i'm trying to walk my sister in law through this over the phone but her computer is really slow and then it'll just freeze up.

any suggestions or ideas on what might work

TIA

You need to get your PC up to 88mph.

dammit i was hoping for an actual answer
bboooo

geeks2go can fix any problem.

She will need to download highjackthis and post a log on their forum.

They's helped me with everything.


Or you could delete the system 32 folder... = )

Niccolai said:

I knew you wouldn't let me down, young padawan.

the new ubuntu is amazing. u dont have to know shit to install and use it.

DestroyYouAlot said:

ha, i looked at this thread specifically for back to the future references.

Swap out the flux capacitor

i'm confuzzled

I need to plug back in my ubuntu machine right now.

MOTHERFUCKERS TRYING TO PUT DOWN SYSTEM 32. I AM RANDOMLY TAKING THIS ON AS MY PERSONAL MOTHAFUCKIN HOLY WAR. OTHER IDLE THREATS INTIMATED ON THE INTERNET IN CAPS LOCK. ALSO, MUTHAFUCKA. ANY ALTERNATE SPELLINGS OF MATERNAL COITAL PREFERERS CAN BE ASSUMED IN THE FUTURE, MOMMYPOONTAPPER.

Spybot, Adaware, repeat, virus scan, then do what niccolai said.

hijackthis is terrible for most people

i am going to call her back at 1pm today. i hope we can get her to to the adaware scan...the computer is super slow and gets to a ponit and it freezes...i didn't have much luck with her last night, hopefully today she'll tell me it's all set but we shall see

http://www.malwareremoval.com/

that's where i went, it's like a school for computer science kids. you tell them your problem and they walk you through fixing it. however, my problem was a virus that hijacked my desktop and gave me insane amounts of popups.

last time my computer had the freezing problem i had to crash it. but i'd check with that site before you did anything else.

Random crashes can be a hardware issue as well, anything from a bad harddrive to memory.

Best bet is what I said. Run Spybot, then adaware. Then run them both again. Finally do a full virus scan. Afterwards if the problem persists download hijackthis and post a log at the site that niccolai mentioned. The people there will scan the log and see if anything looks out of place. If they find nothing, it's most likely a hardware issue.

brian_dc said:

intense

thanks arrowhead
i don't think they have spybot already installed though...and i don't think the PC can go online. argh!

succubus said:

You should be able to burn spybot and a recent definition file to a CD.

or download them to a USB flash stick.

I have a stick that I have reserved for only the programs listed on the geekstogo.com website, to give you an idea of how frequently I'm stuck with cleaning friends' and family members' computers, and how effectively their method works.

What Niccolai said. After they get the computer all fixed up, let them know how important it can be to always have a copy of spybot, adaware, hijackthis, anti-virus (like AVG free) on a disc, so if anything bad happens it's always nearby.

Also tell them to keep up with Microsoft security updates...

I can't tell you how many people are convinced that windows updates will destroy there computer and there's a big microsoft conspiracy to sneak viruses into updates...

an unpatched system that is never updated can be over run with spyware minutes after connecting to the internet.

Niccolai said:


Actually, that's the first thing Niccolai has said that I don't agree with. Unfortunately it's not a conspiracy, microsoft has got some useless and sketchy crap they've been throwing into their updates. My most stable system I ever had was a pirated copy of XP, thus never updated past service pack 1. NEVER had problems beyond the normal virus/spyware here or there. If you look closely, microsoft has started including a monthly "malware" update that allows them to "remove unwanted programs from your computer". This, unfortunately, allows them to go pretty far beyond spyware/malware. They can shut down unregistered or cracked apps, etc.... without you having any say in the matter. Personally, I skip this update and stick with the tried and true adaware/spybot combo.

ok so she caleld me and said that after trying 10 times they were able to go back in time and it was ok...

my niece is online and i get this IM:
haha check my ass http: //likemyass.net/ass_pic31 .exe

so they still have a virus...she's away from the computer but i messaged her telling her that

edited url because i don't want anyone clicking and getting the virus

I just got this from MSN:

[07/12/2007-22:22:33] .(*). I'm juste going to say... Whatever..: haha check my ass :P http:// likemyass.net/ass_pic31.exe
[07/12/2007-22:24:35] *** ".(*). I'm juste going to say... Whatever.." signed off at Thu Jul 12 22:24:35 2007.


and dont' your nieces know better?

it's messaging us because we're on her buddy list
i'll call them again tomorrow

ArrowHead is watching you said:


I should have been more specific. Windows updating in general does do stuff beyond patching, but I don't give anything that's not a specific exe patch the time of day.

I always hit custom update on the update screen and pretty much only install vulnerability patches for svchost and lsass. As far as my experience goes, an unpatched Lsass.exe is the biggest fucking pain in the ass that windows has ever had.

Niccolai said:

Yeah, but John Q. User doesn't know what the fuck that means.