The risk of destroying all your e-mails is simply too great.

How to remove a virus manually?

 

 

Sometimes, when BullGuard encounters a virus on your computer, you will not be given the option to disinfect.

 

You can read why in the box to the right. This guide will show you how to remove such a virus manually.
If you are not familiar with computers, it is recommended that you team up with a computer-wise friend :)

 

 

 

 

Note: This guide is for BullGuard v7.0 for Windows XP (also valid for v6.x). If you are using Windows Vista, choose the following guide: BullGuard v7.0 for Vista.

 

 

Locate the virus

 

 

 

First of all you have to locate the virus. To do so, take a close look at what BullGuard tells you in the message box:

 

"Object C:\Documents and settings\Tjes Boogie\Local settings\Application data\Outlook\Outlook.pst => [subject: eicar] [from: Theis Sondergaard] => eicar.com is infected with EICAR STANDARD TEST FILE"

 

In the above example it is clear that the virus is located in the users Outlook - an e-mail with the subject "eicar", sent by a person called "Theis Sondergaard" has an attachment called "eicar.com" which is a virus.

 

 

Another example is this:

 

"Object C:\Documents and settings\work.zip => eicar.com is infected with EICAR STANDARD TEST

FILE"

 

Here we are dealing with a file within a zip-archive - the file "eicar.com" is a virus and it is placed within the archive-file "work.zip".

It's now your turn to figure out if the virus your BullGuard has found is located inside your mail-archive, a zip-archive or a third place:

 

My BullGuard has detected a virus inside a mail-archive

My BullGuard has detected a virus inside a zip-archive or rar-archive
My BullGuard has detected a virus, but it doesn't fit any of the above scenarios

 

 

Removing a virus inside your email archive

 

 

 

Start by opening your e-mail client (Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, The Bat and so on).

 

 

Locate the mail containing the virus

 

Take a close look at what BullGuard told you about the infected email and find the one fitting this description. BullGuard tells you the emails subject, the sender and the name of the virus-attachment.

 

 

Delete the e-mail

 

 

Delete the infected e-mail when you locate it.

Note: If your email program has a trash can or a folder for deleted emails then please remember to delete the email from this one too or empty the trash-can.

 

Re-compress the mail-archive

 

 

When deleting a virus from a mail-archive it is often not enough to delete the e-mail.

 

Many email programs dont actually delete the emails even if you ask them to - they just delete any reference to it. This means that the data itself of the email is still inside your email archive, even though you think you have deleted it.

 

This is why you have to re-compress your email archive.

 

Mail-programs have different ways of doing this. For example, in Outlook Express you have to choose the menu "File" -> "Folders" -> "Compact All".

 

Look for a function in your mail-program called "Compress", "Compact" or the likes.

 

 

You're done

 

 

That's it. You have succesfully removed the virus from your computer. It's now a good idea to re-scan your harddisk with BullGuard to make sure that your computer is clean.

 

 

If you did not find the solution you were looking for, please feel free to contact our Support.   Top of page