Deleting registry-Computer overrun by viruses

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lisa
  • Start date Start date
L

Lisa

My computer at home seems to be on its last legs. (I am
running Windows 2000 Professional.) I failed to update my
antivirus software and it now has several. I tried to
format my hard drive and got rid of some of them, but some
are in the registry files and I can't figure out how to
get rid of them. I'd like to know how to get rid of
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING on my computer, and start over. Is
this possible? Thanks.
 
In said:
My computer at home seems to be on its last legs. (I am
running Windows 2000 Professional.) I failed to update my
antivirus software and it now has several. I tried to
format my hard drive and got rid of some of them, but some
are in the registry files and I can't figure out how to
get rid of them. I'd like to know how to get rid of
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING on my computer, and start over. Is
this possible? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Cold Boot from the W2K CD or diskettes for an installation.
Remove all existing partitions. You said "ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING"!
Exit the setup and power off.
Start again and define new partitions and formats and proceed to
install fresh.

That would cover 99% of issues other than hardware problems.

Make certain you have local copies of the SP and Hotfixes and all
security software so that you can install these *before* ever
connecting to the Internet.
 
In said:
My computer at home seems to be on its last legs. (I am
running Windows 2000 Professional.) I failed to update my
antivirus software and it now has several. I tried to
format my hard drive and got rid of some of them, but some
are in the registry files and I can't figure out how to
get rid of them. I'd like to know how to get rid of
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING on my computer, and start over. Is
this possible? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Cold Boot from the W2K CD or diskettes for an installation.
Remove all existing partitions. You said "ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING"!
Exit the setup and power off.
Start again and define new partitions and formats and proceed to
install fresh.

That would cover 99% of issues other than hardware problems.

Make certain you have local copies of the SP and Hotfixes and all
security software so that you can install these *before* ever
connecting to the Internet.
 
I will make sure to have the appropriate software
available when I try to install Win2000 again. Will
deleting the partition erase the registry files? Last
time I tried this, I deleted the partition and I thought I
got rid of all the viruses, but then the same pop up
window showed up minutes later when I wasn't even
connected to the internet again, which led me to believe
it was a file buried in the registry somewhere. I don't
however believe that I powered off after I deleted the
partition when installing again, so maybe that's where I
went wrong.
 
I will make sure to have the appropriate software
available when I try to install Win2000 again. Will
deleting the partition erase the registry files? Last
time I tried this, I deleted the partition and I thought I
got rid of all the viruses, but then the same pop up
window showed up minutes later when I wasn't even
connected to the internet again, which led me to believe
it was a file buried in the registry somewhere. I don't
however believe that I powered off after I deleted the
partition when installing again, so maybe that's where I
went wrong.
 
In said:
I will make sure to have the appropriate software
available when I try to install Win2000 again. Will
deleting the partition erase the registry files? Last
time I tried this, I deleted the partition and I thought I
got rid of all the viruses, but then the same pop up
window showed up minutes later when I wasn't even
connected to the internet again, which led me to believe
it was a file buried in the registry somewhere. I don't
however believe that I powered off after I deleted the
partition when installing again, so maybe that's where I
went wrong.
Click to expand...

It's difficult to say what happened "last time".
A full FORMAT would remove all the files in practice. Including the
registry hive files on disk.
Remove/Create a partition is one step up from format and rebuilds
some logical disk structures.
The power-off step ensures no virus is resident in active memory.

Perhaps some local software source is infected? Scan everything?
Do you run security hardware and software. NAT Router/software
firewall/A-V/A-T/A-Adware and spyware and practice safe surfing?

If you said about the type and content of the "pop up", when it's
seen, etc. ...

But this is perhaps going off-topic for "registry"...or not.
 
In said:
I will make sure to have the appropriate software
available when I try to install Win2000 again. Will
deleting the partition erase the registry files? Last
time I tried this, I deleted the partition and I thought I
got rid of all the viruses, but then the same pop up
window showed up minutes later when I wasn't even
connected to the internet again, which led me to believe
it was a file buried in the registry somewhere. I don't
however believe that I powered off after I deleted the
partition when installing again, so maybe that's where I
went wrong.
Click to expand...

It's difficult to say what happened "last time".
A full FORMAT would remove all the files in practice. Including the
registry hive files on disk.
Remove/Create a partition is one step up from format and rebuilds
some logical disk structures.
The power-off step ensures no virus is resident in active memory.

Perhaps some local software source is infected? Scan everything?
Do you run security hardware and software. NAT Router/software
firewall/A-V/A-T/A-Adware and spyware and practice safe surfing?

If you said about the type and content of the "pop up", when it's
seen, etc. ...

But this is perhaps going off-topic for "registry"...or not.
 
Well, we just tried to reinstall from a cold boot, using
the Win2000 cd...It could not find the hard disk. Then we
tried the 4 set up disks...Same thing. I am at a loss!!
My computer will not boot at ALL now!

To answer your question, no I was not running up to date
anti-virus software or anything. Where do I go from here?
 
Well, we just tried to reinstall from a cold boot, using
the Win2000 cd...It could not find the hard disk. Then we
tried the 4 set up disks...Same thing. I am at a loss!!
My computer will not boot at ALL now!

To answer your question, no I was not running up to date
anti-virus software or anything. Where do I go from here?
 
In said:
Well, we just tried to reinstall from a cold boot, using
the Win2000 cd...It could not find the hard disk. Then we
tried the 4 set up disks...Same thing. I am at a loss!!
My computer will not boot at ALL now!

To answer your question, no I was not running up to date
anti-virus software or anything. Where do I go from here?
Click to expand...

Boot from a DOS diskette and see if the drive can be seen. It sounds
like a harware problem. Go into the BIOS and see if the drive is
detected. Reseat the IDE and power cables for the drive.
This is now better served from perhaps
microsoft.public.win2000.hardware
or similar.
 
In said:
Well, we just tried to reinstall from a cold boot, using
the Win2000 cd...It could not find the hard disk. Then we
tried the 4 set up disks...Same thing. I am at a loss!!
My computer will not boot at ALL now!

To answer your question, no I was not running up to date
anti-virus software or anything. Where do I go from here?
Click to expand...

Boot from a DOS diskette and see if the drive can be seen. It sounds
like a harware problem. Go into the BIOS and see if the drive is
detected. Reseat the IDE and power cables for the drive.
This is now better served from perhaps
microsoft.public.win2000.hardware
or similar.
 
To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

You didn't mention the drive controller (possibly SCSI, or ultra DMA, or
ATA100, or raid, or serial ATA), but you may need to boot the Windows 2000
setup disks or CD-Rom and *F6* very early and very important (at setup is
inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive controller detection,
and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later you'll be prompted to
insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver for your drive's
controller in drive "A"

If you wait and then S to specify additional drivers, then it may be too
late as Windows 2000 Setup at this point may have already assigned the
resources your drive's controller is wanting to use.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft MVP [Windows NT/2000 Operating Systems]
Microsoft Certified Professional [Windows 2000]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| Well, we just tried to reinstall from a cold boot, using
| the Win2000 cd...It could not find the hard disk. Then we
| tried the 4 set up disks...Same thing. I am at a loss!!
| My computer will not boot at ALL now!
|
| To answer your question, no I was not running up to date
| anti-virus software or anything. Where do I go from here?
 
To do a clean install, either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup
disks. The set of four install disks can be created from your Windows 2000
CD-Rom; change to the \bootdisk directory on the CD-Rom and execute
makeboot.exe (from dos) or makebt32.exe (from 32 bit) and follow the
prompts.

When you get to the point, delete the existing NTFS and or other partitions
found. After you delete the partition(s) abort the install, then again
restart the pc booting the CD-Rom or setup disks to avoid unexpected drive
letter assignments with your new install.

You didn't mention the drive controller (possibly SCSI, or ultra DMA, or
ATA100, or raid, or serial ATA), but you may need to boot the Windows 2000
setup disks or CD-Rom and *F6* very early and very important (at setup is
inspecting your system) in the setup to prevent drive controller detection,
and select S to specify additional drivers. Then later you'll be prompted to
insert the manufacturer supplied Windows 2000 driver for your drive's
controller in drive "A"

If you wait and then S to specify additional drivers, then it may be too
late as Windows 2000 Setup at this point may have already assigned the
resources your drive's controller is wanting to use.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft MVP [Windows NT/2000 Operating Systems]
Microsoft Certified Professional [Windows 2000]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| Well, we just tried to reinstall from a cold boot, using
| the Win2000 cd...It could not find the hard disk. Then we
| tried the 4 set up disks...Same thing. I am at a loss!!
| My computer will not boot at ALL now!
|
| To answer your question, no I was not running up to date
| anti-virus software or anything. Where do I go from here?
 
Hi !

I get once once into these problems before.
Ive tried all solutions mentioned here but I found that the best thing,
was to use Win98 startup disk then use the FDisk command.
Deleted all partitions,primary ,extended,and Ntfs
(it is named not Ntfs-something like "unknown")
so made primary,then mark it as active so shut down.
Used Win98 startup disk then used a:\format c: /u switch.
After this I used 4 W2k boot disks and Cd
As far I can tell I get rid of my problems.
I had 2 h.d so deleted them all with FDisk.
I would also try to disconect any Cd,Dvd first,
to see if they are not producing this problem.

Aleksander
 
Hi !

I get once once into these problems before.
Ive tried all solutions mentioned here but I found that the best thing,
was to use Win98 startup disk then use the FDisk command.
Deleted all partitions,primary ,extended,and Ntfs
(it is named not Ntfs-something like "unknown")
so made primary,then mark it as active so shut down.
Used Win98 startup disk then used a:\format c: /u switch.
After this I used 4 W2k boot disks and Cd
As far I can tell I get rid of my problems.
I had 2 h.d so deleted them all with FDisk.
I would also try to disconect any Cd,Dvd first,
to see if they are not producing this problem.

Aleksander
 
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