When your PC becomes infected with a virus - or otherwise corrupted - there are a variety of things that you can do to fix the various problems quickly.  In some cases, however, the best choice is to rebuild your PC’s software setup from scratch.  This article describes the process of doing just that.

1.  Backup all of your existing document, pictures, videos and other data.  If you have the time and the capacity it could be useful to backup the entire drive, especially if your data is not all located in the My Documents directory (MS-Outlook data, for example, is not located in My Documents).  I usually copy the data to an external hard drive.  If you don’t have one, get one.  It’s worth the investment.  It provides you with a “digital briefcase” that is useful for many purposes.

2.  Locate the Original Operating System and Driver CD’s.  These are sometimes called System Restore Disks and they should have come with your PC when you originally purchase it.  If you can’t locate them contact the manufacturer.  Most are pretty good about sending out replacements.  Some may charge a nominal fee for duplication and shipping.  Dell sends them out for free.

3.  Insert the OS Install CD into your PC’s CD-ROM and Reboot the Machine.  Some machines are configured to automatically start the boot CD if one is present.  Pay attention to the screen for a message that says something like “Press and key to boot from CD.”  When it appears press a key.  If the system does not from the CD - that is it loads Windows as normal, then you will need to manipulate the start up options in the BIOS.  Most systems will give you the option to modify the boot settings when the machine is first turned on.  Watch the monitor closely after you’ve turned on the machine and press the key required to go to the system’s settings.

4.  Install a New OS.  Once the PC is booted from the OS Install CD you will be asked if you wish to repair your current OS installation of install a new OS.  Select the option to install a new OS.

5.  Delete Old Partitions.  You will then be prompted to select a partition for install.  At this point it is best to delete any and all partitions on your primary hard drive (Don’t worry - you make a backup in step 1 - didn’t you?)  This is the first step in wiping the drive clean.

6.  Create a New Partition.  Once all partitions have been deleted use the option to the create a new one.  I recommend making it the maximum size available.  Once it is created select the new partition for install.  When prompted format the partition with NTFS.  This will wipe your hard drive clean.

7.  Install Windows.  Once the formatting of the partition is complete the Windows setup program will take you through the rest of the process.  This can take close to an hour and will require you to select options along the way such as your timezone and things like that.  The process will require a couple of reboots before it is complete.

8.  Install Hardware Drivers.  Once Windows setup is complete you will need to install the drivers for your hardware.  These drivers are required for things like your network card, video adapter and sound card work properly.  They will typically be on a separate CD that also came with the machine at the time of purchase.  For most manufacturers you can simply insert it and the driver installation options will appear.

NOTE - Avoid adding “bloatware” from the CD.  Bloatware is all that useless software the manufacturers are paid to pre-install on your machine.  As the name implies it usually serves no purpose than to clog your machine up with a bunch advertising links and other useless stuff.

9.  Install an Anti-Virus Program.  Now that your drivers are installed, you should be able to get online.  The first thing you should to is install an Anti-Virus program.  I recommend AVG.  You can find it here:  http://www.gara.com/free-software/avg

Once it is installed make sure that all of the appropriate updates are downloaded and installed.  AVG should do this automatically.

10.  Install Windows Updates.  Because you installed Windows from the original CD it will need to be updated with all of the latest security patches.  Most of this will begin to happen automatically.  Besides these basic updates make sure to get the following:  The latest Windows Service Pack; Internet Explorer 7 and MS .NET 3.5.  Other updates will follow automatically.

11.  Install Essential Software.  Now that your machine is back up and running you are going to want to install software that you will actually use.  Check out the Highly Recommended list at the Free Software Catalog for some excellent choices (http://www.gara.com/free-software/highly-recommended).

12.  Restore Your Data.  Connect the external drive with your backup to the PC.  The drive should be recognized automatically and it may begin to scan for a start up program.  Cancel that action.

IMPORTANT:  Because your previous installation was possibly infected it is important to do a complete virus scan of your backup before moving the data to your primary hard drive.  I recommend using AVG to do a complete scan of your system.

Once you are confident that your data is infection free you can begin copying the files to your My Documents folder and other locations as required.  Do not copy the entire contents of the drive - only the data you wish to restore.  You do not want to accidentally copy over your new installation of Windows with the older corrupt files.

You can expect this entire process to take a few hours, but once it’s done, you’ll be glad you did it.  Your machine will probably run better then it ever has (since you didn’t install of the bloatware that it originally came with).

If you have questions or tips to share, please add your comments here.

Happy computing!!

Bookmark and Share This Post

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 Permalink: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Security, Free Software, Performance Tips, Windows, How To. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.