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Remove Windows?

missile
Posts: 11,759 Forumite


in Techie Stuff
My son has a DELL inspiron laptop, it has two drives (C is for system and D for data). It an attempt to remove virus, he loaded another copy of windows onto D and moved over his data. Then deleted files from C. He has gotten into a bit of a mess 
I have reinstalled per DELL original and deleted all the crap. How can I delete system files and Windows Vista from drive D?

I have reinstalled per DELL original and deleted all the crap. How can I delete system files and Windows Vista from drive D?
"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Ride hard or stay home :iloveyou:
Ride hard or stay home :iloveyou:
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Comments
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If there is nothing worth keeping on the D drive - you can format the D drive.
But make sure your pc is booting correctly from the C drive first.0 -
My son has a DELL inspiron laptop, it has two drives (C is for system and D for data). It an attempt to remove virus, he loaded another copy of windows onto D and moved over his data. Then deleted files from C. He has gotten into a bit of a mess
I have reinstalled per DELL original and deleted all the crap. How can I delete system files and Windows Vista from drive D?
(1) He will never get rid of virus by transferring across to the C drive and back, and vice versa. Unfortunately I always tell people to get a external usb pen/stick (2gb and above) or an external usb harddrive. Before transferring the data you must scan your harddrive for viruses and trojans. If you don't have one, which is really worrying, click on google for free virus scanner and free trojan scanner.
Clean the machine.
(2) Once you have backed up the harddrive, you will just have to carry out a clean install by inserting the vista dvd. Just follow the instructions. This is usually the less troublesome way to get a workable machine.
Alternatively, you could run the system restore program on start>all programs>accessories>system tools>system restore.
The latter I believe is too late due to your son getting rid of the c: drive.Motto: 'If you don't ask, you don't get!!'
Remember to say thank you to people who help you out!
Also, thank you to people who help me out.0 -
Thanks for the prompt replies. I backed up all his data onto my 160GB external hard drive then re-installed system from DELL hidden files and copied his data back to C. His PC boots from C and it is working fine. I have installed virus and malware programs with auto-update. I have suggested he should take care with PtoP sites like Limewire etc, but .......
I just want to tidy up and delete the extra copy of windows etc from D so he can use this as his data drive as DELL intended. Please confirm, how do I format D drive? Do I simply type formatinto the start box?
"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Ride hard or stay home :iloveyou:0 -
When you say DELL hidden files, where are the hidden files - on the D drive?
If the D drive is the dell restore partition - no dont format it.
You can delete the Windows directory, program files, Users folders on the D drive permanently.
But before doing anything - you need to make sure the C drive boots (which you say it does) and also that its the default boot option - there are no boot menu options appearing which show more than one system.
If the restore of the Dell file is elsewhere then you can just right click on D drive in explorer and format.0 -
TEDDYRUKSPIN wrote: »
Alternatively, you could run the system restore program on start>all programs>accessories>system tools>system restore.
The latter I believe is too late due to your son getting rid of the c: drive.
Often with Dell laptops, you'll find you don't actually have two hard drives, but one hard drive split into two partitions, so moving all files from your C drive to your D drive will have absolutely no effect on any infection on the system.
To format the D drive, right-click it and select Format.
I would strongly recommend you scan the external hard drive before loading anything back on to the laptop.
Oh, and Limewire is rife with malware, I'd suggest he keeps clear if there's an alternative.The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
-- Marty Feldman0 -
Thanks again dudes. I have not delved into C prompt for a year or two and was unsure of how to access it in Vista.
You are correct the drives are actually partitions. DELL factory settings has a hidden partition "E Drive" which I used to re-install from. They no longer provide a Windows disk.
The boot menu did list two options, but now it does boot from C only.
I did advise him not to use PtoP but the lure of free illegal downloads is very strong and I guess I shall be doing this all over again in a few months.
I shall reformat my external hard drive before I use it again.
Is there any benefit of having C and D partitions?"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Ride hard or stay home :iloveyou:0 -
I shall reformat my external hard drive before I use it again.
Is there any benefit of having C and D partitions?
One other thing to consider - if the "infection" involved a rootkit, some of these can survive a reformat, because they can place unwanted code in the MBR and associated sectors at the start of the disk. A utility such as fixmbr should render that safe, but I'm not sure if you can use that on an external drive.
The only benefits of separate C and D partitions that I can think of is that if you put all of your user data on D, you run less risk of running the system out of disk space (i.e. you can fill up the D partition completely and the system will still boot), and also you can completely reload the OS from scratch without losing your user data.0 -
Thanks fwor,
I shall run a root kit in safe mode, that should do it?"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Ride hard or stay home :iloveyou:0
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