windows 98 help?

Question

im trying to reinstall windows 98 on my computer but there is a virus blocking the setup. is there anyway i can completely wash out my system and redo it all? i know 98 isnt very reliable but i need to reinstall it. if theres anyway to do it please help!!!!!

Answer 1

Formatting the drive aught to do it. If there's a logical partition in the drive, you might need to re-partition the drive (some virii hide in the partition).

Note: partition comes first, then format.

You should see the format drive option during installation when running the Win98 CD for Setup.

Warning: formatting kills all data on the drive! Of course, i sense this isn't a concern for you at this point.

Answer 2

Boot the computer in SAFE MODE then clean off the virus and reformat the drive, assuming you have a self-booting Win 98 CD.

Start the computer and when the BIOS first comes up start pressing the F8 key (I think it might have been F5 on Win 98, try both), don't hold it down, just keep pressing it. A black screen comes up asking which mode you want to use; select Safe Mode. When the computer comes up, it will have a 32-bit screen and look weird, the computer is running in its most simple form. Find and run your ant virus software, then run your antispyware.

Once you have the virus cleared off then backup all your data on CD, DVD or another hard drive. Then double click the My Computer icon, select the C: drive and right click to get the drop down menu, and then pick Format. Remember that Format will clear EVERYTHING off the hard drive. If your data is backed up already, I would still run the anti virus program to make sure that when you Format the drive it won’t rewrite itself in the Boot Sectors on the hard drive. Because some viruses can do this it is critical that you clean off that virus before you Format the drive, or before you try to install Win 98.

Format FIRST then repartiton. If you have multiple partitions then you won't know if the virus is on both partitions or not.

If that doesn't work then you will need the help of a pro; try Best Buy, Microcenter, Frys, Comp USA, or a dealer you trust.