Very Important: No matter which anti-virus software you use, you MUST keep the definition files updated. A set of definition files over 3 months old is near useless. Sometimes even a month or week old definition file is useless. Depending on your software, there may be a subscription fee for the update service.
Almost as important is practicing 'safe computing'. You should know the signs of a virus infected e-mail, and what to do in general to minimize the possibility of getting infected. Relying entirely on your anti-virus software is NOT sufficient.
Keeping your operating system and browser up-to-date with the latest security patches is almost as critical as maintaining up-to-date virus definition files. Another suggestion - coming more strongly from various experts now that the virus writers have exploited flaws in Windows and Internet Explorer that will infect your computer even if you only visit a malixious web site - is ti switch to Firefox - or other alternate browser.
To scan your computer with out booting to Windows you can use F-PROT - DOS based anti-virus software. Best run using a clean DOS boot disk. This software is free for personal use on a home computer. Being DOS based, it is limited. It does NOT actively scan incoming e-mail, for example. For that you'd need the commercial version of F-PROT, AVG (not sure if the free version scans incoming e-mail), or one of the other commercial packages. F-PROT will not work with a DOS boot disk on NTFS partitions. F-PROT will find (and delete) viruses (assuming your definition file is current) but can not check or alter the registry. Many of the new viruses put info in the registry to reload themselves from a back-up copy. To fully remove the virus you need one of the specialized removal tools.
The F-Prot update files are also located on the F-Prot site.
F-Secure has special software 'tools' for removing some of the more common viruses. As do most of the other vendors of anti-virus software. To use these you must know how to download files, expand archives, and, some time, have a DOS boot disk.
If you have any questions, ask. But, first try reading about virus basics at one of the above sites. The links I gave are usually to specific pages within the sites. To get to the 'homepage' of a site, use the link up to the '.com' or '.org' etc. Thus, instead of http://www.F-secure.com/virus-info , enter just http://www.f-secure.com in your browser.
One last caution. McAfee recently (within the last year) implemented a policy whereby they charge your credit card automatically for the annual renewal fee with almost no warning (the warning is in the EULA (End User License Agreement) which is otherwise known as the 'fine print').
If you have any questions - ask.
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