I have a Dell Latitude D510 Laptop which I've had for over a year now. It recently contracted a virus that the anti-spyware and adware programs I'm using (Doctor, Macafee, Symantec, and various shareware) can't seem to eradicate, so I'm reformatting my hard drive. I know it’s a virus because my computer has been excruciating slow lately (even when I close all extraneous programs), and I haven’t installed any new software.
I've had some conflicting advice as to whether I should use the drivers that came with the computer, or get them off Dell’s website before I reformat and load them off a CD or another computer. Which should do?
2006-11-21 16:20:17 · 4 answers · asked by Andy D 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
Ment to say "anti-spyware and virus", not "anti-spyware and adware". My bad.
2006-11-21 16:46:55 · update #1
Start with the ones on your restore CD.
MAKE SURE that you do a FULL format first.
Once you restore, IMMEDIATELY go to the Microsoft Update site (NOT DELL) and fully update your OS (INCLUDING IE7). When you are done with the critical updates, look for the hardware updates that are ms certified. THEN, you can go to dell if you think that whatever they are offering is worth it. Personally I wait till the ms certification is done.
If it aint broke, dont fix it!
Now that you learned your lesson, you also need an antivirus program. Antispy and anti-ad dont look/work for viruses. I prefer avast (free for home use) through the link below. Dont use Norton or Mcaffee as they try to take over your computer with LOTS of sloppy and unneeded programs running in the background that will totally slow you down. If this gets pre-installed again, go through the remove process before you install avast. You can ONLY have 1 AV running, while you can have multiple AS and AA programs running.
2006-11-21 16:32:25 · answer #1 · answered by orlandobillybob 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Considering it's a laptop and everything is usually proprietary, just reformat and reinstall XP. Afterwards, go to Dell.com and download the drivers meant for it.
2006-11-21 16:24:28 · answer #2 · answered by Evan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with Evan. As an additional point: you need "antivirus" AND anti-spyware. A good, free antivirus is http://www.free-av.com/
2006-11-21 16:27:26 · answer #3 · answered by bogus_dude 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The slowness might not be a virus. It could be a hardware problem or overheating.
2006-11-21 16:30:45 · answer #4 · answered by Simon E 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋