Uninstall/Reinstall XP Question

Hello,

I've searched for an answer to this question and can't find where it's been posted before, so here it goes.

I was recently infected with a nasty virus/worm that auto downloaded and attacked my hard drive and several .exe files and such. I was able to stop it from spreading and remove it, but I had to delete several crucial files during the process. Example: msconfg.exe was infected, could not be repaired and had to be deleted and there were a few others. It completely spread through system restore, etc. etc.

The system itself it operating fairly now, but I also lost my ability to get online with my wireless connection. All I get is error=678 - remote computer does not answer. I've followed all advice I can find on this error subject and I cannot repair it. (I'm having to use dial up to post this)

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to reinstall XP in order to get what I need back on the system, but I have a question first. This system was bought in 2000 and came with Windows 98. I purchased and installed an XP upgrade in 2003.

What I would like to know is:
Can I uninstall the XP upgrade using add/remove programs and if I do, will it revert back to Windows 98 and would I then be able to reinstall the upgrade to get these items back? I am a newbie at this kind of thing and saw in my Add/Remove Programs list that you can uninstall the upgrade, so I thought I would ask.

If this is not an option, does anyone have any advice regarding what I would need to do?

The system is old enough that it does not have the minimum requirements to run a full install of XP and when my computer crashed the last time (little over a month ago), the guy I use for repairs wiped the drive and put a full version of XP back on and it took 12-14 minutes just to open Internet Explorer. He had to do another wipe and install 98 with the XP upgrade and then it ran just fine.

I would greatly appreciate any help or input. It would be a simple fix, but that's just the problem - it sounds too simple and I'd hate to loose my data.
Thanks in advance.

Kindest Regards,
Melissa

 

It does sound as if your system is just a little slow for WinXP. As it was an update, and the remove WinXP is seen in the add/remove programs section, then go for it, and it should deliver your computer to the state before the update was installed.

 

Hello Melissa
If you are confident that your system will work OK with a clean XP why not first do a repair AFTER you clean out all the gunk. Download and use Crapcleaner and use it. If you do not already have Ad-Aware and Spybot download them too - all available here on MG and use them to root out any spyware malware. Then put your XP CD in and it should fire up and offer you some options. Click on Repair and hopefully it will run and solve your problem.
If not, I would go down the format path with a clean install.
The many experts here may jump higher with a better solution but I hope this helps. Good idea though, to lets know what your computer details are!
Cheers
Robert

 

That repair option in XP is a bit suss. Might do better to reformat the hard drive a lose all the strife.

 

Thanks for your input everyone!

I'll be back at that computer in about an hour and will post its details then. (I'm at a relative's computer at the moment)

When I first got the virus/spyware, the infection was so bad that it had corrupted my AVG, Adaware and Spybot programs to the point that I couldn't even run them. It immediately got into my System Restore files and I couldn't roll back to any restore point. I was able to re-download Adaware & Spybot, but it still won't let me download AVG. However, I was able to download Avast and run it. So far, it has found over 13 viruses. (I've been finding at least one everyday, so I know something is still on there.)

After I ran Adaware and Spybot, it seemed to stop the spread (they had found over 450 items and my hard drive was running constantly until I ran these) and once I was able to get Avast, I've at least been able to isolate the viruses.

For the most part, most programs seem to run ok at the moment except it had infected my memory and I had to delete the msconfg.exe file as there was no repairing it. I have no idea if that process has anything to do with this or not, but once I did that, I could no longer use my dsl connection. (I'm having to use dial-up) All I get is the 678 error mentioned above. I've tried everything I could find on the net and here in this forum regarding that message. The information I have gathered ends up saying that if you've tried all other options that it is an operating system problem (you've lost a stack - whatever that means) and that the OS needs to be reinstalled.

Being that it was an XP upgrade, it does offer the option to remove it in my add/remove programs. I just didn't know whether or not it would be safe to do it and thought I would seek the advice of experts. I may backup my important files to CD and give it a try later on today. I guess the worst that can happen is that I have to reformat and do a clean install. I was just trying to avoid that option if at all possible.

Thanks again and if anyone else has any input, please feel free to post it. I'm open to all suggestions.

Kindest Regards,
Melissa