Share your experience!
Please, please, please can someone end my frustrations.
I have a sony vaio notebook (VGN-FW21L) and all works fine, however a few weeks ago i stupidly agreed to upload some software onto a friends laptop from my usb flash drive, however when i was installing the process was interupted and couldnt finish because her laptop was riddled with viruses, spyware etc!!!!
here comes the stupid part i then put my usb drive back into my vaio, hey presto im riddled!!!!!!!
to cut a long story short, i cannot use windows update and their are many important updates i need.
i installed mcafee which did a full scan and didnt return any problems ?????
however i still cannot install updates and therefore the security of the computer in my opinion is compromised.
Now this is where i need the help, i decided to do a factory restore on the laptop and start again as there isnt anything really on the vaio i was worried about losing. I dont have the back up discs or windows disc that came with the laptop from new so i went through the system restore menu on the computer only for the computer to tell me there is no system restore file available or it is corrupt???
i then tried the f8 option on boot up and selected the repair my computer option again only to be told that the repair option isnt available?????
Apparently there is an f10 option available also, to restore from a partition???? this i havent tried yet as the laptop is in work and i havent access to it until monday.
does anyone have any other options they know of or a link to downloading another startup/factory reset/ wipemyharddrive disc etc that i could use as it seems the problems on the laptop are blocking my attempts to reset.
has anyone else encountered this? how did you solve it?
many thanks for reading this long post
regards
jamie
Hi Jamie,
Under the circumstances I think the F10 option (tap F10 at boot to enter the recovery utility) is your best option unless you want to try other virus detection options.
I have used Dr. Web CureIt in the past with good results.
http://www.freedrweb.com/cureit/?lng=en
The F10 option will return your machine to factory settings so you will lose all personal data and third party software. You will also need to download plenty of Microsoft and Sony updates.
Rich
thanks Rich, i will definately try the f10 option on monday morning as im not bothered about losing all data and 3rd party software. however i'm just thinking that it'll be blocked again like the f8 option was???
whats dr.web then is it just an advice forum or does it have downloads etc?
thanks again
jamie
Hi Jamie,
As long as the recovery partition is intact you should have no problems. As it is a separate and hidden partition on the hard drive there is little chance of a virus infecting it.
Dr. Web is a download that requires no installation to run. Running the application will scan the hard drive and hopefully remove infections. It does take time time to run...
Rich
Right excellent, thanks again Rich
Good luck Jamie and let us know how you get on.
Rich