I got caught by the McAfee debacle.

Contacted McAfee and spoke to three different people in India.  The problem is not resolved.  Cannot get online, or access the Quickbooks program.  A computer store ran a diagnostic and said that the Windows program has been altered.  $75 for what I already knew.  My question is this. I completely removed the McAfee Antivirus of the computer program.  Given that the program apparently affected McAfee SP3, can I remove the old SP3 and reinstall a new Microsoft supplied CD?  Or should I do a repair with the original CD of the OS?  Windows XP Professional.

See...

Cleaning a compromised system
     http://TechNet.Microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc700813.aspx

Personal data backup (which none should be considered 100% reliable at this point) then format the HARD disk and do a clean install of Windows. Please note that a repair installation (upgrade AKA on-site) will NOT fix it!

HOW to do a clean install of Windows XP: see method 1 and http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978307

Once installed the clean, you will have the equivalent of a "new computer" in order to take care of everything on the next page before connecting the machine to the internet or one local network (i.e. other computers) otherwise and before using a flash drive or the SD card that is not brand new, or has not been freshly formatted:

4 steps to help protect your new computer before going online
     http://www.Microsoft.com/security/pypc.aspx

Other useful references include:

HOW to get a computer that is running Windows XP Gold (no Service Pack) fully patched (after a clean install)
http://groups.Google.com/group/Microsoft.public.windowsupdate/MSG/3f5afa8ed33e121c

HOW TO get a computer that is running Windows XP SP1 (a) or SP2 fully patched (after a clean install)
http://groups.Google.com/group/Microsoft.public.WindowsXP.General/MSG/a066ae41add7dd2b

Tip: After getting the computer fully patched, download/install KB971029 manually:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971029

NB: No matter what Norton or McAfee free trial which is preinstalled on the computer when you bought will be reinstalled (but invalid) when Windows is reinstalled. You MUST uninstall the trial for free and download/run the removal tool before installing updates, Windows Service Packs, or updates IE and before installing your new anti-virus application (which will require WinXP SP3 must be installed).

Norton Removal Tool
     FTP://ftp.Symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe

McAfee Consumer product removal tool
     http://download.McAfee.com/Products/Licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe

If you need help, please start a new thread in this forum:

http://social.answers.Microsoft.com/forums/en-us/XPRepair/threads

If these procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, good reputation and stand-alone computer (that is, not BigBoxStoreUSA or Geek Squad) repair facility.

~ Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (that is to say, mail, security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ WARNING: MS MVPs represent or work for Microsoft

Tags: Windows

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