Professional cleaning: what's involved?

Custom install. If you decide not to wipe the drive, at least make sure to delete all existing partitions during the install process. Once you’ve deleted all the partitions, click next and Windows will begin installing.

Finish the install for no other reason than to gain experience so you’ll know what to do next time.

After you’re done experimenting, boot back off the install media, select repair the pc, then choose command promptl and input the diskpartt commands posted previously. Once that’s done, go through the actual install.

Layback Bear said:

If you have a ISO of Windows 10 (DVD or Thumb drive) it should install without hooking to the internet. You just won't get the Updates/Upgrades.
Once installed,
Defender and the firewall should be active and you can check for Windows Updates/Upgrades.

That is the way I understand things.

A format of a drive does not wipe the drive. If you feel it necessary then a wipe should be done.
This tutorial by Brink is another option.
Please read.

Erase Disk using Diskpart Clean Command in Windows 10 Hardware Drivers Tutorials


Jack

Okay, thanks for the info, I really wasn't happy about the prospect of connecting the internet while the hard drive was riddled with malware. If the installation will work - except for updates - by simply choosing "skip" on the page that asks you what connection you want, that should be fine.

As for the delete, I found a DBAN tutorial that was pretty clear and burned DBAN onto a flash drive I had handy. Unfortunately, I can't coax the computer to boot from it for love or money. I've changed the boot priority so that the flash drive was first but it always falls into the Windows installation. Or offers to do a Windows Repair or Reboot. This is driving me bananas. No matter how carefully I try to follow the instructions, they keep failing. Something *other* than the expected happens and then I have to run back here to ask again. I've been waiting to hear an answer to my questions all day but didn't get any email notifications. I thought no one had answered but it turns out the emails just stopped coming for some reason. *That* is frustrating too!

FYI, you've got a typo in your profile. It says you're from NOTHERN Ohio. I'm sure you mean NORTHERN Ohio.

vram said:

Finish the install for no other reason than to gain experience so you’ll know what to do next time.

After you’re done experimenting, boot back off the install media, select repair the pc, then choose command promptl and input the diskpartt commands posted previously. Once that’s done, go through the actual install.

I have lost so much time trying to get this going that I really just want to get the drive erased and Windows reinstalled. I don't feel like there's a lot of point in learning these procedures thoroughly as they are almost certainly going to change dramatically by the next time I have to do this. (And if my brother is stupid enough to get swindled by these fraudsters AGAIN, he is going to be on his own as far as fixing the mess, even if it means he has to do without a computer for a while.)

But I may HAVE to do a "practice install" because I'm having a heck of time getting this bloody computer to boot from the DBAN drive. I do NOT want to leave things at just dropping the partitions or even formatting: I want to ERASE the drive and all its malware thoroughly as long as it doesn't preclude me reinstalling Windows without the key.

You helpers are saying, in effect, that you're "pretty sure" we can reinstall Windows without the product key because the installation will know that the hard-drive previously had a licensed copy of Windows on it so it won't ask for the key again. What I'm not hearing is certainty and that scares me a bit. I've been wrong about things I've been "pretty sure" about so I hope you won't take offense at me worrying just a bit that maybe erasing the hard drive will zap whatever bit of data the installation was going to need to be sure it could install Windows without a key. Then, presumably, my brother is looking at forking out for a new license, an expense he is trying very hard to avoid. But if we don't erase the hard drive, I'm worried that the malware on the computer will somehow harm him when he reconnects the internet.

It's been a long day for me so I'm going to kick back and watch some TV. I'll check for new messages again in the morning, this time without counting on the email notifications. (Maybe they stop notifying you after a thread reaches a certain length?)

Anyway, I AM very appreciative of everyone's efforts. I just want to get this drive erased and Windows reinstalled so I can get back to MY life instead of cleaning up my brother's mess.

RhinoCan said:

I have lost so much time trying to get this going that I really just want to get the drive erased and Windows reinstalled. I don't feel like there's a lot of point in learning these procedures thoroughly as they are almost certainly going to change dramatically by the next time I have to do this. (And if my brother is stupid enough to get swindled by these fraudsters AGAIN, he is going to be on his own as far as fixing the mess, even if it means he has to do without a computer for a while.)

But I may HAVE to do a "practice install" because I'm having a heck of time getting this bloody computer to boot from the DBAN drive. I do NOT want to leave things at just dropping the partitions or even formatting: I want to ERASE the drive and all its malware thoroughly as long as it doesn't preclude me reinstalling Windows without the key.

You helpers are saying, in effect, that you're "pretty sure" we can reinstall Windows without the product key because the installation will know that the hard-drive previously had a licensed copy of Windows on it so it won't ask for the key again. What I'm not hearing is certainty and that scares me a bit. I've been wrong about things I've been "pretty sure" about so I hope you won't take offense at me worrying just a bit that maybe erasing the hard drive will zap whatever bit of data the installation was going to need to be sure it could install Windows without a key. Then, presumably, my brother is looking at forking out for a new license, an expense he is trying very hard to avoid. But if we don't erase the hard drive, I'm worried that the malware on the computer will somehow harm him when he reconnects the internet.

It's been a long day for me so I'm going to kick back and watch some TV. I'll check for new messages again in the morning, this time without counting on the email notifications. (Maybe they stop notifying you after a thread reaches a certain length?)

Anyway, I AM very appreciative of everyone's efforts. I just want to get this drive erased and Windows reinstalled so I can get back to MY life instead of cleaning up my brother's mess.

Forget DBAN. You don’t need it. Boot from the windows install media like you’re going to install Windows but instead pick “repair computer” then pick advanced -> command prompt and follow the instructions for diskpart that was posted earlier.

vram said:

Forget DBAN. You don’t need it. Boot from the windows install media like you’re going to install Windows but instead pick “repair computer” then pick advanced -> command prompt and follow the instructions for diskpart that was posted earlier.

Okay, I got to "Repair computer", chose "Advanced" (twice) and got to a command prompt option, which I chose. I entered the "diskpart" command, then "list disk". It listed 2 disks; those must be logical because there is only one physical disk. Disk 0 was 929 GB or so, Disk 1 was much smaller. On the theory that I'd need to erase both (logical) disks and one was much smaller, I thought I'd do the small one first and then do the big one overnight. So I executed "select disk 1" and then "clean all". Unfortunately, there is no progress indicator in this tool and after 10 minutes, it still wasn't done so I'm guessing even the small disk will take a long time. I'm hoping it finishes this evening so I can still start Disk 0 before I go to bed....

Did I just shoot myself in the foot by cleaning the small disk? It occurred to me just now that this small disk is typically a recovery partition. Is this where the installation process is going to look for the product key? Am I in the midst of erasing that key?

You won’t need that recovery partition. It’s a much cleaner, snappier install using the install media that you created as the finished product won’t have all the garbage installed by the OEM.

Did iyou see how big the small disk was by chance?

When you get done scrubbing the disks and begin the new installation, allow it to connect to the net so it can download updates and drivers as it installs.

vram said:

You won’t need that recovery partition. It’s a much cleaner, snappier install using the install media that you created as the finished product won’t have all the garbage installed by the OEM.

Did iyou see how big the small disk was by chance?

When you get done scrubbing the disks and begin the new installation, allow it to connect to the net so it can download updates and drivers as it installs.

That's good news! I thought perhaps I had messed things up by scrubbing the recovery partition.

I did not notice the size of the recovery partition but I think it's a 1 TB drive and the main partition was 929 GB so the recovery partition should be something like 50 or 60 GB. I sure wish they'd coded diskpart to show you progress in some way but I've got my brother monitoring the command prompt to tell me when it's done. That let's me be more productive.

I'll reconnect his ethernet cable once the two partitions are erased. I'm already looking forward to this problem finally being resolved....

Thanks again for your help so far but don't go away. I may have an additional question or two as I work through the rest of the steps.