Trouble Formatting

Sounds like spyware or a home page hijacker.

Run these tools weekly
spybot -- http://www.safer-networking.org/
ad-aware -- http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

To format xp:

*Warning - you will lose all data*

Boot to the xp cd and follow the on-screen instructions. The cd is bootable
and has all the tools to format and install.

Or,

Boot to a win9x floppy boot disk, run Fdisk, delete partitions, create new
partitions, reboot to boot disk again, run format, (or reboot to xp cd,
format, install xp). Get boot disk here: www.bootdisk.com


Grrrr wrote:
> XP won't let me format, it says programs are still running, which
> would be the spyware i've been trying to get rid of. If u can help me
> format or get rid of that spyware plz drop me a line at
> XXXX@XXXXX.COM
> I've tried spysweeper to no avail, thanks.

You can't format the hard drive partition that is running
the operating system that booted the computer. If you have
multiple partitions you can format the partitions that did
not boot.
To format the hard drive and remove all the data in the boot
partition, you must boot the XP CD and do a clean install,
selecting to delete the existing partition.


"Grrrr" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in message
| XP won't let me format, it says programs are still
running, which would be the spyware i've been trying to get
rid of.
| If u can help me format or get rid of that spyware plz
drop me a line at XXXX@XXXXX.COM
| I've tried spysweeper to no avail, thanks.

>-----Original Message-----
>XP won't let me format, it says programs are still
running, which would be the spyware i've been trying to
get rid of.
>If u can help me format or get rid of that spyware plz
drop me a line at XXXX@XXXXX.COM
>I've tried spysweeper to no avail, thanks.
>.
>YOU WANT TO FORMAT YOUR HARD DRIVE?
I don't think you want to do that. You will erase
EVERYTHING.

In news: XXXX@XXXXX.COM ,
Grrrr < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > typed:

> XP won't let me format, it says programs are still running,
which
> would be the spyware i've been trying to get rid of.


No, it's XP itself. You can't format your drive from within
Windows. Just boot from the Windows XP CD and follow the prompts
for a clean installation. It will do the reformat for you.

You can find detailed instructions here:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

But reformatting and reinstalling is very much overkill to get
rid of spyware. There are several programs around (Adaware,
Spybot Search and Destroy, CWshredder, etc.) that can probably do
this for you.





Sorry, no. No E-mail support.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
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