# What does Quaratining a Virus do?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-quaratining-a-virus-do/200550
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 9, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-quaratining-a-virus-do/200550 "2003-09-09T16:22:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-quaratining-a-virus-do/200550/1 "2003-09-09T16:22:06Z")
My computer at home picked up a Trojan horse. I ran Norton Anti-virus and it said it could not delete the virus, but it did quarantine it. What exactly does quarantining do to a virus? Should I worry about the integrity of my machine? And why can I not delete it?
Any help would be much appreciated.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-quaratining-a-virus-do/200550/2 "2003-09-09T17:51:06Z")
If it was [McAffee](http://us.mcafee.com/root/genericURL_genericLeftNav.asp?genericURL=/common/en-us/products/vs7/default.asp&genericLeftNav=/en-us/wrapper/catalog_nav.asp), then
> [@](#):
>
> VirusScan’s Quarantine feature lets you clean files at a later date, submit a suspicious file to the AVERT research team, and isolate the file so it is completely inaccessible—the file is actually modified so it cannot be accessed in any way by the operating system. Quarantine provides a safeguard against any accidental access of an infected or suspicious file.
Your machine should be OK, but you’ll have to Google around (or ask here) for detailed information about your specific Trojan . There are some tricky viruses which make you jump through hoops before you can squish them.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-quaratining-a-virus-do/200550/3 "2003-09-09T17:57:09Z")
If it was [McAffee](http://us.mcafee.com/root/genericURL_genericLeftNav.asp?genericURL=/common/en-us/products/vs7/default.asp&genericLeftNav=/en-us/wrapper/catalog_nav.asp), then
> [@](#):
>
> VirusScan’s Quarantine feature lets you clean files at a later date, submit a suspicious file to the AVERT research team, and isolate the file so it is completely inaccessible—the file is actually modified so it cannot be accessed in any way by the operating system. Quarantine provides a safeguard against any accidental access of an infected or suspicious file.
Your machine should be OK, but you’ll have to Google around (or ask here) for detailed information about your specific Trojan . There are some tricky viruses which make you jump through hoops before you can squish them.
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-quaratining-a-virus-do/200550/4 "2003-09-09T19:58:50Z")
Are you sure it said it couldn’t delete it, not that it just couldn’t clean it?
“Quarantining” just means that whichever anti-virus proggy you’re using has moved it from wherever it was to somewhere else, usually a subdirectory of your anti-virus program, but sometimes a database. (Just so that you can’t accidentally run it and unleash the mayhem.) This is usually done to files that are infected but which the anti-virus program doesn’t have the smarts to clean, in case the file is your only copy of My\_Amazing\_Opus.doc.
Program files that are in use can sometimes be moved but not deleted, but I would have thought any decent anti-virus program would have killed infected threads already. Do what **Tapioca Dextrin** sez and enlightenment may ensue. 😉
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### Author:  [@spogga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spogga)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-quaratining-a-virus-do/200550/5 "2003-09-09T21:30:38Z")
I’ve never had Norton, all I have stuck with is [www.grisoft.com](http://www.grisoft.com) and have never had any problems, it detects the virus and naffs it off to the great virus in the sky