windows xp problems

[amanjivraj]

hey guys.. i need some major help.. i;m usually pretty good with computer.. but i;m stuck
realised ihad a few small viruses on my computer.. so i decided to restart.. and go into safemode so i could fix my registry.. but when i restarted.. i got a message saying that the file hal.dll is missing.. it wouldnt let me go into safe mode.. or even ms dos.
so after alot of frustration i tried to reinstall windows.. but it would only let me install it again.. so i installed windows xp.. on the same harddrive. but under a different folder.. windows2.. instead of the default windows.
this let me on to my computeur.
everything works fine. i can see my old program files.. and i can even see the other windows file.
i fiexed the hal.dll probelm.. but now everytime i restart i boot with windows2. and my desktop.. and installed system files are in windows 1.
how can i boot from windows one.. somehow choose whihc windows directory to boot my computer from?
please help
thanks
aman

 

[yashar]

not positive but i think you have installed windows2 onto the first windows but you selected "save files" while you were installing windows2

 

[XT]

I would reccomend a clean re format and wipe everything of the drive and save the neccesary files. This should get rid of the error(s) and such and if it presists i would say your o/s media is corrupt which would not be the case as you have installed it again and it works.

 

[Ares]

I've never had a prob with viruses, but i know plenty who have. My rule is simple and i tell it to them as i'll tell it to anyone else. The best way to go, if you really want to be sure you're clean, is to REFORMAT! You'd end up with less work to deal with in the long run (how many times have you installed winxp already in diff folders, and trying the whole safe mode thing, etc?).

Just start new. Can't go wrong with that.