Q. While reading a news website from Europe, a nasty virus was picked up and a fake "Windows Recovery" message was displayed. All my files and programs were wiped out. I have the recovery discs. How do I delete everything in the computer? Do I just put the recovery discs in and turn on the computer?
A. Like Trish said, you should be able to reformat your computer's hard drive by simply inserting the first recovery disk, choosing to reformat, and then following the on-screen instructions.
Below is a link to an article from the eHow website on how to reformat your computer's hard drive, which has some useful information.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html
However, when you reformat your computer's hard drive, you're going to lose all of your files and data, so I'd suggest that you back up anything you'd like to keep beforehand. You could put any files you'd like to keep on a flash drive, external hard drive, a blank CD, or even the Internet.
Before you do, though, you may want to scan all of the files for viruses, just to be sure that you aren't saving infected files. Also, when you are ready to put them onto your computer again, I'd suggest that you scan them again, just to be sure they are safe.
In order to prevent your computer from getting infected with a virus or other malicious file or program in the future, I'd suggest that you run frequent antivirus scans, as well as frequent antispyware or antimalware scans.
If you need a free antivirus program, I would recommend that you try using Microsoft Security Essentials, which can be downloaded from the link below.
http://Microsoft.com/Security_Essentials
If you need a free antimalware program, I would suggest that you try using MalwareBytes, which can be downloaded from the link below.
http://MalwareBytes.org
Just so you know, I wouldn't suggest that you have more than one antivirus program installed on your computer at the same time, as they could end up conflicting with each other.
However, it is alright to have both an antivirus program and an antispyware or antimalware program installed on your computer at the same time.
Also, perhaps you should try using Mozilla FireFox, which is a free browser that is safer than Internet Explorer and can also be customized with a variety of free add-ons and themes. If you'd like to try using Mozilla FireFox, you can download it from the link below.
http://Mozilla.com
If you are unable to download or run any programs or are unable to remove this virus, perhaps you should boot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking, which you can do by restarting your computer and then pressing F8 while it's booting up, and then try to run these scans again.
Good luck and I hope I helped you!
Below is a link to an article from the eHow website on how to reformat your computer's hard drive, which has some useful information.
http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html
However, when you reformat your computer's hard drive, you're going to lose all of your files and data, so I'd suggest that you back up anything you'd like to keep beforehand. You could put any files you'd like to keep on a flash drive, external hard drive, a blank CD, or even the Internet.
Before you do, though, you may want to scan all of the files for viruses, just to be sure that you aren't saving infected files. Also, when you are ready to put them onto your computer again, I'd suggest that you scan them again, just to be sure they are safe.
In order to prevent your computer from getting infected with a virus or other malicious file or program in the future, I'd suggest that you run frequent antivirus scans, as well as frequent antispyware or antimalware scans.
If you need a free antivirus program, I would recommend that you try using Microsoft Security Essentials, which can be downloaded from the link below.
http://Microsoft.com/Security_Essentials
If you need a free antimalware program, I would suggest that you try using MalwareBytes, which can be downloaded from the link below.
http://MalwareBytes.org
Just so you know, I wouldn't suggest that you have more than one antivirus program installed on your computer at the same time, as they could end up conflicting with each other.
However, it is alright to have both an antivirus program and an antispyware or antimalware program installed on your computer at the same time.
Also, perhaps you should try using Mozilla FireFox, which is a free browser that is safer than Internet Explorer and can also be customized with a variety of free add-ons and themes. If you'd like to try using Mozilla FireFox, you can download it from the link below.
http://Mozilla.com
If you are unable to download or run any programs or are unable to remove this virus, perhaps you should boot your computer into Safe Mode with Networking, which you can do by restarting your computer and then pressing F8 while it's booting up, and then try to run these scans again.
Good luck and I hope I helped you!
My friend deleted everything from a text file and then saved it. Can the original data be recovered?
Q. The ending file size is zero bytes. I thought maybe the file wouldn't move so that the data might still be on the drive. I used 'debug' to dump the drive contents at the file location but the data was gone. I've looked at data recovery software but it looks like it is all geared toward recovering deleted files. One more wrinkle, the computer is in NC and I am in MI so I don't have direct access to the machine. My friend is computer literate enough that I could walk her through running debug but I'm not sure how much more she will feel comfortable doing. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I guess I should have said "saved and closed" it.
I guess I should have said "saved and closed" it.
A. Unfortunately, no. Don't let people waste your time by telling you to try stupid methods in an attempt to recover something that can't be recovered. Sorry, couldn't give you better news. At least it will save you the time you could have wasted trying to recover it.
Can data deleted through router settings be recovered?
Q. I was setting up my network storage through the router settings in my firefox browser. I accidentally deleted a folder with allot of vital documents and need to recover them. I spoke with linksys through online chat and they told me that there is no way to recover it since it was deleted through the router settings. I also tried to use a hard drive recovery tool, but the files didn't show up. Anyone got ideas?
A. That's horrible to hear. I know the feeling, that's happened to me quite a few times. In all honesty, I don't think there's a way to recover that kind of data. It's most likely all gone. Sorry for the bad news. I would just get backup software to prevent that from happening again.
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