Decided to do the unthinkable...
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Decided to do the unthinkable...
Afternoon again Chaps,
Well recently I asked for some help removing Norton and installing AVG, I did this because my PC was running like a dog.
After doing the complete uninstall, thanks to more help from you guys...and girls, it seems that alas, all is still not well with the old girl.
So today I decided the hell with it, lets just reformat and start again...lots of stuff will be lost, but at the moment it is running so badly that I cant use half the applications anyway, for example it takes Firefox about twenty to thirty seconds to open...never used to, my 2gb of ram used to have it open just milli seconds after the double click of the mouse.
I have also noticed that when I play my music it distorts and seems to slow down.
So today I bought a fancy external HD (Seagate 750 GB),never used one before, but I think I am getting the hang of it,I have coppied my music and my pictures across...some applications, although not sure how well these will work, as I think the licences are probably burried somewhere deep inside my C drive...
So er...any advice on how these things work, I mean I plan on just sticking the boot disk in and saying yes when prompted and then letting windows update intself online, well as soon as I re-install the internet drivers...I have a feeling this could take a while!
Not sure what I posting this for...just keeping everyone up to date on just how sad my life is...so that you can feel better about yours!
Wish me Luck!
Ant
Well recently I asked for some help removing Norton and installing AVG, I did this because my PC was running like a dog.
After doing the complete uninstall, thanks to more help from you guys...and girls, it seems that alas, all is still not well with the old girl.
So today I decided the hell with it, lets just reformat and start again...lots of stuff will be lost, but at the moment it is running so badly that I cant use half the applications anyway, for example it takes Firefox about twenty to thirty seconds to open...never used to, my 2gb of ram used to have it open just milli seconds after the double click of the mouse.
I have also noticed that when I play my music it distorts and seems to slow down.
So today I bought a fancy external HD (Seagate 750 GB),never used one before, but I think I am getting the hang of it,I have coppied my music and my pictures across...some applications, although not sure how well these will work, as I think the licences are probably burried somewhere deep inside my C drive...
So er...any advice on how these things work, I mean I plan on just sticking the boot disk in and saying yes when prompted and then letting windows update intself online, well as soon as I re-install the internet drivers...I have a feeling this could take a while!
Not sure what I posting this for...just keeping everyone up to date on just how sad my life is...so that you can feel better about yours!
Wish me Luck!
Ant
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Ok so its not actually going to well so far...
Quick question...how does one go about reformatting the disc?
I use Windows XP, tried doing it through windows, but it kept saying that the disk is in use so windows cannot reformat.
Is there another way?
Cheers
Ant
Quick question...how does one go about reformatting the disc?
I use Windows XP, tried doing it through windows, but it kept saying that the disk is in use so windows cannot reformat.
Is there another way?
Cheers
Ant
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All this unnecessary angst about anti-virus software ...
Look, all you need to do is:
(1) Refrain from downloading any viruses.
(2) Then refrain from installing them.
(3) Then refrain from running them.
Easy. Problem solved. And you don't need any anti-virus software, which by the very nature of what its trying to do is difficult (to make work properly in a changing environment) and expensive (in CPU cycles and other resources).
(That's assuming you don't want to visit porn and warez web sites and/or receive emails from the same. If you do insist on such activities then, sure, you've got a bit of a problem.)
Look, all you need to do is:
(1) Refrain from downloading any viruses.
(2) Then refrain from installing them.
(3) Then refrain from running them.
Easy. Problem solved. And you don't need any anti-virus software, which by the very nature of what its trying to do is difficult (to make work properly in a changing environment) and expensive (in CPU cycles and other resources).
(That's assuming you don't want to visit porn and warez web sites and/or receive emails from the same. If you do insist on such activities then, sure, you've got a bit of a problem.)
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
Well, that's one view.
Agree with:
But for the ones that slip through, there's AV. Like the MS disks that shipped with viruses, or the file from your best mate, or what your kids brought home, or the moment of aberration etc.
What you can do to mitigate 2) is to only log in as a User, not an Admin, unless it is necessary for the specific task - and there's always Run As.
SD
Agree with:
(1) Refrain from downloading any viruses.
(2) Then refrain from installing them.
(3) Then refrain from running them.
(2) Then refrain from installing them.
(3) Then refrain from running them.
What you can do to mitigate 2) is to only log in as a User, not an Admin, unless it is necessary for the specific task - and there's always Run As.
SD
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or what your kids brought home
Each time they catch something nasty, their machine is physically disconnected from my network, and hence the internet, until I "get round to" cleaning it up.
Each time they catch something it takes me twice as long to "get round to" cleaning it up. They know this.
It was a fortnight last time, so it's a month next time ... but the last time was several years ago now so the threat of no internet for a month seems to have made them sufficiently careful!
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Last year my company decided to reinstall Windows XP on all of the PC's working with the server (stupid really as the problem was with the server not the PC's). You cannot reformat with XP as you could with earlier Windows versions (formatC
. The installation disc does it for you when you install. Takes forever on older machines.
Regardng not downloading viruses etc., you don't have to visit porn sites to get the blighters try to get on your machine. The year before last I had a hard disk crash on my lap top that necessitated a return to Maxdata for a new HD. When it came back, with XP pre-installed, I needed to download the Avira AV programme so logged onto the internet. Within two minutes malware had got into my system. A bit embarrassing really as I was trying to download one of my securit programmes.
. The installation disc does it for you when you install. Takes forever on older machines.Regardng not downloading viruses etc., you don't have to visit porn sites to get the blighters try to get on your machine. The year before last I had a hard disk crash on my lap top that necessitated a return to Maxdata for a new HD. When it came back, with XP pre-installed, I needed to download the Avira AV programme so logged onto the internet. Within two minutes malware had got into my system. A bit embarrassing really as I was trying to download one of my securit programmes.
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If your company went round and manually installed Windoze on every machine the IT staff should immediately be fired.
There's this wonderful technology known as 'imaging'. Install 1 PC, get it setup how you like it, strip it of its personality using sysprep then deploy to all machines in a matter of minutes. Type in computer name, done.
I can wipe and re-image hundreds of machines without even leaving my desk. The last time any of my lot went round manually installing machines was in 1998, and they were behind the times even then!
There's this wonderful technology known as 'imaging'. Install 1 PC, get it setup how you like it, strip it of its personality using sysprep then deploy to all machines in a matter of minutes. Type in computer name, done.
I can wipe and re-image hundreds of machines without even leaving my desk. The last time any of my lot went round manually installing machines was in 1998, and they were behind the times even then!
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Shunter:
We do not have an IT department as we are too small. We did have an IT consultancy who were supposed to know about these things and said it must be done manually (by me). As the problem was not wit the PC's but with the new server they had sold us we decided that it would be better to chand IT consultants. It worked - the server works well now.
We do not have an IT department as we are too small. We did have an IT consultancy who were supposed to know about these things and said it must be done manually (by me). As the problem was not wit the PC's but with the new server they had sold us we decided that it would be better to chand IT consultants. It worked - the server works well now.
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Well Done Saab Dastard !
What you can do to mitigate 2) is to only log in as a User, not an Admin, unless it is necessary for the specific task - and there's always Run As.
Not enough people do this ....
Don't be a lazy computer user ! 99.999999% of viruses need admin rights to infect and propagate ... just like fire needs oxygen .... remove the fuel and you're much safer (please, no smart alec replies about oxigen removal, you know the point I was trying to get accross
)The view of Gertrude the Wombat, however, about living without AV software, is just asking for trouble. Especially given free/low cost AV software is available.
Look, everyone knows that Norton is slow and memory hungry. Use something else (such as Kaspersky, F-Secure or similar) ... and all should be well.
Just my 2p worth.
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Hi all,
Interesting that the question of virus's has come up...I don't know, but it may be a virus, actually i am hoping it is, all i need now is to go through all this and then have a clean disk that still runs terribly slow!
I was called away on urgent business last night so I will have to do it today...whilst nursing a slight hangover.
The problem with single Malt whiskey is it just tastes so damn good!
Interesting that the question of virus's has come up...I don't know, but it may be a virus, actually i am hoping it is, all i need now is to go through all this and then have a clean disk that still runs terribly slow!
I was called away on urgent business last night so I will have to do it today...whilst nursing a slight hangover.
The problem with single Malt whiskey is it just tastes so damn good!
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The year before last I had a hard disk crash on my lap top that necessitated a return to Maxdata for a new HD. When it came back, with XP pre-installed, I needed to download the Avira AV programme so logged onto the internet. Within two minutes malware had got into my system. A bit embarrassing really as I was trying to download one of my securit programmes.
Of course there's a window of opportunity before you download the service packs and patches - which you should of course do before worrying about any AV stuff - but still nothing should get past the stealth mode NAT router (or other hardware firewall of your choice).
If you don't have any sort of hardware firewall to hide behind whilst you download the service packs and patches, download them onto another machine and copy them over by USB stick, or take your machine round to your mate's house where there is a proper router, or do something - don't just plug an out-of-date unpatched machine (running any operating system) unprotected into the net. Even if it has already got AV on it.
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99.999999% of viruses need admin rights to infect and propagate
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I am having all kinds of problems now, I cant get the stupid thing to boot from the recovery disk, I have pressed every key on the damn keyboard,mannaged to get into the BIOS, but that was of little help, it just not seem to register that the boot disk is in the drive.
I just keep coming up on the windows start options screen...ie start in safe mode etc.
Any ideas?
I just keep coming up on the windows start options screen...ie start in safe mode etc.
Any ideas?
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It sounds like you haven't managed to set the BIOS boot device order correctly yet. If you go into the BIOS settings one of the top level menus is likely to be 'Boot'. Go to that menu and you'll usually find some way of telling the 'puter the order of where to look for an OS - you want to put CD-ROM (maybe called ATAPI device) higher up the list than your HDD. Then, hopefully, it will let you run the installation process.
Another option is to run setup from the installation CD from Windows - I think this will give you an option to repair an existing installation or to install a 'clean' version. Never done it myself but I'm pretty sure I've seen the option.
Last option. If you have access to some old installation disks (c Win 98), create a bootable floppy and copy fdisk.com (from the installation disk) on to it. Boot from the floppy - again you may need to change the boot device order in the BIOS - and run fdisk. This will let you partition the HDD and works at a lower level than the OS. It's usually my fallback when Windows won't let go..... One caveat - you will lose everything on the HDD so before doing it make sure you have copied everything you want to keep onto your external HDD first.
Drop me a PM if you get to the last option but don't have any old installation disks or if you get stumped in some other way and I'll see if I can help any more.
Another option is to run setup from the installation CD from Windows - I think this will give you an option to repair an existing installation or to install a 'clean' version. Never done it myself but I'm pretty sure I've seen the option.
Last option. If you have access to some old installation disks (c Win 98), create a bootable floppy and copy fdisk.com (from the installation disk) on to it. Boot from the floppy - again you may need to change the boot device order in the BIOS - and run fdisk. This will let you partition the HDD and works at a lower level than the OS. It's usually my fallback when Windows won't let go..... One caveat - you will lose everything on the HDD so before doing it make sure you have copied everything you want to keep onto your external HDD first.
Drop me a PM if you get to the last option but don't have any old installation disks or if you get stumped in some other way and I'll see if I can help any more.
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
As spitoon says, the PC must be told to boot off a CD if present. The other thing is to confirm that the CD is actually bootable!
Is the recovery disk meant to be bootable? Is it a proper OEM installation disk? Have you got the license key for it?
SD
Is the recovery disk meant to be bootable? Is it a proper OEM installation disk? Have you got the license key for it?
SD
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Hi Saab,
The disk is a recovery disk only...tried everything now, at the point of giving up!
I have an idea, let me know what you think, I will go and buy a copy of Windows XP Home, if I stick that disk in at start up, will it basically do the same thing, ie wipe everything and do a fresh install?
My other option is to buy a new internal hard drive and make a fresh install of windows on there, although, not too sure how easy that is?
Thanks for all the help Spitoon, no luck with any of it though!
And to think I thought this would be easy!
Ant
The disk is a recovery disk only...tried everything now, at the point of giving up!
I have an idea, let me know what you think, I will go and buy a copy of Windows XP Home, if I stick that disk in at start up, will it basically do the same thing, ie wipe everything and do a fresh install?
My other option is to buy a new internal hard drive and make a fresh install of windows on there, although, not too sure how easy that is?
Thanks for all the help Spitoon, no luck with any of it though!
And to think I thought this would be easy!
Ant
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
I have an idea, let me know what you think, I will go and buy a copy of Windows XP Home, if I stick that disk in at start up, will it basically do the same thing, ie wipe everything and do a fresh install?
My other option is to buy a new internal hard drive and make a fresh install of windows on there, although, not too sure how easy that is?
My other option is to buy a new internal hard drive and make a fresh install of windows on there, although, not too sure how easy that is?
If you get a new disk, you should be able to have both the new and the existing disks installed. If you install the new disk as the system disk, you can leave everything intact on the original - easy to pull your data off. But be careful not to pull any viruses / malware off at the same time!
Adding a 2nd HDD isn't a big deal - easier than you might think. Lot's of guides on the internet.
What does the user manual say about recovery? How are you meant to use the recovery disk? Is there a recovery option at boot? Have you got access to the manual to find out? If you haven't got one can you find one on t'internet?
SD