Windows 7 My mother accidentally....the entire operating system.

KoethEssekki

New Member
Well not all of it and I need some advice and help if anyone can offer assistance :)

My mother plays the games on publishers clearing house. If you are familiar with them, they have you install weird backdoor types of programs that probably contain massive amounts of viruses and malware. Well few nights ago she says someone hacked her computer and she tried deleting files randomly she thought was a good idea and well....yeah it even has me stumped.

Now she can no longer do a system restore because it says the system restore files are missing, and that she can no longer connect to the internet because the computer is saying it has no idea what the internet even is. She's running Win7 on a basic desktop computer and we don't have the original win7 disc as it never came with the computer. She also has no backup CD's.

Any ideas on how to fix this by chance? I am fluent with computers and technology, buuuuut......i've never encountered this kind of problem before.
 
Assuming that you have a valid Windows 7 Product Key, either affixed to the outside of the computer somewhere or contained within some documentation that came with the system and that the computer still boots into normal mode, you should be able to perform what's called an in place upgrade / repair.
You can download and burn the installation media from here.
Be sure to get the version that matches the product key you have.
Brief instructions here.... it's pretty simple, burn the installation media from the ISO that you download, boot your system, insert the media and choose upgrade.
Although this is generally a non-destructive process, I would still warn.......
1. Backup everything you consider important.
and
2. If the machine is or was truly infected then this will not likely resolve the issue although it may provide a platform from which you can address any infections properly.

It can take a while so be prepared to be patient.
 
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