ARCHIVED: What is the Wazzu virus, and how do I get rid of it?

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The Wazzu virus is a type of Microsoft Word macro virus. It consists of a single AutoOpen macro which can affect your files by inserting words like "Wazzu" in the text. Often it is detected by users because they notice that their file extensions change from .doc to .dot and the file behaves strangely. The .dot extension designates a Word template or macro.

The Wazzu virus is not extremely dangerous to your hard drive, but it can affect localized versions of Word, possibly infecting your Normal template. (Unless you direct otherwise, in Word, new documents are based on the Normal template.)

For information concerning protection from and removal of macro viruses, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: How can I combat macro viruses?

Once you have disinfected the files (see the Knowledge Base documents ARCHIVED: Using Symantec/Norton AntiVirus for Windows, how do I scan network drives for viruses? and ARCHIVED: Using Symantec/Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition, how do I immediately scan a file, folder, or drive for viruses?), run the virus software again on the target disk to confirm your work.

If you have scanned your disk the second time around and the virus software says it is clean, you still may have to do some work to return your file to its original state. If you notice that the .dot extensions still remain on the hard drive in some instances, you will need to reopen each disinfected file in Word, then copy its contents to a new file.

  1. In Word, open the document, then, from the Edit menu, choose Select All. Click Copy.
  2. Open a new document. From the Edit menu, click Paste to place all the contents of the original file into the new document.
  3. From the File menu, choose Save As. Enter an appropriate filename using the .doc extension. Then you can go back and delete the old file that had the .dot extension.
  4. You may also need to delete occurrences of "Wazzu" in the file, either manually or by using Word's search and replace function:
    1. Under Edit, select Replace....
    2. In the Find and Replace window, in the "Find what:" field, type the offending word (e.g., wazzu). Leave the "Replace with:" field empty.
    3. Click Replace All.

This is document adam in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 10:28:13.