hard drive crash problem

[Mig]

Hi folks. I would like to find out if anyone might give me some direction. I was working on a NEC PC Pent? with 64 Ram and a 6 Gig hard drive. It was running very slow. Apart from a possible Blubster originated virus, it also was running on very low resources. Of it's 6 Gig hard drive, it was running on probably 5 1/2 Gig. I began to delete photo files and regained some speed. Then I installed a CD burner, then it's software. When I put the burner software in, I think it filled up the HD. Now when I want to boot up, it only gets to the "Welcome to Win ME" screen. I can't go past that point to delete anything more because of this. It just won't go past that point. It slowed down much worse than before. Does anyone have any suggestions for me please? Please feel free to email me at miguelon56@msn.com.

Thanks
Mig

[PrntRhd]

Mig,
Welcome to the PC Guide,
Someone will be along to help in a few minutes, but please don't put your e-mail address on these forums for your own security. Members can get Personal Messages to you without your releasing your real address on the Internet and you won't get spammed by someone reading this forum.

[Budfred]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

Have you cleared that virus out??

You can use a Windoze boot disk to delete some more files if that is what is really causing the problem. However, I am dubious about that since Windoze will usually give you a warning before it installs something that will fill up the disk. I also haven't heard of it refusing to load based on that.

Since WinME doesn't have a DOS based boot disk, you will probably need to download one and you can find options at Bootdisk.com... (http://www.bootdisk.com/)

Also, keep in mind that this forum is real responsible about not abusing email addresses, but there are bots that search the web for addresses and posting your's on a public forum almost guarantees you will get a whole bunch of SPAM. Unless you enjoy SPAM, it is a good idea to avoid it and instead put something like "person at person.com" if you really want people to know it.

One last things, hard drives are pretty cheap these days...

[PrntRhd]

Well said Budfred!:)

[Mig]

Well, I am not at the broken computer at the moment and it has no Antivirus software in it. I think Norton is OK, and I have an old version on mine, but I don't have it on hers. Presently, I won't be able to put anything on it. A new HD, or reformat that one are options, but we really would like to save some files off it it first.
I hope that I have given enough detales of the problem. Do you have some suggestions for getting it going again without getting too technical. I only dabble with these things, but I am good also so maybe I can handle it.
Tks
Mig

[Mig]

Budfred "See, I got it now", you still there?

[PrntRhd]

If you can get it on line you can scan it here (http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp)
at Trend Micro site for free.

[Mig]

I really appreciate all of the suggestions. But really, to the last one. I can't get it past the welcome to ME screen. It just sits there on it. I can't get to AOL's sign in screen. I'm lost.
Tks,
Mig

[Mig]

I must sign off for now folks, but I will check back first thing in the morning before I'm off to work. Tks. for all your suggestions. I think this is one forum with lots of generous helpful computer geeks.

[Variable]

Sure, you can just put in a boot disk and from the command prompt, delete some crap files off of the hard drive (you'll need to understand some basic DOS commands). You can delete the files from the Temporary internet files and Cookies, Recycyle Bin. You could also locate some MP3 or other files you do not want and delete those. You'll have to navigate to the folder that contains the files and then use the del command with a * variable to delete a bunch of files at once. You can do them one at a time but, that may take some time. Check out the URL below for some hints.
I would then run a scandisk /all /autofix and then try and boot into safe mode. Then try and delete any other files you don't need (add remove programs) while at the same time editing the registry to remove the virus. You can find detailed registry editing information for the virus at the Symantec web site from the machine you are using now and print them out, just search for the virus name on the symantec web site. Just follow the instructions and it isn't that difficult at all. I've done it many times.

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/lis/help/virus/dosdel.html

Again, youll want to use the existing machine to locate the path name to the temp drive and the cookies and also the recycle bin. You can use "find" or "search"

If this sounds to complicated, take into the local computer shop or grab the yellow pages for a local guy/gal to fix it. Times are tough and we need the biz : )

V

[david eaton]

If you have access to another machine, with an up to date antivirus program on it, you should also be able to use that to create a rescue disc. That will be a bootable floppy with the A/V program that can be used to scan the infected machine.

[Budfred]

Keep in mind that if you have an old version of Norton on the machine you can access, that can be the same as no protection if the version is more than a year old or hasn't been updated for a while. There are free versions available, so you can download them and install, preferably on the computer you are using now immediately and on the other one as soon as you get access. At the very least, you should be able to recover you files if they haven't been irreparably infected by the virus...