So my family computer (which I've been using as my design hub for the past few weeks) got virused pretty bad while I was gone for a week and my brothers crawled around the internet, downloading oodles of software/games/movies. Notepad's been deleted along with Photoshop, Wordpad, Windows Media Player, Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, iTunes, Winzip, Winrar, Roxio Easy CD/DVD Creator, lost fuction of MS Prompt, and Run, and the list goes on and on. Some system files are infected as well, but they're whitelisted, and some have just been moved to a vault for now. How should I go about repairing this? Could I do it myself from home with a system recovery? I'm really tight on cash (as I'm sure most of us are here) and I can't really afford a hefty repair fee. I basically want to keep my files, or at least my music and .psd files, and clean slate XP. I can't find my installation disc, either, which rules. Any antivirus suggestions for after all of this is said and done would be grand, too. Oh, and on top of everything, I have a handful of projects due this week and next, so I need to somehow get this up and functioning asap. Please, please help, Emptees. 2009-04-27T11:04:05-04:00 10 2009-04-27T10:46:02-04:00 true 0 21641 false false 10250 5274 1 2009-11-21T16:29:46-05:00 109 Buy a mac, problem permanently solved haha ..or back up your files then try and find that windows cd and reinstall it then put your work back on the pc. I've had to do this twice when I still had a windows, all the virus bullshit they have sucks. You can find solid copies of windows on torrents if it comes down to it. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T10:54:57-04:00 571081 10250 2009-04-27T10:54:57-04:00 Norton anti-virus is the best for security though. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T10:55:44-04:00 571091 10250 2009-04-27T10:55:44-04:00 <blockquote><cite>Arrow said:</cite> Buy a mac, problem permanently solved haha ..or back up your files then try and find that windows cd and reinstall it then put your work back on the pc. I've had to do this twice when I still had a windows, all the virus bullshit they have sucks. You can find solid copies of windows on torrents if it comes down to it.</blockquote> thanks for all the advice, but a) can't buy a mac because I don't have the paper b) I don't have the windows cd anywhere it seems c) can't unzip torrented files. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T10:56:08-04:00 571111 5274 2009-04-27T10:56:08-04:00 you can't redownload winrar? 21641 Post 2009-04-27T10:58:35-04:00 571151 8810 2009-04-27T10:58:35-04:00 download winzip, it's free, then torrent windows version that you have since you don't have the cd. First try Norton or any anti-virus program you got though to see if you can prevent further damage. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T10:58:58-04:00 571161 10250 2009-04-27T10:58:58-04:00 I've lost installation function as well, just downloaded Winrar and tried to reinstall it. I hit setup/install, screen loaded, went blank. It's not showing up in the process tree, and the computer doesn't seem to be loading anything. Panic-city. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T11:00:11-04:00 571181 5274 2009-04-27T11:00:11-04:00 so I would do this Danny: 1. Go get you an external hard drive, preferably one with an aluminum case so you minimize overheating issues. 2. Copy whatever DATA files you want to keep onto that hard drive. Don't use the backup software that came with the hard drive, just manually move them over. DATA files are your images, .psd files, .mp3, etc...absolutely nothing that has to do with an application. 3. Grab a WinXP install CD and do a fresh install, which will include a full drive formatting (it will be part of the installation process but it's not the default choice) 4. Once you got WinXP installed, get yourself a good anti-virus program. Norton is fine, so is Macaffe...just get a good name brand one. 5. Plug in your external hard drive and scan it for viruses. Just because they are data files doesn't mean the virus didn't bury itself in there. Once it's scanned you're safe to bring them back over. 6. Search Emptees for my post on how to properly back up your work. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T11:02:19-04:00 571221 11937 2009-04-27T11:02:19-04:00 try and run defrag and delete temp files, then run anti-virus. See if functions restore then..? 21641 Post 2009-04-27T11:03:17-04:00 571241 10250 2009-04-27T11:03:17-04:00 I got nothin for ya. I hate that aspect of windows machines. Glad I switched over. If you dont have the money for a mac though, you can always goto a Henry's. Not sure if they have one by you, but they are around Ontario. And you can get a credit card with them, walk out with your mac on the spot and not pay for 3 months. Thats what I did. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T11:03:24-04:00 571251 8810 2009-04-27T11:03:24-04:00 this is why windows blow. I have had to run zero anti-virus on the imac. 21641 Post 2009-04-27T11:04:05-04:00 571261 10250 2009-04-27T11:04:05-04:00