Product key and re-installation

[Guest]

I've got a laptop with vista on it and it's developed a virus. I need to wipe
the hard drive and re-install.
I bought a Vista package for my main pc and that one is working well.
If I use the disk to re-install on my laptop, can I use the change product
key option to put in my laptop key? or would it not accept it as it's already
registered?
I'd rather not spend money on getting a recovery disk if I don't have to.

 

[Malke]

I've got a laptop with vista on it and it's developed a virus. I need to wipe
the hard drive and re-install.
I bought a Vista package for my main pc and that one is working well.
If I use the disk to re-install on my laptop, can I use the change product
key option to put in my laptop key? or would it not accept it as it's already
registered?
I'd rather not spend money on getting a recovery disk if I don't have to.

You will either have to purchase another copy of Vista for your laptop
(and don't forget to have all the hardware drivers on hand) or get
recovery disks from the laptop mftr. It will cost a great deal more to
buy Vista than to buy recovery disks.

With laptops, it is always better to use the mftr.'s recovery process.
If disks were not supplied, then there is a way to do the restore
process with a certain keypress when you start the system. Refer to the
laptop manual or call its tech support for instructions how to restore
it to factory condition.


Malke

 

[Stephan Rose]

I've got a laptop with vista on it and it's developed a virus. I need to
wipe the hard drive and re-install.
I bought a Vista package for my main pc and that one is working well. If
I use the disk to re-install on my laptop, can I use the change product
key option to put in my laptop key? or would it not accept it as it's
already registered?
I'd rather not spend money on getting a recovery disk if I don't have
to.

Ever consider just simply using an anti virus program to remove the
virus? Just a thought....

On that note, if you have the product key for your laptop, just install
using that key with your other Vista CD. I don't see a reason why it
shouldn't work...but I can't guarantee that it will.

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

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[Richard Urban]

Do you have any antivirus or anti spyware programs installed?

Depending upon only one antivirus program or one anti spyware program is
insufficient in these days. No one program will detect everything.
Conversely, some things are detected by almost all of these type programs.

Use some or all of these on-line scans:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/?

http://www.spywareinfo.com/xscan.php

http://www.kaspersky.com/kos/english/kavwebscan.html

http://www.spywareguide.com/onlinescan.php

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.htmlhttp://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml

http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner

http://ca.com/us/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx

http://onlinescan.avast.com/

You may have to boot up into safe mode to totally remove many infections.

After you have removed everything, protect your computer with additional
software. Install good anti virus protection and anti malware protection.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Guest]

I ran a couple of anti virus programmes and anti spyware and I've cleared all
of the problems I found, but I still can't re-load messenger (which is where
I got the virus from).
I'll read through the handbook and try to recover it, but system restore
itself doesn't do the trick.
It'd be much easier if you got a system disk with the pc like you used to.
Thank you both for your help.

 

[Stephan Rose]

Do you have any antivirus or anti spyware programs installed?

Depending upon only one antivirus program or one anti spyware program is
insufficient in these days. No one program will detect everything.
Conversely, some things are detected by almost all of these type
programs.

Ya know Richard, I do have to say I am extremely glad that this type of
stuff is something I don't need to worry about anymore. I mean seriously,
who really has time to do a dozen scans with half a dozen different
programs every week?

I am really beginning to wonder sometimes if Microsoft doesn't want to do
anything about it as such a huge industry has already grown in fighting
this type of stuff that if MS would actually release a fully secure
operating system that industry would be in trouble. Who would buy anti
virus software if it wasn't needed...

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

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å›ã®ã“ã¨å¿˜ã‚ŒãŸã¨ããŒãªã„ã‹ã‚‰

 

[Richard Urban]

I believe that if Microsoft were to release a 100% safe operating system,
they would be sued by a thousand companies, large and small, as well as the
federal government and the E.U.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Richard Urban]

Messenger is not a part of Vista. You actively install it after the fact.
Therefore, in this case, having a system disk would do you no good.

Go to install/uninstall and uninstall Windows Live Messenger - if that is
what you were using. Then reboot. Then reinstall Windows Live Messenger.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Stephan Rose]

I believe that if Microsoft were to release a 100% safe operating
system, they would be sued by a thousand companies, large and small, as
well as the federal government and the E.U.

Plus Microsoft would have a hard time selling Defender or whatever it's
called =)

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

å›ã®ã“ã¨æ€ã„出ã™æ—¥ãªã‚“ã¦ãªã„ã®ã¯
å›ã®ã“ã¨å¿˜ã‚ŒãŸã¨ããŒãªã„ã‹ã‚‰

 

[Guest]

I did uninstall messenger, but when I try to re-install it, it opens a new
window ans says it's connecting then doesn't do anything else. I'm working my
way through the anti virus programmes and I've found a few more, so I'll keep
persisting with them.

 

[Charlie Tame]

Ya know Richard, I do have to say I am extremely glad that this type of
stuff is something I don't need to worry about anymore. I mean seriously,
who really has time to do a dozen scans with half a dozen different
programs every week?

I am really beginning to wonder sometimes if Microsoft doesn't want to do
anything about it as such a huge industry has already grown in fighting
this type of stuff that if MS would actually release a fully secure
operating system that industry would be in trouble. Who would buy anti
virus software if it wasn't needed...

Both Virus and Spam generate a huge amount of revenue and also provide
the Government with "Evidence" that Internet use should be taxed to pay
for "Bandwidth usage" and "Security" and "DRM", so there you have it,
nobody wants to stop these things...

 

[rtk]

Anybody want to bet that UAC was turned off?

rtk

 

[Guest]

Hi rtk,
Sorry, but what's UAC? is this something I've switched off?

 

[rtk]

UAC = User Account Control. It's the "cancel or allow" that apple makes fun
of in the commercial (despite employing the exact same solution themselves).

If UAC was on, messenger would have been running with limited privilege and
the malware would have failed to write to the system directories required to
take over your machine.