Should I upgrade to Win 8 or re-install Win 7

Hello

My Win7 x64 system seems to be SEVERELY screwed up. (See this thread
Windows "not genuine" but can't run legitcheck.hta - HELP! )

I am now wondering if:

a) I should re-install Windows 7 from scratch

b) If so should I upgrade to Windows 8 (8.1)

c) If so should I use Macrium Reflect Free to rewind the computer to about a copy of the disk 18 months ago first and run an UPGRADE OR should I wipe the disk (SSD) and start again.

I know that I have recently had some malware problems and I have run various anti-malware utilities (most things you can think of) and various fairly trivial sounding things were cleaned up removed.


I am nervous that if I have a seriously nasty virus will I re-infect my PC when I re-load all my data?

All help/advice gratefully received.

J

P.S.
Here is a list of what my computer consists of in terms of hardware:
>>>
Motherboard: Intel DP55WB (MA TX)
Processor: Intel Core I5 750 2.66GHz
RAM: 8GB = (2GB 1066 DDR3 Memory) x4 modules

Hard disk: SSD 300GB, "INTEL SSDSA2CW300G3 ATA Device"

Graphics card: ATI Radeon HD 5770 - S/n: 7 78656 05291 8

DVD: DVD-RWSATA (BOOT MENU: TSSTcorp CDDVDDW SH-S223C - ATAPI?)

Operating system: Windows7 Pro 64Bit

Power supply: 500W ATX 12v 80+ PSU
Mouse: Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX - M/N: M-R0001 - (Darkfield 910-000873 5 099206011571
Keboard: Microsoft Comfort Curve Control Keyboard 2000 v1.0

Case: Midi Tower
>>>

I have Win8.1 on my laptop and although it's a bit quirky I'm happy with it.

I do not have a copy Win8.


P.S. Btw, my corporate AVG Cloudcare licence is due so expire sometime soon. Do you have any advice on what are the best low cost/free anti-virus and/or anti-malware software is?
(Btw, did I read that Microsoft Security Essentials is now built into Win8 and called Windows Defender? If so does that mean that we no longer need things like MalawareByte or SuperAntispyware etc?

ship691 said:

P.S. Btw, my corporate AVG Cloudcare licence is due so expire sometime soon. Do you have any advice on what are the best low cost/free anti-virus and/or anti-malware software is?
(Btw, did I read that Microsoft Security Essentials is now built into Win8 and called Windows Defender? If so does that mean that we no longer need things like MalawareByte or SuperAntispyware etc?

Opinions differ on "best", as you'd expect.

Some are more likely to cause conflicts than others; some rate higher in the tests you can find online; some are more prone to false positives, etc etc. And people differ as to which of those issues is most important.

You still need Malwarebytes or Superantispyware as much as ever or as little as ever. There's been no change. MSE detects different stuff.

I use MSE and Malwarebytes Premium, which is a pretty popular combination on this forum, but suit yourself.

Thanks. OK I have now installed Win8.1 onto my PC.

I'm not sure what AV to use yet.

Windows 7 is the wildly popular and undisputed best consumer OS ever, while Windows 8 is one of the biggest consumer flops in history. I'm not sure why this is even being considered. Reinstall 7 perfectly and watch for the release of its worthy successor Windows 10.

Follow these steps to Clean Reinstall Windows 7 which compile everything that's worked best in tens of thousands of installs we've directly helped with here, and has been used by 1.5 million consumers without a single complaint or return with problems.

In your case export your data to external USB for disinfection with Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware and ESET Online Scanner before reimporting. Report back any serious infection to our Security forum for specialized solutions.