Drive Format

[Tony P.]

I have a friend's PC and it looks like it's been infected by a virus.
Whenever My Computer or Explorer is double-clicked, the task bar disappears
for a few seconds then re-appears but the My Computer or Explorer screen
never opens. Because of this, I can't really examine what's on any of the
drives. I tried the recovery & restore options but either of those utilities
don't fix the problem.

I'd like to re-format the hard-drive on this PC and reinstall the software.
But this PC only came with 2 recovery disks. The Windows XP install disk was
not included. There doesn't seem to be a format utility included with the
recovery disks. I had to use a DOS command line to try to see what's on
these disks, but I could not locate any format or fdisk utilities.

I have a WinXP disk and was wondering if I could boot up with that and run
the utilities even though the disk is for a different PC. If not, is there
someplace where I can download the WinXP disk utilities?

 

[Sharon F]

I have a friend's PC and it looks like it's been infected by a virus.
Whenever My Computer or Explorer is double-clicked, the task bar disappears
for a few seconds then re-appears but the My Computer or Explorer screen
never opens. Because of this, I can't really examine what's on any of the
drives. I tried the recovery & restore options but either of those utilities
don't fix the problem.

I'd like to re-format the hard-drive on this PC and reinstall the software.
But this PC only came with 2 recovery disks. The Windows XP install disk was
not included. There doesn't seem to be a format utility included with the
recovery disks. I had to use a DOS command line to try to see what's on
these disks, but I could not locate any format or fdisk utilities.

I have a WinXP disk and was wondering if I could boot up with that and run
the utilities even though the disk is for a different PC. If not, is there
someplace where I can download the WinXP disk utilities?

Check the system for virus and spyware.

A quick online check for parasites can be found here:
A quick online check for adware, spyware, hijackers, etc.:
http://www.aumha.org/a/noads.htm

There are links on that page leading to doxdesk.com, a site well-known for
accurately documenting various parasites. Another good resource site for
info on parasites: http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/

 

[Richard Urban]

If you use the recovery disks to put the computer back to the way it was
when purchased, it will be reformatted as part of the process. Read your
manual!

The recovery disks "usually" are from an image file, much as those produced
by Drive Image and Ghost. When you do a recovery, the old partition is
deleted, along with any problems you may have had. You are left with a
pristine partition, just like it was when you bought it.

You now have to get your Window Updates again and reinstall any software you
added subsequent to buying the machine. Hope you still have all the disks!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard