In the majority of cases, a virus infection can usually be removed by either your on board anti-virus software or by calling a professional technician. Virus scanners work in 
accordance with the software definitions that have been placed in the program by the anti-virus vender. Those definitions help to search for files that might be compromised by a virus attack.
On occasion, an important Windows operating system file will get infected. Most anti-virus software venders will try to “repair” the damaged file while some might mistakenly completely remove it. Some of the better products will “skip” the file entirely if it is an important file that is required for boot up.
The problem arises when a virus or Malware scanner mistakenly removes an important file required by Windows to boot. When this happens, you will get an error on start up which might range from a blue screen to a “Windows cannot start due to the following missing file” error. In either case, it is entirely possible that the virus is till on the computer and it needs to be removed before any other repairs are made. Fortunately, there are a multitude of tools you can use in order to accomplish this. You can also use these boot level tools for removing a stubborn root kit that insists on hiding in the shadows every time you boot your PC.
The first product I would like to mention is the Kaspersky Rescue Disk. This program is designed to clean systems from XP on up. You can either use a CD or a Removable Thumb Drive to do the procedure. If you use a thumb drive, be sure your computer is capable of booting into a USB device. Most computers today will be able to. If you have Kaspersky already installed on your system, the interface will have an option to create the rescue disk. Otherwise, go to the download link on the Kaspersky site and download the ISO file. The file is about 237MB in size. If you are writing the file to a CD, you must burn it as an “image” file to make it bootable. If you are putting it on a USB stick, there is a separate utility on the same page to achieve this. In both cases, the media will be bootable. Once you boot into the disk and accept the terms, choose the graphic mode and follow the instructions for cleaning your computer.
Another product that does a good job of removing root kits is a product called Windows Defender Offline. The interface will be similar to the familiar Security Essentials software except you will be able to boot into your system when a virus makes it unbootable. First, browse to the Windows Defender Offline site and download the correct version for your operating system. There is a 32 and 64 bit version available. The tool will guide you through the steps in creating the rescue disk or flash drive. You will need a working computer to do this. It is a good idea to have these rescue disks made when your computer is running good with no Malware. Please note that if you are using Windows 8.1s, you will have to use the Windows Defender Offline Beta.
If you do not mind point and click command prompts using the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard, F Secure Rescue Disk might be for you. This software will allow you to perform advanced operations like manage installed programs along with advanced repair and data recovery options. All you need to do to get started is browse to the F Secure Rescue Disk Site and download the ISO file. You will then need to burn the file to a blank CD as an image file. Once you have the CD ready you can boot into the CD by pressing any key when you see the prompt and when the CD starts, navigate to Start Scan and hit Enter. The Definitions will update and you will have to pass through a couple of agreement screens before proceeding. Select the drive you want to scan and press Enter. When the scan is finished, it will show which files have been changed and your system will reboot, hopefully back into Windows.
Often times these options can get you out of trouble without doing a complete reformat. That is always the goal as reformatting your system is never fun. Now if you took the time to create an image backup of your drive when it worked, you would only have minimal work. By minimal I mean just having to add or make changes that you did since your last backup rather then having to start completely from scratch. Remember, backup is King.
Article posted by, Ross Deprey from ComputerGeeksOnline.net
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