• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:57
CEST 23:57
KST 06:57
  • 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
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners6Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)6[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June2Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th153Weekly Cups (May 18-24): MaxPax wins doubles0
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued
Tourneys
Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) GSL Code S Season 2 (2026) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected Welcome to the External Content forum
Brood War
General
The Korean Terminology Thread Data needed Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW fans in southern Sweden, look here!
Tourneys
[ASL21] Grand Finals [BSL22] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CEST [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Any training maps people recommend? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread PC Games Sales Thread ZeroSpace Megathread Summer Games Done Quick 2026!
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 Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
Cricket [SPORT] TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 2024 - 2026 Football Thread NBA General Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How Streaming Impacts Game P…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7041 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
The PiG Daily
21:25
Best Games of SC
Maru vs herO
Reynor vs Classic
Maru vs Classic
Reynor vs Maru
PiGStarcraft277
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
elazer 296
PiGStarcraft277
ProTech102
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 1393
Dewaltoss 93
NaDa 12
Dota 2
capcasts138
NeuroSwarm86
League of Legends
Doublelift3720
Other Games
summit1g13589
Grubby4460
singsing1639
shahzam565
C9.Mang0391
FrodaN283
crisheroes231
byalli216
Liquid`Hasu159
UpATreeSC86
KnowMe66
ZombieGrub52
ViBE32
PPMD21
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV192
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 52
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 10
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Counter-Strike
• imaqtpie1151
• Shiphtur211
Other Games
• WagamamaTV417
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
2h 3m
CranKy Ducklings
12h 3m
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
17h 3m
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
21h 3m
eOnzErG vs Mihu
Messiah vs XuanXuan
Jaystar vs TerrOr
Dewalt vs Bonyth
eOnzErG vs XuanXuan
Mihu vs TerrOr
Messiah vs Bonyth
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 12h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 17h
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
1d 21h
Jaystar vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs TerrOr
XuanXuan vs Bonyth
Mihu vs Dewalt
Messiah vs Jaystar
eOnzErG vs Bonyth
TerrOr vs Dewalt
Wardi Open
2 days
OSC
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
OSC
6 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL Season 22
2026 GSL S2
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
Acropolis #4 - GSB
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Murky Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2
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
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #3
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.