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So I had viruses on my computer that the antivirus could not remove. Took the computer to a shop and they wiped the hard drive clean and reloaded windows etc. and charged me $80. Is this something I could do myself since I have the original setup disc that came with the computer? I seem to remember something about "F disc" or something to wipe off the hard drive.
GO CYCLONES!!!
Yes, most people could do this themselves. Oftentimes when you boot up from the original setup disc, part of the reinstall will be wiping the hard drive clean.
Yes. You paid $80 for something you could have done yourself (really, you paid for the labor, because that's all that's really involved).
1) Backup essential files (should do this often anyway). This would be any work files, photos, etc.
2) Pop the Windows OS disc into the drive and restart. It should go to a setup menu.
3) Reinstall Windows, using the format option. This would wipe the drive (more or less) and reinstall Windows.
4) Go through and reinstall vital software, reinstall and update drivers, etc.
if you dont know what youre doing the 80 dollars was well spent. when i first redid mine i got help from someone that works on computers. without that help i would have been lost and probably would have screwed up my computer and had to pay that money anyway to get it reinstalled. i did mine on a dell so i dont know if they are harder to reinstall then another company so that may have made a difference
Reinstalling your OS shouldn't matter on what company you bought your computer from, really. However, reinstalling all the other stuff could be more of a pain.Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkeyeh8r
Quote:
Originally Posted by alarson
The question is, did he need to reinstall windows to begin with?Quote:
Originally Posted by edr247
1. Boot in to safe mode
2. Download Malwarebytes on a USB Flash Drive
3. Download Microsoft Standalone sweeper
4. Download MSE
5. Run all Scans
6. Boot in to Windows.
This would have fixed it.
Possibly, Malwarebytes is good but it is far from a catch-all, some are very tricky to remove and take some time even if you know what you're doing. Regardless, yes, this is something you could do yourself and $80 is highway robbery.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cy4Patriots
I think Best Buy charges like 150-200$ for something like this. Nuts.Quote:
Originally Posted by 3TrueFans
You also have to factor in how valuable your time is. Depending on how long it would have taken you to figure it out it could have been money well spent.
unless the virus was in the OS. i had one like that and i couldnt open any programs, even in safe mode. i had to take it into a computer place to get it done since it made it almost impossible to do anything to fix itQuote:
Originally Posted by Cy4Patriots
Well before you rush to take it in read about the Microsoft toolQuote:
Originally Posted by hawkeyeh8r
Quote:
Microsoft recently released a rather interesting beta the other day, called: Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper Tool. This is a tool designed to rescue and fix computers that cannot boot into windows. These days, many viruses, malware and what not target the boot sector of your hard drive, rendering the computer unbootable. And in many cases also unfixable to the windows Startup Repair Tool found on the Setup disk.
As someone who's not computer savvy, how do you backup files? Save them to a disk? Other?Quote:
Originally Posted by edr247
External Hard Drive. They're worth if you download music or are a hardcore gamer.
ya you can go out and get an external HD. we got a 1TB hd for 70 or 80 bucks last year. just put whatever you want to save (photos, documents, etc..) on there and then you can transfer them back when reinstall your computerQuote:
Originally Posted by cytheguy
Doing this really doesn't take much of your time at all. Yeah it may take a couple hours to complete but most of that is installation time. This guy pretty much got ripped. If it is your first time doing it google really helps (if you have access to another computer).Quote:
Originally Posted by serverguy