?? I have no idea where this topic goes??

[Lone Wolf]

OH my god...LOL... that was the longest single post i've ever seen!

Well Catarina, i found out you're feline lover and i almost gave up on you cuz i'm a bigtime puppy/dog lover but i see you're into body-building so in case you get PO'd and beat the crap outta me i'll help you out...

We know now that this so-called techie of yours upgraded your Win98 w/out your consent and now you have WinXP. Now if it were me, I would mabye think about just formatting and starting over which is something I DO NOT recommend very often, but it's an option. The reason why i am not quick to recommend doing so is that it's generally a last resort method when all other options do not fix the problem. In your case, this can mostly likely be fixed by clearning out the spyware crap and the bloated software you've got installed in your system. So I think you should take that route first and if the problem persists, we'll take it from there.

First start out by doing a thorough scan w/ AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy. Use it to scan and remove all the spyware entries. And then afterwards, do a thorough virus scan with whatever AV (anti-virus) software you've got.

-Reboot the system
-Start Msconfig again and navigate to the startup tab like you did before and UNCHECk every single item on that list. The only ones you need are these two:

nvcpl
hp psc 2000 series

Uncheck everything else.

Open up your TIF (Temp. Internet Folder) Delete everthing in that folder. It's only a temporary cache of the websites you've visited before... allows the webpage to load faster in case you visit it again. Don't let it get too bloated.

Finally, defrag your hard drive.

Reboot.

These measures should help you out greatly. A lot of what you have installed I noticed is spyware. Things like Stardock; Ypager; windows messenger is fine... but just be careful of what you D/L install from the I-net as it can sometimes be bloated or just plain nasty spyware.

 

[catarina]

OH my god...LOL... that was the longest single post i've ever seen!

LMAO!!! Yeah, I think it was the longest I've ever made

Well Catarina, i found out you're feline lover and i almost gave up on you cuz i'm a bigtime puppy/dog lover but i see you're into body-building so in case you get PO'd and beat the crap outta me i'll help you out...

Who ME??? Heehee...yeah, I lurrrrrrrrve my kitties, but I love all animals I also love to bodybuild, but I'm a whimp when it comes to confrontation...but I guess if I had to I'd be able to take care of myself. I've been training for 15 years now I love it. Do you train too?

We know now that this so-called techie of yours upgraded your Win98 w/out your consent and now you have WinXP. Now if it were me, I would mabye think about just formatting and starting over which is something I DO NOT recommend very often, but it's an option. The reason why i am not quick to recommend doing so is that it's generally a last resort method when all other options do not fix the problem. In your case, this can mostly likely be fixed by clearning out the spyware crap and the bloated software you've got installed in your system. So I think you should take that route first and if the problem persists, we'll take it from there.

Okay. I just have a question and the answer's forever eluding me cause no one ever says if I could do this or not.
Okay, ya know how ya download programs from the net and ya don't have the software? Well, is there a way to zip out all these programs and files and just reinstall them on my computer if I did in fact reformat the disk? I really wish he'd have installed it differently, but I think he said that I needed those files to run some of my programs (which honestly, I think is a crock of sh*$ ..

First start out by doing a thorough scan w/ AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy. Use it to scan and remove all the spyware entries. And then afterwards, do a thorough virus scan with whatever AV (anti-virus) software you've got.

Okay As you noticed, I went ahead and did the spyware thingie....you didn't mention that I shouldn't destroy all that junk in it, so I'll go ahead and delete 'em all

-Reboot the system
-Start Msconfig again and navigate to the startup tab like you did before and UNCHECk every single item on that list. The only ones you need are these two:

nvcpl
hp psc 2000 series

Uncheck everything else.

Okie dokie ~ but the hp psc 2000 series is no longer a printer that I use, so I'll just uncheck that and check the dell one

Open up your TIF (Temp. Internet Folder) Delete everthing in that folder. It's only a temporary cache of the websites you've visited before... allows the webpage to load faster in case you visit it again. Don't let it get too bloated.

Yeah, I used to surf so much that I had the Cooke Monster take up residence in here

Finally, defrag your hard drive.

Reboot.

OH YEAH, forgot to tell ya, but my computer won't defrag for some reason. I tried to do it the other nite and it just keeps stalling out. I shut down my AV, but I don't know what else to do.

Hey, thanks alot for all your help LoneWolf ~ I'll keep ya posted on how this goes

HUGS!!!

 

[catarina]

Wow. If this was my system catarina I would do a clean install of XP on it. Since you have so many programs that don't work..and your PC is full of spyware..I think your best method would be to save the data you want....format the drive and reinstall XP.

MicroBell ~ I hate to sound so stupid, but I'm really ignorant! LOL...I don't know where to start I mean, is there instructions on doing a "clean install".....I don't know how to save all my programs....do I just write the data to a disk (pathetic huh?) lol ~

Otherwise your going to spend alot of time cleaning the PC and trying to get these programs to run..as your OS is such a mess and even though you can clean some of these items...some of the registry entries will remain and slow down the system or produce errors.

Yes, that's what I've been doing and it just seems like I'm going nowhere fast

Also note..some older programs may not work in XP as they are not supported or you'll need newer versions of them that support XP.

okay

**Note** If you want to try and remove some of this before using a format as a last resort.....then you will need a few tools.

1. ad-aware6.0 (which you have) but with an updated database...as the one above your using is old.

Gotcha...thanks, I'll update it

2. spybot search & destroy (version 1.3) (update the database once installed)

3. hijackthis

Run these and remove what they find....and then run hijackthis and post it's log here. Again..this may help you with the spyware crap and may/maynot speed up the system...but the non functioning programs are another matter.

Okay, thanks so much MicroBell ~ I'll have to do that tomorrow as I have some things (band practice tonite) I have to go to, but I'll definitely be doing this tomorrow.

Once again, thanks so much for all ya'll's input

HUGS! Have a great nite!

 

[Lobos]

hijackthis - DO NOT FIX ANYTHING YET , most items that appear in the log are harmless or even needed. Wait for someone to analyze the scan and advise

Copy the entire log and paste The log here

 

[Lone Wolf]

Crap... i was hoping your problems weren't severe enough so that the earlier measures would solve your problem. Typically i like to start from mild measures to more aggressive ones until the problem is solved.

In this case, as Microbell suggested you may end up spending quite a bit of time trying to clean out all the nasties... and i agree, if the suggestions I gave you earlier have no affect, it's time for a clean format.

Make sure that you download all your drivers BEFORE you start hte process of a clean format. It will make like easy for you once you start.

 

[catarina]

Sorry I haven't replied sooner, but I went back to work UGH...so, working 10 hours a day for my first week reeeeeeeeally sucked; however, I can't complain Then I volunteered to work on Saturday *STUPID* LOL ~

Anyways, I haven't even "started" doing a thing as yet due to the fact that I haven't had any time

Hopefully, I won't be working 10 hour days anymore AND I really need to start working on this asap ~

Thanks you guys!! I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

BTW ~ I happened to go to Circuit City today and ran into a computer geek (my favorite kinda peeps) ~ he told me to take all my data and burn it on a disk...all my programs etc. Then he told me to format after I do that.

First I'll heed your advise, but I have to get some of these proggies outta here and re-install them. I think some of 'em may be missing drivers too

 

[Lone Wolf]

BTW ~ I happened to go to Circuit City today and ran into a computer geek (my favorite kinda peeps) ~ he told me to take all my data and burn it on a disk...all my programs etc. Then he told me to format after I do that.

First I'll heed your advise, but I have to get some of these proggies outta here and re-install them. I think some of 'em may be missing drivers too

Hmm.... working 10 hr days after gettin sick... someone tells me you're a glutton for punishment young lady!

Burning your data onto a CD is a good start, in fact, it's a good idea to do so anyway as you can then have a backup of your personal data for safekeeping. However, saving programs by burning them onto a CD is not the way to preserve the programs you have. Most applications will make changes to the registry DURING the installation process, so simply copying that folder back onto your HDD after the clean format is not going to work.

As for your drivers, you can always D/L them from the manufacturers website or from the OEM.

 

[catarina]

CRIES.....WAAAAAAAAAAH, what's an OEM?? I'm soooo stupid...

Okay, I'm gonna pull the plug cause I'm so stupid I swear, this thing is driving me wacko.

 

[killians45]

your oem is original equipment manufacturer. what happens when you run defrag? have you done so in safe mode? does it just click and lock up? what about indepth scan disk? U may want to boot to a boot disk, goto DOS and then run norton disk doctor and check for bad sectors. Anyhow, what happens exactly when you do any defrag, check disk, clean disk, etc....

 

[killians45]

oh, almost forgot to say do NOT try and run defrag in Dos with NTFS... just check the disk with norton disk doctor. oh, and also as far as backing some of the programs you downloaded... you may have the same problem again, especially if spyware has attached itself to any downloads you have.