Do you have a Dell computer ?

Yes.

That part enables the Dell recovery partition , alter the MBR and you will not be able to easilly access it

When you say “that part”, what are you referring to?

Thanks.

ss10000

I believe essexboy is referring to the unknown MBR in the MBRCheck log (Reply #33 and #34 above):
\.\PhysicalDrive0 Unknown MBR code

Since the Dell needs to be able to access its recovery partition/recovery console the actual MBR is a custom MBR ‘e.g. unknown’ rather than it being recognised as a Default Windows XP MBR code.

Correct, if your MBR was reset to standard then if you need to restore your computer to factory settings, it would fail as the necessary information would no longer exist

Can we conclude that there is no TDL4 on my computer and my computer is clean?

By the way, I am not aware of the recovery ability of Dell MBR. Do you know by chance how to use it?

I don’t remember when but it did happen that I suddenly have two more local drives on my computer besides the C:. The computer generated them on its own sometime after I had only one local drive for at least two years. Are they the recovery partition you talk about?

Thank you everyone.

ss10000

Taken from a Dell forum

you can access your Dell’s recovery partition by pressing Ctrl+F11 when the machine is first turned on. The appropriate time to do this is almost immediately after the power button is pressed. A small message is usually displayed that offers to let you enter the BIOS (usually F2 on newer Dells) or go to the boot menu (F8 or F10, I think; it displays the appropriate key to press).

So, assuming that the partition that the recovery image is saved to hasn’t been deleted for some reason, or that the master boot record hasn’t been altered from the factory settings then the Dell System Recovery software will load and you will be given the option to reimage your drive. Their software is basically just a rebranded version of Norton’s Ghost or some other similar imaging software.

Do keep in mind that if you decide to reimage your machine that all of the data that was on your hard drive will be lost. The machine will be exactly as it was when you first purchased it – meaning that any saved documents, movies, music, settings, programs installed by yourself, etc will be gone.

Thank you very much for all your help.

But can I do e-commerce on my computer now? Is it ok?

ss10000

As a matter of prudence I would recommend that you change all your sensitive passwords just in case they were gathered. Although I saw no indication of that

Thank you Essexboy and everybody who helps. Thank you very much.

ss10000