Hi,
I need help in trying the above feat. Running Vista and got savaged by viruses that hijacked explorer, wmp, word.......etc
I was told that i can set up a new system operator id that will basically put me back on track without having to wipe the whole system.
Thanks for any help!

I'm sorry but could you describe more about the situation? I don't understand what you're trying to say.

Are you asking for a serial number?

Your best option is probably to backup any data you have onto external hard drives or other storage devices, then format your OS partition (the drive or partition your operating system is installed on). After that you will want to do a clean install of your OS.

And, don't forget to sanitize your data, etc. before you load them back onto your squeaky-clean new install.

Yes, like John said, you want to make sure non of the data you backup and put back with the new install has any malware attached.

Ok then, what should I scan for/with in order to ensure that I'm squeaky?
And how exactly do I do it. I could transfer all data to my mp3 player but would it be a simple as drag and drop C drive. (Sorry if i'm making some of ye out there cring with my lack of tec know-how).

gary grennan said:
Let's assume you've backed-up your data to some medium (whether an HDD, optical disk, or mp3 player with flash memory, etc)

First, you either have to find a computer with robust Anti-Malware software already installed, or you have to install the robust AM software on your squeaky-clean computer. Which AM software you use depends on your preferences, your budget, and how much work you want to put into researching how to handle malware (some AM software requires that a user have higher technical proficiency than others). You may also have to run several different programs instead of a single all-inclusive AM program. For example, you may want to run an Anti-Virus program, a trojan eliminator, a rootkit detector, etc. You can usually find fairly decent freeware versions of each separate type of AM program, and some freeware programs are even considered superior to certain commercial AM software.

Then, you attach/insert your medium to the computer that has the robust AM software installed, and tell the software to "scan" the medium for malware (viruses, trojans, adware, etc) The details of exactly how you tell the program to scan your back-up medium varies from AM program to program. The scan may occur at boot-up or after Windows has started...depending on the AM software used.

If the scan comes back clean, then you can restore your data to your squeaky-clean computer. If it did not come back clean, then you have to follow the AM software instructions to render the data "safe". Once the remaining data are found to be "clean" you can restore them to your squeaky-clean computer.


edit-add comment about possibly running separate AM programs

after backing up the data, use Killdisk to zerofill the HD.