Laptop checked--lost a few things

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emanday
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Post by emanday » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:38 am

Carol,

I wish I could help you out, but your problem is way beyond me...

I cannot understand why you are having such wide ranging problems.

My own immediate reaction would be to reinstall XP or Vista, but that would be based on my own knowledge of what has/has not been changed on my PC of late. It would also mean losing any new progs or data you might have installed in the interim, so a complete backup of all your data is advised.

Maybe an earlier restore than the one you have tried might fix the problem before such a radical action should be considered...

Apart from that...

I'm flummoxed
[b]Mary[/b]
A cat leaves pawprints on your heart
McDonald or MacDonald (some couldn't make up their mind!), Bonner, Crichton, McKillop, Campbell, Cameron, Gitrig (+other spellings), Clark, Sloan, Stewart, McCutcheon, Ireland (the surname)

speleobat2
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:14 pm
Location: USA--Alabama

Post by speleobat2 » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:46 am

Hi Mary,

I think security for computers has gotten so complicated that few really understand it! I'm convinced that the problem is something in AVG that is blocking ActiveX. I just don't know what yet and it doesn't help that half or more of what shows up on the AVG site is way beyond me.

They do have a pay option to talk to a live person and I may have to do that as a last resort. I was hoping the upgrade would do the trick and I had to install it anyway because they won't be supporting 7.5 after April 30th. So I'll try, try again--tomorrow. Right now I hear an ice cream sandwich calling my name!

Carol
Looking for: Clerihew, Longmuir/Longmore, Chalmers, Milne, Barclay in Newhills,
Munro, Cadenhead, Raitt, Ririe/Reary

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Post by Currie » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:59 am

Hello Carol,

I don’t think AVG would be the problem, although you could run a full Virus and Spyware scan just to make sure there are no nasties in the system. Maybe there’s a firewall problem though I doubt it. If you only have Windows Firewall you could try Zone Alarm but that may be a big download.

Right click “My Computer” on the desktop and select Properties. You’ll probably see your Vista version and current Service Pack. You should have been updated months ago to Service Pack 1 via automatic Windows Update or maybe it was on your computer when you bought it.. Was that the update you didn’t install and the Computer people downloaded? Make sure you haven’t got SP2 which is Beta.

I’m not sure what happens if you uninstall Service Pack 1, Service packs usually include all prior updates. Maybe you’ll go back to just the basic Vista with no updates at all, i.e. back to square one.

Service Pack 1, in fact all Windows Updates, can be downloaded and later installed manually but is HUGE for Dial-up and if it’s uninstalled the problem may be getting it back. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... layLang=en

Belarc Advisor is an excellent program for keeping track of whether your computer is up to date. It lists any missing updates and is a less than 2mb download. http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Belarc ... elarc.html

Also in Internet Explorer click on the Help Menu right at the top and click About etc. The version of IE should be there, you probably should have IE7. Make sure you haven’t got IE8, which is Beta.

If the problem appears to be confined to Internet Explorer you could install Firefox http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Mozill ... ixmoz.html or even try installing the portable version onto a USB thumb drive, an 8mb download, although it takes up more space than that on the drive http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable and see if that gets you out of trouble for the moment.

That’s if the computer shop can’t come up with a solution.

All the best,
Alan

speleobat2
Posts: 1646
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 3:14 pm
Location: USA--Alabama

Post by speleobat2 » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:20 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[many-greens]

Thanks Alan,

I downloaded the Service Pack I and now everything works.

Strange, but the report from the computer shop said that all the updates had been downloaded, but the service pack didn't show in the Windows update log.

They also said that my computer was 39% fragmented, but the computer is set to defrag every Wed. at 3:00 am and the log showed that it had done that last Wed. so when I took it into the shop at 11:30 am Thursday it shouldn't have needed to be defragmented. I ran the program yesterday and it took 4 hours to finish so something obviously needed to be done.

I'm going catch up on my searching!

Carol :D
Looking for: Clerihew, Longmuir/Longmore, Chalmers, Milne, Barclay in Newhills,
Munro, Cadenhead, Raitt, Ririe/Reary

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