ECN Electrical Forum
Discussion Forums for Electricians, Inspectors and Related Professionals

Kjay:
Just an FYI, the laptop with the bug was this one (Toshiba Satellite) with Win XP. The 'bug' got by Kaspersky AV somehow. No IM, Messenger, only IE8, via DSL and AOL email. Could not access anything but task manager that night, and that was sporadic. The 'old' one is also a Toshiba Satellite running Win2000, via dial-up as DSL software don't like Win 2000. Old & reliable; but....pathetically slow!
Protected by ....Norton.

I'm going to setup the account thing, that's a good point & Thanks for that.

Westuplace:

I'll look into Avira...my Kaspersky is due for the annual $$$ 8/9/2010.

Thanks for the hard drive idea, but...I work off of two laptops & don't have a clue how to access the HD. (Not that I want to)

So far, all is well

Thanks again

The lap top drives are usually going to be regular ATA IDE or SATA but the plug is different so you need an adapter. I ended up with a couple adapters to clone a failing drive into a new one (on my shop desk top) for a drive swap.
I do have an old Think pad that has a strange drive in it but I haven't really taken it apart to see if it is a garden variety IDE in a carrier with an adapter. That was the way the HP I did a while ago worked.

All I have to say is...you are a brave man! IF I take something this small apart, or try to 'open it up', the next step would be the trash.

I really hate working on laptops myself but this was a favor for my wife's friend. I have a few of my own I have never seen the inside of.
That is why I like desk tops. With the exception of Dell and Apple they all use the same parts and you can take them apart with a #2 phillips screwdriver and a 1/4" nut driver. For the most part, I don't even need to put my glasses on