Custom PC Blog

Spyware – The Modern Day Virus:

Since the birth of the internet there have always been many forms of invasive advertising. People engage in these practices for many reasons. The biggest reasons being to make money from sponsors or promote their company or products.

As the years have gone by these practices have become more and more annoying to the point where they have become malicious attacks on users systems. Modern day spyware is now so bad and damaging to a system that it can exhibit the same symptoms as if a computer were to get a virus.

There a numerous signs that can point towards a spyware infection. A couple symptoms are listed below:

01. Slow boot times, when a system used to be fast.
02. Overall performance slows down.
03. Getting popup ads even when you are not online.
04. Programs or shortcuts added to menus that you did not put on your system.
05. Programs that tell you they found spyware on your PC that you did not install.
06. Frequently getting disconnected from the internet.
07. Memory errors or BSODs [Blue Screen of Death]
08. Added toolbars in your internet browser that were not installed by you.
09. A changed wallpaper or homepage that you did not set.
10. Not being able to boot into Windows.

Those are just some of the most common symptoms caused by malicious spyware on a system.

Now that you can recognize some of the symptoms of spyware we are going to talk about the steps you can take to protect yourself and you system from these types of threats.

I Have Spyware!!! How Do I Remove It?..

So after reading the general symptoms above you have come to the conclusion that your machine is most likely infected with spyware. The first important rule is don’t panic.

Since we are going to be walking through a multi step process for cleaning up your system you will need to be calm and patient to make sure you follow this guide in its entirety to fix the problems with your system.

In most cases, almost all spyware infections can be cleaned and corrected without needing to do a complete reinstall of Windows. That is the one advantage of being infected with spyware over being infected with a virus.

The first thing we need to do to clean the system is install Anti Spyware programs. These are programs that are designed like Anti Virus programs except their main functions are to find and clean spyware off your system. I am going to recommend 4 main programs in this guide that we use in house when customers bring in infected machines. These programs do an excellent job of eliminating almost any threat on your system.

[NOTE: All the programs and links below are resources you can use FREE of charge. Some of the companies may ask for donations if you like their products but you are not required to pay for the use as they provide them as a benefit to the computer community. If you really like a program feel free to make a donation, if not they are still happy you like their software and hope you'll recommend it to a friend.]

SpyBot Search & Destroy:

The first program we are going to download is called “SpyBot S&D”. The S&D in the program name stands for “Search and Destroy” which is exactly what this program does to malicious spyware. The SpyBot Homepage can be found at the following link:

http://www.spybot.com/

Once you are at their main page select your language and then it will take you to the homepage. After you are there select the “Download” link in the upper left corner of the menu. It will take you to a page that you can scroll down through to find the link:

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 - product description
md5: C1A843913269018A8FC962407D7E5169

This is under their “Download” icon, and if you look to the right of that info you will see a “Download Here” button. Click on this button and it will take you to a page with multiple download locations. Any link you click on will take you to another site that hosts the SpyBot program. In this case I am going to click on the top link and it takes me to the “FileForum” website.

In the top right of my screen there is a “Download Now” link and when you click on this the page will change and a “Save File” window should now open. I recommend saving the program to your desktop so it is easy to find.

Once the download is complete you should see a file on your desktop named:

“spybotsd14.exe”

Double click on this file and follow the install wizard to setup the program on your system. Go with all the default options and it should install pretty quick on your system. Once it is complete click the “close” button to finish the installer.

You should now have a Window that says “Completing the SpyBot Search & Destroy SetupWizard“. Make sure the “Run Spybot.exe” option is check marked and click the “Finish” button to complete the install and run SpyBot for the first time.

The first time you run the program it is going to take you through a setup process. You can go with the default options for most of the questions. I would recommend clicking the button “Create Registry Backup” on step 3 of 7 so you have a restore point if the program takes off anything invasive that you actually need. When you select this option it will take a couple minutes to finish the operation.

Once you have done that click “Next” and do the “Search for Updates” option. When you click that button the program should go online and then show you a window with a list of all available updates. In the same window that you click Search for Updates you should now be able to choose “Download All Available Updates“. Do so at this time.

As it downloads the updates you should see each option in the window behind it gain a green checkmark beside it. This shows that the update was downloaded successfully. If one does not download completely let it finish and then click the “Search for Updates” button in the main window of the program once the small window is gone. [It will be the third button down on the list with the world icon.]

Now that you program is completely up to date lets do one thing before we scan for spyware. In the left hand menu you will see 5 icons. Select the middle icon that says “Immunize” This will take you to a new window that will do a check to see how vulnerable your computer is.

It will do a quick scan and then tell you “Warning” “xxxx bad products already blocked, xxx additional protections possible. Please immunize.” Go ahead and click the “OK” button. Now it will take you to the Immunize main screen. Select the “Immunize” icon in the top left hand portion of the main Window. It has a green + sign next to it.

When you click it, you will see a progress bar go across the screen and once it is complete it will give you a message “Immunization has finished” “9812 bad products are now blocked.” The number may vary depending on your system and the version of SpyBot, but sadly enough my system just got immunized for almost 10,000 products classified as spyware. [Now you see how bad the spyware trend really is]

Once we are done here, go back to the left menu with the 5 icons and select the one on the top that says “Search and Destroy“. Now that the system has been immunized we are ready to attempt to remove spyware.

When you click the top button it will take you to a new window with a “Check for Problems” button on the top left hand side of the main window. Click this button now. The button will now turn into a red X that says “Stop Check“. Let the program do a complete scan at this point.

You will see a progress bar at the bottom of the screen that shows you a percentage of how much longer is left on the spyware scan. I would recommend getting up now, and getting a drink or making a snack because the scan will take anywhere from 5-25 minutes depending on your system.

Once the scan is complete any malicious files that are found will appear in the window in red. You will also notice that they have a little box next to them with a check mark in it. The program flags all the files with the check mark by default so all you need to do is click the button at the top that says “Fix Selected Problems“. Once you click this button anything with a check mark next to it will be removed from your system.

When I did my scan it came back with one file found that you can get details on by clicking on the + sign next to the file name. This will show you extended details about the problem. In my case the file found was a “Tracking Cookie”. This is by far the most common form of spyware, and low on list of actual threats. In any case we want our system totally clean so once you check out any details [if you even want to] click the “Fix Selected Problems” button and the program will now clean off the spyware.

Once you click the button a window will popup that says “Confirmation” “You are about to remove these entries. Do you want to continue?”

Go ahead and click the “Yes” button. You will now get a second “Confirmation” window that says “1 problem fixed” [or however many you had. In my case just the one tracking cookie.] Click the “OK” button.

The Window will now look like the spyware is still on the list, but don’t worry. You see the big green check mark by the name now? That means the spyware has been removed. If you have any doubts feel free to scan the system again to make sure it was completely removed. Otherwise go on to the next part of our guide.

[NOTE: Some spyware will reinstall itself on your system even after it is removed by Anti Spyware programs like SpyBot. If this happens it is not a failing of the Anti Spyware software. It means the spyware you have is very malicious and was written to propagate itself on the system. Continue with the guide and one of the following steps should correct the issue.]

We have now concluded how to setup, immunize and run SpyBot S&D to protect your system. This is the first step in cleaning off any threats that may exist on your computer. Go ahead and close down SpyBot and continue to the next part of our guide.

Downloading and Installing Lavasoft Ad-aware:

The next program we are going to use is called Ad-aware and was created by a company called Lavasoft. As the name implies it scans your system and makes you aware of any current threats, and once they are found it will remove them like SpyBot did. It’s good to run multiple anti spyware programs because one will usually pickup something another program missed. I have found that Ad-aware and SpyBot are a nice compliment to one another when you are trying to get all the spyware off your system

The first thing we need to do is go to the Lavasoft Homepage and download a current version of Ad-aware. The homepage can be reached at the following link:

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/

[NOTE: The above is actually the download page which is link #1 through Google when you do a search for Ad-aware. I don't like to hotlink people but I want to ensure anyone reading this guide gets the correct version of the program. If you like their program and would like to show your appreciation please visit their homepage here:

http://www.lavasoft.de/

So they know people are getting good use out of their software. Thanks]

From the download link above it will take you to a page that has a red button on the top that says “Download Now“. When you click on this button it will take you to CNET’s Download.com page that is hosting the program download.

In the top left of the main window you should see a green button with arrows on it that says “Download Now“. Click on this button and it will take you to a second page and open a “Save As” window. Once again save the installer to your desktop so it is easy to find and click “OK“.

Once the download is complete go ahead and click on the “aawsepersonal.exe” file that should now be on your desktop. Once again go with all the default options on the installer Wizard and once it’s complete it will open to a window with 3 check boxes.

Make sure that these two options are checked:

“Perform a full system scan now”

“Update definition file now”

You can leave the last box unchecked which is the option for “Open the help file now” since our guide will help you through how to use this program and keep you on the fast track to cleaning up your system.

Go ahead and click finish and you will see a window that says “Performing Web Update“. Once the progress bar is complete the program will automatically begin scanning your system for problems.

In the top of the window you will see a “Current Operation” section. While the program is running you will see the “Objects scanned” number constantly changing. Down below this you will see the “Summary” portion of the window. Anything that shows up in Dark Red in the Summary window is spyware.

The program will show you spyware it finds with different classifications that are noted next to the number of spyware it finds. Once it’s done it should take you to a “Scanning Results” page. This is very similar to the SpyBot page expect Adaware does not automatically check mark the spyware for you. This can be frustrating if you have 100+ files that need to be removed but they added a good feature to the program that will allow you to check them all at once.

Once you have your list of infected files you can make sure they all get check marked by “right” clicking on one of the files and choosing the “Select All Objects” option from the popup menu. Once you have done this all the items should now have check marks next to them. When they are all checked click the “Next” button in the lower right hand corner.

A new window will popup that says “Ad-Aware SE” “28 objects will be removed. Continue?“. [The number will vary but my scan found 28 items. 27 were tracking cookies, and 1 was low threat spyware.] Go ahead and click “OK” and you will see a quick progress bar go by, and now Ad-aware has removed all the spyware it found on your system.

At this point you can close down Ad-aware and you have now completed the second section of the Spyware removal guide.

[NOTE: The next time you run Ad-aware on your system you will be given an option to do a "Smart Scan" or "Full System Scan". If you have a really bad spyware infection you may want to choose the "Full System Scan" option which will take longer but is more thorough.]

Check Your System Status At This Point?

Ok, we have covered a lot of ground up to this point. You are now at a point where any minor threats should be taken care of and removed. Take a look at your system. Is it running better? Does it seem like the problems have been resolved? If not there are still 3 more steps you can take to ensure that your system is fully restored to its original state, short of formatting your hard drive.

If it still seems like you are having problems you may want to finish the next part of the guide to make sure everything is back in order.

One type of spyware that can linger around more than any other is known as “Hijacker” spyware. One of the most notorious types of this spyware is the “about.blank” homepage hijacker.

This is a very annoying piece of spyware that takes over you homepage and sets it to something new that you did not specify. It also does a good job of coming back once it has been removed. A good program I have found for taking care of this problem is called “Adware Away“.

[UPDATE: Adware Away is now a PAID program since so many people are using it. Unfortunately the company decided to no longer offer a free trial, but if you are sick and tired of dealing with the about.blank homepage hijacker or other Hijackers [and can't afford to format your hard drive] you might be interested in the following section. I think it’s unfortunate that they no longer offer a free version though.]

Downloading and Installing Adware Away: [LINK]

In an effort to offer a FREE alternative anti hijacker program to Adware Away I am recommending “Hijack This“.

Hijack This is a freeware scanner that checks for programs that exhibit the behavior of Hijacker Spyware.

First we need to get a hold of the program and install it onto the system. You can find it by doing a search for it through Google:

“Hijack This”

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hijack+this&btnG=Google+Search

The first link through the Google search at www.majorgeeks.com works good to download the program [refer to the Google search link above]. When you click on their site they will give you a list of mirror sites that you can download the program from. I went with the top link in Texas which downloaded the program quickly for me.

Once you click on the mirror link wait a couple seconds and your download should automatically start. You will see a “Save As” window, and once again lets save the program to the desktop.

You should now see a file on your desktop named:

“HijackThis.exe”

Go ahead a run the program and it will open a “Warning” window telling you that this program does not specifically look for Hijackers but any programs that exhibit Hijacker behavior. Because of this be careful what you remove. Software such as web toolbars and pay per click programs may stop working if you remove them from your system.

[Or something along those lines. It only displays the message the first time you run the program so I do not have the exact message]

Click “OK” and then it will take you to the main Window of the program. From here you will want to click on the top button that says “Do a system scan and save a log file“. It will do a very quick scan and then open a file in notepad named “hijackthis.log“.

Go ahead and close the notepad file and take a look at the scan results. The window has a warning at the top that says:

“Below are the results of the scan. Be careful what you delete, HijackThis cannot determine what is bad and what is merely customized by you. The best thing to do is save a log file and show it to knowledgeable folks.”

This is where the notepad file will come in handy. What you will want to do is post your HijackThis log file on a forum where experts can analyze it for you and tell you what the threat is on your system. One good resource for this is a forum that specializes in HijackThis log files which can be located here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/

and look for the section that says:

“HijackThis Logs and Analysis”

This way you can get help from people who are used to dealing with these types of spyware and hopefully get the Hijacker removed from your system.

I Have Tried All of the Listed Steps and My Computer Is Still Acting Strange:

At this point I would start to wonder if you problem is spyware related or if maybe it is a virus that is affecting the system. As mentioned in the beginning of the guide viruses can exhibit very similar behavior although they can be much harder to pin down, and remove.

If this is the case you have a couple options available to you. You can try the following:

01. Go to www.PCPitstop.com and check for bottlenecks on your system.
02. Run Anti Virus and Virus Protection Programs to Remove the Problem. [LINK]
03. Attempt to do a Windows Repair / Recovery Installation [LINK]
04. Do a Full Format and Clean Reinstall of Windows to Guarantee the Problem Gets Fixed. [LINK]

If the first three links don’t help you the fourth is bound to work since a clean reinstall will fix any problems except hardware issues. Just make sure you have all your data backed up before hand since any information on your hard drive will be lost.

Overall I hope this guide helped in resolving any serious spyware issues or problems you are running into on your system. The methods mentioned above are good habits to get into for maintaining your system. If you keep your anti spyware programs up to date, and do scans on a regular basis you will notice improved performance and better overall stability on your system which will lead to you enjoying your system that much more! Good luck.

How do I Format and Setup a Blank Floppy Disc ?

This guide will walk you through formatting and setting up a blank floppy disc. This is a good procedure to know since most diagnostic programs rely on using a bootable floppy disc to run diagnostics on the system. Since most of our guides require you to create a bootable floppy disc at one point or another we are providing a guide which will give you in depth information on how to prepare your floppy disk so you will not run into any problems during the creation process.

Step by Step Instructions:

The first thing you need when formatting a floppy disk, is a 3.5′ 1.44mb disk that does not have information on it that you need to save. The reason you need to make sure it does not have important data is once you begin the formatting process all data on that disc will be wiped off and you will be unable to recover it. So make sure it does not have backed up emails or your English assignments that are due at the end of the week.

When you have a disk that you are ready to format, put it into your floppy disk drive and then open the “My Computer” icon on your desktop by double clicking it. In the My Computer window you will see several drive designations. You will be looking for the A:\ drive which is your floppy disk drive.

[in some cases it may be another letter like B:\, but A:\ is the most common.]

Once you have selected the drive verify that this is in fact your floppy disk drive to ensure you do not wipe important data off your hard drive. The volume name should show up as:

3½ Floppy (A:)

Once you have verified that it is the correct drive, right click on it and a menu will pop up with several options. Look through the menu for the “format” option. [Usually located near the middle of the menu] Select the Format option and it will open a Format A:\ window.

The format window gives you several options:

01. Capacity

02. File System
03. Allocation unit Size
04. Volume Label
05. Format Options

I will explain the following sections in more detail so you know what each one is and what they do during the format process.

The “Capacity” of the disc shows you what type of floppy disk you are currently working with. You should not need to select this unless you are using a non standard floppy disk, in which case you will probably know which selection you need to make. The most common type of disk is the:

3.5″ 1.44MB, 512 bytes/sector

That is your average, everyday floppy disk. This should almost always be in there by default, so you do not need to worry about changing this selection most of the time.

The next section is the “File System” selection. This can be more relevant if you are into tweaking options to squeeze out every last bit of performance. The main thing to remember is FAT is the file system that was commonly used with Windows 95, 98 and sometimes with Windows 2000. Where as the NTFS file system was normally used with Windows 2000, XP Home, and XP Pro.

FAT [File Allocation Table] was an older file system that was good for it’s time, but lacks some of the features of the newer NTFS file system. NTFS also has slightly better compression which allows you to get a little more storage space out of the media by using this file system.

In the case of making a boot disk, the main thing you need to do when you are setting up your disk is remove the data. The program you are using to make your disk will normally take care of what file system needs to be present on the disk. So if you are unsure which you need to select, don’t sweat it, and just go with the default options through the format window dialog.

Next is the “Allocation unit Size” section of the format dialog. The technical definition of this is, “a group of sectors on a magnetic disk that can be reserved for the use of a particular file”. The fact that I am giving you a definition instead of an explanation lets you know that you really don’t need to worry about this section. If you are reading this guide to find out of the basics of how to format a disk this section does not pertain to your project. This would be more for someone that is creating a disk for a very specific purpose and certain criteria needs to be met.

The “Volume Label” is basically the title of your disk. For the most part this can be anything you want it to be. I recommend leaving it blank if you mainly need to create a blank disk. As mentioned before if the disk does need a label the program that is creating your disk will fill in this information for you. You can feel free to use this section if you are creating a blank disk for school work, or personal data in which case you could name it “HOMEWORK” or anything else that will help you remember what information is on your disk.

The last section is your format options section. There are two main options in this category. “Quick Format” which is an option that allows you to quickly erase data off a disk. [There is also "Enable Compression" which is an additional NTFS feature that is mentioned above]. The Quick Format option can be used as long as the disk has been fully formatted at least once since you started using it. It’s main purpose is to save time but since the full format option does not take much longer, it’s up to you which you prefer to use. For any type of boot disk, I like to do a full format and leave this option unchecked to make sure I will not run into problems during the disk creation process.

The other option is “Enable Compression” which is an NTFS only feature. Remember how we talked about NTFS having more features before. This is one example of that. If you are using a FAT file system disk, this option will most likely not be available to you. [i.e. grayed out]

Now that you have a complete understanding of the floppy disc format window and the options it provides, you should feel more comfortable setting up a blank disk. Remember that you usually do not need to set a lot of these options as the system does a good job of defaulting to what you need. This guide will basically give you the extra info you need to setup additional options if you ever desire to do so.

Now that your options are set, go ahead and create your blank floppy disk so you can create your bootable diagnostic disk without any problems.

Troubleshooting Grounding Issues:

“Grounding” or “Grounding Out” is the act of the system short circuiting due to contact with metal or conductive parts within your system.

Grounding issues can be caused by numerous problems. The most common causes are problems that were overlooked by the builder, or a defect or non standard case feature.

The symptoms of grounding issues can range from a No POST situation, to random reboots and in some cases I have even heard of people being shocked whenever they touched any metal part of their case.

The best way to try and avoid running into grounding issues is to double check all your parts before you build your system. Look at the size and shape of your motherboard and how it will fit into your case. Are there any obstructions or overhangs it might touch once you install it. Check the metal plate in your case that your motherboard will be screwed down to. Is it completely flat? Does it have raised areas and if so, do they present a problem or special build consideration. Is the back plate for your motherboard straight and will it be seated flush when it’s installed into your case?

These are just general considerations you can make when you are getting ready to assemble your case and system. This guide will cover the most common grounding issues and ways you can resolve them.

Below is a list of item and areas to check if it seems like you are running into grounding issues. Follow the steps below to ensure your system is properly assembled to avoid any type of grounding issues.

01. Check the IO Shield back plate. Trace the edges of the plate with your eyes and make sure all the sides are flush [top to bottom, left to right] and make sure one is not sticking out a little bit. Double check that the back plate is firmly in position. If it looks good but you are unsure remove the back plate from the case, and reinstall it. Usually if it is a perfect fit, it will snap into place. If it’s not double check all edges and make sure they are flush with the back of the case.

02. Make sure to use the exact amount of standoffs as required for mounting your motherboard in your case. Make sure they are aligned with all of the screw holes in your motherboard. If there is 1 extra standoff or one that is touching the bottom of the motherboard, this could lead to grounding issues.

03. In the screw hole directly below your memory slots [middle of the motherboard] make sure to use a plastic standoff instead of a brass/metal standoff as this can sometimes lead to grounding issues.

04. For front panel connections from the case, make sure you only have the Power Switch lead connected, with the colored wire oriented towards the rear of the case. You only want this 1 lead connected for the sake of POST testing the motherboard.

05. The mounting pins themselves may be grounding out the motherboard. If the problem persists then you can insert small, cardboard washers between the screws and motherboard on the top side of the motherboard. If the problem persists, then you can insert the washers between the mounting posts and motherboard on the bottom side of the board also.

06. Check the bottom of the motherboard and the mounting surface inside your case to make sure there are no spots where the metal solder points on the motherboard might be touching the metal plate in your case and grounding out.

07. Make sure the screws you are using are the smaller internal case screws for mounting the motherboard into your case, and not the larger external screws like the ones that hold on your side panels.

08. Make sure the metal pads that surround the mounting holes are getting a good contact, so that the screw is resting flat against the board, but at the same time make sure you do not “over tighten” the screw as this in itself can lead to grounding issues. [Rule of thumb is to hold your screwdriver with minimal pressure, and turn until it would require force on your part to make it go further, at this point you should stop.]

At this point you have covered all the most common grounding issues that can develop during a build. If you are still running into issues you may want to check out our:

POST Test Guide

This can help you further diagnose any boot issues you are running into with your system.

Hopefully this guide helped you in resolving any issues related to grounding problems with your case and motherboard. This should now give you a better idea of what grounding issues are, where they happen and what to look for when they do. You can now feel confident that your case is being assembled correctly to avoid problems while building your system.

How to Create a Bootable Floppy Disc:

The “Create Startup Disc” option will allow you to make a bootable floppy disc with the diagnostic program installed. Make sure you have a BLANK floppy disc available as the program will overwrite any data that is currently on the floppy disc. [Don't use your family photos disc, or the disc you save your homework to.]

I recommend formatting any disc you plan to use prior to creating it with the program. This way you can avoid any issues with the disc not working once it has been written to. You can do this by clicking on “My Computer” and then right clicking on your “A:\” drive and selecting the format option from the menu. Make sure the drive you have selected is in fact your floppy drive to avoid wiping out data on any of your hard drives.

Once you click the Create Startup Disc option it will bring up a smaller window that says “Select the floppy disc you want to use and then click create”. Since the floppy disc should be ready to go now, go ahead and click “create”. You will see the lights on your floppy drive come on, and a progress bar that will let you know when the process is complete. Once it is done it will say “Success – Floppy Created Successfully”. You have now created your diagnostic disc.

Check the disc by clicking on “My Computer” and then by clicking on your “A:\” drive to make sure that you can see files on the disc to ensure it has been created successfully.

You can now close the disc maker application and leave your floppy disc in the floppy drive. [If this is the system you want to diagnose.] Once you have closed out of the program select the option to “Restart” your computer, and make sure the floppy disc is still in the drive.

Once the computer restarts it should automatically go into the diagnostic program on the floppy disc. Some computers may need to have the boot order changed in order to run from a floppy disc on boot. If this is the case, when you reboot your computer it will just go back into Windows.

If it does simply restart the system again and look for a message to hit a certain key to enter “setup”. On most systems it is the “DEL” key. This will take you to a screen with a blue background. You are now in the BIOS of your computer. Be carefully when working in the BIOS as any changes you make can affect the system.

You are looking for a section that has something similar to “Boot Order” which should list about 3 or 4 devices. To boot from a floppy disc you want to make sure that the first device listed is “floppy”. If it is something else, highlight the device and then click enter which should bring up a menu with several devices. You can use the arrow keys to select the “floppy” option from the list. Once you have it selected hit enter again and it should take you back to the boot order screen. If t does not, then hit escape and just make sure the first device listed is now your floppy drive.

One other thing that can keep the system from booting from the floppy drive is an option that says “Boot Floppy Seek”. This must be set to enable in order for the system to check the floppy drive when it boots up. If it is disabled follow the above procedure to select a different option from the list.

Once you have made the necessary changes, hit the F10 key and the system will ask if you want to save changes and reboot. Say YES or “Y” and then hit enter. The system will now reboot and if you have your floppy disc in the system, it will automatically go into the diagnostic mode.

[If you have problems getting into your BIOS or finding a section that is referenced in this guide, please contact the company you purchased your computer from and their tech department should be able to walk you through enabling the necessary steps in order to get your system to boot from the floppy drive.]

How to Create a Bootable CD:

The “Save CD Image to Disk” option allows you to create a bootable CD to diagnose your system. This can be valuable if you have a newer system that does not have a floppy disc drive. Or if your BIOS is not setup to boot from a floppy disc, but is setup to boot from a CD-Rom. Most new computers are setup to boot from a CD-Rom by default.

From the “Windows Memory Diagnostic Setup” window select the “Save CD Image to Disk” option. When you do this it will open a “Save CD Image” window. Save the file to your desktop. Once you have done this the program will tell you “File saved successfully”. You should now have a “windiag.iso” file on your desktop.

An ISO file, also known as an “Image” file is used to burn an exact copy of a file or program within certain CD burning software. One program that works great for burning these types of files is “Nero Burning Rom”. If you have this program you are good to go. If not you can download the program from the following location:

http://www.nero.com/

If you do not want to purchase this software, you can look for the “Free Trial” version on their site which will let you use the basic functions of the software needed to burn the ISO file. Once you have Nero downloaded and installed you open up your “windiag.iso” file into Nero so that you can burn the diagnostic program to CD.

You need to open the file in Nero a certain way to make to make sure that it burns the ISO file correctly. To do this, right click on the file and it will bring up a menu of options. You want to select the “Open With” option from the menu. Once you have selected this it will open an “Open With” dialog that will display all the programs that are currently installed on your system

If you have installed Nero correctly you should be able to scroll down the list and select Nero and then click “OK”. If you like you an leave the “Always use this program to open these files” option checked [or add a check if it is not] and in the future your computer will know to always open ISO image files in Nero so you can burn them.

Once you have selected OK Nero will open automatically and take you to the “Image Recording - Write a premastered image” window. You can leave the options that are set at their defaults and then click the “next” button in the lower right hand corner.

At this point Nero should begin the “Burning Process” which will show you a percentage bar of how much time is left on the program for burning your CD. Since this is such a small file, the burn process should only take about 1 minute and then it will pop up with a window that says

“Burn process completed successfully at 40x (6,000 KB/s)”

Or something similar to that, you are mainly checking to make sure it says it completed successfully. Click ok on the success window and then click the “next” button in the lower right corner one more time to finish your diagnostic disc.

At this point the program should automatically eject your disc from the system at which point you can close down Nero since we are done using it. I would recommend putting the disc back into the system and then checking through Windows Explorer to make sure you see data on the disc as another method to verify the disc was burned successfully.

When you click on the CD-Rom drive in your system, it should show you that there is a folder on the CD labeled “I386″. If you see this on the disc, your project has burned successfully and you can now reboot your system with the CD-Rom still in the drive so the computer will detect it and boot from the CD.

[NOTE: on some system you need to watch during the boot process, and you will get a message that says "Hit any key to boot from CD". If you see this message come up, hit any key and then you should see the diagnostic program startup.]