How do I format my hard drive?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by tegary, Jan 20, 2009.

  1. tegary

    tegary Private E-2

    I've been having problems with a pc I bought from someone. It was giving me pop-up after pop-up.

    I found the "READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide" and followed the steps there and the pop-ups had stopped for about three weeks. In the back of my mind, I still felt that the ?virus? was still there. So, I didn't visit any sites that would have any of my personal info. Several of the fixes listed in guide required purchasing. Well, I'm not giving any personal info over the web so this is not an option.

    Good thing I didn't, because Saturday, the pop-ups started again. The pop-ups really bother me because some are porno related. When I tell it to not install it runs anyway.

    I read on MajorGeeks this morning, but I can't find the link now, to a Microsoft page that says the only way to trully get rid of a virus is to format the hard drive.

    I've tried to research how to go about formating the hard drive, but the "new" virus seems to have messed with my brower results page and keeps giving me results to Addresses.com and not true results.

    I don't know what else to do and I need the pc for my children to do school stuff on, so formating seems to be the only option.

    Is there a link to tell me how to do this?
    I'm not an expert, just a DIY with a lot of pc experience.

    Thanks bunches.
     
  2. KingSteve

    KingSteve MajorGeek

    well formatting your hard drive will wipe out everything, including the operating system(windows or whatever youre using.) you can reinstall windows if you want which will format and obviously reinstall the operating system, but that requires a windows cd.

    id suggest going through the read and run me. everything on there is free and safely downloadable(is that a word? it is now.) from MGs via the links they provide. have the malware people help you out before you decide to just reinstall.
     
  3. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    There is nothing in the Read and Run First instructions that require purchasing any software.

    I suggest strongly that you start a thread in the Malware Forum after doing the entire Read and Run FIrst.
     

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