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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
 Posted - 05/27/2002 : 12:35:35 PM
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I've been downloading songs like mad lately, and my computer has been bluescreening a lot, too. (I mean, I get the blue screen where it says any key to continue, ctrl alt del to restart.) Is there anything I can do to make my computer stay running?
I think it would be a good idea to reinstall windows (I have a friend who does it every month; I haven't done it once and have had the computer for a year and a half.
And if I reinstall windows, won't I lose all the stuff I have on here? And if I save the stuff to a disk, then won't I stand the chance of putting a virus back on (if one was on in the first place)?
There is the possibility of a virus, but I don't have any way of knowing that, and even if I did know, I wouldn't know how to get rid of it.
Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. I'm not all that great with computers, so I don't really know what to do.
Thanks.
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Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 1:38:10 PM
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If it finds a virus will it also fix the virus?
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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 2:20:34 PM
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Ok I see that it should be able to fix a virus if it finds one...now...
How often do you do this scan?
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KevinLesko
Alien Abductee
3712 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 2:35:39 PM
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ahhh the Ol' "Blue Screen Of Death"
another good thing to do is to defragment your c drive. The option is under system tools, which is under accessories. While you are at it, you can also clean up your c drive, it deletes temporary files and hings you dont need. All of that should free up more space and help you avoid the BSOD!
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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 2:41:54 PM
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AAhhh, I didn't even think about that Kevin. I will defragment after I get done with this virus scan of Silky's. It's taking forever. But it's found one thing so far....
And as far as cleaning up my C drive....is that an option, just like defragmentation? If so, I'll do that too. If I have to just pick out the things I want to delete, I won't know what to keep and what not to. I mean if it will do it for me, I can do it; if not, then I'll have to leave that off.
Thanks for your help...
This reminds me...I have a program called "Attune" that was installed when I got the computer...what is that and why do I need it? I have it disabled right now (for the last year). Should I just uninstall that? And all the little Icons that Dell puts on the computer (that just get in my way and piss me off...) Are they deletable? How about this...if I reinstalled windows, would they still be there? I'm leaning strongly toward doing that....
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Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 3:08:56 PM
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You really don't need to re-install windows unless something drastic comes up. Most anything else can just be resolved. I agree with Kevin, run disk defragmenter. If you've never done it, it should make things run ever so slightly smoother. If you are getting a lot of the 'blue screen of death' messages, you should also run scandisk to make sure there aren't any errors on your C drive.
Generally speaking, you should run a virus scan as often as possible. I am slack so I generally do it about every 2 weeks or so. If nothing seems to work and you decide that you must re-install Windows, get your hands on a copy of Windows XP Professional (I'm assuming that's not what you're running because it is stable enough that it is VERY rare to get one of those aweful blue screens).
As for Attune, if you don't use it, get rid of it. Just go to control panel -> add/remove programs, and uninstall it. The icons on your desktop are probably just shortcuts and are just wasting space on your desktop. All you have to do to figure out if you can delete them is right click -> properties, and look at the file type. If it says "shortcut" next to file type, then you can delete them, with exception to system things such as My Documents or My Briefcase etc. They are probably all very useless anyway.
As far as disk cleanup, that is under system tools just like disk defragmenter and skandisk are.
-J
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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 3:25:19 PM
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Ok, I had one virus, and it was "non-cleanable" so I deleted it. It was a script virus, I believe. So that should fix it?
I'm going to defragment in a little while. I've done it before, but it's been a while. Probably a good idea to do it now. I'll do the disc cleanup too. Is one better to do before the other?
Goodbye, Attune.....well shit, I clicked add/remove, and it tries to install Attune. What's going on there...It seems to already be installed...
What if there are errors on my C drive when I do a scandisk? Will it know how to fix them? Ahhh, all these problems that I don't know the answer to.
Thanks for your help.
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KevinLesko
Alien Abductee
3712 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 4:29:31 PM
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I think you have to do a scandisc before you defragment, because if there is an error, it wont defragment. There is an option on scandisk, that says automatically fix errors, so check that.
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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 4:49:36 PM
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I tried running scandisc, and it will go for about 2 mintues and then restart. It told me once that if I shut down other programs that it would probably finish faster. I didn't have any programs running, or even on at all. There were some in my startup (right bottom corner) and I closed them. But no beans, it still won't work. I don't know....
Thanks for the help. I did the disc clean up. I guess it worked. It said I'd get about 638 mb or whatever it's called. So I did it and then did it immediately again, and it said I'd get 430. I didn't understand that, particularly. So I'll have to do some more work...
Thanks for all the help.
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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 5:01:24 PM
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Alright, here I go again with the Scandisk. Wish me luck, although I won't be around to hear it. Cause I've got to shut down my programs....
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genome
Fluffy-Esque
1098 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2002 : 6:28:55 PM
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Ok, everything is scanned, cleaned up, and defragmented. Let's just hope everything will work well from now on. Thanks for everyone's help.
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pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2002 : 10:55:34 PM
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I have a question......on my laptop, when I try to do Scan Disk....it starts going....that jumps to the beginning....starts scanning again and after 10 TIMes, a window comes up saying that it has tried 10 TIMes unsuccessfully. What do I do? Also, since I can't get the internet on my laptop at home, I was wondering how you start a connection using a phone line.....I tried it and when it called the number, no one picked up.
"I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows." |
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Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2002 : 1:25:17 PM
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Patrick make sure ALL running programs are closed. Use your task manager if you have to to close things that way. As for creating a dialup connection, if you have an ISP with dialup numbers just go to Internet Options -> Connections -> add, and put in the information.
Genome, did that stuff end up getting rid of your problems?
-J
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KevinLesko
Alien Abductee
3712 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2002 : 7:08:43 PM
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OK, so now I have a question for all you smarty-pants folks:
You know when you hit alt-ctrl-del to see what programs are running, well what in the blue hell are all of those ones that always run? Do I need those? Here is a list of ones I don't have a clue about that always seem to be running:
-backweb agent
-whagent
-osd
-msstat
-remind 32
-lodqm
-dpps2
-rundll
-BVT
-Hidserv
-systray
-qttask
Do I need those, what are they? If not, can I be rid of them? So also when you guys run a disc scan do you close everything except explorer in that window?
Any help would be wonderfully appreciated!
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pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2002 : 8:27:46 PM
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quote:
if you have an ISP with dialup numbers
What the fuck does that mean?!
"I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows." |
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tericee
Alien Abductee
USA
2579 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2002 : 8:33:30 PM
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If you are using DSL or cable modem, you might not have dialup numbers. Or if you are plugged in to an ethernet connection at school, there's no dialup. I think that's what he's saying.
teri 
Did I mention that I finished a marathon? |
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pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2002 : 8:39:28 PM
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Well......I tried it earlier.....it already had a number with like 10 zeros in it......which was the national number. Then it said that it would find a number that would be in my area, but it never got through. Do you think it was because I tried late at night?
"I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows." |
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Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2002 : 9:29:01 PM
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Kev I know what a few of those are, not all though. Those two that say 'agent' in them probably don't need to be running 24/7, but I don't know for sure.
Pat, ISP = internet service provider. I vaguely remember you saying that your rents have some kind of high speed internet access which means no numbers to dial. What I was asking, is if you, aside from your parents connection, have an ISP like AOL, Mindspring etc... that your computer dials via the modem/phone lines to access. Worst case scenario, you can always look in Windows help and it will direct you to the connection wizard.
-J
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pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2002 : 11:49:05 PM
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OK......I now have another question for you. I quit all of my applications, and it is still restarting the scan disk thing. What do I do now? But the strange thing is that after jumping back to the beginning a couple of TIMes, is finally works. I encountered this also when I defragmented my C drive a month ago or so. It would start defragmenting, jump back to the beginning, and then pick up where it left off.....needless to say, it took like twice as long to defragment.
"I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows." |
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KevinLesko
Alien Abductee
3712 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2002 : 12:52:42 AM
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I dont know if this means anything or not, but once just for th heck of it, I pulled out my internet cable before doing the scan, and it seemed to go through a lot smoother. Maybe just do that and let the scan run while you sleep.
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Silky The Pimp
Alien Abductee
3321 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2002 : 01:49:26 AM
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Not really sure about either of those...
Computers work in mysterious ways.
-J
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pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2002 : 02:30:55 AM
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Well.......considering the fact that my laptop was not connected to the internet at the TIMe, I will have to go any refute that suggestion.
Also, as you might be able to tell, I got the dial-up to work at home. And am I spoiled. I've never really used any other type of internet access than T1 or DSL......and now that I have dial-up, I can see how valuable those are. This is soooooooo slow! But I'm happy because I can now go on the internet whenever I want without my parents looking over my shoulder.....also, they don't know how to use a PC.
"I didn't think it was physically possible, but this both sucks and blows." |
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Computer Help Quesion.
