Windows 10: Professional cleaning: what's involved?

shutdown /r /fw /t 0

It works for me. I just tried it.
I have been trying to get into the Start menu. No luck so far.

Jack

 

what start menu Jack? The startup programs?

 

I have Restart and Shut Down off of the little window (far left, taskbar). Use to be the Start Orb.
It would be neat to put your restart into bios there.

Code: Shut Down (Bios Restart) would be nice. Restart[/quote] Don't go off doing a lot of work to figure out my little dream.


Jack

 

I may play a little. I just saved the command to notepad and named it bios.bat. I just right click and run as admin. Your idea would be neat though.

 

Don't think that's possible, but you can easily add it to the All apps list. Just create a shortcut for it on your desktop then move that into the Start menu (for all accounts, or just your account). You could then pin it to Start too for easy access.

Add or Remove Items for All Apps in Start menu in Windows 10

 

Please ignore these remarks and see my next post which contains updated information.

 

I haven't tried your idea yet. I'm still playing catch-up from a previous idea. I went into the BIOS of my brother's computer and found that the settings were NOT the same as a previous suggestion proposed. It said I could find the boot from boot manager option on the Main panel of the BIOS but I didn't find anything like that there. However, I did find what appeared to be a comparable option in a later menu. The wording was slightly different but it was basically an enable/disable for boot manager. It was disabled so I enabled, then saved and exited. Then it finished booting to Windows. I did a shutdown then powered up the computer again. I went pretty much immediately into an empty screen. It just sits there like that. The monitor LED is blinking as if it isn't getting any input and none of the LEDs on the tower are lit so the computer appears to be off. I was going to re-disable the boot manager then try YOUR suggestion since it *is* a UEFI computer but, instead, I tried rebooting one more time. This time, it told me that the Delete key would take me into BIOS and F12 would let me choose where to boot. I choose the Sandisk UEFI option instead of Boot Manager and *finally* I was into the flash drive instead of the hard drive. (This is the first bit of success I've had with this problem since I started so I'm doing a bit of a cheer in my head as I write this.)

Before I proceed, I have another question. Which type of installation do I want? Since I haven't yet erased the hard drive, which would appear to be a critical step in the resolution of this problem, I feel as if I should be doing that right about now. I was thinking I should make up the flash drive that had DBAN on it again - I couldn't run that before because I couldn't get it to boot from the flash drive - and then do that before I even think about installing a new copy of Windows. Does that make sense?

Also, if you experts agree that this is the way to go, should I do an Upgrade or a Custom Install once I've erased the hard drive? I'm leaning toward the Custom Install because the blurb for Upgrade says "This option is only available when a supported version of Windows is already running on the computer." I'm guessing that once the erase has taken place, a supported version of Windows will NOT be running on the computer.

 

Custom install. If you decide not to wipe the drive, at least make sure to delete all existing partitions during the install process. Once you’ve deleted all the partitions, click next and Windows will begin installing.

 

Okay, I chose Custom Install and then deleted all the partitions. It's started the install. Will that completely erase and overwrite the hard drive as I want to do? Or should I stop the install, create the DBAN flash drive, and run that first, then try the Custom Install again?

Just for the heck of it, I started the install. It's asking to connect to the Internet. I'm reluctant to do that as long as I'm not sure the hard drive has been erased. For all I know, whatever malware is still on the computer will reach out to the rotters who corrupted the computer and spill information that we don't want them to have. I'm going to stop here and wait for further advice. Otherwise, with my luck, I'll find I've made things worse, not better.

 

If you have a ISO of Windows 10 (DVD or Thumb drive) it should install without hooking to the internet. You just won't get the Updates/Upgrades.
Once installed,
Defender and the firewall should be active and you can check for Windows Updates/Upgrades.

That is the way I understand things.

A format of a drive does not wipe the drive. If you feel it necessary then a wipe should be done.
This tutorial by Brink is another option.
Please read.

Erase Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10 Hardware Drivers Tutorials


Jack

 

Finish the install for no other reason than to gain experience so you’ll know what to do next time.

After you’re done experimenting, boot back off the install media, select repair the pc, then choose command promptl and input the diskpartt commands posted previously. Once that’s done, go through the actual install.

 

Okay, thanks for the info, I really wasn't happy about the prospect of connecting the internet while the hard drive was riddled with malware. If the installation will work - except for updates - by simply choosing "skip" on the page that asks you what connection you want, that should be fine.

As for the delete, I found a DBAN tutorial that was pretty clear and burned DBAN onto a flash drive I had handy. Unfortunately, I can't coax the computer to boot from it for love or money. I've changed the boot priority so that the flash drive was first but it always falls into the Windows installation. Or offers to do a Windows Repair or Reboot. This is driving me bananas. No matter how carefully I try to follow the instructions, they keep failing. Something *other* than the expected happens and then I have to run back here to ask again. I've been waiting to hear an answer to my questions all day but didn't get any email notifications. I thought no one had answered but it turns out the emails just stopped coming for some reason. *That* is frustrating too!

FYI, you've got a typo in your profile. It says you're from NOTHERN Ohio. I'm sure you mean NORTHERN Ohio.

 

I have lost so much time trying to get this going that I really just want to get the drive erased and Windows reinstalled. I don't feel like there's a lot of point in learning these procedures thoroughly as they are almost certainly going to change dramatically by the next time I have to do this. (And if my brother is stupid enough to get swindled by these fraudsters AGAIN, he is going to be on his own as far as fixing the mess, even if it means he has to do without a computer for a while.)

But I may HAVE to do a "practice install" because I'm having a heck of time getting this bloody computer to boot from the DBAN drive. I do NOT want to leave things at just dropping the partitions or even formatting: I want to ERASE the drive and all its malware thoroughly as long as it doesn't preclude me reinstalling Windows without the key.

You helpers are saying, in effect, that you're "pretty sure" we can reinstall Windows without the product key because the installation will know that the hard-drive previously had a licensed copy of Windows on it so it won't ask for the key again. What I'm not hearing is certainty and that scares me a bit. I've been wrong about things I've been "pretty sure" about so I hope you won't take offense at me worrying just a bit that maybe erasing the hard drive will zap whatever bit of data the installation was going to need to be sure it could install Windows without a key. Then, presumably, my brother is looking at forking out for a new license, an expense he is trying very hard to avoid. But if we don't erase the hard drive, I'm worried that the malware on the computer will somehow harm him when he reconnects the internet.

It's been a long day for me so I'm going to kick back and watch some TV. I'll check for new messages again in the morning, this time without counting on the email notifications. (Maybe they stop notifying you after a thread reaches a certain length?)

Anyway, I AM very appreciative of everyone's efforts. I just want to get this drive erased and Windows reinstalled so I can get back to MY life instead of cleaning up my brother's mess.

 

Forget DBAN. You don’t need it. Boot from the windows install media like you’re going to install Windows but instead pick “repair computer” then pick advanced -> command prompt and follow the instructions for diskpart that was posted earlier.

 

Okay, I got to "Repair computer", chose "Advanced" (twice) and got to a command prompt option, which I chose. I entered the "diskpart" command, then "list disk". It listed 2 disks; those must be logical because there is only one physical disk. Disk 0 was 929 GB or so, Disk 1 was much smaller. On the theory that I'd need to erase both (logical) disks and one was much smaller, I thought I'd do the small one first and then do the big one overnight. So I executed "select disk 1" and then "clean all". Unfortunately, there is no progress indicator in this tool and after 10 minutes, it still wasn't done so I'm guessing even the small disk will take a long time. I'm hoping it finishes this evening so I can still start Disk 0 before I go to bed....

Did I just shoot myself in the foot by cleaning the small disk? It occurred to me just now that this small disk is typically a recovery partition. Is this where the installation process is going to look for the product key? Am I in the midst of erasing that key?