Hi,

I am having a bit of a problem with a freind's computer, been trying to get it going for well over 2 weeks, but EVERYTHING I have tried seems not to work.
The computer is a 18 Month old Dell Desktop with Windows XP home Edition installed. It was running frustratingly slow, and Would not perform certain essential functions. (Like Shutting down)

Long story short, this PC has more than 5 viruses and 18 different types of ad/spy ware, effecting close to 100 files. The computer had no Antivirus or firewall installed.

After battling the viruses and spyware for a couple weeks to no avail (and I think I may have actually made things worse in the process, uninstalling SP2 was not my most brilliant idea) and trying to get either McAffee, Norton Antivirus, or Symantec SystemWorks onto the Computer, I decided to give up and go for a full format of the Hard Drive and reinstall Windows from the Recovery CD. However, the computer does not seem to like this Idea. The recovery CD does not give me a Reformat/reinstall option; my DOS shell command to
C:\>format c:\
is met with a low chuckle from the computer's throat , no format occurs. So, I'm stuck!

I am used to working with Win 98/ME machines, where this kind of procedure was fairly straightforward. Can anybody give me a step by step of how to reformatt/reinstall Windows XP Home or, conversely, how to get the AntiVirus software up and running to take care of the problem?
ANY suggesstions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

Alex

thebriggsdude

if you can, first try avg, thats avg free from grisoft. since norton in the state its running at, would most likely freeze it.

ScottGem

You can't do a format that way.

The first thing to do is contact Dell or check his manual for specific instructions on how to use the Recovery CDs.

semperchicago

thanks for the advice , unfortunately that still leaves me stuck. I don't want to tell my freind to toss her computer, which she's just about to do. Is there anything else that I can do, short of buying a new Hard Drive?

ScottGem

Did you contact Dell? Check for instructions?

argh-amel

did you get that to work? i'm having a similar problem, but i'm going to try and load xp pro instead and use that installation to reformat.

argh-amel

btw, i did contact dell tech support, and they were mind-blowingly bad. and i've got a lot of patience for that kind of thing!