Alan broke our computer!!!
 

I hope I can get on these boards again. If you don't hear from me after today, you'll know why (at least until I get this fixed.

We have a HP Pavillion and we use Internet Security Suite as a virus protection.

Well today my husband (who doesn't know he shouldn't automatically download anything that pops ut), well he saw something that said "you have a virus, please download this anti-virus software) and, you guess it, he thought it was from Verizon, he downloaded it and now forget it. I had a devil of a time even getting on the internet. I had to reboot 8 times. I tried to do an uninstall. The program he downloade dis WINPRO 2006 anti-virus something or other.
No matter what I do to uninstall this thing, it doesn't uninstall. I tried the add/remove programs. I tried going to start, program, WinPro, and uninstall. The uninstall prompt does come up but then when I click on uninstall it just sits there (for up to an hour, if I would let it).
I right clicked on the system tray icon and disabled everything (maybe that's why it let me get on the internet.
My son told me to go to start, run, type in msconfig(it was already there), then he made me to the last thing which was startup and he had me uncheck the WinAV thing. I did but it still froze. Nothing will let me uninstall this darn anti-virus thing. Please, can someone please help me. I hope I can come back to this thread. Tonight might just be a fluke.
Thanks, Melody

melody

i'm going to post on the computer forum for you. link to this post.
i'm sure you will get answers.

((((hugs))))) for you..and a bop for alan. :p i don't let my hubby anywhere near my computer. lol.

I will ask my son....
 

We are going there for Thanksgiving.

A month ago we tried to install ZoneAlarm on the new laptop, and it got
into a "war" with the antivirus that was on it already.

They can conflict with each other.

Do you have Win XP? If so here is safe mode directions.
http://www.youthtech.com/techstuff/e...oubleshoot.htm

You can sometimes do things in safe mode, that won't work otherwise.

Try to uninstall that way. I don't know much myself, but I will ask him for you.
If he has any ideas I will post them. I do know that virus programs fight with each other. You could try disabling the other program that came with the computer.

Searching WinPro 2006
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...0153945AAhOBAy

http://malwarecomplaints.info/viewto...1649c447ba426d

If you can still get on the net, try to get a free trojan killer..and that might remove it...
listed here
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=4535
Time to discuss with Alan....NEVER download ANYTHING in a popup!
And seriously consider any download EVER... I don't even visit hyper links when posted on forums! That is why I always post urls.

This is an awful thing for you Mel, I hope you see this post!:(

WinPro is malware ... but I'm sure you have guessed that already. I should add that it can partly install itself using a 'drive-by browser hijack' unless you have sufficient protection ... and Norton isn't sufficient protection, unfortunately.

It's a little tricky to get rid of since it tries to remain in your system by throwing in hooks to keep itself on your computer.

Grab yourself a cup of coffee and brace yourself for a bit of a slog to get rid of it.

Here are the removal instructions on Spybot Search and Destroy forums:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=6021

You should begin by reading this thread, however:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=4015

You will see references to a program called HijackThis, and lots of references to HijackThis logs. That program is available from here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

HijackThis logs look like this, except longer, so don't worry when you see a whole load of seemingly complicated 'code' that looks like this when you are reading the threads on the forums:
R3 - URLSearchHook: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Companion\Installs\cpn0\yt.dll
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {192c5b4a-3efd-40c7-9f99-c472deb8efc0} - C:\Program Files\Perfect Codec\isaddon.dll

It may not be a bad idea to sign up to Spybot forums before you do anything and to seek assistance should you encounter any difficulties when going through the steps in the threads above:
http://forums.spybot.info/index.php

Spybot Search & Destroy
 

HI Melody:

Sorry about your recent computer disaster. Do you have Spybot Search and Destroy on your computer? This is a free download and excellent. I have never had any trouble with it and it comes highly recommended. I learned about it on the car radio one day - this was from a local computer guru. I downloaded it after checking with some other people and it has been a really good thing.

The first time I ran it I got about 50 bad entries - the computer had been given to me by my son in law, whose teenage sons had a lot of bad stuff on it unknown to their father. Kids!!

Hope you get things straightened out.

Shirley H.

You'll never know how I love you guys to pieces!!!
 

Alan and I went to bed with him apologizing and me trying to hit him over the head. I mean, how many times have I told him "there are scams, there are trojans, there is stuff on the internet that gives you viruses, so NEVER DOWNLOAD ANYTHING UNTIL YOU COME AND GET ME"

So after killing him, lol, I woke up and came on here. I was able to go to the right bottom of my system tray (I think it's called that), and I right clicked on the Winpro icon and exited it.
That took it away from the sys tray and I was able to come back on the internet. THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT. Then I immediately came here and found all your wonderful answers.

Today, after my turkey and low-cal-low fat, sugar free Sweet potato pie (without using any sweet potatoes!!!), I shall endeavor to rid myself of this Winpro thing.

If I do not succeed, I'll give you directions to where Alan will be living from now on.

love Melody

Hi, I use Spybot, Adaware, AVG, & Zonealarm which are all very good and free.
If you can't get rid of it, boot into safe mode [ press f8 repeately whilst starting up] either try to save any important info to disc media and download " system mechanic" in think it still has a 30 day fre trial [ fully functional ] and that has a great program for deleting crap, if your running XP try system restore, may be able to go back to another day when i was clean, if that works then run all anti virus programs, if all thats no chop well just reinstal your OS agian.
goog luck
Brian:)

Brian:

I love the way you talke "computer speak". It's like you believe i completely understood what you are saying.

I got as far as safe mode. That I can do. I did it. IT WORKED!!!!

Deleted that sucker off of my computer. Then it told me it successfully uninstalled Winpro but some files will have to be manually deleted.

I immediately called my computer genius of a son who said to me "don't touch anything else, that's for people who know what they are doing".

So I ran an anti-spy ware thing and it found the Win-pro.

I clicked on delete but I'm not sure if it got rid of the rest of the applications.

I will run a virus scan now.

I assume that because I have restarted my computer several times now, and there is no more WinPro stuff popping up, that I should be okay, right?

it's not in the system tray on the bottom right of my computer any more.

This is good right?

Imagine that, I'm almost 60 and I'm learning about spy ware.

Wow, can't imagine what I'll be learning when I'm 70.

thanks much.
Melody

Okay, something funny is going on here with my computer.

I can go see my e-mail and obviously, I can go on the internet.

But three times I tried to run my original anti-virus program. I have Verizon Online DSL and I use Internet Security Suite.

I periodically run the anti-virus scan program.

Well, I have tried to do this three times today. It starts the scan. It gets to number 767 and then it stops scanning. At least it appears to stop scanning. I timed it and I waited for 5 minutes. Is it normal for an anti-virus program to stop at a certain number and then continue scanning.

I have scanned before and this never happened.

any ideas??

thanks,
Melody

Still could be a bit of gunk left, what Operating System are you using ? [ like XP, Win 2000, win 98 ] if its XP, go to sytem tools [ click " all programs/ click Accesseries, run down to system tools then onto "System restore" and just follow the prompts.
If still in trouble i would download http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windo...-mechanic.html
Its free for 30 days, it gets rid of system junk, broken shortcuts, removes unwanted programs and a heap of other functions its a real good program and easy to use, it will work on all OS 's [ operating systems ].
I would use " CLEAN" "get rid of system junk", and "check uninstall software" for any remains of Win Pro, then down to "FIX" "fix registry problems", and "fix broken shortcuts".
Probably best to leave the rest of the programs until your son is there to guide you.
Give that a shot and then try your antivirus program again, if still no good download & install Adaware, Spybot search and destroy, AVG free or even the free trial of "AVG Pro"

You may have to stop running your online antivirus, just try it it see, might not have to stop running your own online one.
If you have to, just go to "add remove programs" in "control panel" find your program and uninstall it and then run the others and see what happens then, you can always go back to your own one if you like it better.
Its good to have Spyware Blaster [another freeby] installed all the time as it stops any spyware, browser hijackers, and other nasty pests from installing on you PC, it won't scan and clean, just prevents.http://majorgeeks.com/download2859.html
good luck

Brian:

After I did my last post in this thread, I went back to my Anti-virus program and ran the scan. It worked just fine. Didn't find any viruses. I have no idea why the previous time it stopped at the number 767. Maybe I just should have waited.
I guess my computer was just doing it's thing in its own way.

I cant' wait for my son to do anything because my son lives 3000 miles away, has Aspergers disorder and wouldn't get on a plane if you gave him a free ticket. But he is a computer genius. One time I was at my computer and I wanted to do an update on my windows (I have XP by the way).

I phoned my son (he was laying on his bed in his apartment in California). Do you know that he never got off the bed, never went over to his computer, he just guided me by closing his eyes and going throught the step by step program of updating the windows thing. AND BELIEVE ME, I WAS ON THE PHONE WITH HIM FOR AN HOUR, THERE WERE A LOT OF STEPS.

He would say "now go to this folder, on the upper right, you will see this, now double click this" After 10 minutes or so (and I thought he was sitting in front of his own computer), I asked him "you're doing this along with me, right??? on your own computer??" and he said "no, I'm lying on the bed".

I said "you're lying on the bed?? how do you know what I'm doing"? and he said "i'm picturing it in my mind". These aspergers are amazing in their computer expertise.

Now Brian, you mention go to Programs, Accessories and system restore. What will this do. Will I lose anything on my desktop, any information on my computer?

What exactly will this do? "OH THIS IS SO EXCITING, I FEEL LIKE I'M BACK IN SCHOOL LEARNING STUFF"

Thanks hon.

Oh by the way, the Lyrica is still doing its thing for Alan. He just went off to the gym. So hopefully, we might just have a shot here.

Melody

yes,
 

Brian and McFox are doing a great job...I have nothing more to add. My son said
to get SpyBot and if that fails do a system restore. You will lose some data that you saved depending on the date you restore. Usually it is worth it, unless you are keeping a journal or logs. He says you can back up certain files, if that is the case before restoring. He said that WinPro 2000 is EVIL... so I hope you
get rid of it safely!

Do you have a back up system? I hope you do. I keep most of my files in a folder "mom's stuff", and I back that up onto CD periodically. We just got a
backup harddrive... so now we use that. (since getting the digital camera).

Oh My God, BACKUP HARDRIVES??
 

Lordy lord. Now I have to learn about back up hard drives.

I have never backed up anything in my life.

Most of my important information is stored in my "documents" folder on Microsoft word.

So if I do a system restore, will I lose any of this.
I have some of those CD-R cd rom things.

Do I back up my microword stuff on these cd rom things?

And what is the purpose of doing a system restore?

I just did an anti-virus scan and an anti-spyware scan. My Internet Security Suite is a Verizon Anti-virus thing that has anti-spyware (why it didn't stop Alan from downloading the winpro thing, well I dont' undertand it).

Also this Internet security suite, has firewalls, and a whole bunch of stuff.

I just periodically do the anti-virus scan and antispyware thing.

This time when I did the spyware scan, it ultimately revealed that I had win-pro there so I just deleted all the applications and the screen said I had no spyware in my current list.

So I assume that I'm all clear. Jeez. I'm almost 60 and I have to worry about things called spyware. And I don't even live in Russia.

melody

yes, I would
 

make a back up disc for your important stuff.

We had a crash a couple of years ago...my powerpack burned up, literally,
and it fried all my circuits including my harddrive. It was not retreivable.

Luckily that computer was new, only 4 months old, and I hadn't saved much on it... I still had my old Sony Viao which held my important things. I did lose emails however, and some photos.

So with this Dell, I was doing CD back ups on my files. But we just bought a
back-up hard-drive on sale at CompUSA and are now using that. It does more, and has 250 gig capacity and gives a more complete save. We have everything on it, incase of some catastrophe here on this unit. You only need one big crash to teach that painful lesson! Since I store alot of data to help people with, I have to be this way now. And the new digital photos, are safer with this back up. If you download them off the camera and not print them,
then they can all be lost forever--if you don't have a good back up.
It is not hard to run the back up... we managed it okay. (we are not that swift with computers). The router software for the DSL was much harder to install.

Download and install Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html

let it update itself - it will do this after it has installed the program but before it actually runs to check for pests - and then run it.

Since you are learning all about spyware, here's another word for you; malware (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware). Spybot gets rid of quite a range of malwares and spywares. I would recommend you also use the 'immunise' feature in Spybot, for your browser.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend you start messing about using the utility Brian mentioned - these things can be excellent ... if you know what you're doing. They can also bring your computer to a grinding and unceremonious halt if you don't, so they require use with extreme caution.

Yes, burn your windword's onto CD every so often. If something happens to your computer you at least will have your hard work saved.
:)

Thanks McFox...
 

I have decided to do the spybot ourselves...just to be safe. This thread was
a SERIOUS reminder.

Good to read all is good now Melody, your son sounds very cluey.
Mrs D, is spot on as always :) i fully agree, backup all important files to disc's, never know from 1 minute to the next minute what could go wrong when using pc's.
I run Adaware, Spybot, AVG at least twice a week, its amazing how much crap gets picked up along the way, and sometimes i run an online frebbie like trendmicro as well too.
System restore can sometimes save you when your in deep trouble, its easy to use, all you have to do is follow the prompts, it will show you options of what days you can go back to, if one doesn't work then just try another day, XP has made a copy of your files at differant times, real handy program.
I haven't lost any files as far as i know when i have used it,but still backup
important files to media is the only way your really safe.

I have been only using PC's for a very short time, since getting PN about 3 years all up, just sorta learnt as was going along and i am still learning, at first PC's seemed complicated and i would rather have driven a 15 speed road ranger box down the side of a mountain anyday, now that is easy for me, but computors appeared to be difficult to learn, but turned out they aren't as hard as i thought, System Mechanic was recommened to me from a PC expert when i knew completely nothing about pc's, i have never had any trouble using it in all that time, it searches for junk and only junk is deleted, it checks for registry problems and only gives you the crap thats in there[ that can cause big problems] and then you only delete the crap, nothing else, i haven't had a problem using it in the 3 years i have been using it, in my experience using it i have found it very safe to use, especially the programs i mentioned, it does have other programs that you do need a bit of PC knowledge [not much :) ] as McFox mentioned, but i didn't say to mess around with the other programs, only those easy ones that i mentioned , especially its tool of deleting unwanted programs, i am pretty sure it would have found any remains of that win pro if it was still lerking around, i highly recomend it.[ wish i had shares in the company] i run it very often and its surprizing how much junk it picks up.

Seeing your interested in learning a bit, here is a tip that gets rid of a lot of garbage in XP OS, useless files, but only do it about every 3 months, go to windows exployer/ d/click on C[ local disk] go down to windows then d/click, then run down to "prefetch folder" d/click again then go to edit [up top of page] click "Select All" then go to "file" [up top as well] run down to delete and click it, then just close windows exployer and carry on as normal.
You will be amazed how much uneeded stuff is in there, but only do it every few months, do not do it every week.
take care
Brian
PS- there is a lot of PC forums on the net, like http://pressf1.pcworld.co.nz/ they are free to join and they are very helpfull when your in a bit of trouble.

Thanks Brian...
 

I am going to look at that forum!;)

We installed Spybot yesterday and it found about 60 not important cookies,
which we deleted. Mostly "double click" stuff my husband said. No red zone things. But you know, this unit does "slow" down occasionally..so I hope this
fixes it.

My Avast has never come up with a virus on a scan. But it did go off twice while I was on the net. Once on Yahoo mail. It has a loud siren, and really startled me.
It updates itself as well.

defragging the computer
 

Hi Mrsd :

So glad that you installed Spybot Search & Destroy. I find it very good and have never had any trouble with it.

Just wondering if you defrag your computer from time to time? That will speed it up. Also, do you run Disk Cleanup sometimes? I am not a guru by any means - just know how to do a few helpful things on the computer.

Shirley H.

I just thought of that particular PC forum is a new Zealand one, its great for me being so close but because of our differant time zones you may have to wait a little bit for an answer, but there are plenty of others around if you need help straight away.

I think thats an excellent suggestion Shirley,
and whilst your there [ press start / then click " My Computor " then right click on C [local drive] go down to properties then left click Properties and then click tools, just on top of the defrag option you will see " error checking", i go for both options - Automaticly fix file system errors & scan for attempt recovery of bad sectors, i normally do it about every month or so.

People who are interested in maintaining their XP systems, microsoft has a good guide, as below.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...n/default.mspx

yes we defrag....
 

It is the fastest defrag you ever saw! We do not add much daily to the
harddrive, or delete. The defrag on our old computer took a LONG time..
this one is ZIP...done.

We have been having sporadic slow ups with the mouse...you know a second or two delay. Rebooting usually fixes it. One time it was really terrible after
a Microsoft download..update. Several people said it was spyware...so
I hope the Spybot did the trick.

This is an 80gig drive with 512 RAM. It is almost 2 yrs old already! I don't think we will ever fill it up! LOL

Thanks for the suggestion tho.;)

Brian:

You said this:
"Seeing your interested in learning a bit, here is a tip that gets rid of a lot of garbage in XP OS, useless files, but only do it about every 3 months, go to windows exployer/ d/click on C[ local disk] go down to windows then d/click, then run down to "prefetch folder" d/click again then go to edit [up top of page] click "Select All" then go to "file" [up top as well] run down to delete and click it, then just close windows exployer and carry on as normal."

Now is this the same as deleting the temporary files when you clean your cache??? I do this on a regular basis.

What is the difference?
melody

I'm just ckecking on Alan's well being. Is he still alive? Have you fed him since you locked him in the closet? Has he been allowed out at least one hour a day for exercise?

Melody, you are quite the entertainment!
Thank you!

Not only is he still alive and kicking. He's kicking very nicely thank you. We just went to breakfast. I take one of my home-cooked bran muffins (with raisins), and we go to Dunkin Donuts. Their coffee is to die for. I order a breakfast sandwich, some coffee for me, and decaf tea for him (yuck), and Alan is already upstairs in the upper level (with his muffin still in the bag).

When I joing him on the upper level,There is NEVER ANYONE AROUND US. We sit down. I eat my breakfast sandwich, Alan takes out my homemade bran muffin with the raisins. And we sat and chatted for an hour. All relaxed. Since he is on the lyrica, his pins and needles are VERY MUCH LESS DRIVING HIM CRAZY!!!

Since no one knows we bring a home made muffin, our breakfast is cheaper, we get to have the best coffee on a Sunday morning (and I get to have a clean kitchen).

Alan is doing very well on the lyrica. I can only hope that his body doesn't get so used to it that it stops working or that he maxes out. Right now he is steady at 75 twice a day. it's only been about 5 days or so but it's the best 5 days he's ever had.

Rocky just went to the gym.

Oh, he told me to tell you guys that yesterday, when he did the leg weights,he did 270 lbs. I just looked at him. He laughed and said "see what the guys on the neuropathy board thinks about me doing 270 on the leg weights"

I said "well, at least you don't have any muscle weakness in your legs"!!!!

The doctors had told him that if he did have a variant of GBS or anything like that, it presents with muscle weakness.

To me, ANYBODY WHO CAN DO 270 LBS OR SO WITH LEG WEIGHTS, WELL, HE DOESN'T HAVE ANY MUSCLE WEAKNESS!!!

You should see his arms. If he comes at me in bed one more time with his bicep in my face and says "Feel this'. I'm going to bop him one!!!

lol, Melody

well...
 

I don't want to rain on Alan's parade.... BUT....

I USED to do 250 on the leg press. Those were the days before my injury...
and lectures from my physical therapist.

The bottom line? For Alan-- he is better off doing more reps at lower weights,
than pushing himself with higher weights. It is tempting I know, but a tendon
injury comes in a flash, and often does not heal up 100%. As we age our
tendons are not as flexible as when we were younger...:rolleyes: If he pulls that groin tendon, like I did, he will be a sorry fella! :(

So Melody, don't let him get too high with the weights, as tempting as it is.

Please be careful.

Melody,
Its a good idea to clean your tempory files "Cache files" on a regular basis, prefetching means that your computer will try to load every file it will need to boot, as fast as possible. Ahead of when they are needed. The system loads the files into RAM, into buffers. This speeds up the boot process because the system doesn't have to wait as long for files. It is much faster to get them from RAM than from the disk.

Some experts say its completely useless to empty the prefetch folder and others disagree, so its completely an individual decision, if you are only a light PC user then i wouldn't reccommend it at all, but i am a pretty heavy user and i believe it does help, because after some time you accumulate a lot of uneeded files and the prefetch folder gets bloated up, once all files in there are deleted, then windows automaticaly reloads the important files it needs in the prefetch folder so you can't do any harm at all by cleaning it out.

Opon the next reboot after deleting them, you will notice a bit slower starting up, this is because Windows is rebuilding the nessesary files it needs in the prefetch folder, but from then onwards i have found a definate improvement, but thats what i have noticed & and then the opposite will be said from others, so its completely your own decision.

Here is a handy tool that makes it easy to empty the prefetch folder, i wouldn't worry about the other options that are down the bottom, just the button up top to " empty the prefetch now " and if you do decide to do it, its best to do it after a few months of heavy pc using.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2495.html
all the best
Brian :)
Mel, can you ask Rocky if he is going to do another Rocky film, i am sick of watching the re runs.

To Brian:

What exactly constitutes a heavy PC user? I go on the internet. I don't download stuff because I don't need stuff. I go on these boards, and my own asperger forum that I developed for Parents of young Adults with Aspergers.

That's about it. I surf the net, of course and so does Alan!!

does this make for heavy pc user?


Now on to Mrs. D:

How on earth can I get this man to stop lifting weights the way he is? I don't go to the gym with him. Oh, I know. I pack his gym bag sometimes. I'll just put one of my nightgowns in, instead of his exercise outfit.

That'll get him home fast!!!

lol

melody

[QUOTE=MelodyL;42363]To Brian:

What exactly constitutes a heavy PC user? I go on the internet. I don't download stuff because I don't need stuff. I go on these boards, and my own
asperger forum that I developed for Parents of young Adults with Aspergers.

That's about it. I surf the net, of course and so does Alan!!

does this make for heavy pc user?
.................................................. .................................................. ......
Mel,
I think its really just using the net a few hours of every day, the term downloading is sometimes misunderstood, whilst being on the net, even doing a bank transaction over the net is classed as downloading, here is a page that explains it a lot better than i can.
http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=e...ition&ct=title
Ps- Did you get a chance to ask "Rocky" if he was doing anymore Rocky films :D :D

Okay!! I guess we are heavy PC users after all!!!!!
 

So I shall look into this prefetch folder thingee!!!

Now you ask if Rocky is doing any more Rocky films. Don't know about his doing any films but I will tell you what just happened when he walked into the door fresh from his exercising.

I had printed out Mrs. Doubtfire's posting about lifting heavy weights and the pulling of tendons, etc. Alan said "oh really?? Please thank her for the information. How much weights am I supposed to do on the leg press?"
So I'm asking...........??

So we lay down and guess what he does??? He put his arm in front of my nose and says: "Melody, feel this". I said; "I just told them on the boards that if you put your bicep in my face one more time, I'll bop you one". He went on: "You gotta feel this, really!! feel my arm!!" So I felt it and went all OOH, AND AHH!!!

Then he goes (I swear, this is what he said). "I did 30 minutes of Yogurt on the mat". I said "you did what???" He said: "yeah, I got down on the mat and stretched and moved my body this way and that way, I was watching some guy demonstrating these moves". I said "so you did yogurt, hah??"

He said "yeah, that's what I just said". I then asked him 'WHAT FLAVOR"?? and after he looked at me as if I had two heads, I explained YOGA!!! NOT YOGURT!!!

I think he's still laughing.

So what exactly is the total weights that my Rocky is supposed to do on these leg press things?

melody

p.s. believe me, living with this man is NEVER boring!!!!

:D :D :D your mad Melody, i mean that in the nicest way, Yogurt:D :D :D
You two must have a ball together, a perfect match..
good on ya :)
Brian

Mel,

This thread is a good example of probably the two most common problems I hear related to internet + computer use: speed and security. Speed can be affected by many things but for purposes of this thread, your computer is increasingly likely to slow down the more time you spend on the computer. This is due to cache size, temp files, etc. If you spend a lot of time surfing combined with downloading programs, plug-ins, etc., this will be especially true.

So maybe one way of looking at whether you are a "heavy" or "light" computer user is by looking at your activities, as opposed to just counting the time spent. That is, a "heavy" user is one who does the downloading and installing of programs and all that jazz. And a "light" user is one who tends to use email and visit a more limited number of sites, usually the sames ones repeatedly.

This distinction is very important when it comes to the "other" computer problem - security. Any regular web surfer needs to determine how many levels and what kinds of security checks to use. A light user should be adequately prepared with 3 layers at most: hardware and/or software firewall, antivirus, and a trojan blocker or perhaps just a scanner.

Brian's recommendation of Spybot and AdAware are for that third level. When I last used them, they were scanners - in other words, designed to scan your computer for malware, trojans, and so forth that has already been surreptitiously installed. I really think this is adequate for the vast majority of light users. If you want more protection, then you would install a blocker, a program which keeps vigil for the bad stuff and prevents it from entering in the first place.

The drawbacks of increasing the levels and the complexity on any given level - such as using blockers instead of scanners - is that they can be difficult to configure properly and unless you want to spend a significant sum of money, they will take up more memory and thus affect speed.

One recommendation to consider: a great program that can really help bump up your speed if you have been experiencing unexplained slowdowns. And it can also remove some security threats. It is called Startup Control Panel. It installs into Control Panel (Windows only). It displays all the programs and processes that are scheduled to start when Windows boots. It should come as no surprise that all commercially sold computers install a lot of junk that end up slowing your machine down. And by using the program periodically, you can eliminate all the other stuff that gets installed that shouldn't be running at startup.

It can be downloaded at most any good internet utility site. But I would recommend going directly to the author's web site:

Startup Control Panel

rfinney

wow, you certainly do know your stuff.

From reading what you wrote, I am a light computer user. I only do email and surf the net, I never download stuff. maybe an occasional itunes thing.

Now about the spyware and firewalls.

I have Internet Security Suite (from Verizon). It's supposed to do EVERYTHING. That is, anti-virus, pop up, anti-spyware, etc. etc.

If I have this already doing that on my computer, why do I need spybot?

thanks so much for being so informative

Mel

I am not personally familiar with the Verizon product. But I can tell you this much - any product that tries to be and do everything can't possibly do all of them expertly - most such packages don't even do one level expertly.

However, given your computer use, it is likely that you do not need any level to be done that deeply. Thus, while the Verizon product may not be so great, looking at it its thoroughness, it is likely adequate for your particular situation.

There are a number of other things to consider when choosing security options. I have already mentioned resource usage - which is essentially memory. Trying to cover all possible levels and cover each of those levels thoroughly is going to result in too many programs that hog too much memory. The Verizon suite may have relatively high memory usage for one product (maybe not, but I would be surprised) - but since it covers so much of your security needs, then it might actually be a bargain in terms of memory.

And there are other factors yet to consider. Ease of use and configuration are often very overlooked. You can have a great security thing installed, but if you do not know how to use it and configure it properly, it is a waste. So it is important to install a product that is going to be relatively easy to setup and use. It should either have a couple of interfaces, such as simple and advanced, or else it should be easy to understand how to use it at your own current level of knowledge, or perhaps slightly ahead if you are willing to invest some learning time.

I assume you are using Verizon as your broadband provider. So also using their security suite could help in that you should have tech support available to you. Verizon is supposed to have better support available than most of the other folks - don't know myself - but that could be an advantage. Given your skills as a communicator, I think you could easily find yourself a skilled Verizon techie and have them help you configure your suite for best use.

Oh - I almost forgot - about Sbybot. One of the great things about it, is that it is a scanner. It is not installed on your system so you just have it check your system every so often. Then you can get rid of potentially harmful stuff as well as help prevent slowdown. I think almost all users should use this or something similar - it will definitely find things that the basic security suites and programs miss. It is designed to do a more thorough check and analysis. Really just a good, easy way to keep things running better and avoid nasty future surprises.

Surfing habits have a lot to do with security needs. In other words, if you are a user who travels around the net quite a bit and downloads music, movies, and whatever from where ever, then you your security needs are quite high.

But even if you spend a lot of time on the computer, but you are visiting safe sites (like this one) - then you are just not at that high of risk. This is especially true in terms of picking up a virus. So it makes sense to concentrate a little more on the other threats. And that is exactly what Spybot does.

Finally, here are a few well-regarded test sites. You can use them, if you are so inclined, to check antivirus, email, popups, and the some other stuff:

GFI Email Security Testing Zone
Shields UP!
PC Pitstop
Popup Check

rfinney

Now i am confused :confused: HELP :) stopping any programs from starting up is only to improve the actual bootup time, it has completely nothing to do with using bandwidth[ power of internet connection]
its normaly done by press start/ click run/ type " msconfig ", click the startup tab and there you have it.

If you decide to use that program be very carefull which programs you uncheck in the little box, you must leave your security running and if you don't understand what anything is, don't touch it, its best left alone, and normally used only by experienced hands.

A lot of people seem to have lots of icons [screen candy] they call it, all over their desktop, they don't realize that it uses up precious bandwidth, it actually slows your internet down, 2 or 3 ok but some people go mad with them and wonder why their net is slow.

A real noticable slowing down of the net is normally a trojan, virus etc, but running those 3 i mentioned will do the trick, a good fire wall like Zone alarm its free, and very good, i would download spyblaster as well which is another freebie and does a great job of stopping stuff getting into your works, run your antivirus programs [ like Adaware/spybot, AVG] regularly twice a week, use systems tools like defrag and error checking every few weeks , run an online anti virus like trendmicro once a week and you should be right.
I would class a person that only gets on the net for an hour or so after work every now and again,and probably connected up with that awfull dialup , a light user, anything above that using broadband downloading megabytes is not usaly classed as a light user, just ask your provider for a light internet users deal, i don't think you will be getting 3 or 4 hours a day of broadband.
Maintaince is the key to smooth running PC's.

Thanks Brian
 

for the information about desktop icons slowing down the computer. I didn't know that - duh! Immediately used the wizard to get some of mine off the desktop.

Shirley H.

Okay!!!! I have about 50 desktop icons. I use maybe 10 out of the 50. What the heck do I do with the ones I don't use?? Do I just right click and hit delete. What happens to them after that?

I DO use Verizon DSL. So I pay $4.95 a month for the Verizon Internet Security Suite and don't have to worry about anything. It catches potential viruses. (the only reason I started this thread is because Alan, when prompted, ALLOWED the download). He knows better now.
I don't get any pop ups. It finds cookies and deletes them. All in all, I'm happy with it. I used to have a symantec thing but I didn't like it. I also had something from Norton Utilities but honestly, now that I have verizon dsl and verison security suite, I'm good with that!!!

BUT!!! and here's a good question for ya!!!
I use Outlook Express as my mail thing. NOT VERIZON.
So far so good. I usually get ALL my e-mails.
But sometimes, Verizon doesn't let an e-mail go through and treats it like spam. How can I find an e-mail if for example, my bank sent it to me and I never got it. There is no spam folder in my Outlook Express thing.
Anybody know the answer???

Thanks,
Mel

Brian - not correct at all. Stopping all those unnecessary programs from loading does much more than speed up your boot time. First off, they consume memory and thus can affect your overall computer processing. And internet speed, while certainly affected more by the speed of your internet connection, is also affected by overall processing power.

More importantly, most of those programs in fact do use bandwidth. They are designed to open and close internet connections. Some of them may be open quite awhile and/or check for updates and the like quite frequently. Also, some of these processes are very misbehaved and thus may not close properly or at all. They can also malfunction in other ways. Do you ever have unexplained computer blips? Thought so - one of the very first things that any competent tech support person will have you try is to disable ALL startups and see what happens. Takes care of the problem quite often.

And finally - it could also be that one of those itty bitty programs is a trojan that has been missed by whatever security you use.

I do agree that you should be conservative about deleting startups, however there are a couple of sites that provide very helpful information about almost any of these things. With just a little bit of effort, most novices can begin trimming in no time. And "msconfig" is most definitely not the place to do this. I won't bother going into all the reasons, but just use the tool I recommend or something similar.

Also, it is not correct that your desktop icons do not affect your internet connection. Having a lot of them may slow your boot time a bit - but that is all. It really makes no sense to move them, except if your desktop is cluttered.

You may be getting confused between those icons and the processes they represent. The icons do NOT show what programs are running. They represent a segment of your installed programs (not all installed programs put an icon on the desktop). Installed programs have nothing at all to due with running programs.

In fact, it is the program to which I referred, or "msconfig," that will give you a much better picture of what is running. Even those programs do not give the whole picture - as they just show the programs and processes that are set to launch at boot up. You actually have to call up the Windows Task Manager to see EVERY thing that is running on your computer at any given time.

Mel - Normally a broadband provider will provide all their subscribers with a homepage area. You should go there and log in. There will be an area with all of your emails - this is actually the place where all of your emails can be seen before they are downloaded to your computer and put into Outlook Express.

They should have a folder on the email page that has all the emails they have marked as spam. You can view them, delete them, unmark them so they are not spam, etc. There are probably some defaults you can change - for instance, how long they are kept before they are automatically deleted.

rfinney

Mel, sounds like you are very happy with your own antivirus program so there is no reason for change.
The icons to the programs that you definatly don't want to use ever again, just go to " Control Panel/ Click on " add remove programs "/ run down the list and then select the ones who want to uninstal, then simply uninstall them, you may have to reboot after each program that you have uninstalled, but if so you will be prompted to do so thats if you have to, the ones that are not in that list, yes. delete them straight from the desktop into your recycle bin and then empty your bin.

For the ones you do want to keep [this is what i have done with mine], you may like to do this, right click on the desktop, run down to " New " then move over to " folder and click on it, a new folder will be created on your desktop, then go to the icons your want to keep, left click on one whist leaving the mouse button down and drag it over to the new folder that you just created then when it goes a blue colour, let go of of the mouse button and it will go into that folder, then do the same for all the rest, except the main ones you use very often, like any Internet browser icon etc.
Some say to just drag them over to the start button and they will come up in the first row of programs, but i don't recommend it, as i have come accross some problems doing it that way.

Once you have cleaned up all the screen candy, then right click on that new folder run down to " Send to " move accross then run down to " My Documents " then left click on it, you have done it, you have sent all of those icons to a folder in" My Documents ". next i normaly check to make sure they are in there, then go back to your desktop and left click on that new folder thats still on your desktop and drag it into the " Recycle Bin " then empty your recycle bin.

Now, to get to them when you want to use them, just go to "my documents" find that new folder [ you can name it anything you like] double click on it that will open it up and use the programs from there, you should notice your pc more responsive when using the net because you have given back more bandwidth to use on the net.

Outlook express is only a program that you need to be able to send and recieve emails, your antiviris program Verizon is configured in Outlook Express to look out for any crap that is trying to get through, if it does find something its doing its job properly, any genuine emails will be scanned just like any other emails are, if its clean you will have access to it, if its not, its not going to let you open it up and infect your machine, seeing thats the whole idea of having protection like Verizon.
General rule with emails is, if you don't know who they are don't open it.

.................................................. .................................................. .


Rfinnery – I do agree with you that programs using up memory do have an impact on internet speed, however I can’t see how other programs other than our antivirus, firewall type programs are active searching for most recent updates whilst we are using the net, Adaware is a good example of this being so, as you would be aware that we are prompted to allow access for them and I always configure for them to search for updates without prompting me for permission to do so.

The only time that I do notice any strain of power when using the net, is only when I call upon another program to startup like Nero, to do some recoding for me and at the same time I might even have an antivirus program running as well, other than those circumstances I don’t have any loss of internet strength and that’s without disabling programs as you mentioned earlier.

If you really think it doesn’t make any sense cleaning your desktop, then why does Microsoft by default in XP os, prompt us to clean up any unused icons ?
Here is a site that gives a few simple tips to speed up our PC’s. were useless icons are mentioned .
http://familyinternet.about.com/od/t...upcomputer.htm
Also just simply lowering your graphic settings down to say 16 bits, is another way to slightly improve performance , so I really can’t understand your reasoning about desktop not being an issue as far as performance goes., I think you would agree that anything that has to do with using memory will definatly affect the systems performance..

I am really not confused either about icons and and the processes they represent, its very simple to right click the task bar and bring up the task manager to see what processers are running, not only can I see exactly how much percent the CPU is using, also from there I can see how much physical Memory there is and keep an eye on the system cache as well.and more as you would probably know..
This thread has turned out a thread that would be very typical of a computer forum not a PN forum, but one thing leads to another that’s they way it goes, if every one thought the same it would be a boring old world
we live in :)
Take care
Brian :)

Brian,

I agree that using Windows Desktop Cleanup can be useful. However, it will not affect bandwidth in any way whatsoever. It will improve overall computer processing which can help with all computer activities, including web surfing.

Also, I was responding to the recommendation to just move desktop icons. This is much less effective in terms of cleanup that is designed to improve performance. Using Windows Desktop Cleanup is not only more effective but safer. Just moving those icons will often result in error messages with the next boot, because now Windows does not know where they were moved to and will prompt the user for action.

And again, doing any sort of desktop cleanup is going to have a very, very minimal impact on internet efficiency. It should be done for other reasons, such as clutter, boot time slowdown, and overall improved efficiency (which can help with web performance, but really only a little).

The fact is that the startup programs you want to leave alone, do in fact affect bandwidth. However, depending on how many are installed and many other factors, the amount of bandwidth can be quite minimal or more substantial.

But it is desirable to monitor these processes as the real issue is that they are often installed surreptitiously as malware. They can and often do cause unexpected problems, slowdown computer and internet performance, and so forth. What do you think AdAware is doing? One of its main functions is to look at those programs and decide which ones truly don't belong.

rfinney