Self inflicted Windows Blunder

I have a Dell Optiplex desktop which has served well and efficiently for over a year. It was a Refurb or Recon unit. It came with little documentation or back up discs. Last weekend I tied to purge and AVG program from the machine and just made a total mess of it. I got so frustrated I (no, I did not throw it out the winfow) Ireinstalled Windows from a Dell rescue disk that I later surmised was from a Dell laptop I have had. Well, nothing works now. It does boot up and display a windows (XP) screen but does strange things at odd times. I did not reformat the hard drive but did blindly mess with partition allocation. Is there any hope or do I have to send it to the island of discarded and abused hardware anb buy a new desktop. I am writing this on another computer I have in the house.

Dell doesn't issue "rescue disks". Their Windows Reinstallation disk installs Windows and nothing else, meaning you have to load the drivers for the installed hardware plus any additional software that came pre-installed. So if you installed XP, and didn't load any drivers (especially the chipset), that could explain strange behavior.

What version of Windows originally came installed on the Optiplex (include the exact model of this system)?

If you're in the US and the registered owner of the PC, you can request the correct Windows Reinstallation disk from Dell, here.  Dell may charge you for the disk. If the system originally came with XP, it's legal to use that XP CD from the laptop to reinstall on this system, as long as they both had the exact same version of XP (eg. Home or Pro or MCE). If it came with something other than XP or with a different version of XP, it's not legal to install XP on it with that disk.

Assuming all your files are backed up on external media (or can still be backed up now), it's probably a good idea to do a reformat and reinstall at this point. We can't point you at the drivers you'll need to install after loading Windows until we know the exact system model and version of Windows

EDIT: DId you actually reinstall XP or did you do a Repair/Reinstall? And what Service Pack of XP is on that disk? SP2 or SP3?

I have only just downloaded and ran a McAfee removal tool called MCPR.exe from community.mcafee.com/.../44279 before I read your thread. 

Was this the one you used? Because I am scared. I don't dare to reboot now..

On the up note, i'm sure you can go back to a rescue point saved by your Windows XP before the last weekend? Sorry I cannot be of more help, but i'm sure there is something of that sort in your desktop.

I have only just downloaded and ran a McAfee removal tool called MCPR.exe from community.mcafee.com/.../44279 before I read your thread.  Was this the one you used? Because I am scared. I don't dare to reboot now.. On the up note, i'm sure you can go back to a rescue point saved by your Windows XP before the last weekend? Sorry I cannot be of more help, but i'm sure there is something of that sort in your desktop.

If you already ran the McAfee removal tool, you'll have to reboot sooner or later. That tool is usually reliable as long as you followed the instructions. I've used it myself on a system running Win XP. 

Did you set a System Restore point before removing McAfee?

You can't leave the system without anti-malware protection so you'll need to do something sooner than later. :emotion-5:

Hi Ron aka RoHE,

How do I quote do the quote box as you did? And do you find this site rather slow? It takes ages for my posts to be saved.... 

I have an expired eset (another antivirus program, but anyway, I don't plan on downloading anything except from trusted sites till I get it unexpired lol :)

And thank you for reminding me about setting the System Restore Point. I forgot!! Thank you. Will do so. Does it take much memory? Because if you check the reason why I joined this community, my Dell Desktop (the one I'm using to type to everyone daily) is definitely 10 years old :) hahaha 

Nellie from Singapore

Hi Ron aka RoHE, How do I quote do the quote box as you did? And do you find this site rather slow? It takes ages for my posts to be saved....  I have an expired eset (another antivirus program, but anyway, I don't plan on downloading anything except from trusted sites till I get it unexpired lol :) And thank you for reminding me about setting the System Restore Point. I forgot!! Thank you. Will do so. Does it take much memory? Because if you check the reason why I joined this community, my Dell Desktop (the one I'm using to type to everyone daily) is definitely 10 years old :) hahaha  Nellie from Singapore

Nellie - You quote the post that you're responding to by clicking Reply Use rich formatting and then clicking Quote which appears just above the box in which you type your  new post. And yes, this forum site can be slow maddenly at times!

You shouldn't have 2 antiviral programs running at the same time on the same system. They can conflict with each other and cause all kinds of problems. If eset is expired, it won't have the latest updates for any recent viruses that may be circulating. Some infected sites can install malware on your system even if you don't intentionally download anything!  If you don't want to spend money on renewing eset etc, I recommend you at least use the free Microsoft Security Essentials or one of the other free antiviral programs which are available (AVG, AVAST, etc). But uninstall eset first before you install one of the free ones.

 EDITED