Formatting the computer

[dr nick]

so my computer is basically stuffed. It started when i first started using Kazaa about 2 years ago and it's been a downhill slide ever since.

First thing strange was my homepage changed to some yahoo adress and every time i restarted the computer some virus or something was continually changing it even if i put it back.

Next thing to go was the ability to write on cd's. This was terrible as i couldnt back up files. Then went the cd drive altogether. My computer wont even read a music cd or data cd, though it will read dvd's.

4th thing to go was one of the USB ports (i've got 2)... not a complete write-off yet.

Next thing was IE got REALLY slow, like 10 minutes to load up a page

Then i couldnt start opening programs. MSN, MIMS etc...

Then my computer started randomly shutting down.

Now i can't even connect to the internet at all (i'm using my brothers computer)

I'm in the process of backing up onto a memory stick and loading onto this computer all my files and photos that i need, but i'm not going to back any programs



What i need to know is how to properly format/wipe the computer. Is there an option in control panel 4 this? I'm using a Sony Vaio laptop with windows XP and if i format it will it still have windows? Will the computer start up? I think it's riddled with viruses, is this the right thing to be doing?

Help will be appreciated....

 

[silky-smooth]

Do what I did when my PC screwed up a few years ago.

Basically same happened, nothing was working well and it progressively became slower. Formats and defraging etc weren't working.

I backed up the hard drive via my 128MB USB to my brother's computer (took about 40 transfers).

Then I did a whole computer wipe and re-install windows etc. Then my hard-drive fried.

Went out and just got a whole new computer. And ever since then, have been fine. Occasional slowness, but virus scans and disk clean-ups fixed that.

Don't bother trying to get an IT man around to fix whatever you want fixed, because they'll rip you off.

 

[coasting]

If you format you lose everything. You need to get a copy of windows to reinstall it. If you do have a copy of xp just try reinstalling it (without formatting) that sometimes helps.

If you can somehow get on to the net, go here and clean your viruses...

http://housecall.trendmicro.com

And download a spyware killer program like adaware and run it. I would also go start->run->msconfig->startup and clear all the ********e you have in there, that should help it run quicker for a start.

 

[jim boy]

You could spyware it, virus check it, even supertrick it, but ultimately your computer is so full of crud, you're best wiping the slate clean.

Have you got the system disk with your vaio, did it come with one or more emergency cd's?

However you might want to get your cd going before you wipe the disk, as you'll need it. If you have a system disk, make sure that the the pc will boot onto the system disk. (ie put the disk in the disk drive, reboot and it should boot into something quite different than your normal boot-up).

If this isn't happening, don't format your disk, you'll never get the laptop going again.

If it is working and you have the operating system on disk, go with that and choose the option to reformat the hard disks.

 

[dr nick]

thanks JB, i've got the vaio cd's... i'll try that

 

[PAFC2004]

Chances are you won't ever completely fix the prob without a format.
I guess you have 2 options:

a) format, losing anything on the drive (unless you wanna back it all up) then reinstalling windows

b) BUYING a decent antivirus, download a program called "stinger" (scans for trojans etc), get adaware 6.0 and spybot search and destroy. After using all 4, hopefully your system will be clean. Then reinstall windows, but do not format obviously.

 

[Basic]

Do what I did when my PC screwed up a few years ago.

Basically same happened, nothing was working well and it progressively became slower. Formats and defraging etc weren't working.

I backed up the hard drive via my 128MB USB to my brother's computer (took about 40 transfers).

Then I did a whole computer wipe and re-install windows etc. Then my hard-drive fried.

This always cracks me up. Why do people back up all their hard drive format the computer then put all the crap back? All that crap still contains whatever you were trying to get rid of

 

[PAFC2004]

Haha... well hopefully they only back up the files they need, and SCAN them.