I want to format my computer but...

nathy

Member
Hello everyone,

I came across the Neosmart forums whilst trying to find a way of formatting my computer, without actually having the Windows Vista Startup CDs, as I did not receive any when I bought my computer. Anyway, I found Neosmart's Vista recovery torrent, downloaded it and successfully burned it to disc. However, I then noticed in the blog that accompanies the torrent links, that it doesn't actually replace Windows vista (which I originally thought it did).

Bascially, I want to format my computer (because some not so nice person sent me a bad virus) and what I'd like to know is how would I go about re-installing Vista without any Vista CDs, should I choose to do so. I really would appreciate some advice as my PC is running at an extremely slow speed.

Thanks,
Nathan:smile:
 
Hi,

Do you have a recovery partition? Usually with a pre installed o/s there is one. Often there is a program to run it - either to "reinstall" from there and/or run off recovery cd's.

What machine is it?

Are you sure it is a virus?

Did you try scanning and deleting anything nasty with the free :

Malwarebytes.org

and secondly, the free:

SUPERAntiSpyware.com - Downloads

Failing any of the above - you need to get hold of any Vista install dvd - they all contain all the files to install all Editions - even the "upgrade" dvd's ( not a manufacturer recovery cd's/dvd - unless it is the one for your machine).

You can clean install from that and use the key on the sticker that came with the machine. The key determines which Edition is installed from the dvd to the Hard drive.

You should get the drivers specific to your machine from the mfr website and copy to cd beforehand. You may need to install some of them .
 
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Hey SIW2,

After I posted this message, I found the 'setup my pc' icon which allowed me to create recovery discs. I have done that and used the Smart Recovery program to fix my computer and now everything is running fine again. I will make a note of that malwarebytes website for future reference, but as I didn't have any decent anti-virus software running at the time of my problem, I'm not sure it would have helped. I have learned my lesson and am now off to buy the Kaspersky anti-virus suite to avoid any reoccurences of this virus madness.

Thanks for your help and advice!
 
Hey Terry and SIW,

Thanks for the hints, but I've tried free anti-virus in the past and it hasn't really helped (I used AVG, though maybe that's not a good one). I found the Kaspersky suite for £10!!!(including p&p) on ebay so I bought that as I've used Kaspersky in the past and it kept my computer in great condition.

Thanks again for the support!
 
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