Computersight -

There comes a time in some people’s life when they’ve realized that their computer just doesn’t run the way it did when they first bought it. In some cases, it may just be that you have too many applications downloaded on your computer, you don’t have enough space on your Ram, or your processor just can’t handle the load that you’re putting on it. But more often than not, this means bad news, because you’ve probably got spy-ware, viruses, or worms running in the background of your computer.

To be honest there is almost no real way to recover your system fully after you’ve been infected with viruses and mal-ware, without taking this one crucial step. That step involves completely reformatting your hard drive, which means cleaning it off and re-installing your operating system. Most people don’t know that they can easily fix their own computer for free, and they end up spending eighty or more dollars for someone else to half-wittingly “repair” their computer.

The first step you want to take before trying to wipe your hard drive is to go and backup all of your important files to an external hard drive, or a DVD/CD R/RW disk. Beware though, because if you backup an infected file, re-installing Windows (your Operating System) will be a waste of time. Save only what you need, which means vital documents that you may have created in Word or Excel, etc. Don’t worry about backing up programs, as they can always be reloaded after your computer is clean.

Once you’ve backed up your files, your next step is to locate your utility and driver disks, as well as your Operating System Disk. All of these should have come with the computer. If you do not have these, contact your manufacturer and request them to be sent to you. They should be able to tell you what you have via your service tag or serial number.

You will also need the software you use to connect to the internet, if you wish to have internet access right after boot. To make sure you have all the proper drivers for the hardware on your computer, I suggest downloading them from the website of your computer’s company. You should be able to put in your service tag or serial number and get a list of all the drivers specific for your computer’s hardware. Back these up to your data disk. If all of your computer’s files get corrupted on download, you will have to wait until you re-install Windows.

Now it’s time to kiss those nasty viruses goodbye.

1. Pop in your Operating System disk and restart your computer.
2. Pay close attention, because in the beginning of startup, there is a boot up option.
3. Push that button for the boot up menu, which should be F12, and choose to boot from CD (Onboard USB or CD-Rom).

You will than receive a prompt saying:

Press any key to boot from CD…(Press any key)

1. Eventually a menu will pop up, and ask if you want to Set up, Repair, or Quit setup for Windows. Choose to Set Up Windows.
2. Agree to the licensing terms and continue with installation.
3. Now it will ask you once again if you want to repair the existing Windows OS or Install fresh without repairing. Choose to install fresh. (Some may not have this step)
4. Next you will need to decide which partition this will be installed on. Be sure to choose the partition located on your hard drive. For me this is the C: drive. It may be different for others. Typically, your hard drive will have the highest MB and will be an NTFS filing system. These should help you to choose the right partition.
5. You will want to delete the partition contained on your hard drive, and reformat the resulting unpartitioned space as an NTFS file system. (I suggest being patient and performing partitioning process the normal as opposed to quick.) This process could take an hour or more.
6. After the reformatting process is complete, setup will begin copying files. Your computer will reboot after all of the files are copied, and a Windows themed screen will come up after it installs all of the Operating System components and devices.
7. Throughout this process a GUI (Graphical User Interface) System will lead you through the installation process. Follow these instructions inputting your information, and clicking next, etc. when prompted.
8. Continue through this step until installation is complete, and you come to the Windows desktop. Your computer is now virus free.
9. The next steps you will have to take include re-installing your drivers and software. If your driver CD has all of your drivers on it, go ahead and install all of your drivers and restart afterwards.
10. If you do not have all the drivers on your CD, the first thing I suggest that you do is install the internet back onto your computer. From here on, you can get just about everything else from the web.

 For computers connecting through wireless:

•  It’s quite simple for users using wireless, as all you have to do is install your wireless adapter software, which should be on a CD. If you’re using an internal wireless card, you should have a CD with a driver for the wireless card. Afterwards plug in the wireless adapter (those with external wireless) and you should be good to go.

For computers connecting through wired routers:

•  Firstly install your modem and network card drivers. (These are two different drivers. One is for your network card; the other is for your modem.) You need to have both of these in order to access the web. If you don’t have them, contact your manufacturer and order them. Alternatively, grab the service code or serial code from your computer, run over to your friend’s house, and download them from the manufacturer of your computer’s site.

• After installing the drivers, reboot your computer, and plug in the Ethernet cable which connects from the router to the computer. Your internet should be ready to go, but if it isn’t, go to control panel, click network and internet connections > click network connections, and look at your LAN or Local Area Connection > Right click the LAN and click repair. You should be good to go.

For computers connecting through dial-up:

•  Firstly, you’ll need to install your modem driver from the driver CD. If you don’t have this, contact your manufacturer and order them. Alternatively, grab the service code or serial code from your computer, run over to your friend’s house, and download them from the manufacturer of your computer’s site.
• Now you need to install the software from you dial-up Internet Service Provider (ISP).
• After installation, restart and plug in your phone line.

Now it’s all up to you. Your computer is completely repaired. Re-install all of your programs, and load those backup files onto your computer IF they’re not infected. Best of luck to you all! Leave comments for further help.