Got a virus, Now windows won't boot. :/

Mkay, so my girlfriend's nephew was using her mother's laptop and got a virus of some sort (at least that's what the blue screen mentions) and it won't startup properly (It goes all the way to the screen where it shows the windows logo then freezes). Now I was told that there aren't any important files on the computer and I've been trying to reinstall windows in order to format the HDD so the virus is gone but for some reason I can't make it into the computer's BIOS. It's never an option when the computer's first starting up (only F2 for setup is) so googling what the default BIOS key is for an ACER computer let me into bios once and now it never lets me into it and instead brings up the windows recovery tool window. I have a windows xp install disk and I tried booting from it and just installing xp for now and it'll get to starting to install XP and then blue screen saying there's a virus. Is there something I'm missing? I'd really appreciate any and all help

 

Hi Scotty, welcome to Computer Help Forums.

First of all, the Press F2 for setup option when booting is the path to the bios. So if you can get into the bios the first thing you need to do is set the computer to boot from the CD/DVD drive. Although it does already sound like you are able to boot from the CD drive.

Can you give us the exact make and model of the laptop in question, and also can you tell us if the machine has been reformatted before this time? Or if it's easier to understand...does the laptop still have the original operating system installed that it had from brand new?

Tapping F8 when booting the laptop should bring up the boot options window. One of these options will be "Safe Mode with networking". If you are able to get into Safe Mode, then you may also have the option to run a full scan of the system with whatever Antivirus/Anti-Malware program you have installed on the laptop.

I would suggest downloading and installing MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. That's where the networking part of Safe Mode with Networking comes into play. See the link below.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/tech/

Note: When downloading and installing Mbam, don't forget to uncheck any boxes that offer bundled software such as Toolbars and Browsers, etc.

Please get back to us regarding your progress.

 

I'm 95% sure the original OS from the manufacturer is on it currently and that it's never been reformatted. I'll have to check the model of the laptop but I know it's an Acer and I'm not currently near it... I tried hitting F8 and it never gave me the options to "Start windows normally", "Start windows in safe mode", or "Safe mode with networking" as it usually does either :/ I ended up making a windows 7 home premium x86 install disk (what the computer has on it now) as before I was using a windows xp install disk to just get SOMETHING on there at the moment but it makes sense to me that a blue screen saying I was missing files (potentially due to a virus as it mentions) was because I was using a completely different OS disk. But anways, I'll try reinstalling windows 7 from that disk tomorrow and try to boot up in safe mode with networking to get malwarebytes as you said and report my findings haha. Thanks by the way!