BOOT GENERIC virus -- cannot clean; cannot delete. Please help!

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I ran Trend Housecall AV and it detected a BOOT GENERIC virus, a file in
Drive D, which I have been unable to either clean or delete. Scan Result:
Can Not Access. I click both Clean and Delete and get the following message:
Unable to clean because it is currently in use. Is there an easy way to get
rid of this virus?

I have McAfee AV installed but it failed to detect the virus. So someone
suggested I try Trend Housecall. I figured something was wrong for two
reasons: (1) I was no longer getting McAfee's automatic security updates;
and (2) whenever I boot up it now takes several minutes for most of my icons
to change to their proper colors/appearance. They're basically white for a
few minutes until they FINALLY change -- a very annoying wait.

Since I was no longer getting the automatic updates I tried getting them
manually, only to get a reply message from McAfee Security Center indicating
an inability to connect to the Internet. I would then click on Retry and get
the same response, again and again. Another thing I've noticed lately is
that my Security Index and Antivirus Index are now registering 7.0, and I'm
pretty sure they had been at 8.5 for as long as I can remember. Could it be
that missing my automatic updates has caused these readings to drop? I went
to McAfee chat support and received a fix that allowed McAfee to reconnect
to the Net. I then clicked on Updates and received a reply telling me that
all of my McAfee services were up-to-date. However, I'm not sure I believe
that since I figure I must have missed several of them during the past week
or so.

I would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who might have a solution to
my problem.

 

First, use BOTH of these online scanners.

http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virusscan.aspx
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp


Next, install the trial version of Kaspersky, and scan your
system again.
http://www.kaspersky.com/

 

This is a link to a small FREE program by McAfee Anti-virus named Stinger.
It will scan your system for 47 known viruses and trojans (including the new
W32/Sasser.worm.e) and repair them. You don't need McAfee anti-virus
installed on your computer... this is a stand alone program.
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
Direct download: http://download.nai.com/products/mcafee-avert/stinger.exe

Microsoft Download Center: Has several virus removal tools.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en

Free online virus scanners

http://housecall.antivirus.com/
http://security.norton.com/default.asp?langid=us&venid=sym
http://security2.norton.com/us/home.asp
http://www.freedom.net/viruscenter/onlineviruscheck.html
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
http://www.dials.ru/english/www_av/
http://www.kaspersky.com/remoteviruschk.html
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

Another possibility is to borrow a second computer with anti-virus software
on it, and put that HDD in it as a slave, and run the anti-virus software to
clean it up.

 

My advice? Dump McAfee. It is garbage. I use this one:

http://www.my-etrust.com

If you are using XP, you can use it free for one year. Get it
here:

http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft

Also "munge" your email address, when posting to Usenet, as I have done
below, to stop spam bots from harvesting your address and bombarding
you with spam.

Also you can download a program called Stinger. It is the only
McAfee product I will use. It is a stand-alone program, not having
to install and incorporate itself to Windows. You just run<double click
the executable> it from its download folder.

 

what file format is the hd in if it is fat32. reboot f8 go into dos
prompt then type format d: /mbr the mbr is a switch that should
re-format the d partion and destroy a possble boot sector record as well.

should work don't know why micro never puts his switch in any dos text
as far back as 4 and 3 even.