disinfecting a laptop

hi, my sister decided to dump her laptop on me to fix =/ and is refusing to let me just format the thing.

but it's proving to be extremely stubborn, i'm having problems trying to get it to connect to our home network so i can do an online virus scan (using Trend Micro); it refuses to acknowledge the connection even though it's connected directly to our router, and whenever i manage to start the scan when connected wirelessly it'll just disconnect partway and refuse to reconnect until rebooted. (this is while in safe mode with networking).

on the other hand, i managed to update her current anti-virus (NOD32) and scanned with that last night and dealt with 3 trojans.

so what should i do next? just tell her a reformat is the only way to go? or try installing my version of kaspersky, update it and do another scan and hope it catches the rest of the buggers?

any help is appreciated to get her off my back so i can go back to my gaming >.>

(i'm only semi-tech literate otherwise i'd probably know a suitable forum to post this on rather than here ^^;;;; )

so what should i do next? just tell her a reformat is the only way to go? or try installing my version of kaspersky, update it and do another scan and hope it catches the rest of the buggers?

That's the key right there - with enough scans and otherwise poking around you can hope you found everything, but there's always a chance that you missed something, especially with rootkits and other malware out there now that actively try to hide themselves.

If the system is used for anything even remotely sensitive like online banking, shopping online, or anything that requires entering personal information...my personal recommendation would be to just back up anything important and wipe the drive(s). Better to be safe than take the chance that a keylogger or something else capable of stealing information slipped through.

If you have the original restore discs use a program to totaly wipe the drive. This is called low level formating and will get rid of everything on the drive, but before doing that make sure there is nothing on there that your sister needs. After wiping the drive reinstall Windows from the restore discs. If you do not have the restore discs then contact the manufacturer of the notebook and get a set, they should cost no more than 60 us dollars and are great insurance in the longterm.

Mega Mouse

Prevention is better than cure

Backup he files, bookmarks, documents; then format the mother. Depending on how much crap she already has on her computer, you most likely won't be able to remove it.(Viruses copy themselves over and over again. Sometimes an Anti-Virus is not enough to remove them).

My Suggestion is to create a "System Restore" cd. What I mean is, make a cd on your computer that contains all the necessary programs that the computer needs.(Firewall, Anti-Virus, Internet Browser, WinRar, Drivers, etc.).

Before you begin to reformat, unplug the internet cable in the back of the PC. With that out of the way you can know for sure that no one can access your PC after a fresh install. With the internet cable still unplugged use your "System Restore" cd to install all of the needed programs. Once completed, plug your internet cable back into your computer and proceed to update your computer, it's security software, drivers, and programs.

Hope this helps

thanks for the replies ^^

i managed to install kaspersky and run a scan earlier today and came back with 38 trojans x.x i'm ashamed to admit she is in any way related to me now lol

i'll be doing the reformat on the weekend, if she even remembers where the CDs are (and i know the laptop came with them because it's a Sony Vaio and they always come with about 4 of them). the rest of the programs she can get off me anyway, her only loss will the the "porn collection" that me and friends are joking about since it's the only reason we can think of for her to have the thing so messed up XD