I made some dumb mistakes -- please help!

[sunnycold]

Hi,

I have Windows XP home edition on my Dell laptop. I was browsing sites
earlier and suddenly started getting pop ups; my computer started being
slow and unresponsive. Before I knew it, I had an unwanted toolbar on
my browser and party poker icons on my desktop. I removed new programs
(at least the ones I recognized as new) using the Add/Remove Programs
option but this didn't get rid of the new toolbar. I then realized that
a lot of suspicious files had been downloaded onto my computer without
my consent. Whenever I tried to get online, I was bombarded with
pop-ups. So, I made a terrible mistake - I went on a deleting frenzy,
deleting all new files that had been created that day (yesterday). This
got rid of the annoying toolbar, but now I cannot connect to the
internet and my computer is very slow. System Restore and re-installing
windows (without losing my files) do not work. Should I give up and
just re-install windows completely from scratch? Any suggestions out
there? I'm desperate!

Thanks for your time!

~Kimmie

 

[Michael T.]

Consider running your anti-virus program in Safe Mode (press F8 while
booting.)

Also you might want to run Ad-aware, Spybot and/or MS AntiSpyware of you
have installed any of these.

 

[Michael T.]

Consider running your anti-virus program in Safe Mode (press F8 while
booting.)

Also you might want to run Ad-aware, Spybot and/or MS AntiSpyware if you
have installed any of these.

The links for these apps are at
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/downloads/default.mspx

It appears Windows Defender (Beta 2) is now the MS antispyware of choice.

You will have to determine if you can download these and transfer to another
PC - such as by burning a CD.

Also my 'newer' version of Symantec anti-virus seems to not work in Safe
Mode any longer. Your mileage may vary.

You may also want to contact Dell - although my experience with their tech
support people has been less than stellar.

 

[Guest]

why doesnt booting from windows setup cd, selecting new install, selecting
your installation then selecting repairing it work.....? It would only
repair those windows system files that got corrupted....