Help... how to format drive C: ?

13-05-2004, 16:42

Hey... I really need to format my PC - it is ridden with viruses and shareware. But I can't do it on XP. I have tried:

Going on my computer, right clicking drive C and click 'format'. It can't, it says that the drive is in use. I've tried it again whilst killing all non-critical processes, and it refuses again.

I have tried it through the command prompt, but it also says that the drive is in use, even when I've stopped all non-critical task processes. I have also tried it in safe mode to get as few processes working as possible but it still doesn't work.

(Formatting is the only option - I've tried tons of virus scans and spyware scans but it hasn't targetted the one which keeps randomly shutting my IE window, randomly diverting it to commericial sites and making my computer really slow.)

Advice would be appreciated.

Defiant · 13-05-2004, 16:44

You can't format c while you have your operating system on. You need to boot the computer up with the windows cd inside. From there you get the option to format the c drive and reinstall xp

**Chris** · 13-05-2004, 16:44

I believe you need to boot the PC from a different disk. However being a Mac user I will let others more knowledgeable tell you exactly what is involved.

edit

aha, beaten to it by defiant

13-05-2004, 16:47

lol... thanks guys

iadom · 13-05-2004, 16:49

When you say it is "ridden with virus/spyware" do you mean it is full (riddled) with these or that you have got rid of most of the virus infections.
Have you tried to run HiJackthis. It will give a read out that the mega tech brains on here can read and maybe point you in the right direction before you resort to reformatting.

http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

Stuart W · 13-05-2004, 16:49

WARNING!

If you are going to format your C: drive, do you have all the drivers for your hardware?
Do you have somewhere to backup your documents?
Do you have the install disks for all you applications?

Gareth · 13-05-2004, 17:59

Formatting is a bit drastic, before doing that, why not try HiJack this, iadom suggests, or try running Webroot's online Spy Sweeper (this found some weird malware that both Ad Aware and Spybot S&D failed to find) - you can run it online at http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php (the 'try it for free' option at the top right of the page).

There are also some good forums on the web that help identify spyware and cleanse infected machines.

Personally, I'd go for that option first of all.

andygrif · 13-05-2004, 18:02

Good advice - format the drive only as a last resort.

Saying that if you use the XP cd-rom, booting from it will take you to the setup console - from where you can format the C drive. Takes a while, but that's how it works.

MovedGoalPosts · 13-05-2004, 18:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart W

WARNING!

If you are going to format your C: drive, do you have all the drivers for your hardware?
Do you have somewhere to backup your documents?
Do you have the install disks for all you applications?

Excellent point. If you are asking this question about how to format the HD, it suggests you haven't tried this before. If you are not sure how to do it, go carefully, and be absolutely certain this is the right way.

You can check what hardware drivers you might need by looking in the contol panel > system > Hardware & Device Manager. That will list everything youv'e got. Some of the hardware will have standard windows drivers, it's the odd unusual bit that will catch you out. Download the drivers now, especially anything needed to get you back on line like NIC cards, cos once you start the format, and can't get back on line to get further help, you really are in trouble

Check if your PC will reboot from the CD - many manufacturer's dont have that setting by default in the BIOS. You may need to change that to get it to work.

I do hope you have the proper Windows XP disks, not just a manufacturer's version. I hope your on broadband too, cos your going to do a lot of downloading of patches and updates once you start.

I would suggest the first thing you do once you reconnect to the internet is to get your A/V and firewall software up to date. Ideally you will have loaded them before you reconnect, but they must immediately be patched. It doesn't take long to get infected

Be prepared to set aside a day for this. Depends on how much you have running, on your PC how long it will take to get back to normal.

paulyoung666 · 13-05-2004, 18:04

you could always go for fdisk from a floppy

, that will flatten the hard drive and then format , but like has been said previously , try and repair it first

andygrif · 13-05-2004, 18:10

FDisk only works on FAT drives by the way.

paulyoung666 · 13-05-2004, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by andygrif

FDisk only works on FAT drives by the way.

does it , how come i have used it to flatten an ntfs partition

Defiant · 13-05-2004, 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by andygrif

FDisk only works on FAT drives by the way.

You can still use it to unpartition the ntfs drive and then covert it to fat32 and then format. Its a long way around but I've had to do that in the past when I had problems with the windows xp format feature hanging

13-05-2004, 19:30

I'd also suggest visiting http://www.symantec.com and selecting the "Symantec Security Check" (bottom left corner) option.

This will perform an online scan of your computer checking for security vulnerabilities and viruses and may well solve your problems without the drastic step of reformatting C: