Friend's sick computer

---

looking for a little input from those more geekier than I please...I went to help a friend with her computer. Her virus skan was telling her that she had a virus but can't be cleared or quarrantined. Her system was grinding down but I wasn't convinced it was the alleged virus but just the need for a drive rebuild.here, it gets complicated (beleave me, I've done this before)so, I reformat the drivefirst.. her XP disk is only an upgrade, she's missinf the original (duh, never thought to check that) it askes for the original disk or cancel... I cancel but XP starts intalling anyway. I'm wondering if it was hidden on the hard drive.So the new install works like shit... claims registry errors, connects to the net slow. She downloaded AVG and it claimed she had 8 viruses after a re-format.Poor girl's machine is crashing like mad now and I'm out of ideasIt's a P4, about 2 years old so I'm not thinkiing that it might be the "leaky capacitor" issue but I didn't look for them either.I'm pretty computer savy but I don't know what to do next to help her outideas pleasethanks

Is that computer on the Internet? If so, and there's no router (firewall) between the PC and cable or DSL modem, they PC will be attacked so quickly it'll make your head spin. Also, I don't understand how anything can be left if the disk is reformatted.If a root kit gets installed (basically, malware that installs itself under XP and hides itself), I don't think it's removable by most virus software (Microsoft is supposedly addressing that their next Windows release), but a total disk format (I mean a format, not just a reinstall of the OS) should clean off everything.

I agree... that's why I'm a bit confused. I reformatted, the "upgrade" disk said to put the original OS disk in. When I hit cancel, XP began to install... never seen anything like that before.Unfortunately, it's a home built machine that was serviced by another shady character... both individuals are "incommunicado"one other point... after I first did the re-install, it wouldn't recognise the on board NIC and therefore wouldn't see the cable modem. She installed a new NIC that worked for a while but the whole thing is still flakey.Like I said, I mostly understan all this shit but wierd stuff still gets me

You got me. Maybe she'd like Linux?

hehehe... first thing that occured to me but she'd need a machine that effectivly connects to the net to get linux

In addition to what HelmsmanN said, you might check for weird services that might be running (started by malware). control panel --> administrative tools --> services

Store Bought or home built?Real windows Cd's or Crapy Factory Restore disks? what type of drive and how old is the Harddrive.and its not a leaky capacitor considering they can not store data, only electrical current. Also f it a capacitor was broken it would cause hardware failor not Software problems. i suggest re-doing the instal.if its a real windows disk its alot easyer than the Factory insain way of doing things that never seems to work correctly.ill explain the right way if you don't already know how to do so.(fixing windows problems is always a 1000000 times harder than backing up and saveing what u can and reformateing Note: just switch to linux and spare yourself :P)

and its not a leaky capacitor considering they can not store data, only electrical currentyeah, I'm an old eletronics dude... I know what caps do. there was an issue for a while about poor quality electrolytic capacitors on mother-boards that drastically changed the opperation of the machine

Eh. My boss always told me I liked the shotgun approach, but I get stuff done so he's learned to like it.I would find an original XP disk, boot to the disk, delete all partitions, format one big partition and load XP from scratch onto it. XP should take care of most of your drivers. If you're worried about backing them up, I recommend using a program called Driver Genius. It's bailed me out quite a few times.

First of all, you need to get a full copy of windows XP (I'd suggest with Service Pack 2).Don't forget those old viruses (blaster, etc) that still linger over the net. If you try to go online without SP2 or a firewall (I'm afraid even the basic microsoft firewall isn't enough nowadays), you'll automatically get some viruses after 1-2 minutes. Of course, if you're using a router, your're protected and you don't need a firewall.Finally, don't forget that bad CPU/disk performance can be considered as symptoms of a virus.Btw, don't try linux . Probably she'll smash her computer after 1-2 days.

Did it really need reformatting in the first place? Usialy if they cant be quarintend it tells you the location on the file then all you need to do is go into safe mode do a virus scan, if it doesnt pick up on the files before go and delete them by hand. Then just generaly clear up all the crap on the pc by uninstaling and manuely deleting things that are left over from uninstalls and other crap. About 85% of the time computers can be fixed without a reformat. If she wants windows XP she can buy another versoin or you can download a copy off the web and run it. After a while microsoft will pick up your running a pirate versoin and it will say "you may be a victim of copyright fraud" everytime you log on. Just ignore it because all it means is you cant get updates from microsoft which isnt that big of a deal. Even then I am sure you could get a crack for windows to fix that. My home computer is running an illegal copy of windows and we havnt had any problems. But to be honest it is probrably easier to buy it if she has the money, if she doesnt wanna spend the money find a bittorent versoin of windows and get downloading.

the "upgrade" disk said to put the original OS disk in.

You can't find any copy of another OS? You don't have anything of your own? I've never tried using another copy of XP to point at, but that might work.

actually, what I think I'll do is take over a free copy of 2000 to use. I think all the upgrade is looking for is that you have an original anything.

Yes, you are not required to install the previous version. You only need to prove, to the software, that you have a previous version on hand. The XP Upgrade is a full version of XP.

ah, as I suspected... thanks