Skip to main content

I am having a problem restoring an Image on a Win 7 computer that has malware.

Thread needs solution

I have a problem with Win 7 where everything is working fine but I cannot receive updates from Microsoft.  I tried to restore an earlier image but same problem (no updates).  I then re-installed Win 7 using disks I purchased from HP, but still no updates.

I am using an Acronis True Image program from 2012 but I am willing to buy the 2017 addition if it will solve my problem.  How do I clean the hard drive to get rid of Malware or Virus that is causing my problem?  I have Avast Premium and Malwarebytes on my computer but they don't find the problem.

Please Help me.

Hal  

0 Users found this helpful

Hal, welcome to these User Forums.

If you have already done a clean install of Windows 7 and everything looks to be working OK apart from not being able to receive Windows Updates (from Microsoft), then I am not sure that restoring your backup will be the best way forward here unless you are 110% certain that your backup was made when your computer was fully working in every way?

If your backup was created by ATIH 2012 then you really should be using the same program to do any restore, but you should be using the Acronis Rescue Media to boot from when doing the restore.  If ATIH 2012 is working correctly on the computer, then you can create the Rescue Media from within the program on either CD/DVD or a USB stick.

Personally, if you think that you may have some form of Malware infection, then I would take steps to confirm or deny this before doing anything else.

One tool that I can recommend is to use the AVG Rescue CD which can be created either as a bootable DVD or on a USB stick (minimum 2GB size).  You should boot from this rescue media on your computer with a network cable connection (it will also work with some wireless cards) so that you download the latest AVG antivirus definitions, then do a full system scan for any malware completely offline from your Windows 7 OS.

If that runs clean, then the next step would be to try cleaning out the Windows Update folders - to do this, you need to first stop the Windows Update Service by opening the Services.MSC control panel (type Services.MSC at the Run prompt) then stop the service.

Next, after the service is stopped, open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\ and look for the SoftwareDistribution folder - either rename or delete this folder.

Finally, restart the Windows Update service, which will recreate the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder and try running Windows Update again - it will tell you that this have never been run before!

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Steve,

I will try above.

Someone else I talked to in a Computer store suggested I wipe the drive clean or buy a new hard drive before I reinstall Windows using the HP disks.

Thank You

Hal