OT- Computer Geeks

[yankeereefer]

Any PC geeks or enthusiasts out there that can help? My in-law's PC has major probs - Locks up intermittently, kicks me of web, etc.

She got this PC from her sister, lot's of crap on it. I have uninstalled a ton of stuff. Her anti-virus (trial) expired and had no spyware detector. I have downloaded spybot and spywareblaster and cleaned a bunch of stuff - Have also downloaded (90 day trial) of Windows Live Once Care and quarantined other stuff.

This PC needs a tune up - Can anyone help me, cheap?

Thanks!
Ryan

 

[pjbusby]

try malwarebytes, other than that I am to far away to do much for ya. Windows needs a good "washing" every now and again, so if it is really troubled I would pull the things off the hard drive that you want to keep and reinstall windows from a recovery partition\disk. Good ol' Micro$oft. If you need some other advice let me know and I will try to help.

 

[Larson]

There are a few things I would do for sure. Open up a window and up there type %temp%

Then delete the entire contents of that folder. Lots of temp files collect. Do the same to Temporary Internet Folder as well. You may loose passwords and any other saved info you want to keep , but delete your cookies folder as well.
In case something was corrupted there. Now that the bulk of misc files are gone. Do a disk scan. By right clicking a hard drive and going to properties, tools. Once a scan is done , do a Defrag and tell it to fix problems.

That should help a lot. Also I'd download a few other browsers, you might like one better than default IE , and it may also not have the problems of kicking you offline. Make sure all of windows is up to date . And get a copy of AVG home, set it up to scan and update once a day when your not using it.

If all this fails, I'd find your copy of windows, back up any important files. Then format and start from scratch. If it's not a software issue it's possible it's faulty hardware. And you may need a new HD ( which are cheap btw) I picked up a terabyte for $100 at bestbuy.

If you know the manufacturer of your ram , I'd go get there memtest and make sure you don't have a faulty stick as well.

Ps. Hardware can fail at anytime, make sure to have backups.


Chris

 

[alkamar]

Most pc slow-downs and lock-ups I have seen lately are all malware/virus related. If you have free time on your hands and don't want to reinstall everything, then give this a try.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=139685


Just remember that there are times that a nasty virus can wreck enough havoc that a reinstall is the only option.

 

[pjbusby]

ccleaner is a great tool(its free!). I use it at home and work. We run a version of norton(that is what corp. gives me) and I use malwarebytes. All good stuff. Sometimes even if you do a restore, things like trojans and what-not also lodge themselves there, so be cautious. Especialy if you don't have a window$ disk.

 

[joeycadre]

*hugs* his macbook

 

[arnjer]

www.avast.com
I use this and it's free also.
I have built my computer a couple of times and am about to build a
quad core with 6-8 gigs of ram
There is a program called hijackthis and you can post on a board I go to and ask for help there. What are the specs on the computer? Is it old and just doesn't have enough ram or does it have a slow processor?
You can post the HJT log on extreme overclocking dot com and get some help there also.

I can probably help.....I have 3 peoples computers here at the house right now because they didn't install antivirus and now have lots of problems. I am formatting the drives for them.

Jerry