XP re-install

[stoker]

Hello, I am new to the board and a novice with computers. I had a bad something on my system and after reading all the possible fixes, I dumped it. I am not sure I did all... though. I have a dell and when I was formatting my hard drive I only chose C drive. As I remember there were 4 partitions on my drive. Should I have erased all? Did the malware, virus, or troj migrate with the un formatted partitions? I have backed up everything and saved all the drivers to disk, in case I need a redo. Many questions to follow as I read to many posts and utterly confused.

Thanks
stoker

[Hoov]

If the other partitions were already formatted, then it is possible for the malware to either start there, or end up there. But when you formatted and reinstalled windows, whatever malware was on those other drives basically had their head chopped off. So as long as you run a malware scanner and a virus scanner on those other partitions, you should be fine. We have a list of freeware here, http://spywarehammer.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=2333.0 . I recommend using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and the Antivirus scanner of your choice.

[stoker]

How do  I look at what is on those drives? Do i need those partitions except for the one I make backups on? Is the FAT for only a floppy boot?
Why did I have to download .netframe to open the downloaded drivers from dell? SP2 disk?
I had to also do my laptop, on this drivers did not show a mouse icon. And that was an XP - pro 1?

thanks
stoker

[Hoov]

About looking on what is on the drive, you can use Windows Explorer to see the files if you want. Any scanner will be able to check them if you do a full scan with no exceptions.

Those other partitions? That depends on your computing habits. I use two, but I also have another harddrive that I do my backup to.

About the .net framework, think of it is a standardize library of code that your computer can use to run things.

I am not sure I understand about the Mouse icon.

[stoker]

I have 4 partitions on the drive. I only need c: for the os and D: for backup, should I delete the other 2? One said FAT 32 and the other I can't remember. This is a dell unit XP home.

[Hoov]

That depends. Some computers have a partition that holds the system reimage files. Can you go to the computer management Admin tool and go to the Disk Management section. Tell me what the title of each partition is, how big it is, and if it is FAT or NTFS. Once I have that info, I will be able to tell you better what can go and what has to stay.  If you can get a screen shot of just the disk management window, that would also help.

[stoker]

1                      Fat         healthy (EISA config )              39 Mb    31 mb
2                      Fat 32     healthy (unknown partition)     3.14 Gb  279mb
3 (c:)                 Ntfs       healthy (Boot)                   108.59 Gb 98.78
4 Backup (D:)      Ntfs       healthy (System)                37.24 Gb  37.12 Gb 

Sorry don't know screen shot. Checked it out but do not have paint in sys tools. This is still a bare bone install. I want to blow out the D: and start over with new backups, is this ok? I know dell does ghost orig. factory settings on one of those, but after a re-install and having drivers on a flash do I need that one?

Thanks for your help
Stoker

[Hoov]

Partition 1 you will not to be able to get rid of easily, I would leave it. It is there so that the Diagnostics & EISA Configuration can be run without using a boot Disk.

Partition 2 can be deleted, if you have all the installation disks that you need to reinstall XP and all the drivers. But make sure you really want to do this, it is basically there to reimage the harddrive in the case of a catastrophic incident. It is the OS, drivers and all other software that came preinstalled on your system. If you delete this partition, you will not be able to reimage your harddrive back to factory conditions.

Partition 3 and 4 can be deleted and reconfigured however you want.

[stoker]

Thanks for your help I deleted those partitions and decided to punt the re- install I did and start over once again. Now I have a step by step when I want to do it again. Nothing like a clean install!

[Hoov]

You are welcome.

[stoker]

This is going to sound stupid,.. but when I transferred drivers to a flash and used them to re-install on a new c: re install  is it possible that any shite came with it? Used mbam to check prior. I am going back and forth betwix 2 systems re install and going crazy!! Can't seem to get one right without the other. One is xp home and the other is pro.

[Hoov]

It is possible that something was installed with them. It is best to download them fresh from the internet, either from the computer manufacturers website, or from the hardware manufacturers website.

[stoker]

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 4:57:55 PM, on 6/18/2010
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
D:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
D:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
D:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\AvastSvc.exe
D:\Program Files\Analog Devices\Core\smax4pnp.exe
D:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast5\avastUI.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
D:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\mscorsvw.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
D:\WINDOWS\system32\wscntfy.exe
D:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://download.cnet.com/windows/
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMAXPnP] D:\Program Files\Analog Devices\Core\smax4pnp.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avast5] D:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast5\avastUI.exe /nogui
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [igfxtray] D:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [igfxhkcmd] D:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [igfxpers] D:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxpers.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - D:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - ALWIL Software - D:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\AvastSvc.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - ALWIL Software - D:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\AvastSvc.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - ALWIL Software - D:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\AvastSvc.exe

--
End of file - 1834 bytes

[stoker]

Still not sure what drivers I need only per system. Even though they are both Dell with valid service tags, it seems like a duck hunt to zero in on the one u need. (s)

[Hoov]

That log is clean, but hijackthis doesn't always show the problem. If you want to continue troubleshooting your system, we need to move this thread.

Did you have the Driver CD from Dell for the computer?