My computer is on a respirator

[Heritage]

If you even get to read this post, it's a frickin' miracle, because my PC is going through long, drawn-out death throes, the primary feature of which is freezing up after viewing more than three pages on the Internet; also I get frequent blue screens with cryptic error messages. And I think I might have lost a bunch of PMs, including most of the character submissions and the address of my Christmas card pal ::smiley4 I'm looking at new computers as we speak, but it might be awhile, seeing as I'm also trying to obtain a car.

So the long and the short of it is, I might not be around much for a bit, popping in on other people's computers, at Kinko's, or on the rare occasions I can get my PC to work, like today. I'll try to get on to post in games I play in, but my two campaigns are sorta on hold for a bit. How much does this suck? It's the uber-suck, to be sure - hope to be around now and then until I can get back on my feet. And since all three attempts at Christmas posts failed, I will offer everyone a sort of late generic holiday message:

::pirate ::xmasHappy All-Holidays, Manypeople! ::xmas2 ::ninja

[madcat82]

Do you have a firewall? and some spy-ware protection?

Thats what is usualy the cause of such problems...

Try re-installing windows and toss in a good firewall...

Or try unix/linux/mac os.

[ezekiel]

Yeah, I'd back up what I can on cds and stuff if I were you, then I'd format the drive and hope its software related. If it is, then shopping for a new computer might be premature. My dead harddrive for instance made weird ticking noises while booting up and the bios couldn't recognize it. In your case it could just be something gone FUBAR...I know I managed to kill the OS (Windows ME) on this computer in less than a day. Really, I killed it dead, irreparable. PowerDVD and my NVIDIA card somehow messed up the registry...Formatted the thing, tweaked, reformatted, got XP now and everythings working great.. ::thumbsup

Btw, yes, I know ME is a crap OS.

[Bahamut810]

yea...if thoes blue screens have a big OE at the top its software related. Even if its an OD sometimes formatting will work. If you need *any* help with software, mind you, just PM me. I do mean *any* help. At all...any problem you may have with installing a new OS...*wink,wink,nudge,nudge*

[phoenix]

Oh well... We eagerly await your return, and I hope you enjoyed your holidays anyway! ::smiley5

[Heritage]

Here's the lowdown on my piece of crap!

Hertiage's Compy

Operating System

Windows 98 SE (build 4.10.2222)

System Model

TriGem Computer, Inc. Emachines 100

Processor

500 megahertz Intel Celeron

32 kilobyte primary memory cache

128 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board

Board: TriGem Computer, Inc. TriGem System Board

Bus Clock: 66 megahertz

BIOS: Phoenix Technologies LTD Version 1.01 12/07/1999

Drives

10.23 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity

4.79 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-608 [CD-ROM drive]

Generic floppy disk drive (3.5")

Generic IDE hard disk drive (10.23 GB) -- drive 0, No SMART Driver

Memory Modules

128 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'M1' has 64 MB

Slot 'M2' has 64 MB

[ezekiel]

I ran XP on my old laptop with similar specs (My bios was November 1999). I actually only had 96mb RAM while you have 128mb. So if you want to do that you can...uh..did you ever get around to formatting the thing? I'm guessing not, considering your HD free space. If you're still experiencing death throes, you should format and extend the comps lifespan 'til you can eventually afford its replacement.

Btw, rumor has it that iMacs for under 500USD$ will be available shortly. Not power machines, just cheap...supposedly gonna be announced next week.

Not that I'm a Mac fan, I actually quite dislike Macs now...just saying.

[Bahamut810]

Macs may not be gaming machines, but they are good for just about everything else. I have a PC (I like to customise when I can), but Ill admit that Macs are wonderful for graphics and such. one around $500 is roxxors.

[Gideon]

FYI - the ME & 98 defragmenter has a few performance problems when it encounters errors or bad sectors on the disk. Also certain i.e. upgrades have caused some further difficulties by their enforcing of incremental writes to an activit log. So if your defreg runs slowly or if it constantly backs up how far it claims it completed. (I once had to go from 0 to 1 percent seemingly infinitely)

You should do the scanning and defragmenting in Safe Mode. When Windows starts to load, tap the "F8" key until you get a window with the option. That disrupts the normal boot. You're then offered a choice of a bunch of options; Safe Mode is one of them. The advantage when scanning and/or defragmenting is that no drivers are loaded and there is much less of the restarting that occurs in defragmenting.

Make sure your screen saver is disabled.

Especially if you rsystem is flaking out Safe Mode will ensure that the numerous services and background processes are disabled. This mode is also one of the few ways to successfully remove certain wily tojan viruses without rebuilding the disk image from scratch.

[Heritage]

At a friend's suggestion, I downloaded and ran the free version of AVG Anti-virus, which tracked down and deleted 27 infected files on my C: drive. Things seem to be running a bit better, and he's going to give a disk with some more clean up software tomorrow/today, so hopefully I'll see even bigger improvements.

I have no idea where my formating disk is, and no CD burning capability - I have a zip drive that needs some drivers downloaded, but you can only put so much on a zip disk anyway.

[Gideon]

Unfortunately one of the close cousins (at least in my mind) of a virus is malware or spyware. In fact there has already been a few "free" programs that distrubuted backdoors and other malicious programs that expose users to viruses and even more malware. These harmful programs also make it easier for viruses to reinfect a cleaned system (as spyware and malware rarely gets updated and patched ::tongue ).

So you may want to invest some time and read on about some "Best Practices" in preventing reinfection and keeping your PC in top shape.

Two helpful reasources are "Ad Aware" and "Spybot: Search & Destroy" Both are spyware removers that work very well in tandum.

Also installing the free download of "Zone Alarm" (a software firewall) will reduce the amount of scanning attacks that will detect your pc online. Scanning attacks attempt to determine the type of OS you have and web browser, as well as find open ports. Programs like Kaazaa act in a similar way and may be detected as malware by some firewalls.

If you are proficient with windows and know your registry editing, a fourth repair program exists called "Hack This!" that lets an educated user manually remove malware from the PC (though it does not remove viruses, it does remove "non-removable" programs. I don't want to put a direct link to the program since it should not be used casually, but on another forum I frequent there is a pinned topic about securing your PC. A Great Forum Topic about these tools.

Final Note: <Warning Soapbox in use to get on my <very tall/high?> Horse!! ::halo >The secret of using virus protection and spyware removal is, regular use (its like brushing your teeth, you have to perform the task regularly or else bad things build up) so once your PC is "rejuvinated" you will need to keep it healthy with regular checkups.

I hope something of value can be found in all that, if not I appologise for pontifying.

Best Regards.

[Bahamut810]

Gid is very right. Thats how I have been fighting my problems and it works very well. I would also suggest a program called spy sweeper by Webroot. That works extremely well.

[ezekiel]

My two cents....

Since 1999 I've never had an active anti-virus on my computer. The one time I downloaded one it turned out that the hard drive space I was losing was due to Windows Update downloading service pack 2 without my knowing. Viruses are rare unless you're bloody careless or visit dodgy sites. I also have minimum security on my Internet explore and accept all cookies. Occasionnally I'll run pest patrol to remove spyware and adware, but only when it gets annoying (like GAIN somehow got on my computer..) I got a virus the first time I logged on the net in Taiwan and downloaded all my email onto my computer but that was because my computer hadn't been updated through windows update. I got the uhh...not I luv U, the latest one. Luckily I managed to manually override auto-shutdown of my computer through the DOS console and then updated my IE and XP. Haven't had a problem since.

I shop online...

I browse plenty...

I use p2p programs...

I use email....

The secret? Don't open email that aren't addressed specifically to you. I also don't bother with FWD messages unless the subject clears the mail for me. Don't visit porn or warez sites...Heck, since p2p I don't know why you'd even bother. Getting paranoid and using an uber unbreakable firewall, 2 anti-virus programs and whatever isn't exactly necessary or desired. I'd suggest it if you were running a business or something but as is your computer is pretty strapped for CPU power as is and AV software just eats up a fair share of it.

To sum it up...prevention works. Fix when broke...breathe...don't panic...All those meanies aren't all out to get you. ::cool

[Gideon]

To sum it up...prevention works. Fix when broke...breathe...don't panic...

Very true.

Of the programs I mentioned only Zone Alarm runs in the background. The rest merely clean or configure (spybot will "immunize" your IE if you ask it to).

All those meanies aren't all out to get you.

Quite right, welll...except for Prof...I hear Storytellers can be dangerous... ::halo

[disclaimer: I am not a player in his campaign, but I do read it regularly.]

[Heritage]

I already have Spybot and use it frequently, and my buddy's giving me a more up-to-date version of it as well as Ad Aware today.

I was quite alarmed at finding 27 infected files on my hard drive, mostly Trojan horse and non-replicating worms, but I don't think I've ever used any kind of anti-virus before, other than McAffee scaning attachments in Hotmail, so they could have been sitting there for some time. I have yet to get a blue screen since running AVG, so I think the pop-up I clicked on by mistake (it was at the Microsoft site, and I mistook it for the real deal ::blush) was the source of the problem. With luck, this means I'll be back in the swing of things again - yeeha!

I still am interested in getting a new PC at some point, since there are lots of things I want to do and games I want to play that require at least a Pentium 3. I saw a brand of PC at Best Buy called 'Insignia' - is any one familiar with it? Pentium 4 with 40 gig hard drive (which I know is now considered tiny, but it's still four times as big as my current hard drive) for under $500.

[ezekiel]

No not familiar but who cares...its what's inside that counts. There're plenty of dirt cheap desktops on ebay... P4 2.4 Ghz + 256 DDR ram + 80GB HD + monitor for 500US$...not bad.

[Ayre el KaBeer]

My computer died last week finally got around to setting up the backup system today... and now off to the drag races!

[Alex Green]

Since 1999 I've never had an active anti-virus on my computer....

Let me guess, you aren't using Microsoft's latest and greatest. ::tongue

I use Win98 and have observed a similar "resistance" to virus and the like. Some of that is save computing, but mostly it's because most virus and other nasty stuff is built to run on 2000 and up.

[ezekiel]

You're kidding right? XP is a GREAT OS, I've had it since its been out. I've had even less problems with XP than with 98. Don't think its ever blue screened...ever.

ME sucks.

2000 is so-so, erring towards crap

98 was great...for the times.

XP is just plain awesome! From remote computing which allows me to bypass my ISPs bloody annoying firewall to its automatic hardware recognition, everything is good here. Only bad thing about XP is it can get difficult to replay old games when you're feeling nostalgic.

So no...its not old software keeping me safe from the nasties designed to kill XP, I have XP, I have the latest IE, got msn, got p2p programs....got no viruses.