system restore, no cd

[booner]

hi, is it possible to do a system restore on xp without the cd? i was told that it was possible to download a tool to do a restore.
Reason i want to do this is my pc says all that ' not genuine windows' and ' pc could be at risk', type stuff, which im sure is down to some malware on my pc, and just wondered if a restore would aid removal of this malware?

 

[Mussels]

thats not malware, thats one of two things

1. you have a pirated copy of windows and got caught

2. your system clock is wrong (wrong year, most likely) and has made windows think its pirated

 

[inf3rno]

Malware?????????? LOLzzzzzzz

Dear check your copy of Windows.

 

[booner]

well i bought my pc(and all that goes with it) from pc world nearly four years ago and it has been fine up until the last 6 months, presumably pc world are a bone fide outlet, i am a bit confused by all this, oh and by the way, im not your 'dear', and was looking for something abit more intelligent from this thread than that. you both failed to answer my first question regarding system restore also,

 

[t77snapshot]

Mussels did not fail, those two are answers are very common with what you are describing. You can try to go back to a system restore point located in the help folder in control panel. Have you created any recent restore points?

 

[booner]

maybe im not explaining it properly, im not the most conversant with pc's, but i want to basically wipe my computer and 'start again', i seem to remember doin it once before but needed to use the apropriate cd but cannot seem to find it, i was under the impression it could be downloaded or something?

 

[troyrae360]

go into add remove programs and uninstall microsoft genuine advantage tool

 

[erocker]

maybe im not explaining it properly, im not the most conversant with pc's, but i want to basically wipe my computer and 'start again', i seem to remember doin it once before but needed to use the apropriate cd but cannot seem to find it, i was under the impression it could be downloaded or something?

You should be able to do a system restore through windows in the Control Panel.


If you lost the CD, you can call or email Microsoft Customer Service and get a new one for a small fee. Start here: http://support.microsoft.com/gethelp/default.aspx?content=kb;en-us;322389

 

[temp02]

What troyrae360 said, un-install the WGA and the message should go away, this will probably "break" some updates that Windows "has done"/"will preform" that required system validation.
Also if when you bought your computer it did not came with a copy of Windows (even if a recorded OEM one) and an unique serial number then your Windows is not a genuine one (pirated).
And you can't "reset" the system the way you want to (complete system clean) without a Windows CD.

On a side note, check if there is some sticker on your computer case that looks like this

if you find one, then I say (and this is me saying) that it's ok to download a copy of Windows (same version that you have now) from the internet, recorded it and use the serial that was shipped with your computer (at least this does not seem that illegal to me, it would just be like a backup copy right?), but if there is no sticker, then there is nothing (at least legal) that you can do either then install some copy of Windows 7 RC (maybe?).