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Hello, I've just had an infection on my PC which I've sorted out, but my external HD on which Acronis runs holds all my back ups and I haven't started on that yet. How do I clean that up without affecting a now clean PC when I plug it in? Sorry, not very PC savvy.

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What version of Windows are you running?

What security software are you running?

Hello James, I'm running Malwarebytes pro and Windows 7 x64. Also have Avast Antivirus and spybot S&D.

You would need to disable the AutoRun and AutoPlay (two separate features that are interrelated) features in Windows 7 to be sure that you don't lauch any viruses from the removable drive when you connect it.
After making the changes to disable both features, connect the drive, and scan it for any malicious software.

You can reverse the changes you make if you wish to re-enable these features.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715

http://www.globinch.com/windows-7-how-to-enable-or-disable-autoplay-aut…

You can search the internet for "How to disable AutoRun and AutoPlay in Windows 7", if the above link instruction are not clear to you, but they are accurate.

Thanks very much - problem sorted. I have another question which I'm sure is obvious but I can't find the answer using the phrase "change back up drive". So, I have my back ups on one drive, which I identified with a certain letter and Acronis was backing up to this id of drive but for some reason, my system or Acronis have done something which has led to a change of id letter. I thought I would just re-schedule my backups to this drive letter and cancel the old ones. Does that sound O K - or should I look for a particular problem first?

Nigel,

If possible, change the drive letter back to the original drive letter assigned to the external drive. Take a look at the Acronis logs to see what drive letter it thinks is correct. If no other drive is currently using this letter, you can open Windows Disk Management, right click on the external drive, and change the drive letter back to the original. If this is not possible, I would delete the task (remove the task from the task list - do not delete the task and the backup files!), and create a new task that points to a new empty folder on the destination drive.

James