XP anti virus question

[Guest]

I caught a virus and really need to reinstall Windows XP. If I do, will I
loose all my settings? I had to delete some system files in order to wipe
out the virus.
-Pete

 

[Duane Arnold]

I caught a virus and really need to reinstall Windows XP. If I do, will I
loose all my settings? I had to delete some system files in order to wipe
out the virus.
-Pete

If you do a clean install of XP (format the HDD) which you should do if
you're concerned about some virus, then you're going to loose everything.

On the other hand, the virus can most likely be eradicated off of the
machine. If you had a multiple compromises on the machine like numerous --
numerous con the machine at one time, one might consider just reinstalling
the O/S and start fresh.

Someone here should be able to help you if you're just talking about the
eradication of one virus instead of taking out the whole machine or doing a
repair install over the top of the existing O/S and applications, which
will leave all settings, programs and etc in tack.

Duane

 

[Guest]

If you do a clean install of XP (format the HDD) which you should do if
you're concerned about some virus, then you're going to loose everything.

On the other hand, the virus can most likely be eradicated off of the
machine. If you had a multiple compromises on the machine like numerous --
numerous con the machine at one time, one might consider just reinstalling
the O/S and start fresh.

Someone here should be able to help you if you're just talking about the
eradication of one virus instead of taking out the whole machine or doing
a
repair install over the top of the existing O/S and applications, which
will leave all settings, programs and etc in tack.

Duane

A repair install would take me back from SP2 to SP1, right?

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

Yes, if the CD is an SP1 CD, if the CD is SP2 then you will get SP2

 

[Duane Arnold]

A repair install would take me back from SP2 to SP1, right?

Yes, and you would have to apply the SP and any secuirty pathes to the O/S
again.

Duane

 

[tomas]

Pete,

Based on a recent experience and re-installation of my own -

What settings are you talking about? If they are the defaults for each
installed program, re-installing the program will restore them.
If the settings are the incremental tweakings of default templates which we
all do, make a copy of one document per program.
Make a copy of your browser Bookmarks and ftp addresses; these can be
helpful when it comes to tracing software sites.

Unless you have removed WinXP's CD-burning utility, you can use it to copy
all these things to a CD. You can also move them onto a memory stick. If
you have an ftp site, you can move files onto that to preserve them. If
you're hinting at manipulating the registry, I'd suggest you abandon that
idea.

Before re-installing XP, disconnect from the net, and tell the Operating
System you have no connection - if it asks (you tell it about the net
later).
Once XP is installed, immediately set its firewall.
If your anti-virus came on a CD, re-install it from the CD.
Reset / re-install your connection to the net.
Re-install your programs etc.

Hope this helps.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: <[email protected]>


|
| A repair install would take me back from SP2 to SP1, right?
|

But it would NOT eradicate an infector and could actually exacerbate the problem !


Download MULTI_AV.EXE from the URL --
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/Multi_AV.exe

It is a self-extracting ZIP file that contains the Kixtart Script Interpreter {
http://kixtart.org Kixtart is CareWare } three batch files, five Kixtart scripts, one Link
(.LNK) file, this PDF instruction file and two utilities; UNZIP.EXE and WGET.EXE. It will
simplify the process of using; Sophos, Trend and McAfee Anti Virus Command Line Scanners to
remove
viruses and various other malware.

C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT -- { or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS}
This will bring up the initial menu of choices and should be executed in Normal Mode. This
way all the components can be downloaded from each AV vendor’s web site.
The choices are; Sophos, Trend, McAfee, Exit the menu and Reboot the PC.

You can choose to go to each menu item and just download the needed files or you can
download the files and perform a scan in Normal Mode. Once you have downloaded the files
needed for each scanner you want to use, you should reboot the PC into Safe Mode [F8 key
during boot] and re-run the menu again and choose which scanner you want to run in Safe
Mode. It is suggested to run the scanners in both Safe Mode and Normal Mode.

When the menu is displayed hitting 'H' or 'h' will bring up a more comprehensive PDF help
file.

To use this utility, perform the following...
Execute; Multi_AV.exe { Note: You must use the default folder C:\AV-CLS }
Choose; Unzip
Choose; Close

Execute; C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS }

NOTE: You may have to disable your software FireWall or allow WGET.EXE and/or FTP.EXE to go
through your FireWall to allow them to download the needed AV vendor related files.

* * * Please report back your results * * *

 

[Conor]

I caught a virus and really need to reinstall Windows XP. If I do, will I
loose all my settings? I had to delete some system files in order to wipe
out the virus.
-Pete

You cannot do an install over the top as that will achieve nothing. The
virus will still be there along with any registry entries.