Removed Viruses & Now Having Problems Recording

[jlovett322]

i had a pretty nasty virus infection a few days ago after downloading a program that I neede to do a file conversion (although it was recommended from a reliable source).
The computer techs cleaned everything up and gave my PC a clean bill of health but now i am having some problems with my M-Powered version of Pro Tools. Everything seems to work okay except these issues:
- when i arm a track and try to record, the program PAUSES for a long time before actually starting and about half the time I get a DAE error saying there's not enough processing power
- I get bounce errors if I try to render after the bounce- doesn't seem to happen if I render during the bounce
I use my PT to record voice overs for my business and need it to work NOW... what should I do to fix this? Remove the program and reload it? Reinstall the drivers? I'm at my wits end!

[albee1952]

Uninstall and re-install PT would be one option. If that fails, rebuilding your system drive from scratch is a better option(and yes, I feel your pain). Your BEST option, unfortunately may not be available and that would be to recover from a drive image, done when things were running great. Since there are 2 kinds of computer users; those that Have had a catastrophe, and those that WILL have a catastrophe, Research "drive imaging" and cover your aSSets before the next disaster. I never even install an update or a new plugin without having a backup plan. I keep a pair of 2TB USB drives that do nothing but hold drive images of all my computers, and images of my Pro Tools machine in several stages(PT10.3.5, 10.3.8, 11.1, 11.3.1) and I also have a cloned spare system drive, so if I have a total crash or a virus attack, I remove and replace the system drive and go back to work.

1 last tip, quite often in the case of a virus attack, removing the system drive, placing in a drive case or dock(USB) and connecting to another computer will allow you to remove a stubborn virus(this has worked for me on 2 occasions already on my home machine). As for my audio machine, about every 6 months, I download the latest versions of Spybot and MalwareBytes, run them until they report all clean, then uninstall them.

BTW, since some tech was in your machine, I would review all the required system tweaks as many things might have been changed "under the hood"