Desperately need help on system restore please. Updated

xxdeebeexx

Hi, I am very stressed..............

DS1's laptop has got a virus TR/Ramnit.AC.A.901 and over 300 files are infected

info as follows

Acer Aspire 7730zg with 320 HDD

Originally Vista but had a windows 7 upgrade disc
I have...
3 x Recovery discs .... not sure if for vista or win7
1 x Windows 7 Upgrade cd

I have tried ALT F10 to get to the recovery screen but it won't do it (instruction booklet says that too)

I am getting restore and recovery muddled in my mind

I need to wipe / over write the hard drive to get rid of infection

Do I remove virus first or will re install / restore / recovery deal with that?

tia

dx

ps there is nothing worth saving on the laptop

GunJack

you need to wipe the hdd first, then re-install windows. Have you got hiren's bootcd? if so, boot to minixp and format the hdd. this should give you a clean hdd to start from. then reinstall windows. you may need to reinstall vista again (possibly having to use the lisence key sticker on the base) then upgrade to 7.

xxdeebeexx

GunJack wrote: »

you need to wipe the hdd first, then re-install windows. Have you got hiren's bootcd? if so, boot to minixp and format the hdd. this should give you a clean hdd to start from. then reinstall windows. you may need to reinstall vista again (possibly having to use the lisence key sticker on the base) then upgrade to 7.

Ohh gosh ! Too technical for me!

I should say that.....

We can use the laptop. I can surf the internet and do everything that we used to do it is just very, very slow

I don't have a windows disc... only the recovery discs... as it came pre installed

dx

TakeThis

You don't need the Vista disc. look here.

But this way, unless you have a Windows 7 Driver and Applications disc, you will have to retrieve those from the ACER Support & Download section of their website..

xxdeebeexx

TakeThis wrote: »

You don't need the Vista disc. look here.

But this way, unless you have a Windows 7 Driver and Applications disc, you will have to retrieve those from the ACER Support & Download section of their website..

I have also seen another cd.....
Acer Upgrade DVD

Contains Acer upgrade wizard
Applications, drivers for windows 7

is that the one?

dx

GunJack

^^^ ahhh, yes, forgot about this (it's been a long while since I've had to do one this way)... will be far easier. Just don't forget the step to format the hdd

xxdeebeexx

GunJack wrote: »

^^^ ahhh, yes, forgot about this (it's been a long while since I've had to do one this way)... will be far easier. Just don't forget the step to format the hdd

Ok, I understand what to do..... ( I think)

my next problem is the partitions bit.

at the moment DS has 3 partitions on the Hard drive

How do I decide on the partitions, number and size?

tia

dx

TakeThis

xxdeebeexx wrote: »

I have also seen another cd.....
Acer Upgrade DVD

Contains Acer upgrade wizard
Applications, drivers for windows 7

is that the one?

dx

Yes, it is.

The Windows Format option is not very good and I wouldn't trust it to completely eliminate the virus. So after re-installation, we'll check the Boot Record.

TakeThis

xxdeebeexx wrote: »

Ok, I understand what to do..... ( I think)

my next problem is the partitions bit.

at the moment DS has 3 partitions on the Hard drive

How do I decide on the partitions, number and size?

tia

dx

The partitions remain unchanged, as you only install Windows on the partition that it was on before. C:

xxdeebeexx

TakeThis wrote: »

The partitions remain unchanged, as you only install Windows on the partition that it was on before. C:

Right!

Now, do I reformat the other partitions?

dx

xxdeebeexx

TakeThis wrote: »

The Windows Format option is not very good and I wouldn't trust it to completely eliminate the virus. So after re-installation, we'll check the Boot Record.

Should I try to eliminate the virus before reinstalling?

I didn't try before as there were so many files affected.........317 !!

dx