replacing XP after wiping hard drive

[encomium]

My sons' comp is infected with a virus that seems to be imposible to remove,
the startups,etc...have been disabled,blah,blah. His comp has the Key code
showing registration, is there any way to get XP to reinstall ? He didn't do
the initial back-up disk, hence the current problem.

[D.Currie]

"encomium" > wrote in message
...
> My sons' comp is infected with a virus that seems to be imposible to
> remove,
> the startups,etc...have been disabled,blah,blah. His comp has the Key code
> showing registration, is there any way to get XP to reinstall ? He didn't
> do
> the initial back-up disk, hence the current problem.

Are you saying that you don't have a CD to install from? If that's it,
you'll need to contact the computer manufacturer to find out how to
reinstall.

[wayne]

Buy a decent AV package Norton or MacAfee they both come with boot disks
Download the latest definitions per the instructions and clean the computer.
Very few viruses are impossible to remove they just take a decent package
and some time. You may want to take the computer to a local shop or a
friends house!

Ask your local computer geek at work for help!

Wayne

"encomium" > wrote in message
...
> My sons' comp is infected with a virus that seems to be impossible to
> remove,
> the startups,etc...have been disabled,blah,blah. His comp has the Key code
> showing registration, is there any way to get XP to reinstall ? He didn't
> do
> the initial back-up disk, hence the current problem.

[Rich]

I would first try to remove the virus.
First all all. Disable System Restore. (right click My Computer, Properties,
System Restore tab, "Turn off System Restore on all drives") Boot into Safe
Mode. (F8 key when machine comes off boot screen and tries to boot, arrow
around to select plan Safe Mode). In Safe Mode run a complete virus scan.
If it finds the virus, but can't do anything with it, on another computer
look on Symantec's virus removal page
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html for the virus
removal tool for that virus. Copy it to a CD or floppy and run it on the
infected computer. Only after the virus is removed should you reenble System
Restore. System Restore can actually protect an 'infected file'.