Patent ID: 7272724

Claim:
A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program operable to control a computer to apply a plurality of anti computer virus tests to a target computer file, said computer program comprising: (i) virus scanning logic for detecting if a target computer file is infected with a computer virus by applying a plurality of anti computer virus tests to said target computer file; (ii) virus cleaning and file repair logic for cleaning said target computer file by removing a detected computer virus from said target computer file and for repairing any changes caused by said detected computer virus to said target computer file by reversing said changes; (iii) virus identifying logic for detecting whether or not said detected computer virus is of a type that can cause changes to said target computer file that cannot be reversed by said virus cleaning and file repair logic; and (iv) warning generating logic, responsive to said virus identifying logic detecting that said detected computer virus is of a type that can cause changes to said target computer file that cannot be reversed by said virus cleaning and file repair logic, for generating a warning to a user that said target computer file may have suffered irreparable damage; wherein said virus scanning logic is responsive to a library of tests to detect different computer viruses, said library including data specifying which computer viruses can cause changes that cannot be reversed by said virus cleaning and repair logic; wherein said warning generating logic can generate a plurality of different types of warnings to said user that said target computer file may have suffered irreparable damage and said library includes data specifying which of said plurality of types of warnings should be issued in response to a particular detected computer virus; wherein said warning to said user that said target computer file may have suffered irreparable damage is associated with a notification message that includes authentication data identifying said target computer file into which said notification message was inserted.