How do you uninstall EVERYTHING?

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12-23-2003, 05:16 PM
Samwich

How do you uninstall EVERYTHING?

My computer is totally, completely, and absolutely fucked.

Essentially, I have very little on it that is actually important. What I do have that is important is backed up on floppy. I want to scratch EVERYTHING and start over.

How do I uninstall Windows Me, along with all of its applications and everything I have downloaded, and all files etc on my computer?

I did a google search, and it told me to go to add/remove programs and just remove Windows. However, I guess I didn't click the uninstall option when i was setting it up, because there was no option to uninstall windows. Is there a way to do it from C:?

Also, once I have done it, is it easy to reinstall Windows? I have the disks that came with it.

And (last question, i promise), once i have reinstalled windows, can anyone recommend a good free firewall download?

Thanks.
12-23-2003, 05:21 PM
Viva

Bring up a comand line and type: format C:

That ought to get rid of that pesky Windows for ya.
12-23-2003, 05:22 PM
Owens Never Sleeps

First -get yourself a copy of something besides ME. ME is a complete hunk of shit. Get yourself a copy of 2000 or XP. They are both stable.

Second - boot from the CD of your new operating system. It will give you the option of re-formating your drive when you do it. -- Reformat the drive, install the Operating system, do your system updates (service packs) and you are good to go...
12-23-2003, 05:35 PM
Clack

And so Sandwich reached the milestone in a young man's life when too many porn sites have rendered his computer useless.
12-23-2003, 05:38 PM
Samwich

Quote:

Originally posted by monster dump.
And so Sandwich reached the milestone in a young man's life when too many porn sites have rendered his computer useless.

heh... actually, it was Kazaa that fucked me up.

Yeah, it was porn downloads from Kazaa, but it wasn't porn sites. :D
12-23-2003, 05:41 PM
Clack

I thought we already told you, kazaa lite k++ and a good shot of some antispyware and antivirus. Download porn like you know what you're doing.
12-23-2003, 05:44 PM
Samwich

Quote:

Originally posted by monster dump.
I thought we already told you, kazaa lite k++ and a good shot of some antispyware and antivirus. Download porn like you know what you're doing.

i switched to that shit, but it was too late. My computer has over 350 spyware programs, but it's so fucked that it won't let me delete any of them, no matter which spyware eradication program i use. I guess I am just going to start over right now... I might be gone for a while (especially if i fuck up). In fact, you might never see me again under this sn, because i don't know my password. I just have it saved on the computer.
12-23-2003, 06:11 PM
Snow Dog

The first step is to get something other than Windows ME. It was short lived and poorly executed. If your computer is strong enough then XP would be the way to go. Otherwise Windows 98 SE is a good choice.

In any case if you boot from the installation CD then there should be the option to format the drive and install Windows. That will give you a fresh and clean start. It will take an hour or two to install. Drink beer while waiting.
12-23-2003, 06:22 PM
dubu

Have fun... Just a thought if you are installing xp try to download all the security patches before you format your hd, (burn the paches to a cd).. then disconect your computer form the net, reinstall xp, install patches, reconect your computer to the net...

This may sound like a pita but it will save you a lot of hassle..

I receantly tried re-instaling xp and before I could download the security patches from MS my computer was already infected with: blaster worm, then 30 sec later, the virus that gets rid of blaster but slows down your connection while its looking for new hosts to infect.... It was nuts..
12-23-2003, 06:22 PM
irul&ublo

Quote:

Originally posted by Samwich
In fact, you might never see me again under this sn, because i don't know my password. I just have it saved on the computer.

Go to "user cp" and click on "edit password". Click "forgot your password", and it will be e-mailed to you.
12-23-2003, 06:56 PM
bigtwig00

if u go to dos. u can type in somthing im not sure what it is but i bet someone on here does but it will delete ur whole hard drive i dont know if u want to go that far but that would take all your spywear shit off
12-23-2003, 07:45 PM
Crinkle

yo before you go to all that trouble, try Spybot search and destroy. Its free and i am sure you can find it at download.com. It is great at unistalling spyware that is embedded itself in your computer.
12-23-2003, 08:44 PM
dipstik

Quote:

Originally posted by Samwich
i...because i don't know my password. I just have it saved on the computer.

im sure owens could help you out on that :confused:
12-23-2003, 09:16 PM
Stormin

Try zonealarm for a firewall. It's free and has worked well for me.
12-23-2003, 09:22 PM
JR

After you reinstall, (anything except ME) run spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download and ad-aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ regularly and don't forget the AV software.
12-23-2003, 09:29 PM
The General

Friggin Kazaa f'ed up my computer as well............. at least after I downloaded it is when I started noticing problems so it must be kazaa. Is this a problem for a lot of other people? If so, will someone who knows more about computers than I do care to shed some light on what may be going on.
12-23-2003, 09:42 PM
Snow Dog

Quote:

Originally posted by The General
Friggin Kazaa f'ed up my computer as well............. at least after I downloaded it is when I started noticing problems so it must be kazaa. Is this a problem for a lot of other people? If so, will someone who knows more about computers than I do care to shed some light on what may be going on.

Kazaa isn't the most stable software. I only run it when while I'm downloading. It plays a little game -- clicking on "close" doesn't really end the program, just the viewer. To actually stop the Kazaa server you have to click the tool tray icon (by the clock) and exit the program. By default it always loads when you computer starts but you can disable that somewhere.

I can crash Kazaa by using the file manager to delete and rename files while Kazaa is running.

Kazaa also downloads fresh ads to annoy you and some of these do things like run IE. There may be side effects.

I use Kazaa Lite which is a hacked version without the ads.

Once a bunch of spyware programs get into your computer then it's game over and time to wipe and install Windows. Thing of it as renovating your computer.
12-24-2003, 02:45 AM
DINMS

You learn how to use a computer.
12-24-2003, 03:57 AM
Samwich

I tried rebooting from the disk, but it never gave me the option to format. :confused:

It asked me if i wanted to save windows as i had it before, and i clicked no, but then i got through the startup, and my computer is exactly the same. I got hella popups as soon as i started the computer (I don't have to have IE open to get popups. They just... pop up.)

Anyway, i just got back from my gf's house, and I'm really, really tired ;) so I'm going to bed.
12-24-2003, 04:33 AM
Idris

Try booting from a floppy drive with something like say DOS 5 installed on the floppy and do an unconditional format...this will clean your hard drive regardless of operating system.
12-24-2003, 07:36 AM
dipstik

Quote:

Originally posted by The General
Is this a problem for a lot of other people?

yeah...I lost an entire computer to Kazaa, I just got so many viruses and spyware that it just stopped working. One of our good family friends is a computer engineer type dude and he spent a good 4 hours one day trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with my computer. He eventually figured that there was a worm virus and it had infected all my files, and there was nothing I could do, NOTHING!!!

I threw my computer down the stairs afterwards....I actually made a movie out of it. :rolleyes: :D
12-24-2003, 11:51 AM
Snow Dog

Quote:

Originally posted by Samwich
I tried rebooting from the disk, but it never gave me the option to format. :confused:

It asked me if i wanted to save windows as i had it before, and i clicked no, but then i got through the startup, and my computer is exactly the same. I got hella popups as soon as i started the computer (I don't have to have IE open to get popups. They just... pop up.)

Anyway, i just got back from my gf's house, and I'm really, really tired ;) so I'm going to bed.

Well, that blows.

There are a couple of ways to try and get rid of Windows. Open a DOS window and type "format c:". Say "hasta la vista, baby." The computer may plead with you -- "Do you really want to kill me?". Answer "Y" for yes. Press <enter> for good measure.

If that didn't blow Windows away then you have to make a floppy boot disk. Stick a blank floppy in the drive and go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs icon, and Startup Disk tab. Will make a Windows Startup diskette for you. Boot with the diskette. Type "format c:". Say "hasta la vista, baby." The computer may plead with you -- "Do you really want to kill me?". Answer "Y" for yes. Press <enter> for good measure.

Remove the diskette, insert the Windows CD and reboot to install.
12-24-2003, 11:55 AM
Samwich

First of all, here's a question that will reveal to you how truly little I know about computers: how do you open the DOS window? :o

And second: once I do that, and erase it all... is it easy to get windows back? Just pop the disk labeled 'operating system' into the cd drive, and follow instructions?

I hate fucking with my computer when I might break it at any moment, but I hate paying other people to fuck with it too... so i'm doing it this way. :)

Thanks guys...
12-24-2003, 04:15 PM
bigtwig00

sam ----- opening ms - dos prompt differs on versions of windows u have but u can probley jsut go to start - programs - then go to ms -dos- prompt ............. simple as that
12-24-2003, 04:29 PM
Snow Dog

Quote:

Originally posted by Samwich
First of all, here's a question that will reveal to you how truly little I know about computers: how do you open the DOS window? :o

And second: once I do that, and erase it all... is it easy to get windows back? Just pop the disk labeled 'operating system' into the cd drive, and follow instructions?

I hate fucking with my computer when I might break it at any moment, but I hate paying other people to fuck with it too... so i'm doing it this way. :)

Thanks guys...

Click Start, then Programs, and somewhere near the bottom: MS-DOS Prompt

Or (maybe) Click Start, the Shutdown, see if there's a "Restart in MS-DOS Mode" option and select that.

Or (maybe) Click Start, then Shutdown, and select Restart. When the Windows screen appears hold donw the control key or the F8 key and a startup menu should appear. One option should be "MS-DOS Mode". Pick that.

At this point there's nothing you can do to break the computer so enjoy yourself.
12-24-2003, 11:52 PM
CascadeSkiBum

To get into dos, hit Start then Run. If you have ME type "command" in the box and hit enter. If that doesn't work, type "cmd" in the box and hit enter. After that type: format C: <enter>. You'll be asked to hit 'Y' to procede. Hang on to your socks at this point, nothing is coming back. If I were you I'd test the windows CD to make sure it boots and actually does load properly before you 86 the drive.
12-25-2003, 12:55 PM
fiddler

Something you might try before wiping your harddrive is to install Ad-aware from Lavasoft to keep control of spyware and AVG for virus protection. Both are free downloads and work. I recently found a ton of new crap programs installed on my computer, Ad-aware found a couple hundred files, registry keys and folders that had been put in my computer without me knowing about it. Ad-aware got rid of it all. I then ran my AVG virus scan and found something called Downloader.StubbyA and Sec.Thought.A. Both were removed by AVG. My hard drive had died and I had to get a new one. Before I could get all the protection loaded this crap snuck in there.
I also got an ethernet broadband router which has a firewall built in that I've been told is much better than the software variety. If you have cable internet access that might be the way to go.
I run Ad-aware almost daily and there is always something there to delete, mostly "data miner" cookies.
good luck!
12-25-2003, 01:22 PM
Snow Dog

Quote:

Originally posted by fiddler
Something you might try before wiping your harddrive is to install Ad-aware from Lavasoft to keep control of spyware and AVG for virus protection. Both are free downloads and work. I recently found a ton of new crap programs installed on my computer, Ad-aware found a couple hundred files, registry keys and folders that had been put in my computer without me knowing about it. Ad-aware got rid of it all. I then ran my AVG virus scan and found something called Downloader.StubbyA and Sec.Thought.A. Both were removed by AVG. My hard drive had died and I had to get a new one. Before I could get all the protection loaded this crap snuck in there.
I also got an ethernet broadband router which has a firewall built in that I've been told is much better than the software variety. If you have cable internet access that might be the way to go.
I run Ad-aware almost daily and there is always something there to delete, mostly "data miner" cookies.
good luck!

I would disagree about the hardware firewall. It great for protecting your computer from inbound attacks but it does nothing for outbound traffic. I Use Zone Alarm Pro on my Windows 98 system and I can control which programs are allowed access to the Internet. It keeps those spy programs from reporting to the mothership. A hardware router can't do that.

So I use Zone Alarm, Mozilla, and NO anti-virus software. My computer runs just fine . Using Mozilla (or Opera -- another browser) for e-mail and Web surfing renders 99.9% of viruses impotent. The firewall blocks inbound attacks and catches outbound sneaky software. Even IE is blocked since I don't use it.

It's the way to go.
12-25-2003, 01:49 PM
fiddler

Snowdog, very interesting about the firewalls. Zone Alarm was the name I was trying to think of, I had the free version on my old dead drive. Think I'll add it to the new one as well. I just checked out Spybot and it found lots of questionalble stuff, including some programs my son downloaded than turn out to be spyware.
I've also been using Opera for the last week or so and I like it. I still have IE 6 though. How easy is Mozilla to use? I guess I shied away from it because of what looked like AOL connections. I have the free version of Opera which has an add banner as part of the toolbar but it hasn't been particularly obnoxious. I picked a skin that takes up as little space as possible. Also you can use a full screen function that doesn't show the toolbar including the ad banner.
Do you have an opinion onSpybot?
Plan on a Baker trip this weekend?
12-25-2003, 02:27 PM
Snow Dog

I like Mozilla because it supports tabbed windows (one main window with a tab for each open Web site), popup blocking, and image blocking. It's a lot more configurable than IE. The bookmarks are better too. The mail client has pretty good junk mail filtering. When you turn it on it creates a Junk folder and as you mark e-mail as junk they're moved to the Junk folder. Once it learns what junk looks like it will do it automatically (but when you first turn it on it marks everything as junk). AOL bought Netscape and Mozilla is based on the Netscape computer code but I've never used the AOL links and I think I've deleted them anyway. Or maybe newer versions don't have them.

I bought Opera long ago and liked it. They had free upgrades for a few years but to get the latest I have to pay again so I switched to Mozilla. The Opera mail client only did plain text so you couldn't include pictures and fancy text (you could still attach stuff). The Mozilla mail client lets you create formatted e-mail with pictures and stuff.

I've never used SpyBot.

These days my day-to-day computer runs Linux so I only fire up the Windows system when I want to watch someone huck in Quicktime or I'm running Kazaa.

No plans for Baker this weekend. It must be spring skiing up there given the temperature.
12-25-2003, 02:34 PM
fiddler

Light to moderate snow north and moderate to heavy snow south
Saturday and into Sunday morning heaviest near and west of the
crest at low snow levels. Light snow showers decreasing and
ending later Sunday at continued low snow levels. Decreasing
clouds initially north becoming sunny but continued cool on
Monday.

SNOW LEVELS
5-1500 ft N 15-2500 ft S Sat through Mon
Think again, this report looks like winter and powder to me:D
12-25-2003, 11:17 PM
Dr. Crash

Dude,

Buy Win XP (w/ SP1 or whatever the latest). And then pop it in your CD drive and boot off it, and do a clean install (not an upgrade). Then reinstall what you need. Easy. Do NOT upgrade. Install fresh.

drC
12-26-2003, 03:14 AM
G

mozilla has been awesome.

I have it set up so when I click on middle mouse button, it opens up a tab for the whatever link I'm over. that makes it so I can load all of the new topics here in one window, and get them all loaded at once, in a few seconds, instead of having to sift through them all one at a time.
12-26-2003, 03:49 AM
ak_powder_monkey

Have you tried:

•a baseball bat?
•dropping from a high story?
•downloading more porn?
•buying a mac?
12-26-2003, 03:51 AM
ak_powder_monkey

notice the •bullets• on that last post, the most underused character on this board
12-26-2003, 11:22 AM
Samwich

Wish me luck... I'm about to format the drive. And the best part? If i fuck up, there is a computer technician coming at 10:00 to work on my dad's laptop. :D
12-26-2003, 11:36 AM
Samwich

my computer is so fucked that it won't even let me format. It says that C: is in use by another process, and then aborts format. :(

Suggestions? The computer tech is coming, but I don't want to keep him here any longer than he has to be (I presume he gets paid by the hour).

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