How do I help somebody that asks me how to fix a PC with a virus?

Solution 1:

Be honest, just tell them "I don't know, I use a Mac"

then look at them with fond pity until they slink away

Addendum: your question asked for some software or something to help them, but you really shouldn't - otherwise their problems will become your problems, i.e. "That software you recommended didn't work, now what should I do?". Better not to get involved. Think of it as "tough love" ;-)

Solution 2:

Tell them:

Go to securitytango.com. Follow the instructions to the letter. Don't skip a step. Do it twice. Every week.

Telling them "When you get tired of that, buy a Mac or install Linux" is optional.

Solution 3:

Be honest and tell them,

"that whilst you are confident with computers, you are not an expert when it comes to PC's. As the machine has a virus the only thing you can recommend is that the wipe everything and restart from scratch. Other than that they might get better help with someone who lives eats and breathes PC's."

That should do it.

or

Tell them to go to the buymore, and the nerd herd desk and ask for Chuck.

Solution 4:

To get away from dealing with Windows altogether, I download and burn a copy of the Avira rescue disk and get them to boot from that. It loads up a Linux OS to run a virus scan without having any problems with locked files etc.

(Some other anti-virus boot disk downloads listed here)

Then get them to install a decent free virus scanner (try here for recommendations).