how to format windows 7 starter?

Hello there,you can repair your Windows using this tutorial
Repair Install
or do a Clean install of Windows 7
Clean Install Windows 7

Do a Clean Install Windows 7 .

Before going for the clean install, better you optimize your hard drive for renstallation as you suspect a virus . Follow the tutorial SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation .

This will show how to remove all existing data from a Solid State Drive (SSD) or a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), it'll work for both, then how to create a partition and then format that partition before install begins so that you have a clean drive to start the installation with.

BTW, there are many causes for a computer getting slow other than viruses . You may check how many programs are starting up alongwith windows and running in the background . Press windows key ard "r" simultaneously to get the run window . Type msconfig there .... and hit enter . Look at the startup tab of the resulting window .... if there are some unnecessary elements in the startup folder, you may disable those .

For the virus issue, download , install and upgrade Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and run it .

Hello fishesgurl, welcome to Seven Forums!


There may be a hidden factory recovery partition built into the PC that will take the system back to an out-of-the-box state, what make/model is the PC or if you post a snip of the maximized Windows disk management we would be able to see if it's there.

   Note

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a maximized snip of that.

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