After the computer is operating, anti-virus software can check for viruses, and in most cases, remove them. After you have removed viruses from a hard disk and files, you may want to check your diskettes for viruses as well. If you do not have anti-virus software installed on the hard disk, do so. Then, run the software from the hard disk and have it check your diskettes, one by one, for viruses. A bootable diskette is one that can be used to start a computer without making any use of the computer's hard disk.
Some computers make use of special software to compress the information on the hard disk.
This software must be included on the diskette used to boot such computers to make the hard disk readable. If commercial compression software is used on a computer's hard disk, that software should be included on any diskette used to boot that computer. This page maintained by Beth Miller .