Two Windows 7 on one HD; need to revert and repair`

printit · 06 Jan 2012

I am having issues with the Windows and McAfee Firewall. I've tried every solution I could find in the forums without success. I decided to "repair" 7. I was familiar with XP "Repair" but didn't see such in 7. This all started with a corrupted file in Quicken and then a folder I had on my desktop. When I couldn't find a repair solution I continued and installed 7, thinking it would correct the corrupted files. I now have two 7's, and I do have the "windows.old" file. Of course everything is on the first installation and I really don't want to format and start all over again. I know how long that takes.
So, I would like to get back to my original OS install and if anyone has any suggestions as to how to repair the firewall access/firewall I'm very open to that. First things first!

Thanks,
Al

gregrocker · 06 Jan 2012

It would have been best to ask us first before going off recklessly reinstalling Win7 assuming that it was the same as an XP Repair Install.

You say you have two installations on the HD now. How do you know this? Do you have a Dual Boot Menu?

You must have chosen Custom Install which gave you a selection of partitions - otherwise if you ran the installer from Win7 and chose Upgrade install it would have only done a Repair Install which itself is a last resort, as we would have given you other repair steps first.

Post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk management drive map using the Snipping Tool in Start Menu and we will try to help you sort it out. Screen Shots

You can use the windows.old folder to roll back to the original installation if you overwrote it - but that's not certain if you now have two Win7 installations since one of them might be other old one if you chose another partition to reinstall upon. But if you have a windows.old folder chances are you did overwrite it so look over these steps: How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder

However this is complicated and by no means assured, so you might also decide to keep the fresh install, reinstall your programs and copy your files in from backup or windows.old.

We regularly solve problem here by having users uninstall any MucAfee product which is the worst crapware we see.

Use a free lightweight AV like Microsoft Security Essentials with the Win7 firewall for best performance.

printit · 06 Jan 2012

Greg thank you for the response. My primary goal is to first get back to the OS I had originally installed so I can resume using my computer!
At the moment I am more concerned about that than an AV solution. I have run NUMEROUS scans, no issues found!
Thanks,
a