Removing Unwanted Code

If despite all your best efforts, a system in your organization has managed to pick up some unwanted executable code, you'll no doubt want to remove it. Assuming that the standard Add/Remove Programs approach can't remove the code, let me offer you some alternative approaches for each kind of unwanted code.

Removing Viruses
First, if it's a virus, you'll want to get rid of it with a virus-cleaning utility. If the system has virus prevention in place, but it didn't manage to catch the unwanted code, check the signature file's date. If the file is out of date, update it and run a scan. If the system doesn't have virus prevention in place, try the free online virus scanning that Trend Micro offers at http://housecall.trendmicro.com. Trend Micro's HouseCall is an ActiveX control that's downloaded to and executes in the user's browser (make sure the system's Microsoft Internet Explorer—IE— security settings allow this behavior) and scans the local system with the latest signature file from Trend Micro. If you want it to do so, the utility can remove any virus infections it finds. . . .