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about to reformat - help req

rh71

rh71

No Lifer
Just the C: - all other partitions will remain in place and untouched. So basically it's just installed programs and their settings I need to worry about.

What are some important things I cannot forget to backup / notate ?

Got:
- FlashFXP sites
- IE / Firefox bookmarks / extensions (copied down)
- Fonts
- Hosts file
- Network shares/settings
- Trillian user list/settings

Any other important things ?
 
I have a "process" that has yet to fail me in removing spyware... It's involved, but works.

Boot to safe mode with the affected account (and admin rights).
Run hijackthis, remove "odd" entries.
Run MS Antispyware, full scan (make sure it has had time to update if you just installed it). Remove everything found.
Run Ad-Aware, full scan (again, make sure it's update). Remove everything found.
Reboot into safe mode.
Repeat until you find 0 spyware.

Lots of spyware is layered, if you remove one layer, you expose the next. You can't rid yourself of the spyware while it's running (thus safe mode) or whlie some bits are still installed.

Good luck.
 
Originally posted by: CRXican
if you can't avoid spyware these days, you should stop using a computer
Click to expand...
You'd think so. But I woke up one morning to find that an IE window had popped up on screen and the ISIS Toolbar was installed. Nobody had touched it (only 2 of us here)... and neither of us have opened IE in a long long time. How I got it or how it was executed, I don't know.

Tried AdAware, tried NAV, tried AntiSpy, tried HiJackThis... when I finally got rid of the toolbar and all the associated ads, these dialer.exe (likely different spyware) problems came about a few days later. They just keep trickling back... ever since that day. Today it's Access Control.exe. God knows how these are associated with each other (they don't seem to be) and I don't use IE anymore. And AdAware/NAV scans always come back clean after I get rid of the one before. So you tell me how it's happening...

My biggest mistake is not having System Restore enabled. Otherwise, I know very much what I'm doing with a PC, thank you very much.
 
one thing i've started doing after multiple reformats is moving my "My Documents" over to another drive. Prevents me from forgetting to move it when I do a clean install
 
Originally posted by: rh71
Otherwise, I know very much what I'm doing with a PC, thank you very much.
Click to expand...

Apparently not as well as you think, since you are asking what to do before a reformat, let alone in the wrong forum.
You should have it down to a science.
 
Originally posted by: psteng19
Apparently not as well as you think, since you are asking what to do before a reformat, let alone in the wrong forum.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with a reminder session... you could be l33t and still forget things. Last time I did a reformat was 2003. XP's been very good to me and I've always watched what I was doing - until this came about somehow.

Have a good Ghost image from 2004 ready to go.
 
Originally posted by: psteng19
Apparently not as well as you think, since you are asking what to do before a reformat, let alone in the wrong forum.
Click to expand...

Christ, the guy isn't asking what to do, hes looking to see if he may have forgotten to back stuff up...

and what forum would this file under anyhow?!
 
Originally posted by: Phoenix86
I have a "process" that has yet to fail me in removing spyware... It's involved, but works.

Boot to safe mode with the affected account (and admin rights).
Run hijackthis, remove "odd" entries.
Run MS Antispyware, full scan (make sure it has had time to update if you just installed it). Remove everything found.
Run Ad-Aware, full scan (again, make sure it's update). Remove everything found.
Reboot into safe mode.
Repeat until you find 0 spyware.

Lots of spyware is layered, if you remove one layer, you expose the next. You can't rid yourself of the spyware while it's running (thus safe mode) or whlie some bits are still installed.

Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thanks for writing that out, but I guess I'm due for a fresh install (so-to-speak) anyway... got a lot of apps I never use anymore.
 
Originally posted by: rh71
Originally posted by: Phoenix86
I have a "process" that has yet to fail me in removing spyware... It's involved, but works.

Boot to safe mode with the affected account (and admin rights).
Run hijackthis, remove "odd" entries.
Run MS Antispyware, full scan (make sure it has had time to update if you just installed it). Remove everything found.
Run Ad-Aware, full scan (again, make sure it's update). Remove everything found.
Reboot into safe mode.
Repeat until you find 0 spyware.

Lots of spyware is layered, if you remove one layer, you expose the next. You can't rid yourself of the spyware while it's running (thus safe mode) or whlie some bits are still installed.

Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thanks for writing that out, but I guess I'm due for a fresh install (so-to-speak) anyway... got a lot of apps I never use anymore.
Click to expand...

Keep it for later, you'll need it n00b. 😉
 
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