What isn’t a virus?
It is easy to attribute every computer problem to a virus because of the publicity viruses get. The following symptoms are unlikely to be caused by a virus or other malicious code.
Hardware issues.
There are no viruses that can physically damage computer hardware, such as chips, boards and monitors. The computer beeps at startup and nothing is displayed on the screen. This is usually caused by a hardware problem during the boot procedure. Refer to your computer’s documentation for the meaning of the beeps.
The computer does not display 640K conventional memory. This could be a sign of a virus, but it need not be a virus. Some hardware drivers, such as those for the monitor or SCSI card, may be using some of this memory. Consult your computer manufacturer or hardware dealer to determine if this is the case.
You have two antivirus programmes installed and one of them indicates a virus. While this could be a virus, it could also be caused by one antivirus programme recognising the other programme in memory. Refer to the document Is it wise to run more than one antivirus programme at a time? for more information.
You are using Microsoft Word and Word alerts you that a document contains a macro. This does not mean that the macro is a virus.
You cannot open a certain document. This need not be a sign of a virus. Try opening another document or a backup copy of the document in question. The document may be damaged if other documents can be opened without any problems.
The name of a hard disk has changed. Every disk can have a name. You can name a disk using the DOS command Label or from within Windows.
