Computer go BOOM!!!!!!

My computer issues continue with a virus from one of my recent torrent downloads. It sprung up when I unzipped the WinRAR files. Well I could not get it removed so I had a mirror image of my system on a internal drive so I thought I would load it. Well when you use a program called Acronis to make the image and restore the image the first thing it does when restoring is to wipe the internal drive. It did that fine and as it started to load the mirror image the image had been corrupted. So I have no info on my internal drive. So guess what I am doing this weekend. REINSTALLIN WINDOWS XP AND ALL SOFTWARE I HAD!!!!!!!!!!!!Yeah the fun goes on

2 programs you might want on your computer are revo uninstaller,which when you unistall anything you download always leaves some traces of that program. revo gives you the option to remove anything that might be left behind, if your removing programs from your control panel not everything is being deleted. o&o safe erase is a shredder that will remove anything from your trash can that you throw away.. so be sure you want it totally gone,because there is no way to retrive it. at least check them out. I'll be doing the same thing tommorrow only because i'm going to partition my hard drive,that way if I get any malware or a virus i can't remove,I won't lose all of my programs.

Thanks for the info crutch I will check into those programs. I have decided to bring the system to my work were we have 2 computer geniuses that can help me as I have never done a TOTAL REinstall. We used to have 3 computer geniues but 1 retired (SciFi)

slickjay12 wrote:

My computer issues continue with a virus from one of my recent torrent downloads. It sprung up when I unzipped the WinRAR files. Well I could not get it removed so I had a mirror image of my system on a internal drive so I thought I would load it. Well when you use a program called Acronis to make the image and restore the image the first thing it does when restoring is to wipe the internal drive. It did that fine and as it started to load the mirror image the image had been corrupted. So I have no info on my internal drive. So guess what I am doing this weekend. REINSTALLIN WINDOWS XP AND ALL SOFTWARE I HAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, sorry to hear it, slickjay. Since you are starting from scratch, are you going to format your disks?

Don't forget,you need to install all of your drivers first before you can install windows..

Sorry Slick I gave you wrong info. Must have an os first before you install your drivers

Yes the disk is formatted per Edgars suggestion

Don't feel bad SlickJay I just got done reinstalling windows on my computer. I lost everything last week. Last Friday I turned on my computer to get the infamous blue screen of death. An error message came up saying a file was corrupted. I tried to load up in safe mode and it wouldn't let me. After 3 hours of trying to save this piece of shit today I finally shed a few tears and did the unthinkable....formatting and starting over. I lost some pics that I hadn't got put on cd yet so those are gone. As for some of the other programs I had I can do without those. I'm just going to keep things basic on here until after Christmas because that's when this piece of shit Dell will be history!!!! Right now I just have internet going and I'm going to reinstall yahoo messenger and that will be it. No music or anything like that. I'm not even going to do the windows updates because I will just run off this service pack 1 for now (yes this computer is old).

With a spare hard drive, a fellow could install onto that one, then go back and get personal files off the old hard drive. I do this.

I've retrieved pics and documents using a retrieval tool. Worked just swell.

I just know that this will be my first and last Dell I will own. I have had nothing but problems with this piece of shit. I'm looking into getting a laptop after christmas. I just got to get buy with this thing for a couple of months. I'm just going to keep this thing basic and not do any downloading.

black friday drug me out to get $9.00 4GB flash drives cuz I have a feeling somthin' bad is gonna happen and I will lose my precious pictures-and I have saved them Slick,I hope everything gets back together OK!!

Degeneration X wrote:

I just know that this will be my first and last Dell I will own. I have had nothing but problems with this piece of shit. I'm looking into getting a laptop after christmas. I just got to get buy with this thing for a couple of months. I'm just going to keep this thing basic and not do any downloading.

I know you didn't ask, DX, but I'd steer away from Gateway.

I'm staying away from Gateway.

Another update on this POS i'm using, I got the blue screen of death again but this time I was able to load up in safe mode and fix the problem. This damn this is another blue screen away from seeing the blue poly cart in the sky!!!!!

well with the suppprt of the geniues here I was able to get my backup to load. Had a bad boot disk that was causing the problem. THANKS for all the well wishes

I fought with a comp once for 9 hours straight, but got it back up and running. Most problems are fixable if you try long enough. Sometimes it's not HD failure at all, as I found when my sis asked me to retrieve stuff off a downed comp. I hooked it up as a secondary in a good comp and got everything she wanted off the drive. Turned out there was a bad connection in her motherboard.

Degeneration X wrote:

Another update on this POS i'm using, I got the blue screen of death again but this time I was able to load up in safe mode and fix the problem. This damn this is another blue screen away from seeing the blue poly cart in the sky!!!!!

What is the message on the bsod?

slickjay12 wrote:

well with the suppprt of the geniues here I was able to get my backup to load. Had a bad boot disk that was causing the problem. THANKS for all the well wishes

Good to hear! I have to say, that assuming your anti-virus was updated and set to protect your computer properly, what you may had was malware rather than an actual virus.

It's a bitch I know,just reloaded my computer last night,took about 6 hours.
If you already have a operating system,take the time to split your hard drive and put all of your pics,music,videos and anything thats important to you and create a D drive and the rest on your C drive depending on the size of your hard drive. This way,if you ever got a virus, the split drive is not affected. Definitely worth the time it takes to do this. Then invest in a good anti virus program,not this free shit you can get on the internet. I recommend CA, about 40.00 to buy,well worth it...

There used to be a short, but very effective exploit years ago that triggered immediate blue screen when sent to someone with thier pictures turned on. It came in handy for obnoxious types in the chatrooms, but it did no lasting harm.

I ran an old comp on the net for hours a day up till 2007 that had not had antivirus updated since 2000 Never had a problem.

That's good ,but how many viruses did you sent to other people? Especially if your outgoing mail was not scanned.

I didn't have any viruses to send.

Almost unheard of these days especially with all of the spyware and malware thats attached to everything.

I've had an occasional spyware bug, or attempt to load malware, but those have been more common on my newer computer. My sisters always kept up to date anti-virus and still got nailed bad. The diffence was there are never any teenage kids on my comps. All the crap everyone thinks they have to use is where alot of the spyware comes from.

I agree. If your watching movies,playing music, paying bills and not downloading everything on the internet or opening mail from nigeria,I'd say your pretty safe from most malware and viruses. Although,you can be infected from programs that come from a reputable site. Personally, if it doesn't come from microsoft or geeks.com or a purchased program,I leave it alone.

Its funny I just got done reformatting this piece of shit again and running on service pack 1 in XP my computer works a lot better than it did with service pack 3.

I'm so relieved right now, I just found a disk where I back up all my pics back in September. The only pics I don't have that were lost on my hard drive are still in my camera. I feel much better now that this dell didn't deprive me of those pics I thought were gone. Here's to Dell and its POS computers.

I'm pretty touchy about what I DL. And I have a habit of always saving things on removable disk to check before opening. How you set things up in security settings also can reduce what can get at you. I also run anti-spyware progs and have for quite awhile. Certain spyware and malware can load as soon as you hit a webpage. I also avoid yahoo messenger, and other assorted progs that watch every move you make and try to reset your comp to give their progs control of your system. One of my sisters got an unpleasant trojan from a well known game site she trusted.

DX.... more bells and whistles ain't always better. The comp I used for over 10 years never had more than Win 95 with IE 4.7 on it and it still ran fine well after most had adopted XP.

With an old operating system like WIN 98 you are highly unlikely to get a virus as most malware and spyware is written for XP and Vista. Also I have had a number of Dell computers with little or no problem. I swear by them...sorry to hear you got a lemon.

I'm just going to keep things pretty basic on this computer for a few months until I can afford to buy a laptop. There will be no limewire, messenger and very few websites I will visit. I will keep this site in my favorites plus facebook and myspace. I have put a password on my computer so that my friends can't log on and visit those questionable sites I have seen in the history.

I did that for awhile but it was boring so I had to branch out a bit and good luck so far,but I do avoid IM and chat programs

My laptop hd crapped out the other night, they are sending me a new one which I should get today. Has anyone used tech junkies here in Hays? The first thing I am going to do is install the "bad" hd into the secondary slot and see if I can retrieve info from it that way - but I think my only other choice after that is to take it to a professional to see if I can get the info off.

I have used tech junkies, they do good work, but you definitely pay for it.

Degeneration X wrote:

I'm just going to keep things pretty basic on this computer for a few months until I can afford to buy a laptop.

Will you get a discount if you buy the laptop from where you work?

Ratzilla wrote:

My sisters always kept up to date anti-virus and still got nailed bad. The difference was there are never any teenage kids on my comps.

BIG difference! LOL!

SciFi wrote:

Degeneration X wrote:

I'm just going to keep things pretty basic on this computer for a few months until I can afford to buy a laptop.

Will you get a discount if you buy the laptop from where you work?

Not since they fired those guys.

nobodysbusiness wrote:

My laptop hd crapped out the other night, they are sending me a new one which I should get today. Has anyone used tech junkies here in Hays? The first thing I am going to do is install the "bad" hd into the secondary slot and see if I can retrieve info from it that way - but I think my only other choice after that is to take it to a professional to see if I can get the info off.

Be careful, some computer tech might see park pics of everyone enjoying your melons.

hhahaha!! Those are on my other laptop. I got the new HD, got it all installed, now I have the wonderful task of redownloading all my stuff.

I tried to put the old HD in the secondary slot and it wouldn't find it - also wouldnt show the new one...

sigh...

Did you go into setup and direct it to re-detect all drives? I've never had a prob if I do it that way.

yeah I did, and it still wouldnt work.

Make sure the cables were completely seated? I've had that screw with me before.

i cant get to the cables without popping the laptop case open and Im afraid if I do that it will null the warranty.

Ahh I see. I was thinking you tried installing it in a desktop.

If you sit your laptop on a desk, is it still a laptop?

Unfortunately the hd makes noise when you try to use it so I am afraid it wont be recoverable..

nobodysbusiness wrote:

Unfortunately the hd makes noise when you try to use it so I am afraid it wont be recoverable..

NCIS could.

NB, I have a cable that allows you to connect laptop drives to a desktop via paralell port. Might that help?

Mom was using one my sis had that made noises like it was going to fall apart but it still works.

maybe nitro, when could I get it from ya?

Whenever, you know where to find me.

Where people may ask?

I can be found at PHONE DEPOT...

lol, sorry.