# Wiping out a virus



## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I bought a mini HP laptop at Best Buy in December for $400. It fried within a month, so they let me swap it for a new one. Two or three days later, the new one contracted a virus. Best Buy said their warranty does not cover that and that they want $200 to remove it.

I have stored nothing on that computer. Can I just wipe the hard drive clean myself, "reformat it" (which I don't know how to do), and then reinstall the, "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition for Ultra Low Cost PSs SP3" from the CD ROM bearing that name that came with it?

BTW, the mini HP doesn't have a CD drive, but I have another laptop that does.


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## phat78boy (Sep 12, 2007)

The easiest way is using a USB external CD or DVD drive. It is by far your easiest option. 

You could put XP on a bootable USB drive, but that would require you having a separate copy of XP and slip streaming drivers into the install package. If that option is something you care to try, just post about it. There are plenty of good walkthrus online on how to do so.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Which virus does it have?

Try downloading a free virus scanner (I like Microsoft One Care Live's free scanner or ESET's).


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

The computer comes with a hidden restore partition on the hard drive.
Since you have no files to be saved, simply invoke the recovery menu and restore the image to the original factory condition.

Your manual should explain how to do this, but on HP's it's usually brought up by pressing F10 while the computer is booting (between POST and Windows loading).

Here's HP's page on the subject. Link

If it's Vista, you may need to press F8 and then choose "Repair My Computer".

/edit.... see additional information below regarding HP Mini's.


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## cdizzy (Jul 29, 2007)

wilbur_the_goose said:


> Which virus does it have?
> 
> Try downloading a free virus scanner (I like Microsoft One Care Live's free scanner or ESET's).


AVG free is a good choice too. Worth a shot.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

The mini comps may not have a restore image.
You can download the utility here, but I'm not sure if you can get the images from HP.
Link

You can call them and inquire.
You'll also need to 2 GB USB flash drive.

The best virus removal for this situation would be AVAST!
Download, install and update. Then it run a boot-time scan.
I also recommend running a scan with Malwarebytes.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I agree with Mr. Fowler that Malwarebytes is an excellent tool for this situation. I don't use AVAST! but I have heard good things about it.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

The free versions of most scanners and AV programs will not *clean* an infected PC; they will only prevent infections, meaning you had to be running them in the first place. You usually need to pay for the version that will clean an existing infection.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

AVG will scan for, and clean, infections.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

As will Avast and Malwarebytes. (Both free)
Sorry, IIP, but you're just wrong on that one.


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## Pepster (Oct 29, 2008)

cdizzy said:


> AVG free is a good choice too. Worth a shot.





wilbur_the_goose said:


> Which virus does it have?
> 
> Try downloading a free virus scanner (I like Microsoft One Care Live's free scanner or ESET's).


Would either of these be equivelent to what I lost a month or so ago. Verizon stopped providing their customers with virus\firewall protection for free. Any firewall suggestions?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

For eradication of existing vermin, Trend Micro's Housecall runs in a browser (ActiveX or Java engines) and will try to kill what it finds.

I don't recommend Trend's products otherwise. I recently was violated by a nasty rootkit almost immediately after installing their Internet Security product demo.


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

Pepster said:


> Would either of these be equivelent to what I lost a month or so ago. Verizon stopped providing their customers with virus\firewall protection for free. Any firewall suggestions?


If you have a cable or DSL modem, you already have a firewall.
NAT is simple and effective.
Add OpenDNS (208.67.222.222 &
208.67.220.220) and the Windows firewall and you're good to go!


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## airpolgas (Aug 13, 2002)

I vote for a clean re-install. We normally spend around 45 minutes or more disinfecting a computer Since we have our user's files on a file server, we decided it's easier to re-install everything from scratch because it takes roughly the same amount time, and you're pretty confident the system is clean afterward.


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## Draconis (Mar 16, 2007)

Personal note, I've used avast! for years with no problems.

Just pray you do NOT have a rootkit. If you do, you are going to have a very hard time getting it out.

If you are unable to get into the OS or the virus prevents you from installing a AV program you can always try the Avira AntiVir Rescue System bootable CD.

http://www.free-av.com/en/products/12/avira_antivir_rescue_system.html

Of course, DEBUG, FDISK, Format, reload solves 100% of virus problems. If you cannot get it off your system that may be your only solution.


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## Cmnore (Sep 22, 2008)

I've used Avast! for a few years now(only simple solution for WinXPProx64) and I highly recommend it.


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## Draconis (Mar 16, 2007)

Another bootable CD for Virus removal.

http://www.techmixer.com/free-f-secure-rescue-bootable-cd-to-clean-virus-and-malware/


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## Pepster (Oct 29, 2008)

cdizzy said:


> AVG free is a good choice too. Worth a shot.


Can AVG and Ad-Aware eventually co-exist on the same computer? I was trying to install AVG and I was getting an error. I found out that what I needed to do to get rid of the error was uninstall Ad Aware. Will NOW re-installing Ad Aware negate AVG's effective ability to run?


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

They can co-exist, but you'd probably want to disable Adaware's pro-active scanning and just run it when you have an issue.
Malwarebytes is infinitely better than Adaware, IMO.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I agree with Mr. Fowler. I was an ad-aware fan for many years but Malwarebytes has eclipsed it.


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## Pepster (Oct 29, 2008)

deltafowler said:


> They can co-exist, but you'd probably want to disable Adaware's pro-active scanning and just run it when you have an issue.
> Malwarebytes is infinitely better than Adaware, IMO.


Thanks for the feedback. My concern is this; I don't want to be running things that can cancel each other out in the same manner that virus protection B will ask you to uninstall virus protection A before it will install. I did have a Norton package via Verizon (Virus protection & Firewall) which they terminated a couple of months ago. I am connected through a Linksys router.

Today, I added the the AVG virus protection. I also have SpyBot which I run regulary. I did download the setup for Malware, but I haven't installed it as of yet. I'm leaning towards using Malware instead of Adaware. Is there such a thing as too much?


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## deltafowler (Aug 28, 2007)

The free version of Malwarebytes only runs when you tell it to.
There is no active resident scanning.

What you need is one good anitvirus/antimalware program up and running at all times. AVG is good for that, but I like AVAST slightly better.
You can keep Spybot, Adaware, and others, but don't let them all run resident protection full time. In that case, yes, there is such a thing as too much.

Another free and useful tool is to use DNS from opendns.org.
Their DNS service will block servers with known malicious content.
It's not 100% effective, but it is another tool that goes towards a good antivirus/antimalware regimen.


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

Do a search for AVIRA, it's good we use it here on 2 computers because nothing else will work with our estimating program.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

phat78boy said:


> The easiest way is using a USB external CD or DVD drive. It is by far your easiest option.
> 
> You could put XP on a bootable USB drive, but that would require you having a separate copy of XP and slip streaming drivers into the install package.





deltafowler said:


> The mini comps may not have a restore image.
> ...


Back in service! My mini only has 10 GB of hard drive, so they don't allocate any of it to back-up.

The mini came with two CD's: one with the operating system and one to restore the other software. I bought an external USB CD reader on eBay for $20 plus shipping and installed the new operating system by pressing F9 during the first bootup, which allowed me to change the boot-up order to the CD drive.

Unfortunately, my $20 CD reader bit the dust before I got to "phase 2", which would have allowed me to restore the minimal extra software that came with the computer, but for now, I can use it to get on, "the net" since I have installed my AT&T connection manager and it can now support my Sierra, AT&T card.


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