Symptoms of virus:

You are not able to save your World file, a message pops up that the disk is full.

Right after this message, the text in the save file box changes to “are you surprised”. This happens very briefly and then Word closes.

If this happens, you have a macro virus in Word. The following steps will show you have to clear this virus and clean your infected files.

Removing the Macro Virus

Step 1: Enable Macro virus protection in Word

Open Word and go to the Word menu > Preferences. In the window that appears, click on General in the column on the left. Make sure “enable Macro virus protection” is checked.

To exit Word, hit the Apple + Q keys on your keyboard (at the same time) or go to the Word menu > Quit.

Step 2: Find and remove two Microsoft Word files

To find the first file, double-click Macintosh HD > Users > [account name] > Library > Preferences and scroll to the file called “com.microsdt.Word.plist”

Click on this file and delete it by hitting the Apple and Delete keys (at the same time) or by dragging the file to the trash.

To find the next file, double-click on Macintosh HD > Applications > Microsoft Office X > Templates and select the file called “Normal” and delete it by hitting the Apple and Delete keys (at the same time) or by dragging the file to the trash.

Hold down the control key on your keyboard and use your mouse to click on the Trash icon in your Dock. On the menu that appears, choose to Empty Trash.

Step 3: If you don’t already have it, Download Virex

Go to this site:

http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/its/help/computer_protection/antivirus/

Scroll down to Macintosh software and download the OSX version of Virex Anti-Virus.

Step 4: Install Virex and Scan your files

Once the software is downloaded to your computer, double-click the icon to install it. Follow the instructions provided on screen. After it’s installed, open Virex (by double-clicking on the icon) and click on e-update to get the latest virus definitions.

Note: You will need to provide your OS X Administrator password to install new virus definitions.

Check the box that says “Clean any files infected with a virus”, and then click the Scan button to have Virex remove and clean files.

Virex should say it find and cleaned infected files.

Step 5: Restart word

Restart Word, set any changes to the defaults that you might like (margins, font, etc) then quit Word.

Step 6: Lock the Normal Template

This will make it so that you cannot change your normal template, protecting it from macro virus infection. If you ever wan to make changes to your defaults in Word, you may need to go and unlock the Normal template file before setting the defaults.

Find the normal template file again: double-click on Macintosh HD > Applications > Microsoft Office X > Templates and click once the file called “Normal” to highlight it.Hold down the control key on your keyboard and click once on the file. Select Get Info from the menu. That appears. In the Get Info box click the box to lock the file.

You should now have a clean computer and be protected from macro Viruses.