Computer Gone Useless.

[Archibaldo]

The other week, My dad downloaded this Windows premium patch. Now because of it, our computer can't connect to the internet, our display is Windows Classic permanently, the option for the Windows xp display is gone. There is no sound what so ever. And we lost the prgram the installs games. So now my dad is think about hiring a professional to look at our computer and try to recover things.
Anything like this happen to any one else?

[Rainman]

Shit, I'd sooner pay for a new copy of Windows than hire a professional. They can be expensive. I don't know how to solve your problem though.

[Dark_jester1587]

um...have you tried to it F8 when windows first posts...and trying to go into safe mode...if not try that...also try to do a system restore...when you upgrade windows...it saves the previous settings in case this happens...good luck

[goKi]

I dont think safe mode would do anything, but if you had system restore enabled, i'd suggest that.

[AtmaWeapon]

WTF is a "Windows premium patch", I have never heard of something like this. Where did your father download the patch from?

Obviously you've got a working computer on the internet, so why not download AVG and the latest updates, Spybot, and Ad-Aware and give them a whirl.

Instead of spending $200+ on a professional (I charged $125 for a much simpler job, professionals tend to charge a flat inspection fee + hourly and it adds up very fast) why not take the hard drive and stick it in a working computer. Get all important data off of the drive, then reformat and reinstall. The whole process will take 2 hours or less depending on how much data you have to save and how much you scatter it (this is a good time to learn why saving ALL program information either in My Documents or another specific documents folder makes recovering data easier).

I'm very interested in as many details about this "premium patch" as you can supply, because I can maybe find ways to undo the chaos it causes.