20 replies to this topic

[poemmuse]

Hello. I have just left the malware/virus room and now I am here..... unfortunately, stupid me couldn't do anything right and I wound up using system restore which wiped out everything on my computer, but HEY, it killed all the viruses, LOL.... probably not the recommended way to solve the problem. Anyway, I had to re-set up my computer and of course i didn't really know what the heck i was doing...i'm an old fart, in my sixties, a real dolt when it comes to computers.... I initially tried to get internet explorer working and i did it the wrong way, next day, today, I figured out what I did wrong, got back online, but internet explorer keeps crashing on me. Being an old fart I don't do much on these computers but email and play games on MSN.com.... and I can't play this one game at all, it just keeps shutting down, explorer keeps crashing.... and it's this computer cause it doesn't do it on my desktop model at all....this is a laptop..... also every time I change websites, i get screens popping up about broadband..... doesn't happen every time, but enough to be annoying, I think it is residual damage from yesterday when I tried to get internet explorer going again after the system restore and I didn't really remember how to do it right, so clicked on stuff just guessing.... so did i give you enough to go on, did I explain it well enough to get some feedback what i might try? thanks so much, I appreciate your time and help.

[Doug]

Since you re-installed your operating system, it is "likely" that you will also need to install JAVA JRE and Adobe Flash, in order for your browser to correctly display (particularly games).

If that is enough of a nudge in a direction you can explore, then 'nough said.

If not, then we probably do need more information, including a link to where you did your Malware Removal work.

We can get a pretty good overview of your machine with a scan from PCPitstop.

Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests

Here's how:

You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others). If your machine is running Vista or Windows 7, you must Select IE to “Run as Administrator”. After completing PCPitstop OverDrive you can close your IE browser and re-open it Normally so that you are no longer running as administrator.

Go to: http://www.pcpitstop.com
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)

Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.

The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.

Please post the URL internet address, from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.

Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.

After reviewing the results we will be more informed and may be able to provide better recommendations for you to work towards improving your machine's performance.

While PCPitstop does offer a variety of Paid Products, the PCPitstop OverDrive testing is FREE. Please ignore the references to Paid Products. At WTT we prefer to provide manual solution instructions that you can apply directly to your machine.

Best Regards

[poemmuse]

okay, i will gird on my battle armor and attempt to do battle as you suggest:


BUT

see? I'm an old woman who would rather not jump thru these hoops because i have no highblood pressure medicine due to extreme poverty and other stupid mistakes I have made in my life, LOL.....so just one question before I subject myself to a possible major stroke or heart attack trying to install programs, run logs and do all the other fun stuff you suggested above (because ya gotta know, for old farts like me this is truly truly intimidating , scary and often frustrating to the point that I wind up screaming at the keyboard and generaly having a no holds barred temper tantrum that is not seemly behavior for a woman of my advanced age and maturity :

WHAT I did wrong was yesterday, when I made my first attempt to go online, i forgot about the wireless connection i use with the modem verizon supplied for my internet connection with my desk top computer in my bedroom..... duh, go figure....so when i attempted to set up my connectionon this laptop, I clicked on dial up broadband connection, so now this computer, smart little thing that it is, thinks I am supposed to be dialing up, when in actuality I should have just clicked on wireless connection, put in all the passwords and user names for the modem and then I would have been ok, but i didn't think of it, i'm a woman with a post-menopausal brain and have lost 50% of my functioning brain....DO NOT LAUGH, Yeah, I know, you're probably 20 years old and your mom is only 40, but wait until she is 60 something and no longer has a brain with synapses that work.....

so, is there just any way to undo what I did by clicking on DIAL UP BROADBAND CONNECTION? I have tried to go back into the control panel and establish a new connection, hoping to erase the old one, but the old one won't go away!!!!!!!!!!!!! HUH??????? How come????? Is this now written in stone???? Because I have futz around for like 10 minutes before I can get online, have to hit TOOLS a million times to get it out of the work off line mode, HELLO??? WHY does my machine now have a default setting of "work off line" ?????????? How'd that happen??????

[Doug]

There are really no satisfactory answers to explain computer reactions to commands inflicted upon them.
They just do what they are told.

Oh No! It's doing EXACTLY what I told it to do!
_______________

So let's get that computer and your browser straightened out and behaving itself again!
_______________

Please tell us what Windows Operating System you are using.
XP, Vista, Windows 7...

Please tell us what browser you prefer to use.
Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera...
________________

For now, I'll give you instructions that should straighten things out if you are using Internet Explorer on a Windows XP system.

Go to - Start - Control Panel - Internet Options

The above should get you to - Internet Properties panel
Select - Connections(tab)
On Connections panel, about mid-way down you should see three little circles.
With your mouse, Select the top circle ("Never dial a connection") and - click - one time to place a dot in the circle.

Now look a bit lower in the same panel, and you should see - "LAN settings" -
Click - LAN settings

On the next panel, you will see three boxes that can be clicked. All of them should be "empty" and there should be nothing in the larger box titled automatic configuration script.

If everything is empty... that's good. If not, use your mouse to click on the little boxes to remove any checkmark/ticks.
___________________

At this point, you should be good to go.
____________________

But if not, you may still need to use the Network Setup Wizard to configure your DSL broadband connection.

Please tell us if you have a Router, or if you connect this computer directly to the DSL modem that itself connects to a telephone wire or cable wire.

If needed, we can also walk through the Network Setup Wizard.

Let us know how it goes for you.

Best Regards,

p.s. Along with many others of the helpers here, I am also "in my 60's".
Many of us started a while back, needing help ourselves.
Having received help, we began to learn and now help others.

You might have a fun adventure learning and may even eventually be able to help others too.
What a thought.

[compudodo]

ok, feels like 6 hours later, but probably was only 1 and a half...but i screwed up everything, as you can see, I am back to the old handle compudodo, as i can't remember the password for poemmuse..... how these things happen all the time, I KNOW I KNOW, I once did have a book with passwords, but then I never could find the darn book.... it's a no win thing.... anyway, I screwed up everything, as usual.... i think this is VISTA, my old desktop is XP, Vista is the next newer one and Windows 7 is the newest right? Well, I think it is Vista, as the screens were different from how you explained them.... but I was feeling brave for some reason....and I changed a few other things, which led to mayhem, LOL.... saw that one of my security settings was on medium, allowing all kinds of cookie information and i don't like that cookies thing, why do people have the right to chart where I go and what I do, isn't that what cookies are for? I don't really know, but I think that is what they do, anyway I bumped it up to HIGH and of course I couldn't access anything, no website lets you on without enabling cookies...so had to figure that one out.... i messed with the creat homepage tabs too, didn't like that lenovo thing starting up every time, like what is that all about, I hate all the advertising that this stupid lenovo computer has....so i erased that out of the box and that caused mayhem too.... so i just clicked on use default and i'm keeping my fingers crossed that will be ok and work..... so anyway, I did what you said to do and let's hope it works, but I think that tools thing is still screwed up...why do I have to go to tools when I start up and uncheck work offline? Why is it set to work offline??? I don't get it. I never had to do that. and no, I can never teach anyone anything...I used to teach, was darn good at it too, worked with "wayward" children, lol, there is no such thing as a BAD child, but all my kids were what others would call bad, I called them "wayward", they were all on parole, probation or suspended from school, but I had a real knack with these kids, probably because I was the only child of a rabid, over protective police officer and I was guilty my entire life until I could prove myself innocent, so I knew where they were coming from.....I can't remember anything, so how can learn anything now? It's sad, I know this is a direct by-product of having cancer at age 41, losing too many body parts and the lack of hormones did affect my brain over the past 20 years....I moved recently, 6 months now, can't remember my zip code, my house number or my phone number, if I don't use them every single day, then they just slip away somewhere, I can't retain anything any more. LOL...when I moved here I was thrilled there was a local theater troupe, I joined, I auditioned and wowed 'em, got the lead in the first fall production,....... until it became apparent I couldn't remember lines any more. I was on stage most of my younger life, NEVER had a problem, but not now......so ya see? I can't learn things anymore...wish I could, but I can't..... and that is a very sad thought for me, I used to be an intelligent person and I LOVE helping people, but I just have no brain anymore and it gets worse with each passing year. We just had a blizzard.... and it's been about 4 days, I finally got outside today...and what do I find???? no lie. who is this totally out of it??? My driver side window was down and I had a foot of snow in my car. really. sad. i'm so ashamed to admit I can't even remember basic things now. P.S. yes it is Internet explorer...... but someone once told me Internet explorer sucks the big wazoo and I should use Mozilla Firefox, why is that???? oh, and yeah, see? I forgot again, see???? it's this bad...... I don't know how to give you the link to the malware thread I had....it's a moot point, we never got anywhere cause I couldn't download anything suggested...so I just hit system restore and I lost all my stuff, which cleaned my computer out and no more viruses!!!! NOT exactly the recommended way to handle things, I know....but the thread is titled HDDDoctor? Scam? Malware and thread starter was me, poemmuse who is back to being compudodo, LOL

Edited by compudodo, 30 December 2010 - 10:21 PM.

[Tomk]

Relax Candice. You're not as far gone as you worry about.

Your malware thread is here: http://forums.whatth...howtopic=116183

When you open your browser (such as Internet Explorer) and it is unable to connect to the internet... it automatically opens in Offline mode. This actually makes sense because it's not online and it has to be in some mode to open. Once you get your connection settings set correctly... this won't be an issue anymore.

[compudodo]

oh Tom, you ALWAYS give me far more credit for smarts than I deserve..... and can sit here from now 'til kingdom-come and think about it and it still just gives me a huge pain in the neck that I was stupid enough to get my computer totally screwed up within 3 minutes of getting back to the point where I might be able to use it again!!!!!! lol, went over to the Windows Vista forum and got crossed eyed just trying to figure out what configuration is, what it does and why running things as an administrator has to be so complicated. it's just so much more fun coming over here to harass the heck out of you Tom

[Tomk]

Just try not to get stressed. You're in good hands with Doug. He is very good at holding hands when needed.

[Tomk]

Let's get a couple of Dougs questions answered.

He asked you if you have a router. You do correct? You have a little box with an antennae on it that allows you to connect your laptop wirelessly - right?

In order to determine which operating system you have... right click on My computer and select properties. The screen that comes up will say which operating system you have.

[compudodo]

oops...... did we go and insult Doug by starting to talk? I didn't mean to hurt his feelings. oh well.... here we go.... well, my desktop has that nice little icon on the desktop, my computer, but this laptop doesnt it's window's vista, i am pretty sure, like 99% sure... and i have internet explorer , which now for some reason will not automatically go to msn. com as my home page without me having to sign in every single time. THAT is a pain in the neck. I like MSN for my home page, I guess because I'm just used to it, started out my computer career in the year 2000 with a brand they don't even make anymore, lol, but the deal was it only cost four or five hundred dollars if I agreed to a 3 year contract with MSN as my internet provider..... also, when i go to gmail, it won't start up either, just sits at screen i have to click on an HTML thing, because it seems internet explorer is not a fully supported browser, like hello? how come i didn't have these issues when I bought this back in May?. EDIT, see i forgot the original point, you asked about my router. I got this laptop computer from New Egg, it arrived 2 days before I moved into my RV for the big road trip of my life which never happened because the RV broke down every day.... so I was living in the RV and just searching endlessly for WiFi areas for months.... when I got this house in Virginia, Verizon offered me a modem that had a router inside of it...so yes, I have a router inside my modem which then plugs into a wall jack that Verizon charged me $90 to install!!!! Thankfully the girl who helped me set up my Verizon account here did it all remotely and then kindly put a great little notepad icon on my desktop with all my verizon account passwords and user names for the account, the modem or else you know i wouldn't even be on line if i had had to figure it all out myself..... was here around 4 months when I got the courage to try to hook up a new printer i bought from New Egg last YEAR, yes, I had this printer for 14 months in a box because I was too intimidated to hook it up and when I finally couldn't live without a printer any more, I tried and failed and just figured I bought something once again that wasn't compatible...... tried buying one of those nice big monitors for my old desktop, a honking big 23 incher, I hate these little measley 15 inch screens....so i buy an Acer monitor and come to find out the large screen computer monitors, ALL OF THEM, I know, I went to the only store, the absolute ONLY store for 60 miles, a Walmart and checked the back of every monitor in the store, every larger screen monitor has a blue port and white port...and my computer tower only has a blue port....so had to return that sucker at a cost of $45.71 in postage..... ANYWAY, back to my printer....I hired a handyman who was here all of five minutes, got paid in full by foolish me, he absconded with the $443 and my brand new Vizio 32 " TV, yeah!!!!! But in two minutes flat he had that printer up and running, go figure. Even despicable thieves who prey on old women can hook up a computer printer!!!!!

Edited by compudodo, 31 December 2010 - 09:16 AM.

[compudodo]

here we go AGAIN... yes, I forgot to add:

I have to admit I was feeling very brave for some unknown reason....and decided to delete something when I went into internet options area of my control panel.
I ABSOLUTELY HATE all the advertising and pop ups from lenovo, it is ridiculous, they take over your computer, it is constant ads and even when you click on internet explorer (which again, I have no icon for on my desktop, it shows up on my tool bar, but no icon on my desktop...can you tell me how to get these icons to appear again???) it starts two screens, one with the MSN website and the other with a LENOVO website, ANYWAY, when i went into internet options the first screen is general and it showed the two http:// addresses that the computer will open upon starting up explorer....EUREKA I said to myself and so I erased the LENOVO address.....but then when i hit apply, for some reason there was still the http:// there, so I couldn't get that to go away, so I saw the default button which I figured would get me back to square one, but it didn't, it put in another address for msn, so that is why i keep getting the msn page I have to sign into every time....I tried erasing that and just putting http://msn.com/ which I could have sworn was the original address in that box, but apparently not because then every time I started IE, it would flash flash flash flash flash flash endlessly like it was TRYING to access MSN but it couldn't go there, so that is why I just clicked on the default option and the default option which is http://go.microsoft....k/?LinkID=69157 THAT's why I get that particular start up page I have to sign into every time because http://msn.com/ didn't work

Edited by compudodo, 31 December 2010 - 09:46 AM.

[Tomk]

I can help you with that.

The address you put in was http://msn.com/

What you want is: http://www.msn.com/

[compudodo]

oh my god, i forgot the www.....it was a simple as that??? LOL now, how 'bout getting me a MY COMPUTER and INTERNET EXPLORER icon on my desktop....and do I really want internet explorer as my default browser? If I install Google Chrome I will have a "fully supported browser", should I take googles advice and go with google chrome???? HEY DOUG!!!! sorry i was talking to tom, but he is an old friend here and we got to talking....

Edited by compudodo, 31 December 2010 - 09:52 AM.

[Doug]

Hi again. Insulted? Me? Hardly. If you and Tom enjoy conversing, I'm happy for you both. As to any or many needed repairs, it is probably best to stick with short-answers that directly relate to the problem at hand. I'm subscribed to this Topic, so I will see when you post new information or new questions. I'll try to help when/if I have a solution. If others are already providing good solutions, I'll just stay out of the way. As for right now, I'm off to work and other responsibilities. I'll stop by throughout the day to check on your progress. Best Regards

[compudodo]

Oh good, I don't want to step on anyone's toes.... or do the bad etiquette behavior thing.... at least at my age i like to think i at least have some decent manners, lol anyway.... ok, my interent explorer is now starting up ok i got the address corrected and now my home page starts right up ok but some things are a bit off like having no MY COMPUTER icon on my desktop, what's up with that? lol, I seem to remember always having that and an icon for explorer on my desktop.... the icon for explorer is only on my tool bar. Gmail isn't working properly now because apparently my browser only can support basic html... that's not good, is google chrome a better browser and are there any down sides to installing that????