eeek! you are so def. gonna have to backup and reformat/reinstall. the data structures that underpin not only NAV/NIS but also your email client have been corrupted by too much cr*p data, thus causing the problemn you see at the end that error message. Your'e knackered, leonhart. Did you have trouble with loads of spoof emails heading your way?

nope, no spoof emails...

O god, you mean I will have to reinstall my PC again?? That will cause all data to be lost no? hehe, think you could explain how to do whole back up reinstall thing , my knowledge in computers is not that advanced

But you are learning...and that ain't all bad.

If it was my computer, I'd be delving into those links I provided with a fine toothed comb...if only to learn.

Your path of least resistance may be to reformat and reinstall everything. This time, be sure to install the right programs FIRST like anti-virus. Then move on from there.

I'll field this one;

-Copy all of your important data to a spare HDD, or burn it to a CD.
-Restart the computer and then access the BIOS by pressing "Del" or "F2", and select your floopy disk drive as the first boot device.
-Use a bootdisk (if you don't have one try here ) to load up a command line interface.
-Type "format c: /q" to remove all data from the hard drive. Restart the computer.

All you have to do now is reinstall the OS. If you have Windows XP, boot from the CD by selecting your CD Drive as the first boot device, and follow the prompts. If you have another version of Windows, use the bootdisk again, and then go to your CD Drive and type "setup". That's about it.

Make sure that you make a record of your internet settings (such as DNS settings, IP Addresses, etc) and other important information. Anything that you don't have a record of should be written down. PLAN before you do anything.

Edited by - esquilax on 2/17/2004 2:31:08 PM

delete the whole c drive?? Damn I am screwed . I got soo many things to copy to CDs. proly couple gigs of all the things. Ship models, some programs that I did not purchase (I think ya can guess what kind those are ), music, pictures of all sorts (couple hidden ones , couple like 500 MB of them )

But most important thing...persuading my parents to believe that this whole PC problem was NOT because of MP games I play...the way things are going I might not play MP again (its hard to explain when your parents don’t know anything about computers ) They think that Norton turned my NAV and NIS off, and they want me to call them and ask why

But I guess it has to be done, so I will do it

But I do have a question, if I do a total reinstall, will things that came when i bought PC be reinstalled from CD ( things like Outlook, and stuff that originally came with PC) ?

Outlook is a part of Windows, so you shouldn't have any problems there. Which programs are you referring to specifically? Give us a list, and we'll let you know what will be installed with Windows.

If your parents are not computer literate, you may be forced to ease their worry by paying to have a professional tech install Windows for you. They sound like the nervous type. Am I wrong?

Yup they are . As for tech...well to them thats me )for my family that is), so I should be able to make a good story like:

My friend told me that there is a possibility that hacker messed up my PC. And now to fix that I need to reinstall everything. Most important things will not be lost, and all filt and crap will be deleted...and best thing about this is that PC will be like brand new and fast as hell

Well most important program that I need is outlook. Rest of the things I did not even use, except games that came with it (pinball and solitare), but who cares about that when I got FL . O, microsoft word, notepad word pad are also important, but if oulook comes on the CD I am sure these will as well , right?

BTW
I just checked CDs that came with PC and there is system restore CD, I would use that as bootdisk, right? Also other CD is Operating System CD (windows Xp home) I will use that to reinstal, right?



Edited by - leonhart on 2/17/2004 3:43:12 PM

---

Outlook is a part of Windows

---

Gulp!!

Outlook is part of the Microsoft Office suite of programs. Outlook Express is part of Internet Explorer.

Part of Internet Explorer? But it will still be reinstalled right? (together with explorer and rest of stuff)

you should be able to back most of your important stuff up before you wipe it all. btw it is quite possible that Mp games brought this about, unless you're absolutely certain you were playing on secure servers; many public servers are riddled with hacked items, packet sniffers etc. Even a lot a commerical sites are wide open. it's that much of a danger, and if you play on public servers (which lets face could be in some crimbos house) and even though you're firewalled, you open up a port (sorry Esq, socket ) to play some game, your security has been for nothing. So your parents despite their realtive ignorance, may well in fact be right sorry chum. if i was in your position I'd be backing up furiously and get the thing reformatted (cmon its a days work, tops)

and dont connect to the internet until youve got the os back on and secured it with AV and firewall, like Esq just said (and I'm telling you again)..... that means take the cable out! I saw a machine get Blaster within 10 minutes of its first internet connection because the twonk whod left it hadnt put the AV on first, but just connected to the net with no precautions. That's my CEO, got broadband on Friday, got Blaster within minutes, didnt know what it was, rang me at home and i told him what it was(Windows/NTauthority has cancelled this RPC and will close as a saftey precaution, recognise that one boys? ) so I had to drive over to his house today and fix it for him, two fixes and patch, took minutes, got £100 and a bottle of whisky. Oddly enough he now wants me to format his laptop and reinstall all his stuff, and had a private conversation about his private stuff on their (pone and emails from his mistress(es))

Thank you, Dark Powers! at last Tawakalna has his fingers on the jugular of power. This one's gonna run and run, the potential for exquisite blackmail is vast; let's just wait.. for the opportune moment. of course, I'll be ghosting the entire hdd and giving the image a special place on my own very secure server.

I am ok to browse internet, even though NIS is not showing in lower right, and it dissapears, it is still running (when you check task manager), so fire wall is on...somehow, weird.

Well only MP game I do play is FL, and if server I play on is hacked...I am sure i would not be only one with problem, as i play on one of most popular servers (norwegian heaven)

I just checked XP disk, and it seems it will reinstal all things (outlook, explorer, msn, and couple other things), but there are no word processing programs (notepad, works, wordpad)...ahha, these are optional, so word procesing HAS to be installed (well thats something new i learned)

Edited by - leonhart on 2/17/2004 4:12:34 PM

Edited by - leonhart on 2/17/2004 4:15:15 PM

is this some oem recovery disk? don't you have separate copies of Office, stuff like that? if thats the case i can see why you dont want to reformat. Surely you must have the disks that orignially came with the machine?

If its an OEM, like mime, MS Works is included as well as a few others. Mine had 2 additional disks with those programs.

Finalday

Until that final day. /Keith Green\ (1953-1983)

Yeah I do, here is the list of all disks that came with it:

Norton Internet Security/Anti Virus
My Presario learning More
Roxio Easy CD Creator
Recovery CD
Compaq Operating System CD Microsoft Windows XP Home
o, and 2 empty disks

Thats it, those are ones that came with the computer

Just found this, if I go to Help and Support Center/Undo harmful or unintended changes to your system, there is an option there that will reinstal MS Works, I might be wrong, but doesnt this mean that MS is installed with XP (without other CD)?

Edited by - leonhart on 2/17/2004 4:20:11 PM

Edited by - leonhart on 2/17/2004 4:35:57 PM