getting rid of virus?

[brutus1]

I'm working under the impression that this is the problem. I have a home network. I go to risky places and engage in risky activities (downloads). I thought Avast might protect me from myself. In any case, I rebooted one of my computers (a wireless laptop) to find that it wouldn't complete the logon to Windows (Vista). I get the boot screen and then a blank screen with cursor support. I thought it might be the laptop or Vista. I packed the box up to take back to the store (it's still under warantee) and tried to access one of my desktops (running Windows XP and also protected by Avast!). It also exhibited the same problem. A third XP desktop also does this.

What I want to do is boot from a clean disc (CD or DVD) with anti virus software on it and have it scan the hard drive to verify  it IS a virus and of course, fix it. What can I use? I have another computer that is NOT infected but I don't know what to download or what to do. Help?

[brutus1]

PS
Booting and choosing "Last known good" whatever, doesn't work.

[Lisandro]

Not a software is perfect and will protect you in any possibility, specially if you do not surf safely. There is BART CD to access the computer (but it's too expensive). I don't think that a clean computer will be able to access an infected one (that can't boot).

[brutus1]

What I want is a CD that will boot to the infected computer and start a virus scan. Other than that, the only solution that comes to mind is a fresh format (500 GB of DATA, plus programs) and re-installation. That's on 2 desktops. The laptop is only 120Gbs, but it has all my mail, passwords and so forth. Can anyone think of another alternative?

[Lisandro]

What I want is a CD that will boot to the infected computer and start a virus scan.

BART CD or Norton Rescue CD will do it. Both are paid, unfortunatelly.
You can make a bootable CD, browse for the files and backup the data & documents.
You can use a Live CD from Linux or make your own CD (http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/).