Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

[QC]

Scenario:

I got a Dell laptop given to me from a friend who has given up due to tons of Spyware, Malware and possibly viruses. It was a kids computer and he downloaded stupid stuff. I can start it up and I have run the Diagnostics utility and tests and the computer itself seems fine. I can get it to run and I can use task manager to stop most of the bogus Security software that starts to run but not all. Somewhere along the line it does freeze up though and I can't really use it to properly sweep it. Can't seem to run IE or Firefox before I get stuck

There are no files or programs that I really care about recovering.

It has XP on it now and I have a Dell factory Vista disk that came with my Dell.

Question:

Can I simply run the Vista "upgrade" and use that to effectively perform a clean install? There appears to be an option to completely install without saving any files or programs.

 

[i386]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

There appears to be an option to completely install without saving any files or programs.

If that is the case I would think you'd have success with that, ESPECIALLY if it does a reformat in the process. Or if you can reformat the drive and then use the factory disk you'll be good for sure. I'm thinking it'll format though, ymmv.

 

[QC]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

Cool, not much to lose, so I'm diving in . . .

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

i think you need a clean install qc. i ran into this on a computer we had and we ended up doing a hard drive wipe and new install. this was xp also.

does the computer have enough memory to handle the vista up grade?

 

[QC]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

I guess I was thinking this would qualify as a clewan Install. I have an XP disk as well. This thing has 1G of memory.

 

[jaxnjil]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

unless you really want vista i would go with your xp disc and then if that works good you can always do the vista up grade

 

[bassman284]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

I don't think 1G is going to handle Vista very well.

I think your best bet is to format the hard drive and reinstall XP. I had to do this last spring when I got a trojan that finally kept me from doing anything else. I think it took a couple of weeks for Windows Update to catch everything up, but works fine now.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

What have you tried to clean up the infections? I use malwarebytes and superantispyware (free) with good success for virus/spyware/malware. If it won't clean up the problem or you can't get it to run, boot it into safe mode (press F8 while it's booting) and then run the cleaners.

If this was a computer I received from someone else, and I didn't care about any thing on the laptop, I'd format and install XP.

FYI, if the laptop is not on the build list (or what ever it's called) of the Dell Vista CD, it's not going to let you use that install CD on the laptop,,, from my experience. Oh yeah, don't forget about the drivers (video, NIC, sound, etc) that will need to be loaded once the OS has been installed fresh.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

Something else, have you tried System Restore yet?

 

[QC]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

No on restore . . . I'm going to try Safe Mode now as the problem I have is it won't run Super Anti-spyware before it freezes. I can do a lot of things with it, just nothing for very long before it locks up.

I am worried about the installs of either XP or Vista for the registration issues you note above too . . . It does have a few Office programs on it as well, so it would be nice to preserve those if I can.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

I believe a Dell will have a hidden partition with a system installer on it. It will also have all the drivers needed, and will auto install them.

If you do a clean system restore, and then let it update from Mickeysoft, it should be fine. If you use another Install disk, be sure you have the install key handy. If the sticker is gone off the computer, it can be recovered with software before you reinstall.

Don't upgrade to Vista unless you really want to lose yer mind.

No, an upgrade will not eliminate the virus's, and in fact they will probably hose the upgrade and make the computer functionally equivalent to an anchor.

hope it helps
John

 

[cribber]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

You could also go here for help

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx

and see if this works to clean it up. Do it in safe Mode so you limit the amount of drivers running. Your 1gig of memory is good for XP, Vista is a memory hog... good luck!!!

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

what martin said^^^^^^^^. If you don't have the product keys then open the registry editor in safemode and delete anything that looks suspicious. Uncheck the create restore point box in the System Retore utility before you begin or you might be wasting your time. If you're unsure, google the registry key. How comfortable are you with regedit, i386 files, system32 files?

 

[PeterMcG]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

I don't know if you have a commercial anti-virus application on another computer, but I'd be inclined to simply remove the HDD from the lappy, plug it into another computer as a storage HDD and scan it.
(If you choose to go this route, double check that your anti-virus is checking the boot-sector and can clear memory resident viruses.)

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

....I believe a Dell will have a hidden partition with a system installer on it. It will also have all the drivers needed, and will auto install them.....

X's 2 on that. Been there, done that, with a friends computer. It was so loaded up with bad guys that it would not boot. With help from this forum I finally got it to boot but XP was so corrupted that I ended up using that partition and wiping it clean.

Unfortoonately, I do not remember how to access that partition. I think I found a Dell forum and they told me how to find it. It worked flawlessly.

 

[QC]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

I tried my XP disk and it said "Older Version than currently installed, Nyet, Nine, No" . . . Soooooo . . . I did some poking around and as some have suggested here Dell Laptops have an original configuration deal on them. Symantec Ghost32. You access by holding Ctrl F11 during startup. Running that now . . . Let you know soon. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[QC]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

LOL ^^^^^^^^ Timing . . .

 

[alumi numb]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

i have 2 toshiba's and the 15.5 got something, no way would it let me use the disc.
i tried everything and it would get to the same point and that was it every time.
went to staples and got another h/drive for $78, something like that.
disc worked and better than new.
the two lexmark x6100 series and not compatible with vista thus the reason for keepng the 15.5.
for the hp desktop "vista" there is a hp all in one now.
totally hate them doing that to us, both lexmarks are perfect machines.
do not like vista at all, you would think a multi billion $ co. could do better than that.
in short i'm saying maybe another h/d might be needed.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

You might try downloading malwarebytes and a few other things onto a flash drive or CF card, on another computer. Yoy can then boot the laptop in safemode and try to load them onto it. If that works, run them while still in safemode and try to clean all of the garbage off.

Another thought is to see if the previous owner has the recover disks that should have been mde when the computer was first used. If so, you should be bale to format the drive and reinstall everything.



???

 

[QC]

Re: Will Windows upgrade remove a virus?

The internal full system restore thing worked perfectly!! Posting from the supposedly dead one . . . Thanks for all of the help!!!

So here's the whole story. Helped my wife's best friend move over the last weekend and the one before. Divorce etc. what a mess. She had a garage sale this weekend and this thing was sitting out without a charger. Told her I'd look at it and luckily my current laptop's charger worked. If I had posted quicker or logged on to Dell Support earlier, I'd have had this thing as perfect as it is now in an hour . . . Oh, well, a little more time in it than that, but it is basically a new Laptop that has been sitting for a year and was never used much anyway. Awesome

I'll probably buy it from her and she does owe me some money, so maybe I can make this work for both of us.