Problem with PC

[jaybo123]

Please help, got home from work tonight to find my pc locked up,tried re-starting on nomerous occassions but to no avail,when i turn the pc on evertythin seems fine but after about 5 mins there are no icons on my desktop?? tried cnt,alt,del to see if there are any app's running but that doesnt cum up iam at a loose end any idea's please help,iam on my sons xmas present laptop at the min please help...

 

[s-bravia]

format n reinstall everything

 

[jaybo123]

Is it that bad?is there nuthin else i could try i have cover with pc world which i pay 7.99 per month for

 

[Steve.J.Davies]

As you have another PC connected to the 'net and if it has a CD burner...

you could cut an uptodate bootable Win XP recovery disk from
wwwdotubcd4windotcom

you will need broadband to do this (and your Windows Cd for the PC)
make sure you update all the tools in the build process.

But if recovery is too techno (I ASS-U-ME that is why you have the support thing) then maybe best to take it back to shop.

After you have run an uptodate Anti-virus and spyware prog(s)...
Whatever you do do not leave the duff PC connected to the home network/net while you have the laptop on - leave them air gapped for safety - JIC..

BTW What was the last thing you changed/installed - and when ?

 

[jaybo123]

I had a copy of kaspersky anti-virus which was outdated(torrent)so i went to the torrents for another anti-virus which i installed Zone alarm i think it was ok yesterday but today its not right,would i be able to start in safe mode then delete the anti-virus????

 

[Steve.J.Davies]

there are plenty of free good tools for anti-spyware etc available without going to the torrents.
lots of posts here about them.
Zonealarm is a firewall not an antivirus - I believe it has a phone home function so I don't use it (IIRC it also reads the index.dat....).

Consider
Anti- virus - kerio
Firewall AVG
anti spyware - Ad-Aware and Spybot

all of these are free and get regular updates.

Sounds to me like you are better taking it to shop and getting it resetup and get these products (or similar) installed and updated while there (behind their firewall). trying to do it at home after a re-install needs to be done carefully in case you get 0wned before the installs complete - you can get 0wned in minutes with an unprotected machine...

Also ask them to install Firefox and Thunderbird for you and to set them up as defaults.
worth trying to un-install the zonealarm and putting on AVG yourself as a start point though - you never know it may do the trick

 

[Vandiesel]

Can you get into windows in safemode?

 

[Matt_C]

When was the last time you remember it being good? Ie, no problems at all? Cos if you can, you can try the following;

Turn off PC, wait a couple secs then turn on. Soon as you see the bios page, or manufacturer logo, start hitting F8 repeatedly - and I mean blitz it! After a few secs it should come up with a black screen with DOS style writing, let it do it's thing and the screen should change. Wait till it asks you what you want to do : options will be something like BOOT INTO SAFE MODE, BOOT FROM LAST KNOWN GOOD CONFIGURATION etc...

You should see one for doing a system restore - do this! Or if not, boot into Safe Mode and do it from there. Basically choose the date you remember it being good, and if it has a system restore enrty, restore to that entry.

Reboot and all should be fine

 

[jaybo123]

Kk ill try that have started in safe mode before but not tried since...thnks guys let u know the score soon

 

[jaybo123]

Done it,ran in safe mode the uninstalled zone alarm then re-started my pc started no probs at all, thnks guys......

 

[Vandiesel]

Good to hear, if you can find a copy of sygate firewall then give it a try

 

[jaybo123]

Ive had to turn my firewall of cos ive got an xbox360 downstairs to which i stream movies to,Ms support told me to turn it off,do i have to?

 

[Vandiesel]

The windows firewall? No need unless it is blocking