No Admin Rights... yes i read the first thread called this. NEED HELP!

[aIrForce]

I used limewire to download a crack (BAD! I Know) but it managed to download a whole lot of "cracks" as they are supposed to be. That was about a month ago. My Norton Antivirus free trial expired before that. Today though, I booted my computer and experienced the "File not found" and "No Admin Rights." Virus I guess. My question is, how can I perform a simple hard drive wipe? I have nothing to download anything onto. I DO have my Windows XP Disk, but I already attempted that twice, to no success. Anyone got any ideas?

[aIrForce]

please? i really need some help.

[Sylvander]

Do you have any resources to work with?

Any backups?
Any bootable disks with utilities?
Any friends or neighbours with a PC who can make bootable utility disks?
Would buying a new HDD be appropriate [start anew]?

[aIrForce]

No, not really. I have like literally no cash right now. And could you explain the bootable disks? I might be able to do that part. I just need to know what to do. I was hoping there was just a way to reset my hard drive so that I could install what I needed all over again. I don't have that much that I NEED. Most of the stuff on my pc was just extra. But any help you guys could give would be greatly appreciated.

[jcnoernberg]

Search google and make a boot disc. This will allow you to boot to a dos prompt. Once you're there, you can install windows...

[aIrForce]

i use a floppy disk in the a drive for that?

EDIT: I was able to make a boot disk... now i just need to know what to do in MS DOS. Suggestions?

[aIrForce]

i'll try it myself first, then i'll come back if anything goes wrong.

EDIT: (again, sry) still not sure how do use the DOS prompt. Can someone explain what to do, sorry for wasting your time...

[Sylvander]

"could you explain the bootable disks?"
You normally load your Operating System from your HDD, but you could instead load almost anything [OS or program] from a bootable floppy or CD.
e.g I have a whole range of bootable floppies:
Win98 Startup disk
AVG anti-virus "Rescue Boot Disk"
"Killdisk" (zero-fills a HDD or chosen partitions)
Maxtor's "Maxblast 4" (Partition & Format my HDD)
"PowerMax 4" (tests my HDD)
"Darik's Boot & Nuke" (multi-pattern-zero-fill HDD)
HP Diagnostic Floppy
"Seatools Desktop" (HDD Diagnostic & fix)
"#1 Tufftest Lite" (Self booting PC hardware diagnostic)
Plus more...

Also have bootable CD's:
Emergency Boot CD [EBCD]:
[does a whole range of things including zero-fill, repartition, reformat, create boot floppy for NT/2000/XP, NT password editor, MemTest, Drive fitness test, Scandisk, Recover MBR, Un-Format, Un-Erase, Image backup.]
Ultimate Boot CD:
[Huge number of utilities too long to list.]
Knoppix OS loads from CD:
[Loading this OS from CD would check that your hardware was working ok. You can go online etc once this is loaded. You can view the contents of your HDD and delete files and folders.]

"I was hoping there was just a way to reset my hard drive so that I could install what I needed all over again."
The EBCD would do that for you.
Or you could use Killdisk to do the zero-fill part.
I can give you links once you decide which you prefer.

[aIrForce]

well i formatted it to start up in ms dos... so do i have to pick something to use from there? or can i use killdisk to just reformat it, but save killdisk onto a floppy?

[Sylvander]

Killdisk = www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm
At the above webpage, click on the link [the one I've copied to the image below] and save to a folder location of your choice, then run the "killdiskfloppysetup.exe" file with a floppy disk in the FDD.
Doing this will make the Killdisk bootable floppy.
Startup with this in the FDD [and the BIOS set to boot from the FDD before the HDD] and when the program runs use it to zero fill your HDD.
You should then be able to boot from your WinXP bootable CD to partition & format your HDD and fresh install WinXP.

[aIrForce]

HA! i got it. in less than a day too. just booted from my windows xp cd, deleted the partition, formatted, started up, and got my internet working again. now i'm going to download some anti spyware and anti virus protection. anyone got any sites i can get to for this?

[aIrForce]

thanks to all who helped by the way. it was really awesome.

[Sylvander]

"got any sites i can get to for this?"
See a list of free programs here http://tinyurl.com/dxcoq

e.g.
Free Antivirus = http://avast.com/
AVG = http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1 [Anti-Virus]
Ad-aware V6.0 build 0162 = http://www.majorgeeks.com/article.php?sid=506&cat=31 [eliminate adware]
Spybot = http://www.safer-networking.org/ [eliminate spyware]
SpywareBlaster v2,6,1 = http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html [block spyware]
A-squared = http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/ [eliminate Trojans]
Popup Manager = www.endpopups.com/ [a good one]
IE-Spyad = https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm [bad-site protection]
SpywareGuard = www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html [blocks spyware activity]
Anti-Virus Test File = www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm [harmless; will your AV detect & eliminate it? Send in an email.]