I need to wipe my computer however i all the controls have been infected by viruses and now i cannot access many of my programs

start with your W7 DVD and do a new installation formatting the HD during the process Be aware that everything will be gone and you will need to re-install all programs peter If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate or disruptive,please ignore it. If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate :-) "Mr Hassell" wrote in message news:7c6116c6-b4a5-456d-8e46-6a6af5ccda72... I need to wipe my computer however i all the controls have been infected by viruses and now i cannot access many of my programs

what if i am not able to locate that at the moment

On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 04:18:11 +0000, Mr Hassell wrote: > I need to wipe my computer Why? Unless you have many malware infections, it's almost always a poor thing to do. > however i all the controls have been infected by viruses How do you know? What viruses are they? What anti-virus and anti-spyware programs do you run? > and now i cannot access many of my programs If you are going to "wipe [your] computer," I assume you mean that you are going to reinstall Windows cleanly. In that case, you have no need to access any programs, and you can not access your programs if that's what you want to do. Simply set your BIOS boot order to CD/DVD drive first and boot from the Windows DVD. Follow the prompts for a clean installation and it will "wipe [your] computer" and reinstall Windows cleanly. You will lose everything on the drive, including all your programs. Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

Hello, If you have been infected by viruses, the best course of action is a reformat. This is the only way to insure that your computer is 100% clean. Even if you get rid of the infection, viruses can leave behind droppers or modify existing files, leaving your computer compromised. If you do not have the Windows CD, call Microsoft. They will sell you a media CD ROM (I think in the U.S. it's $ 6.00). MiguelMiguel Fra / Falcon IT Services Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase and Support Sharepoint Site

Thanks i will call Microsoft however i live in Bermuda would it make sense to try and still back up files or just let them go. I fear they might harbour viruses

One of the threats is a BankerFox.A and i am currently using AVG freeware i couldnt afford full versions

Microsoft Security Essentials is free. Better than AVG. These days, you can't afford not to have a great anti-malware suite along with a great firewall running on your rig. The penalty for not doing so is loss of your system(s) and/or your wealth and identity. Even the paid versions of Symantec, McAffee, Kaspersky, etc. amount to roughly $20 a year. If you can afford a PC, you can afford that. "It's a tough life... but someone has to enjoy it!"

thanks and i am a college student this laptop was a gift for graduation but thanks for the help

There is another tool you might try. Go to the Symantec website and do a search for Power Eraser. This is a tool (.exe file) that you download to your machine (if possible) and then execute. Alternatively, you can download it to another machine and burn to CD/DVD or memory stick and then execute on the afflicted machine. Power Eraser runs a very agressive scan of the computer and presents a list of what it considers malware. You have the option to select and remove the any or all instances it finds. Be aware that it can also flag legitimate software components as well which may affect performance of the computer after removal. However, you are facing a total re-install anyway. The tool is free and it might be all that you need to recover. You never know."It's a tough life... but someone has to enjoy it!"

Hello, If your files are important it's OK to keep them. Copy them to a USB stick or some other media then reformat your PC and AFTER you install antivirus, scan the media that contains the files. One the files are clean, they are good to go. I agree with Jagade that Security Essentials is an excellent AV and best of all it's free. MiguelMiguel Fra / Falcon IT Services Computer & Network Support, Miami, FL Visit our Knowledgebase and Support Sharepoint Site

With a Laptop there usually is a hidden restore partition which is accessed by means of an F key during the boot process.This restore partition usually contains all the necessary files to format the HD and reinstall every program that came with the Laptop originally...in other words it will restore to a just purchased state. Please read the manual that came with the laptop which should tell you how to access that partition. There also should have been a message to create a set of backup disks when you first used your Laptop... This time around make the disks!!! peter If you find a posting or message from me offensive,inappropriate or disruptive,please ignore it. If you dont know how to ignore a posting complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate :-) "Mr Hassell" wrote in message news:9f9132c2-c7bc-4146-8ca4-657369e66cff... thanks and i am a college student this laptop was a gift for graduation but thanks for the help