Reinstall

[Miss Poohs]

How would I go about doing this?    

Would I be able to do it myself?

Think I'll have to do something - I can't even do a restore, the buttons are just clicking but not actually taking me anywhere.

[suki1964]

if you have the windows disk then yes its dead easy to reinstall - just load the disk and follow the prompts.

Back up the stuff thats important to you first

If you think your PC has been infected then reformatting and reinstalling is the way to go. I just had to do mine a few weeks back and its really easy. One thing I did have problems with was my usb keyboard and mouse - I needed to borrow a round plug PS/2 one to get the job done as once into dos my usb ports werent recognised.

I found this page helpful

http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/aug02/010802.html

[lyn]

janice,i had to do a full clean and reinstall yesterday.the pc was taking an age to do anything and i think i got a fit of "pc rage"i was grtting all bad tempered and impatient with it nearly ten mins just to log on.i am lucky i have a factory setting restore button that does all the work for me and it wipes the whole thing clean.big difference now as it only takes seconds to log on and get going.a few weeks back my pc wouldn't even let me do a normal restore never mind a full one i bought a disk to fix the problem and that didn't work but in the end i did a disc defrag and that fixed the problem so i am back up and running instead of crawling

[suki1964]

Just to add, before doing a reinstall its worth running all the usual scans to make sure its virus free. You do have a virus scanner? And spybot, adaware etc? Another good tool is ewido. You can download a free trial from their website. Its best to run all these in safe mode - much quicker and more thorough

[BigJim&Kate]

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 - Free Virus protection

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ - Best spyware and adware remover ( And its free )

Re installing windows is easy BUT you will lose anything thats been installed. You`ll have to re-install all your programs, printers scanners anti virus ect ect ect.

If its a full re-install as soon as windows has booted up for the first time install your anti virus and run your firewall BEFORE you connect to the internet, then download al the windows critical updates before you start surfing again.

Jim

[Miss Poohs]

wonder if I should have a bash  

[BigJim&Kate]

Just make sure you`ve backed up any thing you wont want to lose, ie. photos, documents ect.

If you have Xp pro and broadband I could have a look remotley if you want before you format it.

Jim

[Miss Poohs]

Oh Jim would you?

You'd have to advise me how to let you do that   , but I'm willing if you have the time    

I don't say that to all the boys you know  

[Luvly]

 

[Miss Poohs]

Now my putter won't let me open any links, and on a stitchy forum I go to it won't let me reply to any posts  

[suki1964]

Have you done the spyware/virus checks?

Go to run
Type msconfig - ok
Click Boot ini
tick safeboot ok

Reboot and run all virus scans etc

When done go back to msconfig and bootini
Unclick safeboot

Reboot

[BigJim&Kate]

For the computer literate only ........

For some good tools go to

http://www.sysinternals.com/

download these products:

rootkitrevealer, process explorer and autoruns

also google for an app called hijackthis

it shows you BHO’s ADS’s and other IE related problems
 

anything that cant be seen by your  AV or antispy product like adaware /spybot/ ms antispyware can be found with these if you’re good at sniffing out rats in a windows system.

Any processes you haven’t heard of can usually be googled for character references.

 
Once you find something, removing the infection can be a pain in the bum, you might need to build a  bartpe boot disc so you can do an offline disinfection.

If the above dont make no sense dont bother trying to understand it.

If you asked your local computer shop of PC World about the above you`ll see a blank face then you`ll be assured that Norton systemworks will sort it all out for you      

[Miss Poohs]

Last night Big Jim done everything he could to try and help me remotely. In the end he had to submit his verdict and it wasn't positive.

My computer is very very ill!!!

Jim - I have to admitt to having a right good laugh at that bit - it was just so definate, and final after all the options you'd tried.

I ran the virus scan and it came up clear - so I'm defo dealing with something suspicious.

I'm going to call the local comuter guy I've dealt with before and see what he can prescribe.

Thank you all again - Jim you're a star.

I may be gone sometime!!!!!!!!!!!!!    

[BigJim&Kate]

Can you back up everything you need yourself ?

If you could and can hijack someone elses computer I could talk you through a reinstall. Its not hard at all, especially if you have recover disks that came with your laptop. Could save yourself a lot of money.

Just dont take it to PC World !!

[suki1964]

Let Jim talk you through the reinstall - its really simple (even Ive managed it ) and will save you a fortune