Salvaging files from an infected computer

A friend's computer recently got infected by a Trojan, and he contacted us to find out about ways to salvage the important files. Since this type of infection is common here in Bhutan, we thought that it would be good to share these tips. First, try using a good Anti-virus software. If that does not help, then try one of the following:

1. If the number of files to salvage is not too large, email them to yourself using an online email program  that has strong virus filters (such as gmail).
2. Another option for transferring the important files to the Web is uploading them to Google Docs. Note, however, that you will need a relatively fast Internet connection in order to upload large batches of documents. Also, the size limit per document is 1024 MB.
3. If the number of files to salvage is large and you have a computer running Linux, then you can transfer the files to an external hard drive or pen drive, then connect the hard drive to the Linux machine and transfer the files to the Linux machine. Two important points in this case: (1) The hard drive (or pen drive) is most likely infected now! Make sure to reformat it before connecting it to any Windows machine. (2) The files that were transfered to the Linux machine might still contain the malware. Although they will not harm anything in the Linux environment, if you move them back to a Windows machine they will regain their malicious power.