Windows Recovery Console is one option which is very useful to repair installation or operating system errors and to remove virus, spyware etc. This is a tutorial about how to use recovery console explaining important and useful commands along with how to restore the registry. You can even install and run the recovery console from the hard disk.
No operating system is immune to damage, and Microsoft OSes are certainly no exception, viruses, spyware and A broken Windows installation doesn’t necessarily mean a reinstall is required.
Thankfully, Windows OS make recovery possible in a few easy steps. If your OS refuses to start up or run properly, or if the OS choice does not appear, for example, you can fix it in a matter of minutes. All you need is your bootable Windows CD.
We suggest you do a dry run of the Windows Recovery Console and familiarize yourself with it after reading this, so you don’t feel lost when you do try a recovery. The process is easy if you have some knowledge of DOS.
Set your first boot device to CD-ROM and boot using your Windows boot CD. When you see “Press any key to boot from CD”, do so.
Next, choose the repair or recovery option by pressing [R]. If you have more than one installation of Windows, they will appear in the choices menu, so be aware of where the copy of Windows you wish to repair is installed, so you can choose it correctly.
You need to enter the Administrator password in order to “log on” to the Windows installation in question. (Bear in mind that if you type a wrong password thrice in succession, the computer restarts.)
You will see a command prompt that says “X:\WINDOWS”, where X is the partition where you installed the operating system (“C” in most cases).
You can now access the troubleshooting / repair commands. Type “help” and press [Enter] to see a list of available commands. There are several powerful commands available, and we will explain the more important of these.
When you are installing a new OS, or have accidentally deleted system files from your boot drive, these two commands come to your rescue.
The “fixboot” command rewrites the boot sector code onto the chosen partition. The syntax for this command is “fixboot <drive letter>”.
The “fixmbr” command repairs the boot record of the boot partition. The master boot record can be damaged by a virus or a faulty installation of a second OS. Just use the “fixmbr” command to repair your boot record and have Windows working again!
If neither of the above commands can get your Windows installation started, the next step will be to try the “bootcfg” command. Type “bootcnf /rebuild” for the recovery console to display all available Windows partitions. Choose the one you want to add to the boot menu.
The Check Disk (chkdsk) command scans a partition for errors and tries a data recovery if possible. If a bad sector is encountered, the Check Disk tool marks them as bad such that data will not be written to it. If Windows refuses to start and you suspect a failing hard disk (screech-ng noises, sudden hangs, etc.), use this command to check the status of your hard disk. The syntax is “chkdsk X”, where X is the drive letter assigned to the partition in question.
Windows XP or Vista stores its Registry information in two files named “software” and “system” in the Windows\system32\config folder. Soon after installation, a copy of these files is stored in the Windows\repair folder.
In the event of Windows not starting up at all, a sure-shot way of getting it up and running is to replace the existing “software” and “system” files in the Windows\ system32\config with the files from the Windows\repair folder.
Note that none of your programs or drivers will work, you need to reinstall each of them. While it may seem like a tedious job, it sure is quicker and easier than a full-fledged reinstall and data backup.
To do this,
Go to “C:\Windows” prompt, type “attrib -h -s \system32\config\system” and press [Enter];
Next,type “attrib -s -h \system32\config\software” and press [Enter]. This is to remove the “system” and “hidden” attributes of the files.
You can now copy the files from the repair folder by typing “copy \repair\system\system32\ config”, pressing [Enter], then typing “copy \repair\software\system32\config” and pressing [Enter].
When you’re prompted to proceed with an overwrite, press [Y]
The Eicar Virus is a harmless virus that contains a string of characters that will be recognized by all Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware vendors. By downloading it your a/v should detect it and attempt to quarantine it. It can be downloaded in various formats (.txt, .zip) and is available here:
The file will test that your antivirus is functioning properly.
Trojan simulator is similar but installs a process and a registry auto start entry that your av package should detect:
A firewall should be able to block incoming attacks from Trojans or hackers. To test this ability it is good to see which ports are hidden on your computer or “stealthed”.
A good website to test your stealthed ports is GRC Shields Up! Follow the link below then click on shields up and follow the simple instructions.
For a firewall to be effective it needs to stop malware from contacting the internet. Malware may connect to upload stolen info, download more malicious software or serve you adverts.
To test whether your firewall will allow leaks in different ways you can use the software from Comodo on this page:
Firewall leak testing tools from Comodo
This software when run will try and communicate with the internet in various sneaky ways to try and bypass your firewall. A good firewall should stop these methods. Don’t let your A/V block the file, as it may be detected as a potentially unwanted program but isn’t a virus.
Popups, as well as being really annoying can serve you malware. To test your Browsers Popup stopping ability then try these links:
PhishTank has a list of recently submitted phishes (website forgeries designed to scam in some way). The confidently brave or secure can check out these by surfing to these links… But be wary of clicking on these sites as they can often serve viruses. If a phish is detected then your security software’s phishing protection should warn you. Firefox and Internet Explorer in built phishing filters should also provide protection or warnings.
To test whether you have the conficker worm, this website will load an image from some of the websites that the conficker worm attempts to block. The site explains itself better than I can but essentially if you are missing the images you could be infected.
Browsers have various security issues and to test your browser then surf here:
You may only have vulnerabilities if you are not running the latest version of your browser.
This website will send you a number of emails designed to test your email software’s spam filtering abilities in a variety of ways:
The attachment size limit sees a new upgrade. All Gmail users should see an increase of 5 MB from the previous 20 MB limit of email attachments.
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Did you ever clean up a system and realised that when you click on a drive icon the drive does not open ? well it could be because a rouge autorun.inf file in the root directory of the drive could be the problem. It could be a Hard Drive ( Internal / External) or a Pen Drive
To clean it just follow the simple steps below
