<p>I downloaded a program - CleanUp by Steven Gould. The program ruined my computer. I now have 2 operating systems, because I had to install a new one, because the old one wasn't working. I have no idea how to get rid of the initial operating system, and am thinking of wiping my hard drive clean.</p>
<p>That's the small problem. The big problem is that whenever I try and install Macromedia Flash, my computer freezes. Whenever I try and run Windows Update, my computer freezes. The computer won't allow me to install these programs. This program did something to the computer and now I can't do many things. Also, Microsoft Word and Excel take forever to load.</p>
<p>Should I wipe my hard drive? Will that fix the problem, starting over? I don't have any files that I need on this computer.</p>
<p>I sure hope you learned your lesson about malicious software from this...</p>
<p>Anyway... reformatting is NOT the only answer... it's the only answer for someone who doesn't have computer uber-geeks for friends or for someone who doesn't know too much about computers...</p>
<p>First option: system restore</p>
<p>Second option: you can tryto clean out the program by booting into your computer's safe mode and then wiping it out from there. This works on... I would say, 90% of viruses (mostly the minor ones that aren't detrimental to your system but more of an annoyance... the bug that you appear to have may not die like this, but it's worth a try).</p>
<p>Next option: wipe out the program through single-line commands (requires a geek)</p>
<p>Next option after that: ask an uber-geek to help you short of reformatting (no idea what they would do)</p>
<p>Yes, I had problems with CleanUp and reinstalled XP in a Misc folder on my hard drive. However, the problems I decribed are still there on the new XP. I'm running on a Compaq laptop.</p>
<p>My computer had never been infected by a virus to the degree it was last night. The virus deleted my favorite links on IE and won't allow certain programs (like Microsoft Word!) to load. Also, start-up takes forever. Needless to say, I'm realllly frustrated because this crash came at a crucial moment (an academic contest in 10 days or so). Not all of my files have back-up. I tried the recovery CD. I tried re-installing the OS. I tried loading a new anti-spyware program. Nothing worked! What can I say.. I'm an amateur when it comes to computers. I think I'll just take the darned computer to Best Buy. This has been a true test of my patience.</p>
<p>According to the Cleanup website, the installation instructions strongly recommends that you make a backup of your hard drive before running this program. The developer also recommends that you first run the software in demo mode to see exactly which files will be "cleaned" off your drive. If there are important files on your hard drive, you should make a separate backup of those files as well...</p>
<p>One of the principal strengths of the program is to clean up all of your IE (Internet Explorer) links and associated files. If you want to delete all traces of where you have visited on the Web, this is the program to use. Unfortunately, most people don't need everything deleted. You can adjust the program to selectively remove links, but you need to do this before running the program.</p>
<p>Finally, in the installation notes, the following are know issues with running the program:</p>
<p>Known issues/bugs:</p>
<p>Under some - not all - configurations of Windows XP enabling the option "Scan local drives for temporary files" can result in some required system files being deleted. This has been identified as a problem for Microsoft Office 2003 users. [Solution: disable this option.]
In Outlook Express (and possibly Outlook too), any folders containing a "." in the name get deleted when the "Delete Newsgroup Cache" option is enabled.
While the executable may appear to run under Windows XP Professional 64 bit edition, some initial tests suggest a problem deleting needed files. Therefore do not attempt to run CleanUp! 4.0 under 64 bit Windows XP Professional. All 32 bit versions of Windows XP work fine.
The list of cookies to keep is case-sensitive which may lead to some cookies being deleted when you'd expect them to be preserved. The solution for now is to pay careful attention to the case of the cookies. The next version of CleanUp! will provide a fix for this. </p>
<p>If this describes your computer setup and you ran the program, you will have big problems...</p>
<p>A2Wolves6: I'm not sure why you would install XP into a Misc folder. You could try to uninstall XP from that folder. Then back up your important files before reformating your drive.</p>
<p>Gianscolere1: You're pretty much in the same boat. If you must, take your computer to Best Buy or to a really knowledgable friend and see what they can do for you. Back up your important files if you can find them...</p>
<p>A2Wolves6 - how are you doing with your computer problems? I had completely forgotten about the option of going into Safe Mode. Indeed, this is a much better thing to do before reformatting. I assume you have already tried system restore or that you cannot access it? If you haven't yet, try using system restore to go back to before you got Clean-Up on your computer.</p>
<p>I tried the restore, problem is, the program deleted all the system restores, leaving the most recent date after it deleted my finals. Safe Mode didn't do anything either. It deleted system files that I need for use. I don't have anything on this computer that I need, other than a couple word processing files that aren't important. It did indeed mess up the Microsoft office (like it said it would). I think i'm going to reformat, I don't have anything to lose, and a lot to gain.</p>