PC Tech Help Forum???

[Kent Frost]

Does anyone know of a good PC Tech Help forum?? My laptop has contracted some sort of virus brought on by something called "Spyware Quake", which is a BS antivirus software that invades the system and makes the user think that the system is completely infected with viruses when it's actually not. Long story short, this thing was installed automatically on my computer without me knowing it, and now has caused a symptom that I can't find in any of the descriptions of this virus: It has locked up my system to the point that it won't boot up at all.

When I turn the power on, it tells me that Windows did not start successfully, and that I have the option of continuing the boot normally, with/without networking, or in safe mode with/without a prompt. NONE of these options work. No matter what option I choose, it tries to continue to boot, gives me the Windows XP splash screen, then it will give me a microsecond flash of a bluescreen of death before attempting to restart and giving me the boot options again. It will continue like this in a loop until I finally just give up and cut the power altogether. I have a feeling that it's a Toshiba thing that's trying to protect the computer and not allowing it to boot up, but I have no idea how to get past this without having to completely restore the system, LOSING everything I have on that computer, including photos from the last 2 events that have not been posted yet.

Any help and/or directions to a good tech help forum would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JohnMF]

i think there is a computer tech forum associated with this forum. I can't remember the name of it at the moment, maybe someone else will

 

[Kent Frost]

I think I'll be okay. I finally got ahold of my tech buddy in the next state and we came up with a solution that will hopefully work. I have to buy a converter that will hook up my laptop's HDD to my desktop so that I can transfer all the files I want to keep. Then I get my laptop's restore disc and nuke the drive and start completely over. Not looking forward to reloading all my software to it, but hey...as long as I don't have to take the thing in and get it fixed then I'll be okay.
Plus this'll give me a good chance to put XP Pro on here instead of the Home Edition.

 

[hobbes28]

That option is probably the best one. I've had to do that same thing more times than I can count. Just make sure you've got a good antivirus on the computer you hook up to so you don't end up with two infected machines.


The forum that is connected to this one is www.thesupportforum.com

 

[Kent Frost]

As it turns out, it appears that this virus is an easy one to get rid of. It's more of an annoying mindgame than anything. I'm prepared to kick it's butt if it gets on my desktop.