Format C drive or Dell restore?

[Sridhar_Rao]

I am not sure if this the right forum, well here is the issue.

I own a Dell Inspiron B130 laptop shipped from USA with preloaded XP Home SP2 and other Dell drivers and utilities. Dell has also shipped the OS CD. The warranty period has expired.

The system got infected and several programs are not functioning properly. some files in the system restore too were infected. Now I wish to clean up the mess and have a new beginning. With system restore out of question, I am left with two choices:
a) format C drive and install the OS all afresh
b) go for the Dell restore facility that would restore it to the same state it was when I bought it.

There are problems with both of it. If I format C drive, will I have to install drivers for other components too? Where do I get that? Which ones? What should I keep in mind before I take this option? Help?

If I chose Dell restore, I will lose all the system updates and get plenty of Dell trash installed. What happens to the D drive? Will it get formatted too?

Or is there any other way out? Please give sound advice.

 

[Krazy_About_Technology]

Well the drivers and utilities cd must contains the drivers for the laptop, otherwise the drivers for this laptop are located at :

*supportapj.dell.com/support/downlo...INSPIRON1300/B130&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=

Download them and do the fresh install. But do keep in mind that there must be no infected files on other drives otherwise you'll get infection again, sooner or later.

Dell system restore requires the exact parition structure that dell sends your laptop with and also it erases all the data on all hdd paritions. If you have no problems with that then use it

And all the Dell "Crap" ( some are useful too if you give them a try ) can be uninstalled from Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features control panel options so that should not be a problem. The real problem with Dell System restore is its wipe-out-clean mode of operation.

I hope this helps.

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Thanks!
two questions here;
a) is there anyway I can look if any of the system files are corrupted and install them only, something like "repair option" that comes with some softwares?
b) When should the drivers be downloaded from dell website, before the process or after format & installation of OS?

 

[Krazy_About_Technology]

a) There is no such option in Vista but with XP i guess you can repair the system files by choosing to repair your installation after booting from your XP cd. The install wizard asks it after pressing f8 to accept liscence. But there is a risk. The repair process will only replace files that come with windows, while in the system folder of Windows, many other programs also install their files, so if one of them is infected, you know what....

Also there are many other areas as well where the infection can be so its better to do a fresh install and also making sure that other non-os drives are also clean.

b) The drivers are available as standalone packages that are to be installed after the OS install is complete so i advice you to download them in advance on a different, clean, virus free computer and then move them to your lappy once the OS setup is complete. After that just run the driver excutables to install.

The drivers you'll need are : Chipset, Graphics or Video, Audio, Wireless LAN, Ethernet, Web Camera (if present), Card Reader (If present) and Touchpad.

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Thanks, I will try with "repairing" OS first. If that fails, well...I am not able to make up my mind whether to format or use dell restore, which would be easier?

Another question (out of topic..excuse me), can incompatibilities between antivirus programs and anti-spyware program be responsible for frequent crashing of windows explorer and internet explorer?

 

[Krazy_About_Technology]

I guess dell restore will b easier but you'll loose all your data.
Fresh reinstall will be a lil trickier this time coz you'll have to download all the driver but from next time, it wont be that much of a pain.

Regarding antivirus and antispyware, might be, but very rare. Ya but more than 1 antivirus running concurrently do cause problems most of the times. What combination are you using?

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

thanks for your opinion. by the way, will repairing OS result in losing all the updates that I had over 2 years.
Here is what I am using:
Lavasoft adaware, Spybot search and destroy, Ashampoo antispyware2, microsoft windows defender, Avast antivirus.
Despite all these and updating them regularly, I end up getting infected.

 

[Krazy_About_Technology]

Repairing the OS wont result in loosing anything, when it will be finished windows will boot to your desktop like nothing happened. Only the system files that come with windows are deleted and recopied from installation disk, plus drivers are installed a fresh from the DriverStore of Windows.
Thats why i am sayin repairing may not solve your problem as almost all 3rd party programs that you install on your system place some of their files in the Windows folder and if one of these is infected, the whole system will be back to the state as its currently is in a matter of seconds. These files will not be repaired coz they dont come with Windows.

So either do a Dell Restore and forget all your data as well as updates, but have a clean and fresh system with some "bloatware", as you say them, which can be uninstalled easily.
OR Do a reinstall from the backup disk provided by Dell, preserve your data on other paritions, but yes, loose all the updates you've done, since they will be gone with Windows.

Its your choice now.

 

[Sridhar_Rao]

Thanks for the reply.

I chose Dell system restore. I was of the opinion that entire hard drive would be formatted but I found out that only the C drive was formatted. although the initial installation was over in 10 minutes (thanks to symantec ghost), the process of reinstalling all the softwares and updates took almost an entire day.

After re-installation and updating the antivirus, scan revealed a trojan in XP restore files. I am sick of these trojans, they keep cropping up every now and then.

I am still facing the reasons why I resorted to the whole process. Windows explorer and internet explorer keep crashing all the time. I don't understand what is happening. To avoid conflict with Spybot S&D I did not install Lavasoft Adaware.

There is another utility from windows (I don't recollect its name) that closes explorer saying it was done to protect the system.

 

[Krazy_About_Technology]

See thats what i was sayin. I am sorry for misinforming you, i never used dell restore, only heard about it that it clears data on all drives. Anyways, what i said before still holds true. The files on your other parititions are still there and the virus(es) must have been actiated the moment you rebooted your system. Thats why you are back to your original siituation.

Now i would like to suggest, that as soon as possible, get all your important files out of that laptop and then reformat all the drives before reinstalling. and i suggest you do the format from the recovery console of Windows Vista setup. as if you'll do it from within the installed OS, after formatting, the virus will copy itself to the fresh formatted drive too as it will be active in memory at that time.
To start the windows vista recovery console, boot from vista DVD, choose to repair your computer instead of installing.choose cancel when windows setup searches for your installation and then open the command prompt from next dialog that appears. from there give the standard format <driveletter>: command to format. This procedure will ensure a clean format.
After this, reinstall windows and your problem will be solved.

PLEASE DONT FORGET TO BACKUP YOUR IMPORTANT FILES LIKE WORD DOCUMENTS ETC BUT DONT TRY TO BACKUP ANY SOFTWARE DUMPS IF YOU HAVE ANY COZ THEY MIGHT ALSO BE INFECTED.

sorry for the all caps words, but its super important