Upgrading to XP from 98 and viruses

[Guest]

I have had viruses on my Windows 98 machine, that I have cleaned up through
ad ware and spy ware software - again. I would like to upgrade to Windows
XP. Can these viruses reappear when the new OS is up and running (assuming
no new ones infect via Windows XP.

 

[kurttrail]

I have had viruses on my Windows 98 machine, that I have cleaned up
through ad ware and spy ware software - again. I would like to
upgrade to Windows XP. Can these viruses reappear when the new OS is
up and running (assuming no new ones infect via Windows XP.

If you have had real viruses, and you only used Anti-Spyware tools to
clean up, then your computer is very likely still infected.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
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"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"

 

[Guest]

I am running McAfee Internet Security Suite, Spy Bot Search and Destroy,
Spyware Doctor and Ad-aware personal. If, as you suggest, I still have
viruses, will viruses carry over during an upgrade in OS?

 

[Yves Leclerc]

YES! You could still have viruses if your are just upgrading to XP. If you
were going to re-format your harddrive, then the viruses may be cleared out.

Also, during your upgrade to XP, you must un-install your anti-virus and
disconnect your PC from the Internet. Once you have completed the upgrade,
re-install your anti-virus utility and activate a firewall BEFORE you
re-connect to the Internet.

 

[t.cruise]

It is not a good idea to upgrade a system that might still be infected. An upgrade would
not clean up the problems. I would suggest a clean install of Windows XP, swapping your
Windows 98 CD when asked for proof of upgrade eligibility, giving the path to that CD, and
when upgrade eligibility has been confirmed swapping back to the Windows XP Upgrade CD to
continue the install. Since it would be a clean install, back up any data files that you
would not want to lose. Also, since it is a Windows 98 system, are you sure that the
hardware/software/utilities/etc. are Windows XP compatible? Did you run the Windows XP
Upgrade Advisor? If it turns out that you system is old enough to have some hardware
components, software, and utilities that are not Windows XP compatible, between the price
of the Upgrade CD, and other things which you might have to upgrade, you might be better
off buying a $699 Dell special of a week, on a week where flat panel screens, free
shipping, double memory, and CDR/CD-RW or DVD drives are given as freebies. I cannot
imagine trying to run Windows XP SP2 on an older Windows 98 system.

 

[kurttrail]

I am running McAfee Internet Security Suite, Spy Bot Search and
Destroy, Spyware Doctor and Ad-aware personal. If, as you suggest,
I still have viruses, will viruses carry over during an upgrade in OS?

No, the magical upgrade pixies remove them.

Of course the viruses will carry over if not properly cleaned up. Why
in the world would you think they wouldn't?

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I am running McAfee Internet Security Suite, Spy Bot Search and
Destroy, Spyware Doctor and Ad-aware personal. If, as you
suggest,
I still have viruses, will viruses carry over during an upgrade
in OS?

If the upgrade is successful, yes the viruses will likely still
be there. However upgrading an infected machine is a very bad
thing to do. It will likely not be successful and you may end up
with a machine you can't even boot.

You should be sure you are virus-free and spyware-free before
upgrading. If you running the software you list above, it sounds
like you should be OK.

 

[Guest]

So you have gotten to my dilemma. Should I try to upgrade my system or just
buy an new one and start a clean slate? My anti virus and anti spy ware
programs indicate that my system is clean, but I still can't get IE to work.
It just hangs. So that's why I suspect my system still has some lingering
affects.

Thanks.

In re

It is not a good idea to upgrade a system that might still be infected. An upgrade would
not clean up the problems. I would suggest a clean install of Windows XP, swapping your
Windows 98 CD when asked for proof of upgrade eligibility, giving the path to that CD, and
when upgrade eligibility has been confirmed swapping back to the Windows XP Upgrade CD to
continue the install. Since it would be a clean install, back up any data files that you
would not want to lose. Also, since it is a Windows 98 system, are you sure that the
hardware/software/utilities/etc. are Windows XP compatible? Did you run the Windows XP
Upgrade Advisor? If it turns out that you system is old enough to have some hardware
components, software, and utilities that are not Windows XP compatible, between the price
of the Upgrade CD, and other things which you might have to upgrade, you might be better
off buying a $699 Dell special of a week, on a week where flat panel screens, free
shipping, double memory, and CDR/CD-RW or DVD drives are given as freebies. I cannot
imagine trying to run Windows XP SP2 on an older Windows 98 system.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

I have had viruses on my Windows 98 machine, that I have cleaned up through
ad ware and spy ware software - again. I would like to upgrade to Windows
XP. Can these viruses reappear when the new OS is up and running (assuming
no new ones infect via Windows XP.

 

[All Things Mopar]

On this date, =?Utf-8?B?R01N?= extended this wisdom for
the
consideration of other readers...

I am running McAfee Internet Security Suite, Spy Bot Search
and Destroy, Spyware Doctor and Ad-aware personal. If, as
you suggest, I still have viruses, will viruses carry over
during an upgrade in OS?

Virses or not, you are /much/ better off nuking your HD
and doing a clean install of XP. Problems with the
install will be virtually nil and you won't have the
overhead of a bloated and partially corrupt registry to
bug you.

Of course, back up everything, the do the deed.

 

[peterk]

You did not give us any specs of your system so we cannot offer advice re
buying a new system.
I have a 2nd machine an older AMD 1.4 machine with 512 of DDR memory running
XP nicely.
as to your virus problem if you wish to be sure the little buggers are gone
format the HD with a 98 boot disk.
Then install XP fresh...............but check the requirements on the XP
website first to see if your system matches and run the upgrade advisor.
peterk

--
It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about
the problem

So you have gotten to my dilemma. Should I try to upgrade my system or
just
buy an new one and start a clean slate? My anti virus and anti spy ware
programs indicate that my system is clean, but I still can't get IE to
work.
It just hangs. So that's why I suspect my system still has some lingering
affects.

Thanks.

In re

It is not a good idea to upgrade a system that might still be infected.
An upgrade would
not clean up the problems. I would suggest a clean install of Windows
XP, swapping your
Windows 98 CD when asked for proof of upgrade eligibility, giving the
path to that CD, and
when upgrade eligibility has been confirmed swapping back to the Windows
XP Upgrade CD to
continue the install. Since it would be a clean install, back up any
data files that you
would not want to lose. Also, since it is a Windows 98 system, are you
sure that the
hardware/software/utilities/etc. are Windows XP compatible? Did you run
the Windows XP
Upgrade Advisor? If it turns out that you system is old enough to have
some hardware
components, software, and utilities that are not Windows XP compatible,
between the price
of the Upgrade CD, and other things which you might have to upgrade, you
might be better
off buying a $699 Dell special of a week, on a week where flat panel
screens, free
shipping, double memory, and CDR/CD-RW or DVD drives are given as
freebies. I cannot
imagine trying to run Windows XP SP2 on an older Windows 98 system.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

I have had viruses on my Windows 98 machine, that I have cleaned up
through
ad ware and spy ware software - again. I would like to upgrade to
Windows
XP. Can these viruses reappear when the new OS is up and running
(assuming
no new ones infect via Windows XP.

 

[t.cruise]

If you purchased the system with Windows 98 installed on it, the system is probably about
7 years old? The speed of the CPU is probably on the very low end of what I would
consider acceptable for Windows XP. If you have not installed a new hard drive during the
time you have had the system, the drive probably will not last much longer, and probably
does not have enough storage space for Windows XP and other things that you will be
wanting to do with Windows XP. Other components are probably corroding and getting ready
to fail. The speed of the memory modules and BUS are probably slow. You do not have USB
2 ports (much faster than USB 1.1). PC years are faster than dog years. Expect a life of
maybe 5-6 years. Some of your utilities will probably not work with Windows XP. Some of
your Windows 98 peripherals (printer/scanner/etc.) might not have Windows XP drivers, and
might be orphaned. If you are asking my personal opinion, being halfway through 2005, I
would not spend the money, time and effort to try to upgrade an old Windows 98 system to
Windows XP. Like I said in my previous post, DELL has weekly online specials. Some weeks
offer more freebies than others. A few weeks ago, a client hit the jackpot: The special
was: Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor, free double memory, free upgrade to a 17" flat panel
monitor, free upgrade to an 80 GB hard drive, free upgrade to CDR/CD-RW, free shipping,
free upgrade to a three year warranty, and an instant $100 rebate. The total package came
to about $699, with an option to finance through Dell (if needed) interest free for a
year. Each week the specials/freebies change. If you can wait until you get a deal close
to the one above, I would jump on it. Consider your old system to be like an old car.
You can put money into it. But, it will still be an old car, not really capable of what
you want it to do, and constantly needing repairs. You would be spending for the Windows
XP upgrade CD, then soon a new hard drive, more memory (Windows XP is a memory hog). If
you have a CD burner, the software will probably not be Windows XP compatible, so you
would have to purchase a new XP compatible version) If you have your original Windows 98
compatible antivirus software, chances are it will not be compatible with Windows XP. I
could go on, but you get the idea. Aside from all that I have previously mentioned,
Windows XP will run extremely slow on a system that old.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

So you have gotten to my dilemma. Should I try to upgrade my system or just
buy an new one and start a clean slate? My anti virus and anti spy ware
programs indicate that my system is clean, but I still can't get IE to work.
It just hangs. So that's why I suspect my system still has some lingering
affects.

Thanks.

In re

It is not a good idea to upgrade a system that might still be infected. An upgrade would
not clean up the problems. I would suggest a clean install of Windows XP, swapping your
Windows 98 CD when asked for proof of upgrade eligibility, giving the path to that CD, and
when upgrade eligibility has been confirmed swapping back to the Windows XP Upgrade CD to
continue the install. Since it would be a clean install, back up any data files that you
would not want to lose. Also, since it is a Windows 98 system, are you sure that the
hardware/software/utilities/etc. are Windows XP compatible? Did you run the Windows XP
Upgrade Advisor? If it turns out that you system is old enough to have some hardware
components, software, and utilities that are not Windows XP compatible, between the price
of the Upgrade CD, and other things which you might have to upgrade, you might be better
off buying a $699 Dell special of a week, on a week where flat panel screens, free
shipping, double memory, and CDR/CD-RW or DVD drives are given as freebies. I cannot
imagine trying to run Windows XP SP2 on an older Windows 98 system.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

I have had viruses on my Windows 98 machine, that I have cleaned up through
ad ware and spy ware software - again. I would like to upgrade to Windows
XP. Can these viruses reappear when the new OS is up and running (assuming
no new ones infect via Windows XP.