Need help with Pc :)

[JESSE G]

Hey guys,
I was wondering if anyone knew of some kind of program I can download that will help me with problems on my pc something like norton utillities. I'm using my Dad,s Pc and its got some issues lol, any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

Jesse

 

[beason]

these are free..

ad-aware se
spybot search and destroy
microsoft antispyware (2000 and xp only)
spyware blaster

also norton is good but you have to buy it..

 

[JESSE G]

Thanks, I have ad-aware and it helps but I was hoping to find something that had some more options.

 

[savage18SS]

you can try avast its kinda like norton i use it on both my pc and laptop.

 

[JESSE G]

cool thanks ill check that out

 

[vbgagnon]

Hey jesse try www.geekstogo.com register and follow the directions and they will help you step by step. I'm a computer retard and went through this with no problems.

 

[Revo Rancher]

Jesse, what problems are you having, specifically? A lot of the forum members are IT guys or have a lot of IT skills.

Laugh if you want guys, but if I hit the wall in getting a problem resolved, I just back up all my stuff and then format my hard drive and reload the Windows OS disc. Solves it everytime, about once a year.

 

[retarded pilot]

revo, i would almost recomend that to everyone ....it will make your machine noticibly faster as well ....windows gets kinda slow after a while

 

[Tweak]

I do the same, Revo. It's helps amazingly to reformat you whole system every eight/nine months, and it's is an easy step to a brand-new ish operating system.

Jesse, there are well over several tens of thousands of programs out there availabe to diagnose, repair, and prevent computer issues of all kinds. I have found that a small handfull of certain products that are completely free to own can help more than the entire mix-and-grab of the Norton or McAffee crap combined.

1: "C-Cleaner" - This is a free to try/buy utility that will automaticly erase all Temporary, internet, cookie, temporary downloads, and other miscilanious (sp?) files from your computers harddrive. Any files it erases are almost always non-esential to process, usually being download from the net or other places. It is very simple to operate and comes with a complimentery Registry editor.

2: depending on your ISP, check to see if they have released anything ofr your use. Aol has delvered the "computer check-up" thing and SBC has now come out with an enitre assortment of all kinds of tools. I actally like using them both and they save some headaches in most cases.

3: "Ad-Aware"- Once again free to try/own for life and very usefull. Most people who don't know how to tell if they have problems or SpyWare are amazed at the amount of information this program alone can pick up in a few minutes. It is essential.

4: "Registry Editor"- A registry Editor IMO, is also essential to operations. I play a lot of games, therefore use a lot of Mods. I cannot tell you how pissed I was after installing and Modding DOOM III, witch refused to operate withoutalso first modifiying my Registry. A registy Editor will find and eradicate most common registry probelms, witch can greatly slow your computers response time as it is looking for information that is supposed to be one place, but is another.

Last but not least, I use another one called "Fix It Utilities 5" I don't know if you will be able o find it, but it's an amazing program, makes most tasks simple and an all in one process. Simply click a button and you got it done. I think it cost me around 70 five or six years ago, so I am sure it's outdated, updated and chaged. The thing is, after all my years of working from home this program is still as good as ever. I have used i on several (3 or 4) diffrent home computers and it always worked, you might want to look for it.

All of the utilities listed above less Fix it Utilities are available for free download at www.downloads.com Head over there and check it out, hope this helps.

 

[Revo Rancher]

Also, once in awhile it seems to help if you do a disc cleanup/defrag as found in the maintenence folder of your system. You can also erase all the temp internet files and other garbage you picked up by going to "start", "control panel", "internet options" and wipe out your history, temp files and cookies.

 

[WoodiE]

Revo - While it doesn't hurt and sometimes unavoidable to have to reformat and reinstall the OS it IS an over kill just because something goes wrong. Thats like recommending someone to rebuild their engine just because they need an oil change.

JESSE G - I can't stress enough to STAY AWAY from Notron Utilities - it's a huge memory hog plus I've found in the past it likes to "fix problems" that are not really a problem. Going back to Revo's suggestion your best bet is to post your problem and a lot of people here would be happy to help you. Tweak also posted some nice suggestions to try.



-Michael

 

[Revo Rancher]

Woodie, nice to hear from you!

In my case, I almost have to do it. I keep getting exception errors after awhile that de-fragmenting the HD will not cure. Other than that, I agree, it is overkill for a simple issue. As you will note, I did relate that I only do the HD formatting about once a year. My PC is OLD, although RAM and HD have been upgraded, along with the vid and modem card!!! (P2, 333mhz)

 

[WoodiE]

OUCH - a P2 333Mhz, I didnn't know anyone still used those

What kind of exception errors are you getting by the way? Do they happen at random or when your doing one thing?


-Michael

 

[Monkey Wrench]

You can also try going to www.earthlink.net or www.roadrunner.com. Typically, they have some free tools you can use to scrub your system for spyware, adware and the like. If you want, shoot me a PM and I can ask my brother for some suggestions (he's a super IT guru.)

Good luck!

 

[jammin]

i would recomend going and buying a router. That is your number one best protector against anything. I also have spybot. I read an article that adaware is not a good program. I have had it and got a virus, that is when i found that you should not use adaware, so i suggest spybot. go pick yourself up a router once you fix the problem. Sometimes the best and easiest way to get rid of your errors is just do go through the windows install discs again and just start over. Than protect yourself. hope my 2 cents helps a little.

 

[Revo Rancher]

Woodie:

They exception errors always occur at shutdown but once in a blue moon they occur when too many windows are open as well.

The P2 is actually an early P3 as it is 333 but with the 100mhz buss up front as well. RAM is now 512 and HD is 400 Gig. I'm on a cable modem so I have pretty decent internet access and I do not use this PC for much any how. No games at least.

My Sony Laptop, 1 Gig RAM, etc... is not working right now. Too lazy to drop it off at Best Buy (they have the warranty).

 

[WoodiE]

i would recommend going and buying a router. That is your number one best protector against anything. I also have spybot. I read an article that adaware is not a good program. I have had it and got a virus, that is when i found that you should not use adaware, so i suggest spybot. go pick yourself up a router once you fix the problem. Sometimes the best and easiest way to get rid of your errors is just do go through the windows install discs again and just start over. Than protect yourself. hope my 2 cents helps a little.

Jammin,

A router is not the be all end all - a router will NOT protect you from a virus nor will it protect you from ANY spyware. A routers purpose is to 'route' network traffic to either other computers or other networks and in the way it does this also offers a layer of protection however this would be from hackers and the like NOT from virus or spyware unless you're shelling out big bucks for a router that has the features and if that's the case I can assure you you're not buying these routers from Best Buy.

Furthermore Ad-aware is NOT an anti-virus software, in fact the free version of Ad-aware won't even protect you from getting spyware and such (the paid version will). I've been using Ad-aware and Spybot S&D both since they've been release and I HIGHLY recommend both.

If you're looking for anti-virus protection that I would recommend either Norton, McAfee, or Panda - I've used all three and like all three very well. I've tried many others but none of made me as happy as those three.

Hope this clears things up for everyone.



Revo - Send me the laptop and I'll fix it and keep it If you could give me exactly what it says during shut down I'll be able to give you a solution or two to try.


-Michael

 

[JESSE G]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm sure this thing should be reformated but its something my dad picked up from a insurance company that updated all of there pc,s and he dont have any of the disks for it lol. I think the main problem is it just needs all of the windows updates lol. It just popped up and told me so hehe. The main problem I'm having is it will just shutdown on its own wtf? I'm thinking it might have a bad power source I dunno very frustrating though. Thank again for all the advice

 

[Tweak]

I have to say Woodie, very informative post.

Norton, Mcaffee and others are NOT bad competitors in the computer health industry, I just don't particulary like them in the way that they kind of like to stick around after you give em' thier eviction notice. I have always used a subscription Anti virus/software package and never really had any trouble.

The only thing I noticed about Symantec (Norton) is that several tracers remain on your system after unistalation, just in case you want to go back and undo stuff. IMO, a bad thing.

Jesse, Reinstalling/reformating Windoze can be a pain in the ass without the boot discs, Did you ever make back ups? I would really sugest trying to use the windows restoration center to try and clear up any problems, reformating is a lengthly process and you will have to strat over from scratch.

 

[Revo Rancher]

Michael, thanks for the offer.

For the record, I am shopping for anew home PC so my fatal exception errors are about to disappear.

As to the laptop, my wife bought it for me last Christmas at Best Buy and got suckered for the service contract. Right now the RW CD/DVD is not formatting, so they just need to pop in a new one as it is removable. They want the whole thing to come into the shop before they will do anything. They want it for 2 weeks just for that. Ridiculous. (gotta erase some, errr, ahhh, "files", first)