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Need help..need to reinstall..

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by Sfantasia, 2005/07/17.

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  1. 2005/07/17
    Sfantasia

    Sfantasia Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hello;

    Ok here's my problem. I have gotten a bunch of spyware on my computer because yesterday I inadvertantly shut my firewall down and it was 15 minutes before I knew it. I have a server on my computer and I use Zone Alarm Pro and it does a good job. Now when I go to a site it opens real slow and when I go to a forum for instance there are highlighted words in the text like diamond, free, game, tournaments etc that are actually hyperlinks to gaming and sales sites. I want to reformat my hard drive and reinstall my Windows XP from the CD rom however I need a little help. I have 2 hard drives and I have copied all the important data to the second drive as well as the Desktop folder and the My Favorites and My Documents folders, and all the data I need to save. I have all the time in the world to reinstall my programs so I have these questions. Can I boot in DOS and indicate the CD Rom and then reformat my Drive C:? If so how? If I do will all the data on Drive D: be safe? When I had Windows 98 it wasn't a problem because I had a Win98 Boot floppy but I don't have one for XP. I will appreciate any help at all. I am not going to do anything until I get some answers.

    Thanks
     
    Sfantasia,
    #1
  2. 2005/07/17
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    This is quite straightforward :)

    First go into the BIOS and ensure that the Boot order is set CD-ROM > Floppy > Hard Drive.

    Insert the XP CD into your CD-ROM drive and reboot and follow these instructions I wrote for reinstalling Windows when there is an existing installation on the drive - some of the text is taken from the screens you will see. (BTW this assumes you have an XP install disk and NOT a Recovery disk) ....

    Your data on D drive will be safe - only the C drive will be formatted.
     
    PeteC,
    #2


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  4. 2005/07/17
    McTavish

    McTavish Inactive

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    The things you used to do with fdisk you can now do with the XP CD during the install. Just follow the on screen prompts to delete your current XP’s partition and then create a new partition and format it in the file system you want. This site will walk you through the whole thing.

    XP Home
    http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxphome/installxpcdoldhdd/index.htm

    XP Pro
    http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winxppro/installxpcdoldhdd/index.htm

    Your second hard drive will be untouched as long as you don’t accidentally delete the partition/s yourself. If the partition details you will be shown are unclear to you then copy them down and post back.
     
    McTavish,
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  5. 2005/07/17
    Sfantasia

    Sfantasia Inactive Thread Starter

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    Need Help...

    Thanks I just wanted to let you know while I was backing up my data files I discovered a program that I had downoladed from Microsoft called "AntiSpyware ". I had downloaded it about a month ago but because it was a beta I hesitated to use it. Well I installed it and it found all those Spyware things I had been noticing. I had the program remove them and it seems to be running a lot smoother. I figured since I had the firewall and the AntiSpyware was a beta version I set it aside and ignored it. I went to the forum where I was getting all the hyperlinked words in the text and they wer'nt there any more. Even the words in my original post here that were hyperlinked are no longer. I guess it wouldn't hurt to run this AntiSpyware with my firewall would it? I have Zone Alarm Pro and I like the way it works. Any way I have saved the links on how to reformat my drive in the event the AntiSpyware doesn't work and again I thank you for all the help.
     
    Sfantasia,
    #4
  6. 2005/07/18
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta - this software was bought by MS from Giant where it was a proven piece of software - the beta tag comes from the fact that it has been dressed up in MS livery and they are developing it further.

    I would advise you run it - MSAS monitors your system for spyware, etc all the time the PC is running, autoscans once per day and autoupdates. It is very effective.

    You should also do the following ....

    Download via Quicklinks in my signature ....

    Ad-Aware SE - update and run and delete all it finds.

    Spybot - update and run and delete all it finds. Use the immunize feature to provide a degree of permanent blocking of nasties.

    For additional blocking download SpywareBlaster 3.4 - update it and enable all protection. This is a not a scanner, but a permanent blocker and should be updated regularly and additional protection applied.

    You really do not need anything more than this plus a read of How to Surf Safely by Arie, the BBS Administrator
     
    PeteC,
    #5
  7. 2005/07/18
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    and when you are finished running the tools mentioned above, download a copy (free) of HijackThis from here:
    http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

    Run the program and scan your computer. Then save the scan and copy+paste the scan results into a NEW thread in the "removing spyware" forum here. We'll assist you in getting rid of the leftover malware.
     
    TonyT,
    #6
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