Do I have a virus?

cargoholder2010

Last week, I turned on the laptop and it took approx 20 mins to get to the login screen.
When I then tried to access the internet or open documents the rotating circle next to the cursor appeared. When I click START, I wait 5 mins for the menu to appear and then I cannot select anything. In the rare occasions that I have been able to open a document I cannot do anything with it and when I then try to close it, I get a 'Not Responding' message and the circle rotating next to the cursor reappears and remains for approx 10 mins.
I have managed to start the computer in Safe Mode and it does appear to work ok.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

kwikbreaks

Can you roll it back a few days using system restore from safe mode?

If not then I'd be inclined to pull off all my latest documents since the last backup and restore it to factory defaults by whatever mechanism that laptop uses - usually a restore partition is provided with some mechanism to restore from it. You may need to google how to restore it if you don't still have the documentation it came with.

cargoholder2010

Thanks Kwikbreak,

It seems that the System Restore was turned off :mad:. I have used that facility quite a few times and it has been a good option so not sure how it was off and no one is owning up in my family!!

I shall have a look for the documentation but I believe that my only recourse is to take off the documents in Safe Mode and then rebuild with a new copy of Windows.....more money!!

cargoholder2010

I have just noticed that I can open and see all documents in Safe Mode, but when I try to open in normal mode, the following message appears.

Windows cannot find 'C:\Users\<User>\Documents\<document name>. Make sure you typed the name correctly and then try again.

This appears to happen on all documents, despite me being able to locate them when in Safe Mode, so they are there.

Toxteth_OGrady

Can you try copy them to a USB stick in Safe Mode?

cargoholder2010

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

Can you try copy them to a USB stick in Safe Mode?

Thanks, yes i will try that later and so have all my documents and I-Tunes library....I hope!

I just need to try and get the laptop back to a working state so I don't have to buy a new one, money is in short supply.

Toxteth_OGrady

I would try back up all your important stuff by USB stick first and copy it from there to another computer if you can so you have 2 copies on different media and know it's safe.

Once you've done that you should be able to do a factory restore or fresh Windows install of the laptop (both of which will wipe your data on the laptop). You should not have to pay for either as you have already bought a Windows license.

cargoholder2010

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

I would try back up all your important stuff by USB stick first and copy it from there to another computer if you can so you have 2 copies on different media and know it's safe.

Once you've done that you should be able to do a factory restore or fresh Windows install of the laptop (both of which will wipe your data on the laptop). You should not have to pay for either as you have already bought a Windows license.

I will do that, thanks.

How do I do a factory restore, any good links? I have a Acer 5735Z.

Hopw do I do a Windos install and will the computer recognise that I have a licence?

Sorry, may seem daft questions but I am not a techie

Toxteth_OGrady

cargoholder2010 wrote: »

How do I do a factory restore, any good links? I have a Acer 5735Z.

Do you have a Windows COA (license key) sticker on the underneath of the laptop.

Did a quick Google for "ACER 5735Z factory restore" and came across this:

Acer eRecovery Facts
Acer eRecovery Facts
1. At the Acer splash screen, you can press Alt and F10 (at the same time you would press F2
to enter the BIOS) to bring up a DOS style version of eRecovery.
· The unit is able to reload Windows from this mode faster then from CD.
· The password by default is 000000 (6 zeros) and it is displayed when you are asked
for the password.
· Users are able to change the password in this mode for eRecovery only.
· The system can recover from the hidden image on the hard drive (PQService
partition) or from CD/DVD media.
· It is possible to reload from the factory style CDs/DVD or the snapshots that the
Windows version of eRecovery creates.
2. In Windows there is 3 ways to access the eRecovery feature.
· Press Alt and F10
· Open Acer eManager and then double click eRecovery.
· When a system is new it should automatically open this application and prompt you
to make the recovery media.
3. The Windows version of the eRecovery program is more robust then the Dos Version. Listed
below are the different features of the Windows version:
Recovery Settings: Create backup files and Change Password
· Backup snapshot image (create a disc image of your system's current configuration)
1. The system is able to make a CD/DVD image of the current state of the
notebooks software including customer installed programs.
2. This CD/DVD is usable in the Windows and DOS version of the program.
3. The disk should be bootable but isn't always.
4. When a snapshot is made the image resides on the partition and then may
be burned to disks if eRecovery is told to.
· Burn Image to disc (create backup disc)
1. You can create 3-7 CD's or 1-2 DVD's like the ones that were sent with units
prior to eRecovery.
2. The burned CD's are equal in usage to the System CD and Recovery CD's.
· Delete user snapshot backup image data (if available)
1. This is how you delete the snapshot images on the partition
· Password: (Change eRecovery Password)
1. Recovery actions: Recover your system using an existing backup file or
Restore your system's factory default configuration.
2. Backup using one of the snapshots that has been made or by the factory
image on the partition.
4. eRecovery Facts
[Notebook]
· When the hard drive is replaced the system loses its eRecovery features. These
features are on the hard drive and cannot be reinstalled.
· When reinstalling from the made CD/DVD's you will lose the eRecovery program but
the DOS version may still work, also if uninstalled you can't reinstall.
· eRecovery uses Ghost (just like our Recovery CD's use) to create the snapshot
images.
· If the PQService partition is deleted using fdisk or any utility in Windows you may
need to reinstall Windows.
· If the system is reloaded using the DOS version you will retain the eRecovery
functionality.

Do you have the menu options in Windows shown in paragraph 2?

cargoholder2010

I can see the COA sticker but a lot of the figures are missing:mad:

In Windows there is 3 ways to access the eRecovery feature.
· Press Alt and F10 Nothing happens (Can I do in Safe Mode?)
· Open Acer eManager and then double click eRecovery. There are no backup files according to the screen
· When a system is new it should automatically open this application and prompt you to make the recovery media. (N/A)

Toxteth_OGrady

Do you have a partition on your disk?

You can recover your Windows license with http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

What happens if you try Alt F10 when the laptop is first started (i.e. as soon as you power on before you would press F8 to go into Safe Mode)?