VeeshanVault

Recently my hard drive has become so overrun with spyware and possibly viruses that I'm essentially forced to get a new one. This is my in-transit new drive.

How should I go about transferring stuff (Microsoft Office [et al], various games, important documents, etc) to my new hard drive? Keep in mind, my computer is so fucked in the ass right now that I cannot even make it all the way to my desktop upon turning it on (though I'm positive it's a spyware / virus issue and -not- hardware related).

Also, will I have to get a new copy of Windows XP? I've never really had a problem like this so I want to go through the process carefully.

I'm also getting a new power supply, motherboard (note my earlier question about windows XP re-installation), video card, and RAM. Any help would be apprecceated.

If you want to clean it up, you would need to re-install windows on the new HDD(shouldn't need to buy a new copy), then re-install any apps you need(office etc) then copy over the files from the old HDD to the new one.

Copying apps and games is usually a bad idea since most of the settings and the start menu shortcuts and other stuff aren't in the same folder as the application. I recommend re-installing fresh.

Once you're done copying all your documents and stuffs, simply reformat the old drive.

Ok, thanks. Now just to find that XP disc...

why were you 'essentially forced' to get a new hard drive? its impossible for spyware, virii, or any software to permanently disable a HD.

if you havent bought the new drive yet, you can just keep the same one by reinstalling windows on it. XP will automatically format the disk before installing.

Prior to doing that, you can remove any documents you want by booting up into safe mode. Failing that, you can use a CD-native OS such as BartPE. Failing that, you can use recovery console.

You wont need a new copy of windows- if it fails to activate with your old windows key then just call them on the phone and they will activate it without needing the key.

At the very least you should get your old hard drive formatted so its not just going to waste. If you dont want to do that, you can mail it to me and I'll use it!

why were you 'essentially forced' to get a new hard drive? its impossible for spyware, virii, or any software to permanently disable a HD.

I put "essentially" in italics in my original post because I had been looking to upgrade my computer anyway, problems or no problems. My goal is not to save the old drive, but transfer needed files nicely to the new one.

I have yet to meet a HD yet that I've had to reformat due to virus/spyware... I've had drives with over 100,000 spyware files (dont even ask me how). I would just boot it into safe mode, run Ad-aware and see what it finds.. Anyone ever heard of Anti-Vir? It's a great little antivirus program.. It takes fucking forever to scan but that fucker is good.. Use that with Ad-Aware and you should be ok.. At least good enough to get back to your desktop to backup anything you want/need before you format it.

Nothing beats Hijackthis, Ad-aware, Spybot, CCleaner, AVG Anti-Spyware, AVG Anti-Virus Free, and Nod32 all running.

Uh... I use NOD32 and Firefox and I have never had a problem with Spyware. You guys download too much pr0n. Hint, don't run exe files from pr0n sites!

I use internet explorer, and only had 1 virus and 1 spyware the last 4 years, and i only got that because i was downloading a no CD crack from Gamecopyworld, and messed up and hit one of the porn banners by accident when i was trying to get back to to the other browser window i had open.

So ill dare say that it dont really matter if you use firefox, IE, opera, netscape, whatever, if you dont fuck up, you dont get infected.

Try the Ad Block+ extension for Firefox out, it's awesome. I'm not sure if there is one for IE but there might be. No accidental clicking on banners with it, since they don't get displayed.

Get your pr0n from other sources, stay away from lyrics and crack sites and you'll be fine.

Common sense should tell anyone not to click on any banners and to X-out any popups that get through instead of hitting the "ok" (I'd like you to fuck up my system)" button.

Winnow wrote:Get your pr0n from other sources, stay away from lyrics and crack sites and you'll be fine.

Common sense should tell anyone not to click on any banners and to X-out any popups that get through instead of hitting the "ok" (I'd like you to fuck up my system)" button.

I'm not an internet nub. =P I guess I just got unlucky. I've essentially been browsing the same sites for the past 5 years. Maybe my roommate got frisky while I was elsewhere.

Leonaerd wrote:
I'm not an internet nub. =P I guess I just got unlucky. I've essentially been browsing the same sites for the past 5 years. Maybe my roommate got frisky while I was elsewhere.

Password protecting your system is an option if that's the case.

Once you get all your crap transferred, install your old drive as a secondary, wipe it out and keep all your document (stuff you had to locate and transfer) paths mapped to that drive.

Next time it happens, you can just reformat your main drive and re-install your os and all your docs will be in one place.