Even wonder what problems can be caused by a virus? How about depletion of one's checking account!
Generally when I have a problem with an infection I can't remove, I just toss the hard-drive. But, not so easy with a laptop. I have never broken the case on one. And, I don't see it happening. I am very comfortable building desktops, but laptops are beyond my comfort level. So, when our laptop was infected, what does one do? Important files were involved. We could give them up, but even then how much will it cost to have a the hard-drive replaced and what if the infection went beyond the drive into the computer itself? So, we bite the bullet and take it into the shop. $200.
How does this infection happen? They say that when on a safe site, that ads on these sites have popups that when activated, that's it. you are infected if you do not control alt delete to reach your task mgr and delete the app. When the pop up appears, you get a warning that you are infected and a scan begins to reveal more and more infections. If you shut it down, you have the disease. You must use task mgr to delete the app. This was the explanation given when paying out the $200.
When asking about a software program to clean the computer, I was told that it mainly had to be done by hand and that there was software available to help. I was told it was in the millions of dollars. Not sure that I buy into this. But, I thought I would pass this on for discussion and a warning.
When you see a warning that you are infected with hundreds of bugs, do not close the window. The scan is phony and if you close it or participate in the instructions, you are in trouble. I would not follow the instructions given, but I would close it down and that is just as bad. Control/alt/delete will take you to the task mgr. Then close the app that is running.