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Referred To This Page From "ken"....help!


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101 replies to this topic

#46 Doug

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Posted 19 August 2007 - 07:27 PM

Hi Liz,

That's great news! Good Work. :thumbup:

As for the specific keystrokes/option-checkmarks for running Norton Ghost as manual only.... I don't know.
I've never owned/operated Ghost.
I will inquire with another Helper here who does run Ghost, and perhaps get the answer, or have them step in to reply in this thread. Please be patient.

As to new purchase....
This Forum tries to remain "brand-neutral".
You'll never read me stating "Oh NO! You bought an XYZ!! You should have bought an ABC"

-I will however, give you my personal experience.
I've purchased 3 Dell Inspirons in the past 5 years, all are still in service, and I am extremely happy with them.
One, the oldest, is my service tech backup machine that I use when on mobile repair calls.
One is presently being used by a medical student who has so many advanced applications for micro-biology, organic chemistry, statistics, university and research based data feeds, and the like, that it makes my head spin when I do the routine maintenance on it.
The third is used by a younger college student who is a moderate gamer, an advanced mathematician, and a huge user of photo management. He also has dual language performance and "types" in Thai as well as English so fast and competently that he is often asked to Edit pieces for natives of both languages.
I'm happy with Dell Laptops.
They provide very good support in their Support Forums. (though phone support is less wonderful)

I've also been impressed with a few HP Laptops, somewhat impressed with Toshiba, and less impressed with Sony.
_______

What is important in a Laptop?

---Get as much RAM as the machine can hold and you can afford.
---Get as "fast" a Hard Drive as is available. (fast means rpm's) (slower laptop HD's are 5400rpm, better is 72000rpm)
You will be happier with a a 7200 or even 10,000 rpm Hard Drive even if it is smaller in total capacity.
You can always get an external HD for Data Backup.
---Forget about Media Center Features unless you really expect to run your TV, Stereo and toaster oven from the laptop.
--- Depending on your use preference, you may also want to get the best Video Adapter to suit your needs.
If the machine will not be used for gaming, then Video accelerations is less important and most standard and even most onboard Video Adapters will be just fine. But if you do photo or video editing, you'll wish you had the best Video Card/Adapter available.

---If at all possible, get your hands onto the machine you intend to buy, BEFORE, you spend your money.
Many machines look great in the catalogue, but somehow feel awkward or don't feel right to the user's hands in actual operation.

Best Regards
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#47 tallin

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Posted 19 August 2007 - 10:45 PM

If it was me..... I wouldn't use Norton Ghost on that machine, largely because you only have 512mb RAM with 448 available due to drain from Video Card.

Norton Ghost "may" have been running a full or incremental update procedure at the time of your prior Pit Test and may have been consuming "nearly all" of your system resources.

You "can" select to have Norton run only Manual backups.

Best Regards


Hello lizzyr13,

Doug has asked me to pop in as I use Ghost 10 so would like to help you if I can regarding running Ghost manually.

Firstly, is it possible for you to increase your RAM? Doing so is the best bang for your buck so to speak. Way back in another life that was the first thing Doug advised me to do and I have never regretted it. You are indeed lucky he picked up your thread.

To run Ghost ? manually (I am not privy to what Ghost software you are running) please do the following, but you must remember when you want to do your backup, say every Sunday morning for instance you have to do the following all in reverse.

Rightclick My Computer>manage>services> highlightGhost>select disable from the dropdown menu. Then to be sure go to start>msconfig>startup>uncheckNorton's Ghost>then click the services tab>put a tick in "Hide all Microsoft Services">click on Status up on the top right hand side> uncheck anything to do with Symantec providing you have no other Norton program installed. Then Reboot.

Don't hesitate to get back if there is anything you do not understand here.

kind regards,

#48 lizzyr13

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Posted 20 August 2007 - 10:48 PM

Hi Doug, Its Liz again. You will not believe this but tonight, now 1am on Tuesday, I have been having alot of trouble again with my laptop. I could not get it to load in any icons and it is taking forever long to open up firefox. I did finally try opening to a restore point in safe mode and that worked. It restored back to yesterday AM when it was working great! Once I get on Firefox of IE it connects fast and all is great. I am also still having some problems with the cursor sticking even as we speak. I hope you can help me as i was so happy and thought everything was fixed. I have a great connection and everything else seems great. Is there something I can try to help this ? liz

#49 Doug

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 12:30 AM

Status of yesterday's machine functioning is all good? Status when you boot today is sluggish, missing Icons, and takes forever to open Firefox. Rolling back to yesterday's Restore Point fixes most everything right up, except some difficulty with cursor? :scratch: What applications/updates/configurations did you change/install in the past 24 hours? Have you been to unfamiliar websites, and/or opened email attachements. If you are aware of new software that you have installed, then that "could" be the problem. If you did not install anything new, then I'm suspicious of Malware. Run Disk Cleanup or a cleanup utility like CleanUp! 4.52, Ccleaner, or ATF-Cleaner (just one, not all three) Run your AntiVirus Run you AntiSpyware Run one online scan at: Kaspersky or Panda Post back with results of the above scans, please. Best Regards
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#50 lizzyr13

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 06:19 AM

Hi Doug.... :weee: You are correct. the desktop is running fabulous., As for the notebook....the only thing I downloaded was Firefox....I did not reinstall that last week when I was having the problem. I am trying now to run Panda on the notebook....it is taking awhile but so far, it shows some spyware. I do have Spy-Bot installed and will run that as well.....I will post all the results as soon as I get them. The main problem is that programs take a long time to open. I am still getting frozen screens and I get alot of "non responding".....then I just have to close down manually because it just won't do anything. Hope this explains the problem a little better. Liz

#51 lizzyr13

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 09:20 AM

Doug, I am not able to do a complete scan with either Panda or Kaspersky. They both seem to freeze up at about 20% scanned. I did manage to do a pitstop and here is the link:

http://www.pcpitstop...8FCHWHTR4VSFY7V
Not sure if this will tell you anything.
One thing I did check is my battery. It is not one that is recalled so that is fine even though it keeps coming up on the pit stop scan.

should I try any other type of on line scan instead of the two you suggested? I will try one more time but don't know what will happen.
Thanks, Liz

#52 lizzyr13

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 12:40 PM

Ok Doug, Here is something new and weird....tried to do a system restore back to when the laptop was operating well. Laptop restarts and on start up I get this message: Error: Cannot initialize AVG anti-virus kernel interface - application cannot run.... Now, I am unable to open or run my avg anti virus program. It usually runs on start up....I have never seen this message before. I again went ahead and uninstalled firefox. the internet is working well it is just everything else. I tried to do a cleanmgr on the run command and the whole thing freezes and will not open this. I have no idea what is going on....HELP!!!! liz

#53 lizzyr13

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 12:52 PM

:scratch: Doug, me, the pest again...something else now, I just tried to go into start/help and support/ enter and NOTHING!!!! A big fat NOTHING!!!! happens.... yet other things on the desktop and in start work....I am so confused, I do not know what to do. Liz

#54 Doug

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 01:39 PM

When using a Restore Point, it is possible to "arrive" at a date-time status prior to when your AVG was installed/configured.
The house (application) is there, but the lights are off.
Uninstall and reinstall is probably your best course of action for AVG Free Antivirus.
Probably do the same for other applications that produce similar errors.

As to the "help and support" utility, it probably got disabled via MSCONFIG during a previous recommended instruction.
You can Re-enable it via MSCONFIG if you wish.

Regarding Kaspersky and Panda.....

Clear your JAVA Cache which may have corrupted ActiveX files.
Then when you visit back to Panda or Kaspersky they will ask you to accept a fresh copy of their ActiveX. <-- That's safe.

To Clear JAVA Cache:
Control Panel - (double-click)JAVA <-- This brings up the JAVA Control Panel
On the General(tab) - Click on - Settings (at the bottom, in the Temporary Internet Files section)
Then click on - Delete Files - the OK, OK to exit the panel and exit JAVA Control Panel

Edited by Doug, 21 August 2007 - 01:51 PM.

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#55 lizzyr13

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 01:51 PM

Doug, When I do msconfig, what would the help and support be listed as? Would that be the same with any of the other items that will not work? thanks for the help. I will try to uninstall then re install and see if that works. I will be back I am sure. Thanks, Liz

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#56 Doug

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 02:03 PM

Sorry, I don't know what your Dell Help and Support item would look like in MSCONFIG. It's one of the first things I Uninstall when I first get a Dell machine, so I've long since forgotten. Perhaps a more familiar Dell user will come along with the info. In the meantime, you can just scroll through the MSCONFIG - Startup(tab) list It probably has the words "Help and Support" and may have the word "Dell" Let us know what you find. Best Regards
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#57 lizzyr13

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 03:17 PM

Hi Doug. I tried it but no good. I don't think it is in the Dell Help, it is the Windows Help and Support on the start menu.....does that matter? I guess its not important but I have used that feature before when looking up something about windows .... If I go to start/click on help and support/click/the hourglass comes up for a second and then nothing.....it usually freezes after that. everything else seems to be working better. AVG is good after I uninstalled and re installed....so, we will see how this goes. I am going to try kerpersky or panda now....will let you know, liz

#58 Doug

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Posted 21 August 2007 - 03:46 PM

Run your System File Checker.
it might find missing or corrupted system files that would correct the "Help & Support" issue

Start - Run - (type)sfc /scannow - Enter <-- notice the required space before the "/"
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#59 lizzyr13

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Posted 22 August 2007 - 05:16 AM

No Luck! :rant2: liz

#60 Doug

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Posted 22 August 2007 - 09:48 AM

Hi Liz,

Our ever helpful colleague, Paws, contributes this recommendations.

we have used Doug Knox's fix for an absent "help and support" function in XP
and it usually does the trick especially if the help and support just doesn't work and there is no error message.

Here it is:
http://www.dougknox....ows_xp_help.htm



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