Solved Cost of reinstalling win8.1

[jerry delacruz]

I was recently infected with the freshy virus on my ASUS laptop. All my work files are safe, so rather than spend time expelling freshy, I was thinking of just re-installing win8.1. However, I'm on a metered hotspot and wonder the gig cost of the re-install.

 

[alphanumeric]

I can't help you with that question but may have another option. It may save you some money down the road. if you here, Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help you can download the install media for Windows 8.1. This install media will accept Windows 8.0 and Windows 8.1 product codes, even embedded OEM keys. You could, if you wanted to, do a clean install of 8.1 and skip having to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1. And also save the install media should you need to reinstall again latter on. No having to download it all over again. Just a thought.

 

[KYHI]

The Setup Media Download will cost you just under 4GB

 

[jerry delacruz]

That's $20. Thanks. I'll wait until I get to McDonald's.

 

[KYHI]

4 gigs to down win8.1 is expensive; $5 per gig = $20. Thanks for the estimate. I'll wait now until I can get to the library, or McDonald's, to re-install. Ubunto is looking better all the time. Maybe win10 will be out of testing soon.

Did your laptop come with windows 8 or 8.1 ??

Did you try the option to recover your OS? Reset PC..

 

[jerry delacruz]

It came with win 8.1.

 

[jerry delacruz]

Does that option involve a download?

 

[KYHI]

No..

Right Charm -> Change PC Settings -> Update and Recovery -> Recovery -> Remove everything and reinstall windows

That should re-write your PC back to the factory out of box settings using the factory windows installation image

Just Like New..

 

[jerry delacruz]

So I don't have to be online to do this? Because this freakin "freshy" thing takes over the browser and starts downloading. I have to break the connection before it eats up all my hotspot.

 

[KYHI]

Nope.. It is all PC internal..

Windows 8 and 8.1 have a built-in OS Recovery Option..

 

[jerry delacruz]

Cool. What about my free one year Office 365? It's not a deal breaker either way.

 

[jerry delacruz]

Just an aside, do you know if this will effect my free one year office 365?

 

[alphanumeric]

Backup any documents etc, you don't want to risk losing to external media before you do the factory reset. I would think your office 365 subscription should be OK. Just renter your subscriber info back into office 365.

 

[mrgeek]

I was recently infected with the freshy virus on my ASUS laptop. All my work files are safe, so rather than spend time expelling freshy, I was thinking of just re-installing win8.1. However, I'm on a metered hotspot and wonder the gig cost of the re-install.

Which browser are you on ? Freshy is an browser extension/toolbar, not technically a virus but malware. You can get rid of it by resetting your browser. ie; in Firefox (Note: You will have a new FF profile upon reset, otherwise Freshy will restore itself via your hidden profile, and you will lose all your settings but exporting your bookmarks to a desktop file can save time afterward) -

Hit ?> Firefox Help >Troubleshooting Information > mozilla support page

1. Reset Firefox
2. Finish
3. Delete Personal Settings=>Reset=>Close

Another thing to try is to download and run Malwarebytes Free - https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/ and have it scan and repair. This should take care of leftover registry entries and whatever else you unintentionally installed too. Much quicker than a factory reset and re-installing your programs and files or even a refresh.

 

[jerry delacruz]

The explorer and chrome browsers were both infected. I didn't have mozilla or firefox. The explorer was much worse as it would start downloading who knows what right after opening. At least chrome would let me get to a website before it started blurting out adds. The explorer seemed to have been designed with forethought as to where you would go to remove it; when I went to ms to download anti-virus apps it would cover them completely, whereas with sites not involving such software it was just a nuisance. I did the reset and things are fine. So far! Thanks for the help.

 

[mrgeek]

Glad you got all that sorted out and you found out you have a recovery partition that works. To avoid future problems where you unintentionally install this type of crapware, try this small program out where it asks you if you want to install something when you forget to or overlook a permission check box when installing something you actually want - Unchecky - Keeps your checkboxes clear

This is probably how freshy got on your computer to begin with. I'm usually diligent about reading every page when downloading but the new trick is to make the install permission to install page look like pages and pages of terms of service which you are conditioned never to scroll thru so you just hit Accept.

 

[jerry delacruz]

Yeah, I do that all the time. Do you know of a way to load and test apps in a virtual environment before allowing them into the system?

 

[mrgeek]

Try Virtual Box from Oracle, free open source - https://www.virtualbox.org/
Most popular paid ones are Sandboxie or VMware. They all allow you to create a virtual OS that you can roll back or keep.

 

[KYHI]

I did the reset and things are fine. So far! Thanks for the help.

Glad it all worked out for you..