Win32 Virus Removal

Question: I am currently using a laptop computer running Vista. I have "docked" two hard drives from old computers to the system. I have slowly been retrieving information and transferring to my main C drive, mostly saved documents and photos. I never save to either hard drive, install new programming or download from the Internet to those drives. When I run the Security Tango, do I need to include them in the scanning process, or can I presume they are "clean"?

— Sue, Rochester

Answer: I'm afraid you may need to include them. The problem is that if you do get a virus, it will, by itself, migrate to every drive it can find — hard drives, USB drives, etc. If you have other computers to which you are networked, it could also spread to them.

However, in general, you can get by with only scanning your C: drive. However, if you do find a virus, then you need to do a second scan that includes all your drives (including the C: drive again, since it could get reinfected). I know how tedious dancing the Security Tango (http://securitytango.com/) can be. Unfortunately, there's no shortcut to making sure you've covered all your bases.

Question: In your column discussing Antivirone removal, you referred to a website www.malwarebytes.org. When I go there with IE I get a page that says intranet settings are turned off by default and do I really want to enable them? What is the difference between intranet and Internet and how concerned do I need to be about this warning?

— Barry, Honeoye/Florida

Answer: The difference between an internet and an intranet is basically the same difference between intermural and intramural sports. "Intra" means "inside" or "within." So, just like "intracellular" means "within the cell," "intranet" means "within a network."

Now about your error message. From the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, select Internet Properties, then click on the Security tab.

Next to Local Internet, click on the Sites button, then remove the check mark from "Automatically detect intranet network." OK your way out, and you should be good to go.

I'm not sure how it got turned on, Barry. Usually, it happens if you connect your laptop to a commercial WiFi setup (at a bar or restaurant, for example). Those are often specifically set up to be intranets, and that will trip Internet Explorer to intranet mode. Sometimes Internet Explorer has a bit of a problem tripping back out again.

Question: I recently purchased a new notebook computer that has the Windows 7 Home Premium platform. I have several older programs I originally purchased when I had Windows 2000 professional, and that have been running quite well on the next computer I had with Windows XP. When I have tried to load these programs on my new computer there is a message that the program is incompatible.

I have a considerable investment in some of my software and would like to know if there is some way I can load and continue to use that software.

— David, Rochester

Answer: How can I put this best, David? Microsoft's main goal in creating Windows 7 was not maintaining compatibility with old programs. That said, Microsoft did do a pretty good job with compatibility. For those programs that are not compatible, sometimes you can get an upgrade from the vendor, sometimes you can get a new driver, and sometimes you're just out of luck. You can get some help from Microsoft's Windows 7 Compatibility Center (www.microsoft

.com/windows/

compatibility/windows-7/en-us/). But let's face it — you're talking about programs that were compatible with an operating system that's 10 years old.