Well spoke a bit too soon - now have some other issues...

got the updates though so that part is fine.
installed my paid version of Zone Alarm Internet Security {couldn't put it on until the updates were installed}
and installed Threatfire
same programs I had before all this mess up happened -when the system was working fine.

For some reason the computer hangs/bogs down when switching between profiles
and sometimes at the profile log in screen it won't let you select a user icon..

so we have to use the restart button at that point.

Oh well another puzzle...to figure out

Oh yeah, they do that indeed!!!

But when they catch that darn Antivir08, WOW

Right now, my keyboard is typing numbers where I am not wanting numbers to be typed. I changed keyboards. (this one is an old one).

God, I wish just for once, this computer would behave itself.

Melody

is VERY buggy.

In the past we had it, but it started conflicting with
XP for us. I suspect the newer Windows firewall is adequate,
so we deleted Zone Alarm finally. Even when we disabled Windows firewall we had terrible freezes and conflicts! Esp on this laptop.

And things are now MUCH MUCH better. In the older days MS was not as secure as it is now (still not perfect). I am a very conservative internet person however, and do not do downloads. For people who really do alot of downloading on the net, or go to fringey places, a second firewall is probably good insurance.

I had Zone Alarm & Threatfire both on this same computer before all the SP3 and my partition clean up fiasco.... they worked great then.
- the only system change has been that I had to format the drive, reinstall XP and start from scratch with all the updates and such.

I couldn't use ZA again until I got the updates - so I was using free Avast, free Comodo, free superantispyware and the free threatfire - those were the ones I removed that fixed the updates problem. disabling them didn't work, had to uninstall them and then I ran ccleaner to be sure all traces were gone.


New question..
does anyone know if it is normal to have duplicates in the regedit - the root part?
it will show
name
name.1
on quite a few of the things on the list...


Also my sounds have not worked since the reinstall- just the annoying "beep"!
Haven't tried to redo the drivers since I got the upgrades - so I'll try that..


{i download a lot of stuff to try out, but mostly from known/safe sites}

Man software is the ultimate puzzle LOL. Can keep me busy.....and frustrated for days

Wish I knew the answers so I could share them, but I muddle through this stuff too LOL.

Hi, i am wondering if its a driver problem causing the freezes, does it still freeze when starting it up in safe mode ? i suppose the chipset driver has been loaded
first after the fresh installation... in device manager has sound got a yellow exclamation mark beside it ?

Brian

yahoo, got it all fixed!

Uninstalled Threatfire & Zone Alarm and the user switching was fast again.

so did some more internet searches and found I had a version of ZA that had conflicts with MS & updates { I thought they had just changed the interface/theme- because it looked different than the version I had before}

So I found the version I had before and voila- all good again just like before ... so added Threatfire back and still good.
whew about drove me nuts for awhile...

finally found the right sound driver too

and now that it is fixed I backed up the system with 2 different programs to an external hard drive.

I agree. My philosophy, proven to me so many times is, Updates are just a way for CRAP to get into my computer and I avoid Updates whenever possible. I do believe SpyWare is usually loaded WITH an update. Everytime I see popup asking me if I want to Update I always say no BECAUSE in the past every new update has caused some kind of NEW problem I didn't have before the update. If everything is working just fine, I don't try to fix it with updates. Nine times out of ten, you are just asking for trouble, I don't care WHO is updating what. They ALL use updates to sneak in and dump something Nasty. Even if it LOOKS official I always say to myself "It's a LIE" and "X" it off.

Want to know what I wish (by the way, I bought a new keyboard and mouse, HATE the keyboard but they didn't sell the BIG microsoft keyboard I was used to so I got this Logitech one instead). It's okay but boy do I miss the BIG microsoft keyboard!!!.

What do I miss? The days long ago, when we had AOL and we didn't have any viruses, or spyware this, and anti-spyware that, and firewalls, etc.

You just plug and played, got on the computer, surfed he net and did email.

For me, it's no fun anymore. I am tired of being on the phone with the Verizon tech people who have to fix the anti-virus stuff and then I get told "Melody, no matter WHAT ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM you have, there is not way that we can promise you that you won't get infected.

I feel like my computer has e-coli, from time to time.

yeah, it's working just fine right now. I wonder how long this will last.

Oh well. Alan uses his Sea Monkey thing. he's happy as a clam.

Me??? I go and watch cable.

Hope you are all well.

Oh, did any of you hear about the latest thing from Dell?? I watched QVC the other night.

They introduced a brand new product.

A MINI-NOTEBOOK. it's called a Netbook. It has 18 gigs of hard drive, one gig of Ram,, a full keyboard and two usb ports and an ethernet port.

The guy said: "this is a bridge between hour Palm or Iphone, and your home computer.

"This is perfect for the student or person who wants to carry only 2 lbs in thei backpacks or handbags. The screen is 8 inches. It's exactly the same size as a portabld dvd player".

My goodness, first we had the computer, then notebooks, then palm pilots, then iphones,

NOW WE HAVE THE NETBOOK

I wonder what's next??

lol

Mel

My update problems were with the Microsoft updates - they were conflicting with the version of Zone Alarm that I had.
The Microsoft updates - contain security & hot fixes - so i wanted them.

You should get the updates to your spyware & antivirus too - because they have the newest ways to find & catch the bad stuff.

the bad guys are always coming up with new ways to hack, infect and other wise mess up your computer- so these updates are a good thing.

I would not OK any update from a program that you don't trust though.
Or if it isn't from a program you installed.