this is it, how much is the data worth ?
I done computer repairs for a while and it's the preservation of existing data which takes the time and costs the money. I always used to recommend a new disk as that was the best way of ensuring no data was lost .yes you can copy all of 'my documents' folders across, but a lot of programs don't store data there, and it's going to be rather difficult to get it back once you've reformatted and reinstalled the OS.
Martin
If it were me:
1) Boot off a Linux LiveCD (the type that will run the computer without doing an install) Ubuntu is a good choice 2) Bring the Laptop disk online - linux can do a decent job of reading windows filesystems (the viruses/whatever are not going to touch linux because they are windows viruses) 3) Locate your actual data and copy it off to a USB hard drive or stick (it will likely be virus riddled so do not connect this to another computer!) 4) Reinstall original machine with Windows[1] 5) Install all window patches to date and a paid for anti virus scanner and make sure it does all its updates. 6) Connect disk/stick with recovered data and run the virus scanner against it and hope(!) [1] Or better, use this opportunity to ditch Windows and install Linux (Ubuntu or Mint are probably the sanest choices). Unless you actually bought any software beyond MS Office, Linux will do you fine - LibreOffice is good enough for most of the domestic population, you have Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Thunderbird for your email and web needs.If that looks daunting, if you can find a local windows or linux enthuiast (maybe the IT support officer at a local school) you might get a "homer" done for reasonable money and with more competance than the likes of PC World.
Cheers,
Tim
On the email note - next time, do NOT use POP as your mail conection, use IMAP.
POP relies on downloading the email to your PC. IMAP keeps it on the server, nicely organised into folders the way you want. a) You can point a phone or Pad at the same IMAP server from anywhere and see yoru email; b) When this happens, you don't lose your email (unless the virus was a nasty one specifically designed to destroy remote mail via outlook).
on a side note you email data will likely be in C:\Users\your user name \AppData\Local (probably \Microsoft\Outlook or \Microsoft\Windows Mail \
Martin
Get someone to remove your drive and run diskdoctor on it in another machine. Good chance you'll recover your data then reinstall Windoze.
Take the hard drive out and connect it to another machine as a secondary drive. If the drive is working you should be able to recover all the files. It may only be the operating system that is corrupt and preventing you from accessing the data.
John
Windows Vista Home Premium and below does not. You have a recovery partition on the hard disc but no (supplied(*)) utility to make recovery discs from that.
Not that this is relevant as the OP does have a Windows Vista disc.
(*) I wouldn't be surprised to find that there are 3rd party utilities that can though.
And if it's a secondary disk on windows you will probably need to run 'Disk Management' (found under administrative tools, computer management on vista) to make the disk show up. I know of one person who almost wrote off thier data when one shop pronounced the disk as dead when it didn't show up under windows initially
Martin
Martin
You will almost certainly have to go through the Windows Update loop several times. I reinstalled SWMBO'd Vista machine the other month as it threw a wobbly with some updates and refused to apply some. Windows Update support couldn't sort it out and it came down to a reinstall. Be aware that if the orginal disc/recovery partition is old the updates will pull down around a Gigabyte of data and it will take the best part of a day.
Even more annoyingly the first run will find 50 or 60 to apply, totaling sevral hundred MB, then on the second or third pass through the loop it will find a Vista Cumulative Update again several hundred MB. WTF doesn't it find that first! Oh and after that there is probably a "service pack" again several hundred MB...
Why paid for? Avast! works well enough here (free for home use). AVG Free seems to have got sensible again after it became slow and insisted on downloading all pages related to search results.
I'm sure Vista Home Premium laptop (a HP)came with utility to make recovery disks. I think it's entirely dependant on what the manufacturer chooses, rather than the windows version
Martin
If you want to do it yourself here is a procedure which normally works. You will need another PC to download and burn the right software.
Get a live CD of Puppy Linux or similar. It is a Linux OS which will boot straight off the CD, not hard to use, mainly point and click.
Use Linux to partition your hard disk, reformat a part of it as FAT32 and move what data you want to keep into that new partition.
Delete the old partition, make it new, format and reinstall Windows plus updated Malware/antivirus. Use this clean install to carefully examine and check the folders and files you recovered from the wreckage for any harmful files.
Rearrange your partitions and data as required. Voila. Not too hard for a half competent amateur, as long as it is indeed virus attack and not disk failure, but you will find that out when you look at the disks through Linux.
Good luck
Tim W
And likely infect the second machine.
There's a lot of technically correct, but practically dubious advice being given, considering that normal people don't know much about the workings of a PC ... especially being thrown in at the deep end when there's already a problem.
Most pop3 email progs allow you to change the location of the storage folder. I always put mine in a folder within My Documents; that way they get backed up with everything else. I can also highly recommend this free backup program written by a guy at Kiel University. I have used it for some time and find it indispensable. The only point is that, in the task settings, you should set timeout to zero, otherwise large files will timeout unnecessarily. Here is a link:
How do you envisage this working if the OP's ISP provides only limited space for mailboxes? (IMAP has benefits and I have used it on some accounts in the past but I would not recommend it as a simple "fire and forget" solution to the problem of preserving email on any old account.)
I've had good results with Microsoft Security Essentials on WinXP and Win7, it seems to be pretty unobtrusive (why do all AV products have to turn into bloatware every few years?) it usually get updates several times a day, and is free.
You could argue it is trusting the poacher to act as the gamekeeper, but so far, I've no complaints in using it, oh ... except that it won't update its definitions through a proxy server, but even then Windows Update seems to fetch the definitions on its behalf, just not so frequently.
hard drive. Saved my bacon more than once. Also back up more often 2GB of most important stuff to my ISP's free backup facility via their supplied software. Over the years I had one hard drive fail on a home PC and 2 at work. I wonder how many people lose all their unbacked-up prized photos etc when a machine fails or gets pinched.
Get a better ISP or use gmail?
POP is is "last century" as evidenced by all the problems it causes, like the one pertaining to the OP for starters :)
You will need the number from the sticker on the computer to re-install. If it hasn't the sticker with the key number them it's hosed.
I've repaired many windows machines with vir(ii|uses). So far I've never had to start again from scratch, although in some instances it would have been better and quicker. I don't let the vir(ii|uses) win.
In the worst cases, booting from an external drive (usually CD) has been needed. There are many available. Ultimate boot CD (for or not for windows) is my usual choice, together with one of the free anti virus disks (AVG or Avast or similar).
Somewhere he implies that the disk is 4 years old. Not worth re-using.
Trouble is with IMAP and all your mail stored on the ISPs server how do you access it when you don't have an internet connection? What do you do when the ISPs server falls over and zaps all your mail and their back up doesn't work? It has happened.
Ooo, you download it all and store it on your PC... People need to learn to take responsibilty for their data not abdicate it to some
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