• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 08:10
CEST 14:10
KST 21:10
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play1Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview8
Community News
Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch0[TLMC] Summer 2026 Ladder Map Rotation05.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)90ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo40Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0
StarCraft 2
General
5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start) Is the larve respawn broken? https://www.facebook.com/Arthrovit.Arthritis.Pain. Weekly Cups (June 22-28): Zergs thrive in new patch The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser
Tourneys
Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event INu's Battles#17 <BO.9> Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery Mutation # 530 One For All
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool Best thing happen to StarCraft since Remastered? ProGamer Paychecks Story Data needed
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals The Casual Games of the Week Thread [BSL22] GosuLeague Casts - Tue & Thu 22:00 CEST
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Listen To The Coaches!
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 5771 users

[H] How to reformat a computer

Blogs > [Fin]Vittu
Post a Reply
[Fin]Vittu
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada507 Posts
January 18 2009 06:16 GMT
#1
So I bought one of those generic computers from futureshop, an HP one. I think it is plagued with viruses slowing my internet down insanely. I always wanted to reformat but I don't think my computer game with a copy of vista. So I was wondering if there is a way going around this without a cd. In addition, being a poor student I don't really have the money to buy an external hard drive...maybe those 2gb flash drives but I don't think they can hold my whole computer on it.

Thanks in advance!

The "Finnish Metal Terran"
nataziel
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Australia1455 Posts
January 18 2009 06:29 GMT
#2
Umm, you could try download an ISO of vista and burn it onto a disk, then format your computer that way, but if you don't have a disc handy it's gonna be a bitch to do.

Also, there's no way in hell a 2gb flash drive would hold your whole computer on it at all, just back up the stuff you need onto DVD's then reformat. Make sure you're running AVG when you get your computer back up and running too.
u gotta sk8
HeavOnEarth
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States7087 Posts
January 18 2009 06:34 GMT
#3
you could try running a virus scan? just to see how bad the dmaage is first =/
"come korea next time... FXO house... 10 korean, 10 korean"
0xDEADBEEF
Profile Joined September 2007
Germany1235 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-18 07:33:15
January 18 2009 07:31 GMT
#4
If it didn't came with a copy of the OS but the OS was preinstalled, then there must be some kind of recovery partition (separate drive number): space on the hard drive from which you can reinstall the operating system. It's not a real installation, but an image, so you end up with the same crap on it again. But that's how you reinstall Windows on new customer PCs.
This partition may be invisible to Windows. If you're missing several gigabytes of HDD space (not counting the space which is always lost due to drive manufacturers counting 1 GB = 1000 MB instead of 1 GB = 1024 MB), then you have such a partition.
Sometimes the vendor even allows you to burn a recovery DVD from that recovery partition, in that case there is probably some tool pre-installed which does it for you.
In any case, there should be some tool or documentation which explains how to use it.
And no, I don't think your PC is infected with viruses just because your internet is slow. That is almost definitely a software problem. First thing you should do is uninstalling/disabling all useless software including a personal firewall if there is one.
Besides, viruses making the PC slow or damaging it is so last millenium. Most modern malware operates undetected and steals interesting information or uses your PC for a botnet.
[Fin]Vittu
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Canada507 Posts
January 18 2009 07:53 GMT
#5
On January 18 2009 16:31 0xDEADBEEF wrote:
If it didn't came with a copy of the OS but the OS was preinstalled, then there must be some kind of recovery partition (separate drive number): space on the hard drive from which you can reinstall the operating system. It's not a real installation, but an image, so you end up with the same crap on it again. But that's how you reinstall Windows on new customer PCs.
This partition may be invisible to Windows. If you're missing several gigabytes of HDD space (not counting the space which is always lost due to drive manufacturers counting 1 GB = 1000 MB instead of 1 GB = 1024 MB), then you have such a partition.
Sometimes the vendor even allows you to burn a recovery DVD from that recovery partition, in that case there is probably some tool pre-installed which does it for you.
In any case, there should be some tool or documentation which explains how to use it.
And no, I don't think your PC is infected with viruses just because your internet is slow. That is almost definitely a software problem. First thing you should do is uninstalling/disabling all useless software including a personal firewall if there is one.
Besides, viruses making the PC slow or damaging it is so last millenium. Most modern malware operates undetected and steals interesting information or uses your PC for a botnet.


my buddy came over and ran a -netstat -na or something like that on my cmd. he looked at some values and said i have one. which explains why my stream is so slow. another thing is that, the same friend checked his speed on the gom tv network checker and his speed was 3 times faster than mine even though we are on the same ISP.

Regarding my computer, i do have such a partition. I looked at my computer and i see my c drive and a d drive called "recovery"

How about to i go about that? I am not too sure when my last recovery point was.
The "Finnish Metal Terran"
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
RSL Revival
10:00
S6 Korea Server Qualifier
Zoun vs NightMareLIVE!
Maru vs Percival
Ryung 1361
CranKy Ducklings226
CranKy Ducklings SOOP14
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Ryung 1361
Lowko471
elazer 131
ProTech120
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 38269
Calm 12003
Horang2 876
firebathero 714
Jaedong 623
actioN 425
Mini 359
Hyuk 350
Light 334
EffOrt 293
[ Show more ]
Leta 159
Soulkey 120
Snow 108
ggaemo 98
Rush 90
JulyZerg 88
Zeus 74
Hyun 74
Pusan 73
ToSsGirL 54
Killer 51
Mong 50
hero 49
Movie 37
[sc1f]eonzerg 30
Free 30
JYJ 28
scan(afreeca) 22
yabsab 19
sorry 16
Bale 14
IntoTheRainbow 14
Hm[arnc] 13
ajuk12(nOOB) 9
Sacsri 9
Purpose 5
Icarus 3
Terrorterran 2
Dota 2
Dendi655
XaKoH 595
League of Legends
JimRising 384
Counter-Strike
olofmeister1779
x6flipin558
kRYSTAL_50
Other Games
singsing721
B2W.Neo557
crisheroes259
Pyrionflax189
DeMusliM145
Mew2King59
hiko54
BEARDiaguz16
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 507
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream312
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 9
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 54
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 6
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota251
League of Legends
• Jankos1849
• TFBlade263
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
4h 51m
Bombastic Starleague
7h 51m
PiGosaur Cup
11h 51m
Kung Fu Cup
22h 51m
Replay Cast
1d 11h
CrankTV Team League
1d 22h
Bombastic Starleague
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
HomeStory Cup
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
HomeStory Cup
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
HomeStory Cup
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
WardiTV Weekly
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-29
Douyu Cup 2026
Murky Cup 2026

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
CSL Season 21: Qualifier 2
SCTL 2026 Spring
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
ASL Season 22:Wild Card Qualifier
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
BCC 2026
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E1
Heroes Pulsing #3
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.