Malware/Trojan problems continuing

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getting hung up

Sorry for the delay. For some reason I am having a heck of a time getting iTunes to backup properly. I may just forego the backup if I can't get it working soon. I HAVE the music except for a handful of purchases.
I'll try to get that done by tomorrow. And then start the reinstall. I have everything else backed up that I need. (I think) :funny:

Karen
 
1st Attempt- Reinstall XP pro

Hi Paul,
I gave up on the iTunes BU. The discs kept failing to write.
It isn't that huge of a deal. Most of it was 'my' music and only a few were purchases. I 'THINK' I backed up the purchases successfully. We shall see.

In any event, I attempted to do a reinstall of XP Pro. I put the CD in, it went through all of its screens and finally asked me which partition it wanted me to put XP on. The only one that made sense was the C: Drive itself since the others are small partitions. (I sent you the specs on that at one point - something to do with that NTFS format).

So I chose the C: drive and as it was attempting to install, I get the message something to the effect of that XP Pro already exists and to put a 2nd operating system on the same volume will make it unstable. Or something like that. But basically don't do it. So I stoppped and wrote in to you.

Was I doing something wrong? I chose the option of installing XP, not a repair or anything, like I had already done prior to originally writing in.

OK, I will wait to see if I was on the right track. I will also go and re-review the information you gave me.

Thank you again!
Karen
 
If you chose to reinstall the OS (operating system ) it should over write the old OS.

wininstall1.jpg

At this point did you chose th first option?

You will want to select to over wright the partition C:\
 
yes

Hi again!

Sorry that I have made this such a project. :sad:

Yes, I think it was the next screen available. I hit enter to setup XP and then I got the screen of the 3 partitions, chose the C: drive and then it warned me that XP was already on there and that to add another OS would not be recommended or some wording to that affect. I didn't continue - even though it would have let me install it.

I can try again and get the exact wording for you and stop at the same point.

I will try. BRB.

Karen
 
The order of things

Hi Paul,
Ok here is what I did:
1) Put in XP Pro CD, chose NEW installation, entered Product Key, and updated files, computer restarted itself.

2) with the CD still in, I get the black screen with 3 options now: XP PRO, Recovery Disc and MS Windows XP Setup.

3) I choose the Setup, go to Blue screen and it says Setup is starting windows.

4) I choose 'Choose Setup Windows XP now ENTER'

5) Then I get the screen that says this:
'If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it. Use UP or DOWN ARROW keys to select and install.
- To repair the selected Windows XP install, press R.
- To continue installation of a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, press ESC.'
I press ESC.

6) Then the next screen says:
'The following list shows the existing partitions and unpartitioned space on the computer. Use UP or DOWN ARROW keys to select and install. (I select C: drive)
- To Setup Windows XP on selected item, press ENTER
- To create partition in unpartitioned space, press C
- To delete selected partition, press D'
I press ENTER

7) Next screen says:
'You chose to install Windows XP on a partition that contains another operating system. Installing Windows XP on this partition might cause the other operating system to function improperly.
CAUTION: Installing multiple operating systems on a single partition is not recommended. To learn more about installing multiple operating systems on a single computer, see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/multiboot.asp using internet explorer
- To continue Setup using this partition, press C
- To select a different partition, press ESC'

So I just ESCaped and next screen pressed F3 to exit.

That is where I stopped.

I just wanted to make sure I could go past this point without problems. I have only ever reinstalled Windows 98 on an old laptop and older Mac OSs, but that was a LONG time ago. :red::laugh:

Help! :spider:

(sorry - I like the icons too much. Gotta have some fun.)

Thank you!
Karen
 
Reinstalled WinXP

Hi Paul,
Ok. It's done. :eek:

BUT ---- I have a few things that are going on that I don't know the first thing about doing. I *hope* this will be simple! Did I do something wrong???

(The only things i have loaded are Windows updates, Firefox, Avast and the Intel Drivers.)

Here are the problems: (some more minor than others)

1) when I start, I am still getting the black screen with the option of choosing Windows XP Pro or the Recovery Console. No biggie except for it counts down 30 seconds for me to CHOOSE. This is new.

2) Then a window pops up and it asks me to Logon to Windows. In the UserName it says 'Administrator'. The password is blank. I remembered from watching my friend that you could just click OK and it wouldn't need a password, so that is what I did and it logged in.

3) I couldn't connect to the internet as I suspected, but fortunately had the drivers backed up. The software was nowhere to be found. I checked the utilities CDs and such - nothing. So THANK GOD that I had that backed up! The Intel Pro card is not driven through Windows. I am not sure why but have learned that the hard way when I would try to login at Panera and other places and hadn't set up a profile. And I would try to do it through Windows setup and it wouldn't let me. So THAT is resolved!

4) I have lost the visual display of the buttons on the front of the computer for volume, mute, play, FF, RW and Stop. Usually it would show a volume gauge or mute display when you pushed the front buttons.

5) My 'scrolling' function is gone on the finger pad.

6)OK - here's the biggie stuff:
a) The machine is crashing. It crashed when it was doing the Windows updates - but it opened IE while I had Firefox open. I know that they are basically incompatible but I have been able to run them at the same time in the past for stupid stuff like updates. This I see as a relatively minor issue that will probably be resolved once I get everything else going. Maybe??

b) Ok - now how do I explain this?? Everything 'looks' like it installed clean. But when you open the C: drive, there are several folders in the 'C:\Documents and Settings' folder.
Here is the list:
-ADMIN
-Administrator
-Administrator.DRKAREN-LAPTOP
-All Users
-Default User
-Default User.WINDOWS
-DR5142~1~KAR
-Dr. Karen

It appears that the ADMIN, Administrator, All Users, Default User and Dr. Karen folders are OLD folders b/c they contain ALL of the old files. Nothing was actually deleted.

Also - just on the main level of the C: drive, the 'Program Files' folder contains all the old programs that were on the computer before.

What is WEIRD is that NOTHING (well -some basic stuff) is in the START menu, nothing is in the 'My Music' folder (but the files exist under the Dr. Karen profile) and other examples of empty folders that I know 'not too much' about! :rolleyes:

So it seems a bit confusing to me on where everything should be and what I should delete and what I can just copy over to the 'right' folder.

I have a built in fear (maybe it's outdated) but I know that Windows does NOT work like a Mac where if you don't want something, you can just delete it with little far reaching consequences. That all files have some connection to five million other places on a PC. So I get a little nervous about getting 'delete happy'. :oops:

I am sure it's not that big of a deal but this part seems to be the worst part. I am tech savvy when it comes to bigger stuff but then become like a 'maroon' (in the infinite wisdom of Bugs Bunny) when it comes to the simpler stuff!:clown:

If I ever needed help, it is now! Please? :red:

Oh - the other thing - my bookmarks exist for Firefox under the 'Dr. Karen' profile but not when I open Firefox.

I will copy and move NOTHING until I hear from you so I can copy and delete appropriately.

Thank you way in advance for this one! :cool:

Karen
 
Format

Hi Paul,

I don't think that is what it said? I honestly don't remember. It just had me choose the drive to overwrite (the C: drive) and it gave me that warning about installing two OSs on it, etc.

I mean, I didn't get the option of erasing the whole drive and starting over - like reformatting a floppy disc. It just reinstalled a brand new fresh copy of Win XP Pro. Because there was an option of 'Upgrade' or 'Reinstall' I think. But it said that it would overwrite the drive or something and I may lose 'my documents' folder and other info on the drive. So maybe it did say that? It's hard to remember exactly what it said if it's not in front of me.

It appears OK. I think it did a full reinstall but left my old files to just copy the things I needed into the new clean install. At least that is what it *looks* like. I remember reformatting MACs in the past and it did the same thing. It was just a pain to determine what to keep and what to dump. But gave you a new starting point. But with PCs it seems a little (ALOT) more overwhelming! But I guess I can just dump some of the old folders and the things that I KNOW I don't need until I use it a bit more and dump the rest.

Not sure. :red:

Karen
 
Well guess this thread can now be closed.

I can't help you decide what to keep. :red:

Glad the install went fine. I might have to try a mac, windows is getting boring. :eek:
 
Figuring it all out

Hi Paul,
Okie Dokie. I appreciate all of your help this far! :)

I was just maybe looking for some confirmation that I was seeing this right. It *appears* that it is just a matter of dumping old folders and such and copying ONLY the necessary files over to the new profiles.

I know that I can work out what to keep and what NOT to keep, I just don't know how to correct some of the oddball things that are 'system specific' and make them work again. Is there an XP guide online or something that could help guide me back to 'working land' that you know of?

This is where I am NOT savvy. I can only go on prior experience with Macs but I KNOW they aren't nearly the same.

Alright, well - I certainly do appreciate your help this long. If you have any final advice for me, let me know. I honestly have no clue how to correct this one. :sad:

Thank you,

Karen
 
Lots o' junk

Hi Paul,

Oh I realize that! I appreciate the time you have put in and didn't want to keep dragging this out if it truly were something I could figure out. I mean, I tried so hard NOT to have to write in in the first place. I thought I had the hard stuff done by recovering all of the data on, what I thought was, a dead drive. Now this seems to be the overwhelming part. I have a Windows 98 book but I doubt that will help much here. Maybe? That is why I was wondering if there were an online guide to XP that I could reference to see where stuff is supposed to go.

The system stuff is all a bit foreign with me though on where stuff should go. I worked some on it today and here is where I am at:

Most of the same problems exist that I listed in the prior post. But I *think* the biggest problem is the profiles and how they are set. What I ended up doing - and honestly I am not sure how I did it - I merged files together under one profile which turned out to be a combo of 'administrator' and 'drkaren' profiles. I trashed all other profiles except for what is now listed as: (I cannot modify these names for some reason, even in safe mode)
- All Users.WINDOWS
-Default User.WINDOWS
-DrKaren.DRKAREN-LAPTOP (which is actually the administrator profile)

So here is what I am totally lost on:
1) how to make a separate administrator profile so that it is separate from the 'drkaren' profile. I tried but it barks at me and says that that profile exists already.

2) I have no sound and also don't have a visual display when pushing the volume and media buttons on the front of computer. It looks like the audio information is gone. I looked in the control panels and audio section and it is grayed out. I DO get an audible beep when the system warns me of something but i think that just tells me the speakers still work.

3) God - what else? Basically the entire list that I had before. System is still doing a 30 second count down on screen waiting for me to pick XP Pro instead of the Recovery Console on startup.

4) Very few icons are showing up in the start menu/program files list. Many programs are just not working.

I suspect that I just don't have the right names on the right things and other things in the right places. I am a bit baffled on what the Default, All User, Adminstrator and DrKaren (which have become one in the same) are supposed to contain.

I feel pretty stupid right now! :clown:

There are other things but I am sure once I get these things straight, all else will fall in place. I am just lost. I can figure out where to put my writings, documents, videos and everything else. But when it comes to what the system needs to recognize as a folder and where it is supposed to be, I am done! :red:

I realize your time is valuable and I have taken quite enough of it. Even if you could direct me to something I could read up on or happen to know something offhand that I can do based on what I have written, any offerings would be appreciated. :santa:

Thank you again.
Karen
 
3) God - what else? Basically the entire list that I had before. System is still doing a 30 second count down on screen waiting for me to pick XP Pro instead of the Recovery Console on startup.
Click to expand...
All the info on how to install, delete, and use the Recovery Console can be found here.

-------------------------

4) Very few icons are showing up in the start menu/program files list. Many programs are just not working.
Click to expand...
They will have to be reinstalled when you reformatted you removed all the associated registry keys.

-------------------------------------

2) I have no sound and also don't have a visual display when pushing the volume and media buttons on the front of computer.
Click to expand...
What brand of PC are you using. You will have to reinstall the drivers for media direct, which is what I think you are talking about.

----------------------------------------------

1) how to make a separate administrator profile so that it is separate from the 'drkaren' profile. I tried but it barks at me and says that that profile exists already.
Click to expand...
Boot in safe mode if you have a default admin account for making system changes it should show up there.

------------------------------------

Hope this helps, let me know.
 
Some sense

Hi Paul,
Boy oh boy. I worked all day on this and got some things going based on your suggestions. Thank you. Plus some other things.

Let's see. Yes, it is Dell Media Direct. I looked at a ton of info on that and really don't know how to address that. That looks a bit more complicated.

I DID get sound back by just going to the device manager and re-locating the drivers. But I don't get the visual display when I use the media buttons on the front of the computer. They WORK, you just can't see if it IS working until it blares out loudly! The only item that I am getting the big yellow question mark by is the Ethernet Controller. Is that for the driver of the ethernet card that you would plug an ethernet cable into? I am wireless so didn't know.

I reinstalled the Alps Pointer Device driver so my touchpad works better.

I reinstalled MS Office but can't get Outlook working. It starts up buy I can't import my old files back into it. It says 'The operation failed'. Plus I don't know where the old files are compared to the new ones. (I still have the backup on the external drive but thought it might still be around on the laptop unless it got overwritten when I reinstalled Office). I used Outlook for my calendar and contacts and THAT is critical for me to get back.

I did start in safe mode and saw that I had an Administrator option. Cool. :rolleyes:

So I guess -- how do I ask this?? I know what i want to ask but don't know how--
well I have the continued problem of the names of the folders being wacky in Documents and Settings. That is the first problem. I can't rename them. I have:
-Administrator (should this even be here? Is this old?)
-All Users.WINDOWS
-Default User.WINDOWS
-DrKaren.DRKAREN-LAPTOP

The other issue is that I am not sure if the 'DrKaren.DRKAREN-LAPTOP' is *really* an administrator profile and the 'Administrator folder shouldn't exist. (it may be old). I am not asking about administrator privileges as it already has that. What I am wondering is if the folder itself should be labeled plain 'administrator'.

(I am sure I am just making this more confusing than it is, but I get hung up on the 'easy' stuff.


Then the third issue is:
Inside of the DrKaren.DRKAREN-LAPTOP folder -- are the folders supposed to say "'MY' documents" and inside of that say 'MY pictures' and 'MY music' and 'MY videos'? Instead of say, 'Administrators videos' and such?

In the start menu, all of those file names (MY documents etc) originally would not link to the correct folder. I think that portion is resolved (I played with that by moving around files to different folders) but am missing the point of the correct structure of the folder names and how to rename the main level user folders in the Documents and Settings folder.

I am finding more and more as we go, but if I can get the basics running, like folder names being correct and such, I can figure out how to get the programs installed and running again.

That Dell Media Direct Issue seems a bit more complicated though, as well. I was afraid to touch that without messing up stuff. The partition should still exist, so how do I get the files back? Especially without messing up the machine?

Ok - hopefully you can sift through my questions. Sorry it takes me pages to describe what I am talking about. It is so much easier to just visually walk through stuff. Sometimes it is hard to convert the visuals into words. I do my best!

Anyway, I appreciate you hanging in there still. I think after I get the folders named the right way and get MediaDirect working, the rest should be FAIRLY straightforward.

I just feel like everything is a MESS now and it is a little more difficult to sift through what is a REAL problem vs. what is simply fixed.

Thank you,
Karen :p:
 
Also--

I got rid of the Recovery Console thing as well. Thank you!!

Also - I looked over my old list. I also resolved the Login with Administator by setting it to NOT classic mode - whatever that is called! :p:

But the Profile issue and how they are supposed to be set and the Media Direct and the Outlook issues are the biggies.
THAT should do it. (as if that weren't enough).

Karen :fear: (oh wow - the ninja dude just says 'hood' but when you paste it in it says 'fear' - I just wanted to try it b/c it was an old nickname. Just trying to keep it 'light'!)

Thank you again. :laugh:
 
One more down

Got the ethernet card working. Found the driver. :eek:

Boy, for as long as this thread is (which I am forever in your debt for), you would never know HOW resourceful I can actually be) :red:

Onto the bigger things now! Help?? :p:

Karen
 
Sorry

Paul,
I am sorry to hear your uncle is in the hospital. Is it serious? I hope he gets well soon. I am sure your visits help greatly! :)

Back to the computer drama:
I will try to navigate through the MediaDirect issues. I had read that info already but I will give it another shot. It looks like there is a MediaDirect Repair Utility. I will attempt that.

If and when you feel up to looking into it, if you can help with the final two problems - 1) the listing/changing the names of how the profiles under "documents and settings" is SUPPOSED to read, and 2) helping me get my whole address book and calendar back into Outlook. I have beat myself up looking over all of MS sites trying to get the answer and none of the advice works. I even tried re-re-installing Outlook.

I can probably work through the Outlook issue but am troubled and baffled by the Profile name issue and how to get that back to 'normal'.

Anyway, I know that computer issues are so minor in the scheme of life when you have a loved one in the hospital. So I fully understand if I don't hear back for a bit, but welcome any thoughts you have WHEN you get time to sidetrack yourself with this mundane stuff! :p:

Wish your uncle the best and good healing. I will send positive energies in his direction. Be well yourself. :)

Karen
 
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