Transferable Computer Parts?

[tthor]

well, bout a week ago, my computer was pretty much destroyed by the MS AntiSpyware 2009 virus,
i tried using the recovery system to try and fix it, but it appears that most of the bugs the virus caused are still there,

so, i had to hook up my old computer (which is pretty laggy)

what i'm wondering is, are there any parts that i can easily take out of my dead computer and put into my old one to help it perform better, (without destroying my dead computer)

 

[Archereus]

Wow that could be hard to deal. We know for a fact you can transfer any thing that contains some sort of memory since there might be a chance the virus put itself in it and you would affect your other computer. You can some of the pieces, it wont get destroyed if you try a few transfers just be very careful.

 

[-IT-]

I guess you can swap the harddisks (replace the one from your broken comp, with the one from the old comp your using atm), you might have to install the os though.

 

[tthor]

one thing i know this computer has problems with is low virtual memory.. is there an easily removable part that can increase that?

 

[GRoXERs]

Wow that could be hard to deal. We know for a fact you can transfer any thing that contains some sort of memory since there might be a chance the virus put itself in it and you would affect your other computer. You can some of the pieces, it wont get destroyed if you try a few transfers just be very careful.

Hmm... Perhaps an electromagnet, judiciously applied to anything that might be infected, could make possible the recycling of the graphics card and RAM, but I'm not sure what effects that would have on the actual physical structure.

 

[Valiance]

Just put a different hard drive in your "virused" machine.

 

[tthor]

Just put a different hard drive in your "virused" machine.

is it really that simple?
it would be compatable?
....and wheres the harddrive, and how do i remove it.. lol

 

[GRoXERs]

Just put a different hard drive in your "virused" machine.

is it really that simple?
it would be compatable?
....and wheres the harddrive, and how do i remove it.. lol

Oh dear. Get a more technical friend to show you how to mess about with your PC's innards - don't go digging around with no idea what you're doing, as that could seriously mess it up.

 

[Valiance]

Just put a different hard drive in your "virused" machine.

is it really that simple?
it would be compatable?
....and wheres the harddrive, and how do i remove it.. lol

How new is your computer?
Every computer I've seen can use IDE hard drives, but new ones use SATA. If you have another hard drive with an operating system on it, say, Windows XP, for example, yes, you can just put it in and your computer will boot to that drive.

 

[Kriegsherr]

well, bout a week ago, my computer was pretty much destroyed by the MS AntiSpyware 2009 virus,
i tried using the recovery system to try and fix it, but it appears that most of the bugs the virus caused are still there,

what i'm wondering is, are there any parts that i can easily take out of my dead computer and put into my old one to help it perform better, (without destroying my dead computer)

I wouldn't swap the hard drives since the viruses are on that anyway, however things like RAM and the graphics card wouldn't be a problem providing your old PC has the slots to suit them and your motherboard supports them, RAM and VRAM (Video RAM in your graphics card) are non-volatile memory, so anything stored in them dissipates from their storage as soon as there is no longer a power source to them, therefore they would have no adverse effects on your old PC

EDIT: Also your virtual memory is the pagefile on your hard drive, which is usually controlled by the OS unless you've manually told it otherwise, check how much free hard disk space you have

 

[tthor]

When I first read the title I read "Transformable Computer Pants." I think you should put those parts into good use and make transformable computer parts.

But anyway, I don't know how to help you. Glad I could help!
(Hey, I have MS AntiVirus 2009. Should I be careful what I do, because is it possible for me to get the virus?)

i dont think u have anything to worry about

MS AntiSpyware 2009 is a malicious program that pretends to be a lagetamit antispyware program, and tells you you have tons of viruses, asking you to buy the program to remove the viruses

 

[tthor]

Just put a different hard drive in your "virused" machine.

is it really that simple?
it would be compatable?
....and wheres the harddrive, and how do i remove it.. lol

How new is your computer?
Every computer I've seen can use IDE hard drives, but new ones use SATA. If you have another hard drive with an operating system on it, say, Windows XP, for example, yes, you can just put it in and your computer will boot to that drive.

ok,
(both computers are Windows XP, the infected one is of 2005, and the old one is 2000.. i think)

this would transfer my old computer's memory to the other one, right?

 

[tthor]

one thing i know this computer has problems with is low virtual memory.. is there an easily removable part that can increase that?

By virtual memory do you mean RAM? You might be able to add that, what year is the computer that got the virus, and what year is the computer that you're switching onto? If they're both XP, then they're both probably 184 pin DDR RAM. So yes. If you don't know how to check this, open up your PC take the RAM out (they look like little sticks with 8 or so little black boxes on them) and go to the far right, or left, bottom and it should say how many pins are on one side. Times that by 2 and you've got your answer.
1 more thing, be sure the PC is off when you do this, and try to make sure you have no static electricity in you, touch some copper pipes or something metal to ground yourself.

Just put a different hard drive in your "virused" machine.

is it really that simple?
it would be compatable?
....and wheres the harddrive, and how do i remove it.. lol

Yes, it's that simple. You just have to make sure you get the right type of hard-drive, the new ones are called SATA, they have thin and small ribbon like cords. The PATA cords, the older ones, are still available and they look like a white ribbon that is rather wide. The hard-drive is a little rectangular box thats usually silver and connected to the DVD/CD-ROM drive and the Floppy drive if you have one. It's usually right above/below the floppy drive, even though I have seen it in some weird places before. You remove the hard-drive by unplugging the cords in the back, while still leaving them plugged into the motherboard, and then place the new hard-drive where the old hard-drive was. Connect the cords and you should be ready to go, you might have to install drivers or something like that, but I don't think you do.
I've never actually done a hard-drive replacement before since I've never had to. I intend to do it to my computer in the other room relatively soon as it only has 9GB of memory left

ty
anything else i should know before i attempt the surgery?

 

[megapenguinx]

Ok listen closely, judging by your posts I am going to guess you aren't a very technical person are you?
Your old computer itself is not infected, just your harddrive.
If you put that harddrive in another computer it will be infected. My best answer to you would be this: Format your harddrive, and I mean completely. If you just try to reinstall the operating system you may still have the virus. As I don't know what type of computer you have I can't exactly give you a step by step to removing your drives, but generally they are near the disk drive. If you don't want to erase your harddrive, you will need to put another drive into the computer after you remove the infected one, put the infected one in an external enclosure and run a Unix based OS (Linux, Ubuntu, OSX) to get any files you want out. Then just copy them over to the uninfected drive. But still, like I said it would be easier to format your infected drive, then reinstall windows.

 

[Nimbus]

Ok listen closely, judging by your posts I am going to guess you aren't a very technical person are you?
Your old computer itself is not infected, just your harddrive.
If you put that harddrive in another computer it will be infected. My best answer to you would be this: Format your harddrive, and I mean completely. If you just try to reinstall the operating system you may still have the virus. As I don't know what type of computer you have I can't exactly give you a step by step to removing your drives, but generally they are near the disk drive. If you don't want to erase your harddrive, you will need to put another drive into the computer after you remove the infected one, put the infected one in an external enclosure and run a Unix based OS (Linux, Ubuntu, OSX) to get any files you want out. Then just copy them over to the uninfected drive. But still, like I said it would be easier to format your infected drive, then reinstall windows.

This is, as near as I can tell, the only really useful post in this thread so far. Listen to this guy.

 

[Nimbus]

*cough*

Linux + Non-technical people =

...


You know what it equals. It equals pain.

 

[Talendra]

Have you ran malwarebytes http://www.malwarebytes.org on the computer? As an IT consultant this is my first stop for fixing these types of viruses/spyware, followed by spybot s&d, then the antivirus of your choice (if you don't have one AVG Free or AVAST are Great solutions when a paid service is unobtainable.
It would be better for you to run this scan in safe mode (press f8 as you boot the computer and pick safemode with networking so that you canupdate the antivirus first)
Try doing this and let me know if it does not work and I will send you my MSN and we can try the more difficult route together.
Goodluck

 

[Kriegsherr]

Virtual memory isnt RAM, don't go messing around with your RAM because you're getting virtual memory errors

 

[Ancalagon]

Why not just format the hard drive on your new computer and reinstall XP? You'd lose all your data, but that was going to happen anyway. The virus will be gone, and you get to use your better computer.

EDIT: I'd misread what megapenguinx wrote, which on second reading is essentially the same thing. So I'd do that, if I were you.

 

[tthor]

Ty
anything else i should know before i attempt the surgery?

I don't think so. Just remember to unplug it, unplug all the peripherals (the cords in the back) and I think you should be fine.

ugh.. i took out the harddrives, but it turns out they have different connections =.=;
owell