Need help wiping out and reformatting windows on computer?

Question

My nephew surfed where he shouldn't have and got a Luiz08 virus on the computer. We've tried everything to get rid of it - it was a second hand computer and we don't have the original discs - but it was WindowsME. I have a windows 98 set, and an XP set - I need to know how to wipe out the current operating system and load the new - don't care about saving anything from the original system - computer has been replaced and we would like to give this computer to another family member.

Answer 1

put in the cd....restart computer...boot from cd (may have to go into bios and ask that the cd drive boot first....you can do this by looking at your boot screen, it will tell you what button to press to get in...it most of the time is del or f2) then just simply follow the on-screen instructions for deleting the partition and installing a new installation of windows.

Answer 2

If you have that XP cd installed on another system you won't be able to use it on this system as they are product activated. So you may be down to just using the Windows 98 cd's but if you have that installed on another system that's illegal as well. If you are planning on using the Windows 98 system, what I usually do when reformatting a system like that is create a Windows 98 Startup disk

Click Start

Point to Settings and click Control Panel

Click Add/Remove Programs


Click the Startup Disk tab

Click the Create Disk button

When finished, click OK to exit the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box

Note: Whether or not you insert a disk before you start this procedure, you will receive an Insert Disk prompt. Insert a disk if you have not done so already and click OK to continue.

Some extra files that I like to throw on that floppy are xcopy and format.com, just do a search for xcopy if I remember correctly there are 3 files you need to copy and 1 for format.com, toss them on that floppy, boot to the floppy fdisk the partition, format, then put the windows 98 cd in the drive and boot to the floppy and xcopy the setup setup files over If I remember correctly they are in the win98 directory on the cd. after the files are copied just run setup.exe. This runs alot faster and if you add/remove windows components you don't get prompted for the cd. Make sure you have the drivers for the video,network,modem, sound etc as they probably won't be detected

If you still want to use the xp system just boot to the cd and follow the prompts. Just remember it's product activated and you'll need to activate it sooner or later..

Answer 3

Before fully starting up the computer, hold down on the F8 key. This will take you to the extra-safe start-up window for WindowsME. The screen you'll get will ask you some very specific things. Now, each Windows O.S. has a different type of safe-start sequence, so you'll have to read ALL of the options very carefully. Once you've found the right one(trial and error I'm afraid), you should be able to get the computer to do a H.D. re-format. Then just follow the installation instructions for the WindowsXP that you have and you'll be fine.

Answer 4

Put in the XP disk, and then restart the computer. When a message pops up at you saying to boot from CD, press any button. Go through all of the steps including deleting the existing partition and installing a fresh copy. It is a fairly simple wizard and you should be able to go through it with no problems. This can cause a problem with the drivers though, so you need to have your drivers disk handy after the install. It is VERY important that after you install the fresh copy of XP that you update it through windows update (can be found on the web) and restart your computer several times until there are no more needed patches/hotfixes.

Answer 5

Hi,
This is simple just put the XP disk into the C.D drive of the P.C then switch the P.C Off (leaving the disk in the drive) then switch the P.C back On, the P.C should now boot from the Windows disk (if your BIOS is set correctly) then select reformat from the options menu and after formating reinstall Windows.

Answer 6

I haven't touched the 9x installers in a while but for XP, you can delete the existing disk partitions during the install process. Once the partition is deleted and you create a new partition, you will have an option to format the file system.

Answer 7

just put the windows xp setup cd restart the computer and wait till the screen says "Press any key to boot form cd..." then of course you immediately do so as it says so. Then when setup begins delete all partitions and create new one i think the website on the bottom below will help you

http://computersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/install-computers.html

Answer 8

Just get UBUNTU or XUBUNTU.They are free, reliable and up to date operating systems.

When installing, you will be prompted to set the partitions - just select take over the whole disk. It will install the necessary drivers and basic office and photo editing programs.

Answer 9

I don't know exactly how to do this on Windows ME.. but I'm sure if you search Google, you'll find what you need.