I did a search, and there was a similar Q, but I don’t thaink that that addresses my problem.
Computer 1: c. 2000, MOL, Windows 98, HP,horizontal cabinet, approximately 6-8 inches high, with cd burner, 56k modem. HD is bogged down so horribly with spyware, that it can just barely boot up.none of the spyware programs did me any good; ergo, i’m done with spyware removal programs. too time consuming, crap results, etc… (i’m going to Netscape when i get home system back online).
computer 2: c. 2000, Windows 98 (or 2000, not at home, can’t remember for sure),dell, horizontal cabinet, approx. 4-6 inches high, LAN modem, ( think the LAN is horizontally hooked up). dell cabinet looks too small to put my 56k modem into.
**Question ** : can I take the HDD from my Dell and just stick it in my HP cabinet as a slave, then switch it to a master, and slowly add the hardware to the dell drive? or can I make it my new master immediately?
If so, I need step-by-step instrucitons, and I don’t want to pay for a pro.
The HDD from your Dell probably shipped with an OS tailored for your Dell machine. If you make that drive your master for the HP box (either now or later) it may work but it may also complain about a bunch of things about the hardware configuration. I have never done exactly what you describe, although I have added a brand new disk as master and switched the old disk to a slave on a couple of computers.
You could certainly try installing the Dell disk to the HP box as master and see what happens. If it doesn’t work you can back it out. Since you are talking the language I assume you know how to do this using the jumpers, or by cable select if supported. You might also have to go into your computer’s BIOS Setup menu (usually hit F10 when it starts to boot) if it doesn’t automatically detect the new disk.
I would recommend that you just rebuild the HP from the ground up, assuming you have either the OS media or HP disks for a system restore (not sure how HP does it).
I know you are sick of spyware cleaners but have you tried Spybot Search & Destroy?
You ought to be able to put it in the other computer as a new master straight away. YOu may need to force Windows to redetect your hardware settings, since the hardware will be different that what the OS is expecting. In most cases, Windows will automatically detect the changes and install the appropriate device drivers, but sometimes this won’t go smoothly. To force a redetect, boot to Windows in Safe Mode, open the Device Manager, and delete all the listed hardware, then reboot normally. You may need to have your Windows 98 installation CD handy for this process. If you don’t have this disk, I do NOT recommend you do this.
In any case, once everything is working properly, you can then proceed to copy all your personal files from the slasve to the new master, and you should be good to go.