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        New Message Board Archives >> Oct-Dec 2003 >> Computer about to crash?
        
(Message started by: nancyc on Oct 17^th, 2003, 10:38am)

Title: Computer about to crash?
Post by nancyc on Oct 17^th, 2003, 10:38am

Dont know what is going on here...but my computer wont defrag...also, some weird things are happening...some new icons snuck up on the bottom of my screen...having problems opening alot of sites..i am not really good on the technical part of the computer so I have no idea what is going on... ::)....any ideas on what i need to do? I think it is about to shut down on me... ;Dnancyc

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Bob_Johnson on Oct 17^th, 2003, 10:49am

Sounds like you have been infected with some virus/worm/spyware.

If your virus program is not uptodate (as of today), update, and then run on your hard drive.

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Cerberus on Oct 17^th, 2003, 11:10am

Of Course you could siomply forgo all the virus scanning n such and just re-format.......you'll lose everything you saved unless its backed up....naturally.

Ramon

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Hirvimaki on Oct 17^th, 2003, 11:17am

It sounds to me like you have Adware and/or Spyware running in your system. In addition to making certain your virus scan program is up-to-date, you may wish to get an Adware/Spyware removal tool. Personally, I use Ad-Aware. It's free and works very well. You can get it at:

http://www.lavasoft.nu/software/adaware/

Good luck!

Hirvimaki

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Opus on Oct 17^th, 2003, 2:58pm

Nancyc,
The Icons and not being able to defrag sounds like spyware/adware. I use spybot rather than Ad-Aware, the two programs conflict now so you should only use one. Of course this is my personal preference. Anyway down load one of them, get updates and run weekly, If you are using some freeware then disabling the spyware that comes with it may cause the freeware program to stop working. Any way all adware/spyware is bad news and should be removed. Here is the link.

http://spybot.eon.net.au/

Opus/Paul

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Charlie on Oct 17^th, 2003, 5:47pm

Me too Nancy. The other day I noticed this thing didn't defrag. I was too tired to do anything about it...

I've had to uninstall some crap that cluttered up my outlook that I had no idea I downloaded. Something like web fun or something. It had a smiley central thing.

Come to think of it, I have spybot here.....hmmmm

Charlie

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by oringkid on Oct 17^th, 2003, 5:52pm

Hey! Opus, you say that Adaware and Spybot Search & Destroy conflict now??

Is that why when I got back online and was updating the programs, that Spybot showed updates but was unable to download them?

Nancy, good luck, sometimes 'puters can be such a maze of confusion and frustration... but... I love 'em!

Sherry

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by floridian on Oct 17^th, 2003, 6:35pm

To fix the virus and spyware problems for good, I installed a program called LINUX. Been running it for several years with good results.

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Opus on Oct 17^th, 2003, 7:14pm

Sherry,
What I read is that they picked up each others data files and that they were the real things. Other things is that spybot replaces Alexa with a dummy but adaware just removes it, so you can use adaware to remove spybots dummy alexa and then the real thing will be there next time. Spybot is a little harder to use but has many more options.
To down load updates you have to choose a mirror before they will down load.

flouridian,
I am changing over too, I have download mandrake but two out of there Iso's are bad, I have to try again, then I will get freeBSD.

Opus/Paul

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by oringkid on Oct 17^th, 2003, 7:21pm

Thanks Opus! I always used them together. I would run Adaware first, then Spybot. I use the built-in updater for spybot but although it showed an update was available, it was unable to download...maybe I should try again, and if it still doesn't work, I'll go to the site.

Thanks again!
Sherry

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Mark C on Oct 18^th, 2003, 7:36pm

on 10/17/03 at 19:21:31, oringkid wrote:

Sorry about the size of the picture, I am at work and do not have a decent image program here...I hate big pictures :(

I LOVE SpyBot and have used it for close to two years now. It has on the only other message boards I hit on a regular basis. I would just about guarntee you just need to choose another server ( a "mirror") to download the update. It defaults to one of the Europen servers and that one stays busy because of that. I have attached a screen shot of how to select another server to get the latest updates....it always works.

I used to use Ad-Aware untill a couple of problems came up last year...first they sort of neglected to release new updates for several months last year and then they were accused of actually taking money from spy-ware sites to NOT list their spy-ware in their definations. Patrick Koella, who is the German student who wrote the SpyBot program used to work for Ad-Aware, untill the allegations about the spyware thing came out.

Spy Bot rocks, I use it on every PC I am on and it has NEVER caused a problem with any OS on any box.

Hell, the program is worth $50 bucks, but Patrick still gives it away....what a guy!

http://www.drfeller.com/Mark/SB.jpg

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by nancyc on Oct 18^th, 2003, 11:06pm

i did get to add spybot before i had to go to work today..dont know if it helped or not...still have icons at the bottom...they are my Real Player, Internet Start , Link, and Microsoft..dont know how the hell they got at the bottom..i am so computer stupid...cant get much done as first i dont know what to do, and second i am so busy, cant get online much...thanks for all your help... ;Dnancyc

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Opus on Oct 19^th, 2003, 9:23am

Nancyc,
I hope you understand that you have to run spybot to have it clean your computer. Click "search and destroy" and then at the bottom click "check for problems". It may run for a while to find everything. Then click " fix selected items " at the bottom then click yes when it asked you if you really want to do it. To get rid of those pesky start up Icons in the system tray, click " tools " on the bottom left, then click " system startup " on the left, it then gives you a list of startup programs. When you click on the items it will tell you what they are if the are in the database. Startups like realtray, quicktime, netscape, winamp, and others aren't needed. you uncheck the boxes, turn off spybot, and reboot to remove them. Let us know if you have any more questions.

Mark, Thanks for the screen shot
Opus/Paul

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by Bob P on Oct 19^th, 2003, 11:07am

Opus,
Thanks! I loaded and ran Spybot. Removed a bunch of crap. My computer boots 5 times faster now. Nice to know that XXXTeenvery *friendly* persons cookies aren't on my drive anymore.

PS-Geez the filter on this MB cracks me up!

Title: Re: Computer about to crash?
Post by jonny on Oct 19^th, 2003, 12:02pm

Same here Bob, I kept getting this message that my "n-CASE" file were deleted and I should D/L them.....I did again and again. Opus/Paul told me to do a goggle search and it turns out I was D/L'ing fucking more and more spyware.

I cranked up spybot and killed every frigging bastard on my machine......Running like Bruce jenner now ;D

Thanks Opus/Bill/Paul...or whoever the fuck you are today.....LOL ;D

............................................jonny