Help... really bad virus problem...

I've had my Inspiron E1505 for about 2 1/2 years and dont get me wrong, i love my comp... i recently got a really, really bad virus and i tried running my anti's and it won't let me.. tried running microsoft's live scan and won't let me do that... i tried turning it on about 30 minutes ago and as soon as i log on it automatically logs me right back off even if i try it in safe mode... when it would let me turn it on it would make occasional random sounds.. i really need my laptop up and running again if anyone has any suggestions that would be great....

 

Do a Clean install of your Operating System... all your old files will be put in a file called windows.old under your C: drive... Simply recover any of those documents you want by cutting and pasting... You can do this by booting with your windows cd

 

i would but my comp won't let me log on to even run a cd... why can't i log on???

 

No I mean stick the Cd in the drive... When your computer starts up it will start from the disk drive... Loading the windows install disk before you even log in

 

If it doesn't boot from the disk by default, you'll have to hit F12 at the Dell BIOS screen and elect to boot from CD-ROM.

Cheers...

 

One way of saving your info , and to clean out the virus is if you can remove your hard drive , and put in another computer as a drive like usb etc
Run antivirus program from the other computer and it will clean out your virus.
We had a computer at our shop called the bug catcher used for this purpose


Alex

 

ok.. tried that and nothing happened... anything else??

 

Reinstall windows.

 

If you do that there's a chance that the virus will move from the old install to the new one.

My suggestion would be to boot from the Windows install CD, a BartPE disk, or a Linux Live CD and copy your documents off to a thumb drive. Once you've done that then format the drive when you reinstall to wipe out any traces of the virus. make sure you run a virus scan on any thing you copied off before you copy the data back to the new install.

 

^ probably a good suggestion, although viruses are usually put in system files which you wouldn't transfer... IE clean windows install, then just delete all the old system files... But nevertheless that would work too

 

ok... but how do i do that if my computer is not starting up???

 

i really want to keep all of my music.. how can i do that???

 

What do you mean it's not starting up? Does it just not load Windows, or does it not even show the Dell splash screen or BIOS?

Buy an external USB hard drive enclosure for a 2.5" SATA drive. Remove the drive, put it in the USB enclosure, and copy+paste all the files you want to keep onto another computer, then put the hard drive back in your laptop and reformat it.

 

ok, sry.. the dell logo does come up and it has the scroll like its loading but once im prompted to enter my password to log on it will say loading personal settings for about 3 seconds and then straight to logging off... im about 5 min from taking this thing to best buy.. if that is just my better option...

 

Best Buy support people are idiots.

Okay, so the computer itself boots up...put your Windows disk in the drive, reboot, and keep hitting F12 as soon as the power comes back on, during the Dell logo splash screen. It should give you an option to boot from the CD/DVD.

 

how much does an external usb usually run??

 

You can get a cheap one for ten bucks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817816003

Made for 2.5" SATA drives, so it fits your bill.

 

A person on this thread said to put the windows install CD in the CD drive and boot the computer.

Then it will load the windows CD instead of the operating system.

If it does not detect the CD and goes to your windows login prompt you need to reboot and press F8 or F12 when you see the dell logo just after you first turn the laptop on. Press both of the buttons a few times. The once the dell logo goes you should see a list of options choose boot from CD/DVD and press enter.

Now you should see the windows installer which is running off the DVD you put in the drive. Follow the installation process and you should then be able to re-install windows.

The person before said it should save your old files in a folder, i've never done it i've always formatted so you i cant help on that bit.

Alternativly type ubuntu into google, go to their web site, follow the instructions for downloading and making a ubuntu live CD. Boot from that and copy all your files to a USB stick or external drive inside ubuntu live OS and then format and re-install windows. OR try cleaning your windows files with a virus scanner inside ubuntu.