Marc said:

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One of the principles I try to use in problem solving is not to make the situation worse than it is already.



Marc I like your caution. I have always thought the expression "Don't do anything until you know what to do" has served me well through the years.

Oren said:
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Just make sure all your important files are backed up, then proceed with confidence.



John (silvertones) said:
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What I wouldn't do though is back up the data on an infected machine and then reinstall it on a clean machine. There are some real nasty viruses that are know to corrupt EXE., like programs that you may have saved the EXE in a folder, files and when you go and reload these programs BANG back to square one.




I'm certain when Oren said your "important files", he meant your data files; text files, mp3s, waves, Biab music files, etc. Unless you are a programmer or an extreme advanced user, I highly doubt you would need to back up any executable files; ".exe", "bat", ".com", etc. Your critical data files should be safe from malware infections, and once they have been copied to cd, dvd, or a separate usb drive, you can scan them when your system has been cleaned by one of the many processes mentioned here.

Lastly, I would like to suggest that since you live in France (found in your profile), you might do a search for some knowledgeable, friendly local Linux help. Europe seems to be a bastion for Linux.

Jim
†=☮&♥