Help from computer techies please

[FiguringItOut]

I managed to download some crap computer viruses on my fairly new laptop.  it's at a point that it is not loading windows after I put in windows password. 

I'm besides myself and mad at myself because this is completely my fault. 

anyway, is there anything I can do to fix it? I don't know anything about computers and don't know anybody that does. 

I've been recommended to get some sort of rescue stick from Best Buys for $50. I'm at a point where I would happily get it if I would know that it would work.

is there anything else you can recommend?  I don't trust the tech desk at best buy and I also know it would be very expensive.

[miked]

Get your documents/photos off and reload windows. You'll lose everything you don't grab beforehand, but you'll start from a clean slate.

You can reload using either recovery CD/DVDs, or you can download a .iso file of your windows version, create a bootable USB drive and go from there.

Good luck!

[forummm]

You can wipe the computer and start over. Manufacturers usually have a system restore disk or let you download one. I would start there. Just save any files to an external hard drive (or upload them to drop box or some other file store) first. Then make sure you scan the files for viruses before you put them back on your cleaned machine. And have antivirus software installed on your cleaned machine. If this sounds too much for you, you should get help.

[FiguringItOut]

You can wipe the computer and start over. Manufacturers usually have a system restore disk or let you download one. I would start there. Just save any files to an external hard drive (or upload them to drop box or some other file store) first. Then make sure you scan the files for viruses before you put them back on your cleaned machine. And have antivirus software installed on your cleaned machine. If this sounds too much for you, you should get help.

how can I get to my files if I can't get into windows?

[Daley]

how can I get to my files if I can't get into windows?

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

[deborah]

Once you have reset the machine and reloaded your files, make sure you check all of them with a virus checker before you use them.

[HipGnosis]

Sorry to hear that.
Lesson 1; this happens, to more people than will admit it
Lesson 1A; this is why you really (really) should do backups. Routinely
Lesson 2;  you need to have an admin. account but NOT use it as your daily account

Turn on the laptop   Press the F8 key over and over as it boots up.
When the boot menu shows, select 'Safe mode' 
Log in with the admin. account.    Acknowledge that you are in Safe mode.
Type "system restore" into the search box in the Start menu
Follow the prompts and select a restore date / point  (probably not the most recent)
Let it restore and reboot.

[FiguringItOut]

how can I get to my files if I can't get into windows?

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

Sorry to hear that.
Lesson 1; this happens, to more people than will admit it
Lesson 1A; this is why you really (really) should do backups. Routinely
Lesson 2;  you need to have an admin. account but NOT use it as your daily account

Turn on the laptop   Press the F8 key over and over as it boots up.
When the boot menu shows, select 'Safe mode' 
Log in with the admin. account.    Acknowledge that you are in Safe mode.
Type "system restore" into the search box in the Start menu
Follow the prompts and select a restore date / point  (probably not the most recent)
Let it restore and reboot.

Thank you!  I was finally able to get my laptop back.  Had to wait few days for my friend to create the downloadable usb stick from his computer so that I could restore mine.  I am so happy it all worked out, nothing is lost on my laptop, and I just needed to reinstall my programs, browser, office, etc. 

Next step is to get external backup drive and create and keep my own 'rescue stick'.  Though hopefully this will not be happening again.  It was my fault as I agreed to install something that looked suspicious, but my mind was preoccupied with something else at that moment, so I clicked Yes.

If you don't know much about computers and use your computer mainly for browsing, email, facebook and similar a chromebook might work well for you.

No viruses, very secure, automatically backed up and easy to use, especially if you already have a gmail account and are not paranoid about Google.

One caveat - they don't run traditional programmes like skype, itunes or YNAB.

No, chromebook will never work for me.  I do a lot more on my laptop than just browse the internet, though I am not a techie.  But I can't live without YNAB, excel, and a whole bunch of other programs.


Thank you all again!!!!!!!!

[gimp]

Shit happens. Kudos for admitting it was your fault and not blaming anyone else.

The first line of defense against viruses is not downloading/installing suspicious stuff. Google before you download a program, and don't click on the advertised links, click on the official ones.

It takes a long time to get comfortable with knowing what is and is not suspicious, and even then, we make mistakes. I've been computer-ing as a power user since I was wee, and I've still managed to install some viruses over the years.

Apart from good judgment, keep your programs up to date, keep windows up to date, set up the windows virus / malware scanner (called windows defender) to active (some people turn it off for some reason.) And keep backups.



Also, ignore anyone who tells you that macs and linux are impervious to viruses. They are not. It's just much less common.