Reformatting Because of a Virus?
By NuCkInFuTs
@NuCkInFuTs (44)
United States
March 10, 2009 11:07pm CST
My computer is about three or four years old now and has only been reformatted once during its lifetime. It took me forever to re-familiarize myself with what seemed like a brand new computer. Now my computer has all of my school files which I will need to graduate, my iTunes music, home videos and movies, and tons of programs and games that I lost the serial key and installation disks for.
Although I download a new program nearly every week from unsecured websites, there has never been a problem until recently. I tried downloading a program from a website I have used many times before, but it would not run. When I looked how to fix it I was advised to change a file in my C:Drive. That is when I discovered that some type of virus had been preventing me from opening it. Using Symantec Anti-Virus, I scanned my computer repeatedly but nothing turned up. For the time I was relieved because I thought I was safe, but then pop-ups began appearing warning me that it deleted InfoStealer and Trojans.
From what I can make of this situation, I need to reformat my computer. I have been working on a list of files and programs to re-download in the event that I do reformat my computer, but there many files that I know I am missing, and many programs that I no longer have the installation disks for.
Is there any other way to fix this problem than by reformatting my computer? Should I just buy a new computer? If I should reformat my computer, is there anything I should know before starting?
1 person likes this
13 responses
@arvaster (521)
• United States
11 Mar 09
I had that problem once. And you can work yourself out of it. I got way way WAAAAY frustrated and just gave up after a few days. You can just cycle through anti virus programs since some of them (even the "big names") don't clean off some pests.
I'd recommend trying as many AV programs as you can before you give up. There are a few free ones, also usually the costy ones offers trials.
If this fails, format. But do a backup first. And maybe not in Windows since worms and trojans could spread onto the removable media. But via a Linux liveCD which you can acquire for free :) You just stick it into the computer and load the CD then you can move all your files not worrying about worms and trojans executing since they are windows programs. not unix.
Maybe that is also a lot of trouble, but at least it's working and safe.
Hope this all helps, best of luck! :)
1 person likes this
@NuCkInFuTs (44)
• United States
11 Mar 09
1. 1st off, the Anti-Virus I am using, Symantec Anti-Virus, was administered by my school and we are expected to keep it and some other software requires me to delete that before installing theirs. If you have any recommended Anti-Virus that worked for you I would like to try those first.
2. 2nd, you mentioned "a Linux liveCD which you can acquire for free". How exactly could I get my hands on one?
@my1341 (456)
• China
11 Mar 09
Good advice!We should never easily reformat our harddisk after virus infection. I highty recommend trying as many antivirus programs as we can to remove the virus. Usually the operating system will show some typical symptoms after virus infection. We may search some information about that on the net and try to find some solutions. The antivirus company often release specific tools to remove some typical virus for free. We may download from their websites and try them. If you have a profound understanding of operating system, you can try to delete the virus manually in dos mode. If all the above don't work for you, you may consider formatting the harddisk and have a new operating system installed. That is a thorough way to fix your pc. But you have to back up all your personal files which you really need before starting. It is impossible to back up the applications and softwares you have installed.
@arvaster (521)
• United States
11 Mar 09
It's nearly impossible to remove trojans and worms alone in DOS. Viruses aren't that big of a problem. Although if a system process or file is infected you will be screwing yourself over deleting that file.
Also about backing up applications: not impossible.
For games just copy the whole game folder over to removable media. Or if you can reinstall it just copy over user data/save/config folder. You can backup bookmarks in webbrowsers. And have everything else be zipped up. Just scan whatever you're backing up first, to see that you're not backing up an infection :P
@acematthews71 (1084)
• India
11 Mar 09
u need 2 reformat ur pc again b'coz even if u install new antivirus the virus will affect the antivirus's registry files ,then the antivirus won't be of any use.
@NuCkInFuTs (44)
• United States
12 Mar 09
If I were to backup my files to an iPod Classic, reformat my computer, then transfer back all of my files could I still get a virus from my files or would it not move over because the iPod is from Apple?
@Ted3_uk (114)
•
11 Mar 09
If in install new anti virus after you have the virus, it wont remove it.....
Your only option is to bite the bullet.... Back up all your personal files to DVD-R
Your gonna lose all your software you dont have disks or serials for.....
Start from fresh.... Some one some where could remove the virus, but it takes some work.... And probably the computer will act funny after any way
@nareshreddy68 (628)
• India
13 Mar 09
Your PC is already infected. Download and install the anti-virus program on your PC may also cause the anti-virus program to be infected
@mariposaman (2959)
• Canada
12 Mar 09
That is a lot of good and bad advice to sort through.
Do you know how to do a system restore? If you do a system restore to the point before you got that junk on your computer you can avoid all that advice. Sometimes though even viruses will disable your system restore. If you cannot detect and eliminate a virus with your anti-virus then you are out of your depth. Most people at that point want to reformat their computers and start over again.
There is a third option that I have used. You get some of the best experts on virus infections around the internet, and they help for free. Go to
http://www.freedomlist.com/forum
and go to the PC Security section
start your own thread and wait for the experts to tell you what to do.
I have never seen them fail yet and they recently helped me remove a particularly intractable virus without reformatting.
@May2k8 (18079)
• Indonesia
12 Mar 09
Do not format your hard disk repeatedly, because it will endanger the safety of your hard disk. Can format the hard disk many times, but first you must check the file size 0? I also faced the problem of computer viruses such as Trojan, delete the document was important and not only that but also the image file is delete. First time, i try to see register windows, after the review appeared to have changed, and I do not despair. I try fix it one by one and the result is still making weird files, I think the other way. Other way is to check all the files on my hard disk, there is awkwardness in the fact that I check the file (size is 0). After I repeatedly tried to eliminate the virus, and ultimately successful. If the virus was again found out the virus can not go back because I make a folder with the same file with virus. You do not need to buy a new computer, because the virus only change the existing operating system. Before you start, first make sure your hard disk safe from viruses and before use the internet install the new anti-virus.
@votenoonpineapple (235)
• Canada
11 Mar 09
I'd say reformat. Make sure to back up everything you can first, though. Start with music, and label the disks music 1, music 2, etc, and then go on to documents, etc, etc.
If you've lost the serials for some of your programs, what you can sometimes do is just back up the folder containing the proram to a disk, and then after the reformat, move it back. For example, if you have SuperAwesomeGameThing installed under c:/program files/superawesomegamething/, back up the entire /superawesomegamething/ folder, and any files / folders therein, and then put back in /program files/ when you're finished reformatting.
Depends on the program, though. Some will require registry entries and stuff and might not work.
@NuCkInFuTs (44)
• United States
12 Mar 09
When you say 'back up' everything, how do you propose I do that? Would I need to buy a 100 GB+ hard drive or should I buy a disk?
@iakulchen (615)
• Singapore
11 Mar 09
If it's the possiblity of loss of data from your computer that's stopping you from reformatting your computer, you could look at the option of using a data retrieval program after you reformat it. And yes, data can be retrieved even after the computer has been reformatted. If you do decide to take this route, you could
1) Search the web for a free data retrieval program. Very time-comsuming, which I can attest to from personal experience.
2) Buy a data retrieval program. It should be easier to sift through all the info if you are prepared to pay for one, though I suspect that it'll still take a fair amount of time to sort out which program is a good one.
3) Get a professional to retrieve the data from you. Quite a number of computer repair shops are able to do data retrieval, and there are also specialised companies who only do data retrieval. You'll have to pay, of course, but hassle-free.
@bennettsa (7)
• United States
11 Mar 09
Don't reformat and loose all of your data ....it isn't necessary! I've read through the responses that you have received and there is only one that I would recommend.
The first step is to delete any program with the name of Symantec. It's not the best program in the world; it's expensive and a memory and space hog.
Download the following programs (all free!). 1)Wise Registry cleaner; 2) Wise Disk cleaner, and 3) Avira Antivirus Classic (free copy). I have used all of these for years and they are excellent.
After installing all of these programs, run the Wise disk cleaner, then the Wise registry cleaner, then the Avira Antivirus. These three programs will fix your virus problems.
As to moving applications from one computer to another, it can be done with software called LapLink (about $40.00). Works great!
In addition to using Avira AntiVirus, I am also using a free program called Spyware Terminator, which includes Clam Antivirus. This is another excellent program, and may even turn out to be better than Avira AntiVirus. Give it a try.... you may like it better than Avira.
Good luck!
@kumarpslv (3216)
• India
11 Mar 09
Do uninstall the existing anti virus software and install some other anti virus software then try to scan. You can try 4 or 5 such software one by one as they easily available as trial versions. Better to scan in safe mode. Reboot your system after installation or uninstallation of each and every software. This may be time consuming but we need to do as your system is having valuable files.Even if it is necessary to format the system, you format only the C drive, by keeping the data in other drives though it is not advisable.
@dashawk (275)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
I'm with you bro, we have exactly the same problem, at first, every time my computer gets infected by a trojan, worms, viruses and my antivirus fails to remove them, i quickly reformat my hard disk.
But you know what i forgot? I forgot that every time you reformat your hard disk, you are actually degrading your hard disk's life. Now that's a scare info!!! :-)
Well, what i did, i used AVIRA Premium antivirus just to eliminate those pests in my system.
Here's what i did:
1. Login first in your Operating System, then copy an installation of AVIRA PREMIUM just in your desktop for easy access.
2. Reboot your computer and run it in SAFE MODE.
3. There you can install the AVIRA PREMIUM, after installation i recommend updating your virus definitions over the internet, AVIRA has its updater though.
4. Last thing you should do, after updating, never forget to perform a complete hard disk scan before rebooting your computer.
Hope it helps, because i never get frustrated on my computer anymore.. :-)
@scann33 (101)
• Italy
11 Mar 09
If you need to reformat your I suggest you save as much as possible with pendrive or cd. Unfortunately, with regard to key programs with then loose, but it certainly does not re a new pc. Typically, programs are installed on the C drive, you'll want to format only that, but the next time all your videos, movies, games etc...save on a external hard disk, so if you take a virus, you may have saved throughout outside the pc.
@AeosWrathOfGod (56)
• United States
12 Mar 09
download Avast anti virus it will keep you from even downloading a virus. Also if it gets really bad go get a Smithfraud Fix done.
