What is boot sector virus

The virus infects a computer at a basic input-output system level BIOS using disk operating system commands DOS to spread to other disks. After the appearance of Windows 95, boot sector viruses took a back seat for a while due to the limited use of DOS instructions.

However new programs now write code to the MBR in order to load early in the start-up process and conceal the actions of malware. The MBR is on the first sector of your hard drive and executes whenever you power up your computer. Originating from your boot sector, these viruses will then spread to all the disks on your computer. This makes boot sector viruses tough to remove.

It's also possible for email attachments to contain boot virus code, which can infect the targeted computer as well as others on a shared network.

Users are unlikely to know if they have a boot sector virus until they run an antivirus solution or conduct a malware scan. There are a few different signs that a computer has been infected with a boot sector virus. Removing boot sector viruses can be a challenge, however, it is easier to prevent them from infecting your computer in the first place.

Good anti-virus software can also protect your boot sector and quickly detect if a virus is trying to interfere with it. Be wary of physical media : Note the location of the USB on your computer. This is one of the key ways that your PC might be affected by a boot sector virus.

Consider the source of the USB stick before you use it and do not put it on your computer before starting the system. Stay vigilant of the network : Boot sector viruses can easily transfer between different computers on the same network. Note which network you are connecting to the system. Never download suspicious files : Consider where to download the files and always run a virus scan on them before opening them.

In particular, Torrented files can open your malware virus and can cause your boot sector to be infected. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Reddit Summary : Do you know what is the boot sector virus and how to remove it?

The only absolute criteria for a boot sector is that it must contain 0x55 and 0xAA as its last two bytes. If this signature is not present or is corrupted, the computer may display an error message and refuse to boot. Problems with the sector may be due to physical drive corruption or the presence of a boot sector virus.

Boot sector computer viruses are most commonly spread using physical media. An infected floppy disk or USB drive connected to a computer will transfer when the drive's VBR is read, then modify or replace the existing boot code. The next time a user tries to boot their desktop, the virus will be loaded and run immediately as part of the master boot record. You will learn how the boot sector virus spreads in the first place. There can be other reasons, but the ones mentioned above are the most common.

In the upcoming section, we will see how you can fix your boot sector from the virus. If you feel that your system has a boot sector virus and looking for boot sector virus removal, we will help you. A boot sector virus removal is possible, and we will discuss two easy ways.

The methods involve:. With the boot sector virus, your whole boot sector gets encrypted. With encryption, it gets difficult to remove the boot sector virus. We will discuss two Antivirus software that is highly effective against the boot sector virus for your ease. This method will use Kaspersky Rescue Disk antivirus for the boot sector virus removal. Follow the below steps:. After the system boots up in the graphic mode of Kaspersky Rescue Disk, update its database before proceeding further.

Open " My Update Center" and click on start update. You can choose the drive you want to scan manually as well, but by default, the Kaspersky Disk Rescue selects the disk boot sector itself. After the scan is complete, the Kaspersky Rescue will show the infected files. You can preview them yourself and take the desired action for the file. Avast Antivirus comes with a boot-time scanning feature, which can help you eliminate the boot sector virus.

Follow the steps below:. After restarting the system, Avast will begin its boot-time scan. On completion, it will remove your boot sector virus.

Using bootable Antivirus is the safest option to remove the boot sector virus. There is a low chance of losing files with that method.

However, if the first method did not work for you, you can use other options. If the above methods worked for you and your boot sector is free from viruses, the work is still not done. Your system might catch the boot sector virus again. But, how to prevent that?