Hi everyone! I've been having some PC troubles since yesterday after downloading VistaOSx onto my computer. (I don't know why I downloaded it, I was bored.) Well now I have a virus on my computer that wont let windows start. Every time I go to turn on my computer, I get a black screen with just my mouse pointer.

So, I went looking for the disk that the guys at FRY'S gave me after they worked on my computer, and it was an MSI disk, and I booted from it, and now I'm in some OS called Winki 3 which is linux based and I don't know what I'm doing, to my surprise, I'm online.

I need to be able to get my computer working again, and I don't want to loose any of my files if I have to reinstall windows. I have a few questions before I start getting into this and try to get my computer to work but only mess it up worse.

1) What in the world is Winki 3? I've never heard of it.

2) How can I execute a .exe file? I'm trying to see if I can run my virus scan to get rid of whatever it is that is screwing with my computer.

3) I can see all my program files and everything, so I need to save some stuff on my USB's in case I do need to reinstall windows so that way I don't loose anything. How do I do that?

4) I know this isn't a place to ask windows questions, but I must. I don't have a restore disk, or a reboot disk or whatever, just this MSI disk that brought me to this Winki 3. How can I restore my computer without the restore disk, and without taking it to some place that's going to charge me an arm and a leg? There has to be some way, I mean I have this Winki 3 running, I should be able to do something that will restore the computer back to the default factory settings after I save all my files onto my USB's, right?

I'm not very computer savvy, but I'm not computer illiterate either. I know there has to be some way to fix my computer without taking it in, I don't have the money for that.

Please guys, help me out. I don't know what I'm doing. You guys are smart; please help me! D:

Why do you think it is a virus? Sounds as if the download has installed the wrong drivers for your graphics board, but I can't help you with that. Nor do I know Winki 3, but it seems from web descriptions to be a reasonable Linux distribution.

As far as transferring your files is concerned, that should not be difficult. You say you can see the Windows files, can you also see the USBs? If it is a graphical interface, then simply drag and drop should work, as in Windows. Try it and see, report back if it doesn't work.

You won't be able to restore your system from the Linux disc, nor run .exe files. However, there is probably a restore partition on your hard disc; if Winki3 mounts all the partititions, this will appear at the top level, as /something. The manual you got with your computer should tell you how to do the restore. My Dell has Vista; the instructions are, when you switch on your computer and before it attempts to load Windows, to hit F8 repeatedly to get Vista Advanced Boot Options, then Repair Your Computer (then, I suppose, follow your nose). This will, if successful, return you to the factory state and you can recover the files from USB.

I just talked to my grandmother, and she's going to have it fixed for me. Turns out that everything I've been worrying over was just nothing. A virus that her people can easily fix without me loosing all my files or saved games. She also said that if the people tell us that it is in fact the hard drive, then she'll pay to have it fixed. HA! I never thought I'd have to rely on my grandmother for computer help. ^_^

Thanks anyways, but I did get my files onto a flash drive just in case. I wasn't able to drag & drop, but I was able to copy all the files then paste them into the flash drive.

Hi Ian, you probably already brought your PC in and spent grandma's money, and once it is fixed, you will never return here, but here is your fix.

First of all, what windows version is your PC running? If you are not running Windows Vista, then Vista OSx will not work. Vista OSx is an application designed to make Windows Vista look as much like the Apple Mac OSx as possible, while still running Vista. You may have also downloaded a virus, depending on where the download came from. Unfortunately some providers of free downloads attach adware to the downloads, so you have to watch for it and be sure to tell the installer you don't want to download those products.

FIX: Uninstall the Vista OSx by going into control panel, uninstall a program, and select the Vista OSx, right click and click uninstall.

RESTORE: In the start menu, select All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - System Restore and in the pop up window select "Restore my Computer to an earlier time. Select a date prior to the install of Vista OSx. It will revert the computer to that time.

Winki3 is a Linux based operating system that is provided with the new MSI motherboards. It will run from the disk on top of your windows or mac system. I am not sure how to do the uninstall from there, but you can research here how to uninstall a program file in Winki3 on this Linux website.

In case you like it, Winki3 is a great Linux operating system that supports all kinds of gaming software and other software as well. Enjoy!