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Join Date: Aug 2004
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Ok, well here's the jazz, my friend (not a hypthetical me) has a *shh* Windows XP machine and it's up the creek, frequently crashing and beign a bit crap. Given that he is not going Mac, what can he do? What is the best way to speed this up with software, what can he remove (and how ) and what should he use in terms of spyware/ad removal etc?
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Veteran Member
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A combination of antivirus + Ad-aware + Spybot Search & Destroy seems to be a popular combination amongst Windows users.
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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There are a few other programs that prevent items from being added to you start up registry without you knowing and allowing them. MS Anti-Spyware does this and there is another program I was using called "Start-up Mechanic" that seemed good until I got tired of telling it and MS to allow or disallow a program change on start up. The MS Anti-Spyware was also good to allow you to change the registry by telling you what programs are in it and who they are from. Very handy when most don't have a clue about the system registry. I must say though, make sure he knows not to play there unless he knows what he is going, deleting the wrong thing could allow him the opportunity for a fresh system reload! Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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is not a kind of basket
Join Date: May 2004
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(you still have the option to skip that process) no sig, how's that for being a rebel! |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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Selfish Heathen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
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This should be an exhaustive list of items to check. Whenever I have to work on "fixing" someone's PC, these are the things I do to get things running rosy again. The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
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Nice list Brad. I'd first run hardware diagnostics for hard drive and memory. It's very frustrating to spend a lot of time fixing the software and then have the hard drive die on you. The I'd format the drive, re-install everything and then stick to good habits. Even if it's possible to clean things by hand, I want to play safe. The chance that any spyware, viruses and trojans survive a rigorous check like Brad's is remote, but there is a chance. An owned box is an owned box, period. Removing spyware also does nothing to Windows "DLL hell", register decay and other long-term illnesses on a Windows machine, that can also cause crashes. The only way to stay on top of those is only to use good software, avoid installing unnecessary ones, and totally rebuild the system if necessary. A methodically used box will most likely *not* have severe problems stemming from this. Expect trouble if new programs, miscellanous shareware, warez, and games are installed and uninstalled rapidly for a long period of time. If anything is designed work deep with the OS innards, like GUI changers, it's much more likely to develop and surface problems. Again it's a good idea to listen to people's experiences. Good habits = no IE, always on top of updates, tight firewall, antivirus running, never install software that has bad reputation like Kazaa and co., avoid warez. I've found that way you don't ever develop a problem to fix. I haven't even ran AdAware more than once in a few years' time. I installed bad software and then realized it had spyware and I need to clean it up. The best thing about spyware-riddled programs is that no one needs to install them. If you are unsure and don't want to take the time to dig up comments about the software, which should be easy anyway, just pick a free Open Source program. They are pretty much guaranteed not to have spyware. |
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New Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
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He could always reconsider and change his mind..
Flog his PC on Ebay and by a Mac anyway.. Just a thought... I only use my PC for Games now.. so I don't install anything on it so the spyware etc problems have gone away. |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: "Chambana", IL
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try using pandas online virus scanner. I find it a lot more useful than trend micro. Install the free avg anti virus scanner afterwards, along with using spybot etc
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New Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Denver, CO USA
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ericarthur,
I own both Windows 2000 and Mac OS X machines. My experience with Windows is too many years. For your friend's Windows XP machine. 1. Download and burn to a CD the .exe for ZoneAlarm (firewall program). 2. Make sure that his machine has at least 512 MB of memory. If not, then buy more RAM. Crucial has 512MB PC2700 sticks for $55. 3. Save all his data by burning to one or more CDs. 4. Disconnect the machine from the internet. 5. Reformat the hard drive and do a clean install of Windows XP Pro. 6. Install ZoneAlarm. 7. Connect to internet and surf to www.grisoft.com and buy AVG and install it. 8. Install Adaware and Spybot Search & Destroy. 9. Teach your friend how to use and when to use all 4 pieces of software. 10. Wait for his phone call in about 3 months and repeat steps 1 thru 9. ,dave |
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Join Date: Aug 2004
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