Hi, I hope someone can help. I think I got a Virus on my Gateway laptop running Vista. As it stands now, I cannot boot the computer in any mode, and I think I've tried everything (such as F8 during startup) to get her to boot. The computer is stuck in a loop on the Windows Error Recovery screen, where you can choose Start Normally or Launch Startup Repair, of which both options will just do nothing and return me to the Windows Error Recovery screen.
Obviously, I have alot of files on my computer that stand to be lost if I cannot fix the issue without doing a full system restore, which I've never done before. I have all the original disks that came with the computer such as Vista and the Gatewat recovery disk.
My questions are:
1. Is there any way to boot windows that I have not tried?
2. Is there any way to save my files without paying big money?
3. Is there any way to do a system restore that will not lose my files?
4. How hard is the full system restore and what is the best way to do it?
5. What does a full system restore actrually do?
6. How will I ever know what really happened to my computer?
Thanks in advance.
The day before this happened, the computer was working fine, although there were a few unexpected frozen screens which had me thinkimg maybe something was up, also about a week before this happeneed, I had a friend over to help him with his computer and I let his computer onto my wireless internet network/connection, and maybe something migrated from his computer to mine? The day this happened, I did a Windows Update and then added the latest Firefox update but did a system restore back to before the update because Firefox was not working and I made a mistake going back too far in the restore.
Then that night I came home to find a strange icon in the middle of my screen saying something to the effect of I had possibly downloaded a bad windows update or some such thing. I assumed it was spyware/malware of somekind (though it did alarm me) so I closed it and ran my antispyware program and AVG and went to bed.
The next morning, the screen was black and I shut it down only to find I could not boot any more.
Thanks again for the help.
Obviously, I have alot of files on my computer that stand to be lost if I cannot fix the issue without doing a full system restore, which I've never done before. I have all the original disks that came with the computer such as Vista and the Gatewat recovery disk.
My questions are:
1. Is there any way to boot windows that I have not tried?
2. Is there any way to save my files without paying big money?
3. Is there any way to do a system restore that will not lose my files?
4. How hard is the full system restore and what is the best way to do it?
5. What does a full system restore actrually do?
6. How will I ever know what really happened to my computer?
Thanks in advance.
The day before this happened, the computer was working fine, although there were a few unexpected frozen screens which had me thinkimg maybe something was up, also about a week before this happeneed, I had a friend over to help him with his computer and I let his computer onto my wireless internet network/connection, and maybe something migrated from his computer to mine? The day this happened, I did a Windows Update and then added the latest Firefox update but did a system restore back to before the update because Firefox was not working and I made a mistake going back too far in the restore.
Then that night I came home to find a strange icon in the middle of my screen saying something to the effect of I had possibly downloaded a bad windows update or some such thing. I assumed it was spyware/malware of somekind (though it did alarm me) so I closed it and ran my antispyware program and AVG and went to bed.
The next morning, the screen was black and I shut it down only to find I could not boot any more.
Thanks again for the help.