i insatlled linux, and lilo, but the other day i wanted to uninstall linux, so foolishly i did a quicky with:
format c: /u /s
but later found out that lilo was still resident, and it took a few hours of hard repartitioning etc... until i found this command:

fdisk /mbr

this rewrites the master boot record.

i thought i'd put this here to save any one else who may have the same problem a hell of a lot of stress