Desktop not booting up

[DarrellCoe]

My daughter has a HP desktop that will not boot up. She allows her son to use it and since his usage, the computer no longer functions. I am thinking that the operating system has become corrupted in some way, either by virus, or any other error that affects Windows based PCs. She has allowed her anti-virus program to lapse. I am thinking that reformatting the hard drive and starting from scratch would resolve this problem. But, she has photos stored in the computer that she would like to retain. Is there a way to obtain and remove the photos from the hard drive before action is taken on the hard drive? I was also considering purchasing a harger HD which would eliminate reformatting.

 

[Macboatmaster]

Take the HDD out, place it an enclosure, connect it to another computer and recover your data.
Alternatively if you have another computer I can send you a program to make a CD and use that to recover the data BUT ONLY IF the computer is posting, but will not then load windows.

Before anyone can really help you need to provide more detail.
Does the computer post, that is the first screen.
Does it then start to load windows the blue progress bar,
Does it blue screen, that is known as the blue scren of death with a stop message.
WHAT does it do.

 

[bazz2004]

All the AV programs I've purchased provide reminders when a renewal subscription is due. If the cost of renewing an AV security program is an issue there are excellent free security programs. Security Essentials is available from Microsoft.