Corrupted/ infected files, thinking about total OS upgrade.

[IMCAmodRacer719]

I went to microsoft support and after all day and a couple of hours the night
before, my system is worse than before all the hassle. I am considering
formatting my disc and starting all over. I have an ASUS P4P800SE
motherboard, 4GB OCZ memory, 1TB WD hard disc, a Saphire 3850HD 512MB video
card and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy sound card and an Intel P4 3.2 HT
processor. I have been running XP Home, but after this virus/ repair fiasco I
would like to start with a clean slate and upgrade to XP Pro or XP Pro 64
bit. My primary computer usage is gaming, mostly FPS and racing sims so I am
looking for all the performance I can squeeze out of the hardware I have. I
cannot afford to buy or build a new system and my current motherboard is
fully maxed out, it can't handle anymore. The only things I can do now as an
upgrade of any kind that I am aware of would be liquid cooling (the next
issue as soon as I have the funds), power supply (as urgent and plan to do at
the same time that I add the cooling system) and my OS. I am not comfortable
with going Vista or the new OS when it arrives as some of my favorite
programs are a number of years old and out of print. I have concerns that
those programs might not run reliably or possibly at all with the "latest and
greatest" OS's. Thanks in advance for any help. I have very limited funds at
this time and cannot afford to make a mistake when purchasing an OS.

 

[Paul]

I went to microsoft support and after all day and a couple of hours the night
before, my system is worse than before all the hassle. I am considering
formatting my disc and starting all over. I have an ASUS P4P800SE
motherboard, 4GB OCZ memory, 1TB WD hard disc, a Saphire 3850HD 512MB video
card and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy sound card and an Intel P4 3.2 HT
processor. I have been running XP Home, but after this virus/ repair fiasco I
would like to start with a clean slate and upgrade to XP Pro or XP Pro 64
bit. My primary computer usage is gaming, mostly FPS and racing sims so I am
looking for all the performance I can squeeze out of the hardware I have. I
cannot afford to buy or build a new system and my current motherboard is
fully maxed out, it can't handle anymore. The only things I can do now as an
upgrade of any kind that I am aware of would be liquid cooling (the next
issue as soon as I have the funds), power supply (as urgent and plan to do at
the same time that I add the cooling system) and my OS. I am not comfortable
with going Vista or the new OS when it arrives as some of my favorite
programs are a number of years old and out of print. I have concerns that
those programs might not run reliably or possibly at all with the "latest and
greatest" OS's. Thanks in advance for any help. I have very limited funds at
this time and cannot afford to make a mistake when purchasing an OS.

So the premise of your message, is that by changing the OS, you'll
be completely protected from viruses and trojans ?

Why not just reinstall WinXP Home, find some good malware software,
and leave it at that ?

http://www.av-comparatives.org/seiten/ergebnisse_2008_08.php

Paul

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

well, I think that the 64 bit
version you referred to
requires a 64 bit cpu.

as mentioned in the other
post, you may as well stay
with the home version.

then before installing third
party software, download
all the ms updates, then
make a backup.

however, if you plan to upgrade
may as well go for vista "or" wait
to upgrade to windows 7.

---------------

as a suggestion, I would
partition that terabyte drive
so that you can store your
user data off the system
partition.

another partition might be
helpful to keep your backups
as well.

that way in the future, if you
do any reformatting, it will
likely be only on the corrupted
partition for the system.

here is some more info:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/tulloch_partition.mspx

I would yet make one
more suggestion for you.

add a slave drive to your
system and install windows
to it and nothing else.

that way you will have an
o.s. that you can use to
gain access to your system,

in the event your incur
failure with your primary
o.s.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

"share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I went to microsoft support and after all day and a couple of hours the
night
before, my system is worse than before all the hassle. I am considering
formatting my disc and starting all over. I have an ASUS P4P800SE
motherboard, 4GB OCZ memory, 1TB WD hard disc, a Saphire 3850HD 512MB
video
card and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy sound card and an Intel P4 3.2 HT
processor. I have been running XP Home, but after this virus/ repair
fiasco I
would like to start with a clean slate and upgrade to XP Pro or XP Pro 64
bit.

An OS change won't change your habits or security shorcomings.

XP Pro will behave almost exactly the same way as Home wrt viruses and
malware.

My primary computer usage is gaming, mostly FPS and racing sims so I am
looking for all the performance I can squeeze out of the hardware I have.
I
cannot afford to buy or build a new system and my current motherboard is
fully maxed out, it can't handle anymore. The only things I can do now as
an
upgrade of any kind that I am aware of would be liquid cooling (the next
issue as soon as I have the funds), power supply (as urgent and plan to do
at
the same time that I add the cooling system) and my OS.

None of these affect the security concerns.

I am not comfortable
with going Vista or the new OS when it arrives as some of my favorite
programs are a number of years old and out of print. I have concerns that
those programs might not run reliably or possibly at all with the "latest
and
greatest" OS's. Thanks in advance for any help. I have very limited funds
at
this time and cannot afford to make a mistake when purchasing an OS.

From what you mention, there's no reason at all to change the OS. The
system may have been compromised, and then it's sometimes faster to back up
your data, delete the partitions, create new ones, and start over.

HTH
-pk

 

[IMCAmodRacer719]

I understand that an OS upgrade will make no difference to any security
concerns. I have been told by a number of people who have upgraded to XP Pro
from XP Home that they got better performance from their system with the
software I frequently run. My interest had to do with compatiblilty between
64 bit Pro with my system/ processor. My current OS started out many years
ago as Windows 95 and I have steadily upgraded my system over the years
gradually as money would allow. I got a Windows 98 upgrade disc and finally a
Windows XP Home upgrade disc and here we are, all these years later and a
virus has finally ended my good run. Now, and here's the rub, it appears that
several years ago when I got divorced my ex-wife either took the disc with
her or it was misplaced or something. At any rate, without the Windows 95
disc that started all this, I really can't format and reinstall. Even if it
were a possibility, that is a great deal more trouble than simply buying one
disc, Windows XP (fill in the version here) service pack (fill in the blank),
make one initial trip to the Microsoft update page or just let Windows Live
One Care do it's update thing and move on. I hope that clears up any
misunderstanding that I am so stupid as to believe a new OS will fix
everything that is wrong in this world.

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

you can try to perform
a "repair installation"
with your cd,

the hope is that it will save you
from formatting, purchasing
new software and resinstalling
everything.

you can also uninstall sp3
before you use sp2 to do
a repair.

or

buy your full version of
winxp pro.

again, you need a 64 bit cpu
to run 64 bit applications.

-----------------

I think the choices above
are simple.

try to fix what you have
only baring the cost of your
time

or

start over and allocate
time and costs for new
software.

-----------------

I suppose there is yet
one more option,

buying a win95 cd
from ebay or
somewhere


--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

"share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Leythos]

I went to microsoft support and after all day and a couple of hours the night
before, my system is worse than before all the hassle. I am considering
formatting my disc and starting all over. I have an ASUS P4P800SE
motherboard, 4GB OCZ memory, 1TB WD hard disc, a Saphire 3850HD 512MB video
card and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy sound card and an Intel P4 3.2 HT
processor. I have been running XP Home, but after this virus/ repair fiasco I
would like to start with a clean slate and upgrade to XP Pro or XP Pro 64
bit. My primary computer usage is gaming, mostly FPS and racing sims so I am
looking for all the performance I can squeeze out of the hardware I have. I
cannot afford to buy or build a new system and my current motherboard is
fully maxed out, it can't handle anymore. The only things I can do now as an
upgrade of any kind that I am aware of would be liquid cooling (the next
issue as soon as I have the funds), power supply (as urgent and plan to do at
the same time that I add the cooling system) and my OS. I am not comfortable
with going Vista or the new OS when it arrives as some of my favorite
programs are a number of years old and out of print. I have concerns that
those programs might not run reliably or possibly at all with the "latest and
greatest" OS's. Thanks in advance for any help. I have very limited funds at
this time and cannot afford to make a mistake when purchasing an OS.

I have a P4P800 and 4GB Ram and Dual 1TB drives and a nice 512MB video
card in the system.

As for upgrades, don't bother, your motherboard is not going to run
Vista as fast as XP does.

As for Games, I play GuildWars, Counter Strike, and a couple others, and
it's almost all about the video card, not the motherboard.

Don't bother over-clocking, it just makes things unstable and you don't
really gain much.

If you want a stable system then only load quality apps on it, ones that
you've seen testing results from, read about on vendors sites, etc...

My P4P800 runs fine, in fact I'm running Dual 22" LCD monitors on it and
even play games at 1600x1280 without lag.

What you really need is to clean your computer - I would suggest that
you wipe it, rebuild from scratch, apply updates, install a quality AV
software, download MBAM, install at least a NAT Router as a barrier
device between the computer and your internet connection, and read up on
how to secure your pc - using FireFox is a good start. Also, don't
download pirated/shared files, it's not worth it.

 

[peter]

I think at this stage of the game you best bet is a NEW installation with a
retail copy of either Home or Pro.
You could save yourself some cash by buying OEM version.. but it would only
be good for ONE system and you would need
to format the HD before installation.
You will need to gather all of the drivers for your particular
hardware..Chipset/Audio/Video/Printer/etc
You will also need all of the Original CD's to reinstall your Games and
Programs.
Assuming your system is now "clean" start by backing up everything that you
wish to save...
Then Install the OS of your choice...formatting the HD during the process.

peter

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I understand that an OS upgrade will make no difference to any security
concerns. I have been told by a number of people who have upgraded to XP
Pro
from XP Home that they got better performance from their system with the
software I frequently run.

Unlikely, unless the XP Home installation also came with bloatware that the
Pro installation didn't.

Home and Pro are extremely similar, Pro has encryption and the ability to
join domains, the security works slightly differently and the built-in
Administrator account can be used in regular mode (never use this as a
regular account).

My interest had to do with compatiblilty between
64 bit Pro with my system/ processor. My current OS started out many years
ago as Windows 95 and I have steadily upgraded my system over the years
gradually as money would allow. I got a Windows 98 upgrade disc and
finally a
Windows XP Home upgrade disc and here we are, all these years later and a
virus has finally ended my good run. Now, and here's the rub, it appears
that
several years ago when I got divorced my ex-wife either took the disc with
her or it was misplaced or something. At any rate, without the Windows 95
disc that started all this, I really can't format and reinstall.

Have to tell you that it's often not hard at all to find somebody with a
qualifying disk and borrow it for 10 minutes or copy it.

If you watch in used shops you'll see them for a few dollars occasionally.
You only need to show it to the system, not install with it.

Then you can use your upgrade XP CD, if you still have that. If you don't
but still have the *install key*, and can borrow another XP Upgrade CD,
you're off again. The license is represented by the install key, not the
disk. THe key is either on a sticker or can be retrieved via Belarc.

Even if it
were a possibility, that is a great deal more trouble than simply buying
one
disc, Windows XP (fill in the version here) service pack (fill in the
blank),
make one initial trip to the Microsoft update page or just let Windows
Live
One Care do it's update thing and move on. I hope that clears up any
misunderstanding that I am so stupid as to believe a new OS will fix
everything that is wrong in this world.

THe XP disk you'll get will be SP2, you'll still want to slipstream to SP3,
and you'll still have other updates to get.

HTH
-pk