Format or Re-Install XP (Oh My God)

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Hey,


I got so many Spyware,Trojans,virus on my comp,it not funny,even with a AV,Spyware protection and a firewall (got 8 MB cable)

I was told by a fellow .orgah to format my C Drive. I got Sereveal Questions:

What is the Advtanges of Both??

Will Formating Take off all the Trojans and such?




My Main Question is

I Installed my New GC in Late Setember. a Radeon X1300 256MB Card.. I also had to install it and disable my Intergated one that was already in my Computer. If I Format my C Drive, Will it Stay on my Radeon card (I hope) or will it go back to the Intergated??

[sharrukin]

Hey,


I got so many Spyware,Trojans,virus on my comp,it not funny,even with a AV,Spyware protection and a firewall (got 8 MB cable)

I was told by a fellow .orgah to format my C Drive. I got Sereveal Questions:

What is the Advtanges of Both??

Will Formating Take off all the Trojans and such?




My Main Question is

I Installed my New GC in Late Setember. a Radeon X1300 256MB Card.. I also had to install it and disable my Intergated one that was already in my Computer. If I Format my C Drive, Will it Stay on my Radeon card (I hope) or will it go back to the Intergated??

Formatting will remove all trojans, viruses, etc.

AVG, Spybot S&D, and Avast are what I use and they should remove most problems. Another option is to go to Trend Micro - Free online virus Scan.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
It should automatically remove most of them as well.
When you find a problem run the software AGAIN to be sure all have been removed.

If you have drivers you need to keep, burn them to a CD, then reload after format.

[hoom]

Formatting will get rid of everything on the drive so unless you have carefully made sure that anything you want to keep is backed up somewhere else, only do it as a last resort!

Formatting will get rid of most bad stuff but there are actually some things that it won't get rid of.
The same sort of PC usage that got problems there in the first place can get a brand new windows install chock-a-block with infection within mere hours

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Hey,

Thanks Guys, Though, (sometimes I don't notice things off the bat), Would my New Graphic Card be safe, or would I have to install it all over again??

[tibilicus]

Hey,


I got so many Spyware,Trojans,virus on my comp,it not funny,even with a AV,Spyware protection and a firewall (got 8 MB cable)

I was told by a fellow .orgah to format my C Drive. I got Sereveal Questions:

What is the Advtanges of Both??

Will Formating Take off all the Trojans and such?




My Main Question is

I Installed my New GC in Late Setember. a Radeon X1300 256MB Card.. I also had to install it and disable my Intergated one that was already in my Computer. If I Format my C Drive, Will it Stay on my Radeon card (I hope) or will it go back to the Intergated??

Stay of the porn then.

~:P

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

No Kidding

Friends always laced my sites with porn sites and I never notice untill........

[tibilicus]

Lol the classic "my freinds did it i swear"

Anyway stay of those sites use firefox and mcafee site advisor and the noscript extension to.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

:)

I been Using Firefox, since I got a bad taste for IE and since I been to lazy to update my other Mozilla..

[Oaty]

I dont reccomend reinstall just for the fact it can make things worse than better casuing twice the problems as now your only option is to format.

[Husar]

The same sort of PC usage that got problems there in the first place can get a brand new windows install chock-a-block with infection within mere hours

Minutes. I got that blaster worm once while downloading Windows updates...
But by installing the firewall before connecting to the net, this can easily be solved.
And your graphicscard should be safe Warman, as long as you won't reset your BIOS or any virus has infected your BIOS, but I think that kind of virus is rather scarce since I doubt any script kiddie could make such a virus easily.

If you have drivers you need to keep, burn them to a CD, then reload after format.

I think there is a great danger that the CD will be infected as well, I have heard some people claiming things like: "my boyfriend burned me this CD and now I got a virus from it..."

[LeftEyeNine]

Formatting will pick you out of any troubles for sure, as long as you have only one partition (only C, that is).

However, although it is rare and a small possibility, there is the probability of those annoy-wares spreading to a secondary partition of your hard disk drive, such as D, E or others if you have any and more. So that formatting your C will not mean much because those goblins will spread out back on your system from the other partitions as soon as possible.

I don't have a firewall, I don't do scans all the time, my Kaspersky is always paused, not eating up my resources all the time while I'm on games etc. And my system was never plundered by such stuff, because it is all about watching your step. If you don't walk on weak stairs, you don't have to carry a heavy metal casket all the time. I also want to indicate my hatred towards this "OH THEY ARE EVERYWHERE, HERE USE MY GADGET !" paranoia created on the internet. It reminds me of US policy towards its own society.

Good luck, stay out of browsing for porn.

[hoom]

Oh btw, you will need to reinstall all device drivers if the drive is formatted.
That includes 3D card drivers.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

so you mean I will have to re-install the Radeon X1300 256MB Card I got then? I like to format this dang comp of mine before MTW2 comes out but I don't want to make ploblems worse but formatting it and messing up the GC..

[LeftEyeNine]

Formatting deletes any and everything that is located on the applied partition.

For an error-free formatting sequence:

- Download your motherboard's latest drivers
- Download your video card's most appropriate drivers (substitute "latest" instead if you get confused)
- Download your sound card's latest drivers (if it's not an on-board one or if it does not come bundled with your motherboard's drivers)
- Download WinRAR (Some drivers may be archived in different formats)
- Save these files on another partition that you're not planning to format (like D, E etc.). Or immediately burn them on a media without executing any of them to prevent a possible infection. Prefer CD or DVD. USB sticks may not be available in the beginning, so don't trust them at this step for a backup means.
- Format and install your OS (e.g. Win XP)
- Install WinRAR
- Install Motherboard drivers and reboot after installation if prompted. Do not try "I'll reboot later" thinking that you will install your video card's drivers so that you'll do it all with a single reboot. This does not have to cause problems but it may (happened to me).
- Install video card's drivers. Reboot.
- Install other drivers (such as sound card) if any left. Reboot.

Voila!

[Oaty]

Formatting will pick you out of any troubles for sure, as long as you have only one partition (only C, that is).

However, although it is rare and a small possibility, there is the probability of those annoy-wares spreading to a secondary partition of your hard disk drive, such as D, E or others if you have any and more. So that formatting your C will not mean much because those goblins will spread out back on your system from the other partitions as soon as possible.

The only thing is it is dead because it is no longer embedded into your registry/ operating system and only the freeware embedded with scumware will reenstiall itself when you reactivate it.

[doc_bean]

Formatting your c:\ drive when you're using windows pretty much means you won't be able to run anything of your secondary partitions anyway (programs that is, mp3s and videos should still work), so you might as well reformat everything

[caravel]

I doubt you'll need to reinstall. There are ways to remove this type of malware safely, if you've got the patience to go through it all, and then be more careful in future. If not, then just format and reinstall Windows XP.

[TosaInu]

Grab a true copy of SP2 and burn the 100's of mb to a CD. Install windows, install SP2 then connect to the internet.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

How professional do you feel today?
(You don't have to do scary things, actually I guess it's 100% the same thing, but without the hassle).


The on-board video card is likely disabled in the BIOS. A reinstall of windows shouldn't activate it, a clear CMOS would though.

[Husar]

I doubt you'll need to reinstall. There are ways to remove this type of malware safely, if you've got the patience to go through it all, and then be more careful in future. If not, then just format and reinstall Windows XP.

I would consider reformatting to be the easier way and also more secure.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

k Thanks guys, going to do what Tosa Said, and format tomarrow or so..

I got one More Question. Is The FireWall that comes with XP good? since I would have to re-install my another one?

[tibilicus]

Xp firewall only stops ingoing traffic not outbound or rotued. It's recomended to use another free one like zone alarm.

Tib

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Is Zone Alarm Free :-) :-)??

[TosaInu]

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...try=GB&lang=en

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

That Answers my Question, Thanks All and wish me Luck Tomarrow!! :-) :-)

[TosaInu]

Thanks All and wish me Luck Tomarrow!! :-) :-)

Good luck.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

After 2 full days of backing up my stuff, I go to format my computer and........


https://img90.imageshack.us/img90/14...chine88bn5.jpg

any help guys, Because I really need to format this Piece of Trash Computer I got..

[Motep]

Could you makre that pic a wee-bit bigger please?

p.s. the same thing kinda happened to me a couple weeks ago...I had to take it back to the person who built it for me ...he did nothing else and it too him a week to fix my computer.

[caravel]

Not sure what the error is because I can't see it, but I think the problem is pretty obvious. You can't format the active partition containing the OS! You'll need to boot from the WinXP CDROM to reformat and reinstall.

Also, having read your thread, I'm not sure if you realise what you're doing here. Reformatting will completely destroy all data. Your OS and programs, and any settings related to them will be completely removed forever. Your backups should be thorough, but should only be personal files or savegames for your games if you can find them. There is no need to back up installed programs. You should reinstall those later from your installation CDROMs.

Also I'm quite sure that with a few anti-spyware tools we could have cleaned your system up. I've cleaned up worse systems than your's in the past, trust me. These machines were mission critical and resintalling was out of the question.

[LeftEyeNine]

Oh man, BHC, you can't format a drive which is being used. Can you flush clean a water tap with itself ? So :

You'll need to boot from the WinXP CDROM to reformat and reinstall.

..what he said. But after seeing this, I doubt you can get over the hassle of formatting from a Win Xp CD. You may need to change boot sequence options from your BIOS etc. Therefore if you are sure you want a format, let some knowledgable lad do it for you, or if you give it up, Caravel is a trustworthy Hard- Software lurker, listen to his recommendation.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Yea, I get a bigger pic

But m8, my comp isn't going to be fix with some spyware tools. My Comp is to the point of, ethier I format it, and take all the Spyware/Trojans and Worms down with my other info, or have my whole comp blow up.

So you mean it will destroy all data? Of Course, my Brother formatted his C Drive on his comp to, and it didn't help, since he had several Drives. it destroys the OS? To What extent though?