Back-up hard drive?

[rhcp]

Hey everyone i have a MAJOR problem here. On thursday I unintentionally downloaded a major spyware/malware program that instantly installed tons of other spyware and adware programs. I'm fairly experienced and knowledgeable as a computer user so I used Microsoft Antispyware, Norton Antivirus, and As-aware to try and get rid of all these, but even after multiple scans theres still unwanted adware popping up, and somehow my pop-up blocker from Norton is knocked out, not that it would help anyway. So now i need to reformat my whole pc (i can get xp pro now ). Only problem is that i need to save about 6 gigs of music, and im pretty sure its not corrupted (yet). Does anyone know where I can get a cheap, internal/external back up hard drive, 10 g to 20 g? Help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Marco]

Hey everyone i have a MAJOR problem here. On thursday I unintentionally downloaded a major spyware/malware program that instantly installed tons of other spyware and adware programs. I'm fairly experienced and knowledgeable as a computer user so I used Microsoft Antispyware, Norton Antivirus, and As-aware to try and get rid of all these, but even after multiple scans theres still unwanted adware popping up, and somehow my pop-up blocker from Norton is knocked out, not that it would help anyway. So now i need to reformat my whole pc (i can get xp pro now ). Only problem is that i need to save about 6 gigs of music, and im pretty sure its not corrupted (yet). Does anyone know where I can get a cheap, internal/external back up hard drive, 10 g to 20 g? Help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I would back the MP3's onto a non-volatile media such as DVD or CD. If you don't have a burner they can be had for around $50 and media is cheap.

[deep]

Personally, I would go the DVD-R route as well. Or buy another full-on HD to use as your backup/download/scratch disk. If you're going to go through all that effort, you might as well be more prepared for next time.

Free option - download a copy of Partition Magic, create a second partition and dump your needful things there, then reinstall Windows to the primary partition after reformatting it. Nothing in the second partition will be touched (unless you screw up the install )

[rhcp]

Personally, I would go the DVD-R route as well. Or buy another full-on HD to use as your backup/download/scratch disk. If you're going to go through all that effort, you might as well be more prepared for next time.

Free option - download a copy of Partition Magic, create a second partition and dump your needful things there, then reinstall Windows to the primary partition after reformatting it. Nothing in the second partition will be touched (unless you screw up the install )

yeah partitioning was a definately my best option for now because i dont wanna buy some ****** small hd, i wanna buy like a 200 g HD and then save my 70 g as a back up lol. partition magic eh? never heard of it. thanks so so much.

[Amourek]

Try booting up into Safe mode and running all your anti-virus/spyware programs.

And FYI, you should use Spybot in conjunction with Ad-aware. Its Immunization feature keeps you from being re-infected by most spyware after you've cleaned it out.

[weesur]

Are you sure it is just spyware and no backdoor trojan. Probably you should try Mcafee stinger which u don't have to install and may be able to detect trogan which disable antivirus programs
You can google Mcafee stinger to find the program

[kulich]

And ... last but not least ... assuming you have some flavor of XP ... turn off system restore before you boot into safe mode so you don't keep re-infecting yourself. You can always turn it on after you are clean, or not, as you will.

Partition magic is worth the price of admission. Make sure it's version 8 so you can use it with XP. The ability to format, convert and create partitions on the fly is priceless.

You can try Trend Micro's free virus sweeper and perhaps even venture into Hijack This territory if you want to cintinue to try to clean out your buggy OS. And, I'd ditch Norton AV and stick with the freeware solutions ... AVG, Ad-Aware, Spybot.

While I'm at it ... check out CCleaner and Disk Cleaner for that squeeky clean surfing experience.

Good luck ... Owl

[HowEver]

Always backup! From your most recent clean copy, once you've cleaned up.

[TheMarshall]

If you have WinXP, click Start > Help and Support, Then click the System Restore link. ALWAYS gets rid of spyware! Just run MS Spyware afterwards.

[mlc2000]

I have an 80GB external drive for sale

LINK

[HowEver]

I have an 80GB external drive for sale

LINK

Mine's bigger than yours is. : )

But yours costs less.

[mlc2000]

Mine's bigger than yours is. : )

But yours costs less.

It costs less and its a better price.