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Files missing due to virus (Win95)

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by ojmj 1 view

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A friend is running Windows 95 and has recently learned that his computer is infected by a variety of viruses.

He is planning on refreshing his computer from the startup CDROM, but wants to disinfect the viruses first. On trying to install theanti-virus program, an exception comes up saying that necessary files are missing.

Is there a utility that checks to see if all of the files are on the computer that are required to run WINDOWS 95? He has a Windows 95 CDROM disk.

12 replies

by mm212

If this computer is infested with viruses, I would first back up any necessary documents that he needs. (Don't backup the entire hard-drive.) The next step is to boot to a floppy disk that has cd-rom drivers along with the fdisk and format commands.Time to reload!

by ojmj

Thanks, but I was looking for the Windows setup command that restored the critical data files to their factory state. I have learned through an email that it is (n:)setup /pf

by paul majestic

If you have virus scan on a floppy disk then you can always boot to that and have it scan the hdd for viruses. If not it's probably easier to just back up what is needed and then format the drive.

by rpritt

Find out which virus the user has first. Most AV software will do a scan from a floppy disk. After you find out what the virus is, you may (if you're lucky, and there hasn't been too much damage) be able to just copy the missing files from anotherWin95 computer. This will allow you to install AV software on the system, do an update, and then perform an entire scan.

by meddjay

Let me ask you this...what makes your friend think they have a virus? If they don't have antivirus or some other virus scan program then how do they know? I have found that a lot of people (especially folks newer to the world of computers) assume they have a virus when in fact, they really don't. If you do in fact have a virus all the answers before were very good reply's, but if you aren't really sure, maybe you should ask a couple of more questions first, or do a little bit of reading on the topic. There are some great sites for research all over the web! Good luck!

by ojmj

He downloaded a virus checker trial version, and it wouldn't install after it detected the viruses due to missing files. It didn't disinfect while running the initial detection. I was really looking for the Windows setup command that restored the critical data files to their factory state. I have learned through an email that it is (n:)setup /pf

by philando

All sound advice you're getting. Let me put my 2-cents in; booting from a virus boot disk is your best option. It will check memory, boot record, and the files on the disk. If you're able to do this then you should be able to find viruses and fix, then repair the win95 installion by running setup again.

If the virus is a boot virus, then simply reformating alone will not remove it. You'll have to use the fdisk utility with the mbr switch (fdisk /mbr). You will have to recreate the partition and reformat then reload win95

Good Luck

by jmatt

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q271/7/71.asp
Got problems and don't want to reinstall W95...
Don't want to lose any of your settings or software? There's a command
line option that'll get you back on your feet in no time. Boot up your
PC with a Windows 95 boot disk, pop in your Windows 95 CD, and once
you're at the command prompt, type your CD-ROM drive letter immediately
followed by a colon. So, if your CD was set to "D" you'd enter D: and
then hit ENTER. At this point, type the following command: SETUP /pf.
This switch will restore all of Windows critical files to their factory
state, and in 99 % of situations doing this will fix whatever problems
you were having in Windows 95.

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