Disk wiping, Windows7 and viruses

[BATTCHIEF128]

My son has an Asus Gaming lap top that has a virus. It uses Windows7, the firewall will not open or update with the error message 0x80070424, the Trend Micro Titanium anti virus software will not install completely.
I have also downloaded a PC clean-up program that also has a disk clean-up and it has removed malware and was able to clean everything up with exception of repairing the firewall problem
I have burned to a disk the hard drive wipe program from DBAN and was wondering what is the best course of action to take.
1). Should I back-up the entire lap top onto a separate 1tb so I can re-install after wiping the hard drive. (Would this not also copy over the virus as I do not know where it is?)
2). Should I wipe everything from the lap top without saving anything to another hard drive, purchase Windows7 or 8 and install it on the clean lap top.
3). Wipe the hard drive and call it a very nice and expensive paperweight?
Any ideas would be helpful.

PS..I also tried downloading and installing a new firewall program that will not open.

 

[Ztruker]

Download a copy of Windows 7 that matches what you now have. The key on the COA sticker on the bottom of the Laptop is all you need.

Save any data.
Create a bootable DVD or better yet, 4G or more bootable flash drive and do a Clean Install of Windows 7, formatting the drive during the install process.

If you do not have a Windows 7 installation DVD, you can download a legal copy with SP1 integrated from here:

Windows 7 Direct Download Links

Make sure you get the same version you have, Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate and 32 or 64 bit. Note that Basic or Starter is not available.

I recommend using ImgBurn at 4X speed (or the slowest available) to create the DVD from the downloaded .iso file.

You can do this on any computer capable of burning a DVD.

YOU MUST HAVE A VALID KEY TO INSTALL THIS .ISO. The one on the COA sticker on your computer will work.

You can also create a bootable USB Flash drive (4GB or larger) to install Windows 7 from.

1. Download and run Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3
2. Select Windows 7 from the first drop down list, all the way to the bottom
3. Select the downloaded Windows 7 iso file
4. Select your USB flash drive
5. Click Create

For techies or folks who work on computers: Create Windows 7 Universal ISO With All Editions Selection On Install with ei.cfg Removal Utility.
This will fit on a 6GB flash drive or can be burned to a DVD.


See this tutorial by Brink for Clean Install: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[Lee]

Everything that Ztruker has recommended is spot on, albeit if you are transferring data to a backup drive ensure that the drive is clean and contains no other data. The reason being is the data you are saving is coming from a system that contains a virus, and to your best knowledge there may be or not be some of the virus in the data you want to save.

By placing it on a clean external/internal drive you can run an anti-virus program to determine if the backed up data/files are clean prior to moving it back to the new built. . .just saying, and Good Luck.

Oh BTW, Welcome to the "Seven Forums." . . .

 

[VistaKing]

Hi battchief128

Id recommend removing the virus route and leave reinstalling Windows for the last resort .

Open up a new thread inside the System Security thread . You will get your system cleaned .

 

[lehnerus2000]

Link Problem?

For techies or folks who work on computers: Create Windows 7 Universal ISO With All Editions Selection On Install with ei.cfg Removal Utility.
This will fit on a 6GB flash drive or can be burned to a DVD.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

This link didn't work when I clicked on it (using FF 21).

I got taken to a blog page and the title bar said, "Page not found".

 

[AddRAM]

Never knew you could update the firewall.

 

[Ztruker]

Rats, have not checked that link in a while, sorry.

Try this one: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/55304-creating-2-os-thumb-drive.html#post506519

Here is my updated version that I've used successfully several times:

Following posted by SIW2 here: Creating a 2 OS thumb drive - Windows 7. I've made some changes for clarity.

1. Copy the contents of the x86 dvd/iso onto a partition. I used partition H, so I had a folder H:\GRM.... ( or a similar long list of letters). Rename the GRM... folder to x86 - that makes it easier. You now have H:\x86 as the folder.

Note: I used 7-Zip to extract the files from the .iso to H:\x86.

2. Copy ONLY the install.wim from the x64 installation media onto the same partition.

Note: Again, I used 7-Zip to open the X64 .iso file and extract install.wim to H:\x86.

Rename that to Win7x64.wim. You now have Win7x64.wim and the X86 folder in the root of the H:\ drive.

3. Put a copy of Imagex in Windows\System32 of the o/s ( Vista or 7) you are booted into. You can download them here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/attachme...63527516-creating-2-os-thumb-drive-imagex.zip
http://www.sevenforums.com/attachme...857-creating-2-os-thumb-drive-imagex16385.zip

4. Open an Elevated Command Prompt and type the following - press enter after each line and wait for it to complete ( it's quick) : [obviously, replace H: with the letter of the partition you have the files on ]

Imagex /export "H:\Win7x64.wim" 1 "H:\x86\sources\install.wim" "Windows 7 Home Basic (x64)"

Imagex /export "H:\Win7x64.wim" 2 "H:\x86\sources\install.wim" "Windows 7 Home Premium (x64)"

Imagex /export "H:\Win7x64.wim" 3 "H:\x86\sources\install.wim" "Windows 7 Professional (x64)"

Imagex /export "H:\Win7x64.wim" 4 "H:\x86\sources\install.wim" "Windows 7 Ultimate (x64)"

5. Delete the ei.cfg file from the H:\x86\sources folder.

6. Use ImgBurn to make a bootable .iso from the H:\x86 folder. Use that as input to Universal USB Installer to create the bootable thumb (flash) drive as pointed to in the next step. The .iso is only 3.97GB

7. You can now use the contents of the H:\x86 folder to Create a bootable flash drive using Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3. All editions of 32 and 64 bit can be installed from the flash drive as long as you have a valid key for each.

 

[gregrocker]

Everything you need is here to get a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 as suggested, without the Asus bloatware and useless duplicate utilities which have better versions built into Win7 and conflict with them.

Be sure to delete all partitions during install since Recovery won't run afterwards anyway.