hi

1. Recently my cd drive has been going in and out of its own accord, popups galore, homepage stuck, and things installed without my asking. Not to mention the machine feels a whole lot slower.

Ive been told i have bugs and/or a trojan? Is this correct?
If so, how can i kill them/prevent against them in future.

2. I have a 80GB harddrive in the NTFS windows XP file system, split into 2 partitions.

Do i NEED to reformat and install the windows again to make sure im all cleaned? If so, How can i go about reformatting the main boot section (partition 1) only. I dont want to reformat the whole drive. In DOS at bootup via startup disk, its not detecting i have a C drive to be able to format, but when i do it whilst the windows its there.

Also, surely there is a way to combat these evils without always reformatting & how to prevent in future.

I hope you can please help, regards

JJP

p.s. it might be helpful to know that there are 4 users to this pc who don't all behave and feel the same about system security

e.g. my smaller bro has been caught viewing unsuitable websites , are these a cause of probs? If you wish to learn more about Internet security I suggest you read the following articles:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/firewall.htm - How Firewalls works

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cookie.htm - How Cookies work

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm - How Viruses Work

Then; install or use this software:

http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php - virus scan - AVG - Free Edition

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ - Anti virus - freeware - web based

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ - Adaware 6.0 - Ad/malware scanner - Free trial

http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download - Spybot S&D - ad/malware scanner - Freeware

http://texturizer.net/firefox - Mozilla Firefox - Internet browser.

I suggest you TAKE these programs into consideration.

http://www.grc.com - Internet Security test and information.

Remember: They are watching you.

thanks alot pal ill give them a try.

p.s. do u think i shud reformat/install again, or is it a waste of time With these programs there is no need for formatting. Unless your computer remains slow, uninstall all UNNECESSARY programs and use a program such as Advanced System Optimizer

http://www.systweak.com/asov2/

To clean the registry, cache, cookies, files and more.

If you do format, install these programs from the start. I suggest you install a Firewall such as Zone Alarm that can filter certain websites from being viewed. And, ofcourse, block PEOPLE from accessing your PC.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp - Zone Alarm - Free Trial/Edition

I strongly recommend you install a Firewall wheter you format or not.