Oh, Heck - Techie Probs!

krizon

krizon

At the Start
Joined
May 2, 2003
Messages
16,263
Location
Dahn sarf
... yes, that's me, although I hear you chorusing 'no, no, surely not!'

I downloaded and installed McAfee's Security Suite 6 from the US (gosh, how clever!) and although it may not be related to that activity, it seems since then that my Broadband desktop pc has been running very slow, takes ages to present me with even the screen, and then infuriatingly freezes up the cursor on the Web, showing only the little hourglass. It takes ages to get rid of it and I have to start all over again.

I've consulted NTL's help desk, but they say it might be Spyware, in spite of having every bell and whistle now from the McAfee update. I've cleared lots of History, the Recycle Bin (not much in it), turned off the set-top box lark a couple of times, and any minute now I expect this posting will hang, and I'll go no further.

I also ran the old Reset to A Happier Time and Place, to no avail. Did the urlmon test - all okay. Even looked into recesses I haven't seen before and checked every application, which informed me it was just fine and dandy, thank you.

So what can be causing this? E-mail function isn't affected - it seems it's just on the net that there's a snag. Anyway, I'm off now before the bugger stops again, but any thoughts will be most welcome!
 
I had a similar problem when I downloaded Zone Alarm and I only resolved it when I uninstalled it. However, I felt the need for security was paramount and during the course of my PC's health check at PC World I got them to increase the RAM (a bit expensive) and instal Norton and Spyware. They also defragged as part of the check. The machine is still slow to boot up completely but once it's up and running it's fine.

I had gone for ZA in the first place because it got top marks from Which? but it didn't do my blood pressure any good.
 
Hmmm... I didn't want to add another spyware killer, since too many stop signs just seem to slow things to a halt, but I might defrag. And I think perhaps I'll also take it into PC World for a check-up, too. Thanks, Mo. Grey - that's odd, isn't it? Are you also with NTL? I checked to see if they'd been mucking about with maintenance, etc., but it doesn't look like they have a hand in messing things up.
 
If there is anything on the PC that shouldn't be there, this routine should find it.....


Download CLEAN.EXE from the URL --
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/clean.exe


It is a self-extracting ZIP file that contains the Kixtart Script Interpreter
three batch files, two Kixtart scripts, two Link (.lnk) files and a PDF instruction file.


GETFILES.BAT -- For downloading (FTP) the files needed to run the McAfee Command Line Scanner. If you are using Windows XP, you may have to disable the Windows XP FireWall to allow the FTP utility to download the needed files


CLEAN.BAT -- For running within Windows after running c:\mcafee\GetFiles.BAT. If you choose to scan again at a future date, run this batch file. It will automatically check the date of the McAfee DAT files and if it is a couple of days old, it will download (FTP) the latest signature files and install them before performing the scan.


DOSCLEAN.BAT -- For use on a Win9x/ME PC or on a Win2K/WinXP PC that is using FAT32 after you have booted from an Emergency Boot Disk or DOS disk and have already executed; c:\mcafee\GetFiles.BAT from within Windows.

You should do the following...


Run CLEAN.EXE Choose Unzip Choose Close


Run; c:\mcafee\GetFiles.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'GetFiles Link' in c:\mcafee }


Reboot the PC into Safe Mode [F8 key during boot]

Shutdown as many applications as possible

Run c:\mcafee\CLEAN.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'Clean Link' in c:\mcafee }


A final report in HTML format called C:\mcafee\ScanReport.HTML will be generated. At the end of the scan, it will be displayed in your browser.
 
Basically if you uninstall your download and try it again it may just resolve the problem? you may have a conflict of programmes you don't need a firewall if using X/P as there's one built in... go to control panel and make sure its ON using a multiple of Firewalls WILL ALSO GIVE YOU THE PROBLEMS YOUR GETTING ..only use the one POP UP blocker too .....

Then its down to maintenance I have a proxy sniffer (not a POXY sniffer) for the best NTL ISP but its a little bit complicated for someone who does not know a lot about P/C'S and operating systems...I am currently tuned into BRISTOL 2 as this is the current fastest supplier......you have boosters all over the country and can tune in to the best/fastest one

But to ALL X/P users do the basic maintenance at least once a week if you don’t know how to do it? Come back and I'll post it as I have got to type this up also .......
 
Uninstall the McAfee suite and see if it gets any better - you can always reinstall afterwards, but at least you'll know for sure if that's the cause.

For anti-spyware, Microsoft's own (free) solution is about the best out there:

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/s...re/default.mspx

If you have Windows XP, the built in firewall is also fine - there should be an entry in the Control Panel which you can use to configure it (although it doesn't require much configuration apart from turning it on).

That really just leaves you needing an anti-virus program - AVG's free solution is relatively simple and easy to control:

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/289/lng/ww/tpl/tpl01

Using these should provide you with enough security, and from my own experience won't adversely affect the performance of your machine.

(Edit: Don't bother with pop-up blockers - the latest version of Internet Explorer has one if it's own: Tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy -> Pop-Up Blocker. Also, I'm assuming you're using http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ to keep your system up to date).
 
Ber-limeee! :blink: Thanks very much indeed, folks, for the good thoughts and helpful advice. I'll have to write all this out as my printer has been useless since day one (another jobbie for PC Weird coming up)! But thanks very much - I'll give it a bash, for sure, and let you know if things get better. Though fingers x'd nothing' gang awry at the moment!
 
I'm not with ntl, Krizon, living in Belgium as I do.

Gareth's solution was the one we came up with. We got rid of McAfee and have gone with AVG.
 
Oddly enough, about a year ago installing the latest version of Norton security caused me all sorts of problems. I ditched that and took McAfee instead which was fine.
Looks like horses for courses.
 
Oh, sorry, Grey - I forgot about that! :confused: gzy, I've done what you've suggested for Windows XP and I hope it doesn't hang up again. It ran well yesterday, but as I was doing some investigating of various files (having decided to read my Windows for Dummies properly at last), it hung again. The PROCESSOR makes constant grumbling noises, and when it hung, it actually SQUEAKED a couple of times! I've never heard it do that before - it tends to make rummaging sounds, like err-ekk-ekk, but no squeaking. Maybe it's the Processor (Compaq Presario) that's duff.

Anyway, on y va and we'll hope for the best! :D
 
I would not entertain NORTONS for FREE it gets right into your registry and causes all kinds of faults/problems and even if you think you got rid of it its still lies in there I have a Nortons sniffer which gets rid of it completely off your p/c...
I have posted this statement before now...........but people will listen when its only too late.......... :rolleyes:
 
Right, I've done absolutely everything suggested, and also cleaned out the Cookies jar, got rid of all the old files, updated my Windows 'til it nearly burst, and so on. Now, a ghastly thought occurred to me a nanosecond ago:

When I downloaded and installed the new McAfee, should I have made room for it by Uninstalling the old 2005 v.7? I have the 'old' one on CD, but the new one was downloaded from the McAfee site. If I didn't Uninstall the original (even though McAfee didn't tell me to do that), would the two versions now be installed, and possibly brawling with each other?

I'm still getting terrible lock-ups. The cursor turns into the little hourglass and just sits, and sits... I couldn't get onto Internet Explorer at all tonight, and I couldn't even get onto the various Help sections to find out why!

At the moment, everything is behaving nicely, and the processor is not creaking and grumbling as it has been, but I wonder if I should muck about a bit more with the McAfee? I did reduce its Firewall protection slightly, as Windows XP has its own Firewall, and I didn't want them fighting, either. Is that okay? I, er, also don't know how to Uninstall the former one without also Uninstalling the new one. There is absolutely nothing in the books I have to tell you how you do that.

Dearie me, it's all too, too much for an addled old crone at times... :confused:
 
I use AVG. seems grand.

Krizon, ref: Printer. Locate the small button with the word 'power' on it. Press down gently.
 
I did reduce its Firewall protection slightly, as Windows XP has its own Firewall, and I didn't want them fighting, either. Is that okay? I, er, also don't know how to Uninstall the former one without also Uninstalling the new one. There is absolutely nothing in the books I have to tell you how you do that.

JON take the FIREWALL OFF just use X/P's..... as per my original post.....if you upgraded your mcfee it should be o/k it will normally intergrate with it!!! as its an upgrade not a new programme to see if you have two of them go to control panel select add and remove and you scroll down to see what programmes you have got see if you have one or two MCFEE's.......


AFTER THAT DO THIS IT MAY TAKE AN HOUR TO GO THROUGH YOUR HARD DISK

X/P go into the ICON... MY COMPUTER and LEFT click you will see your hard drive among others your c-d writer, scanner, floppy, etc etc right click on this and scroll down go to properties LEFT CLICK and it opens, then choose TOOLS at top of page open it and tick the TWO BOXES then reboot the machine by closing all that you have just opened by x them out via top right x on each page may take ages depends on the condition of your HARD DISK but when it finishes it will go to your normal desktop feature page....

NEXT IF ITS STILL NOT FIXED??
MICROSOFT WORD...... go into your email folder I.E. MICROSOFT OFFICE OUTLOOK and at the top of the page choose HELP it will drop down and choose DETECT and REPAIR let it go through the process(IT MAY ASK FOR YOUR C-D DISK TO BE INSERTED WHILE IT REPAIRS IT... its a thing of trial and error if these two are then rectified try it again ... if not we'll try something else but the p/c will now be repaired of any basic faults which could interfere with your set up as such ..................
PHEW!!! :cry: :angy:
Click to expand...
 
Merlin, you don't fancy a couple of days in Brighton, do you? :lol: :lol: Many thanks - I'll try your suggestions. Tonight, I checked SEND/RECEIVE in my e-mails to see why I'm not getting any, and the receive signal is constantly DISCONNECTING, so that must be one reason the p.c. is buggered. Too late to call NTL now, but I'll call tomorrow during daylight hours. I dunno, it's one thing or another, ain't it? :confused:

I'll try your ideas out now, then it's off to PC World for the wee beast if that doesn't work!
 
:lol: :lol: :lol: You little scallywag!

I finally threw all the toys out of the pram and ran Compaq Recovery, and didn't go to bed until 5.30 a.m. I've also now been on to NTL to restore my errant pc, and got 40 new e-mails, most of them filth from Lord Hartigan and the sniggering responses of his sycophants. (Including me, though I was merely testing the 'reply all' service, of course.)

Merlin and All - thanks very much for the Help Desk, though. I've written down all suggestiveness so that I can use this in future when the fecker refuses to go into the stalls again, which I hope won't be soon!

I'm back to factory settings: I see I've got the Norton pre-installed and I'm going to leave it like that. The downloaded McAfee I paid for has been swept away during the Recovery sweep, but I don't think I'm going to Uninstall the Norton and ReInstall the McAfee. I've spent about ten hours altogether on this crap, and any more will result in one of the first manually-launched pcs in space, or the ether, via the Net.

But thanks, guys, for your time and trouble. It's much appreciated.
 
I tell you what if anybody feels like spending A GRAND OR £950 to be precise LIDLE on MONDAY have a 19" flat screen LCD which I have already, I bought it 6 months ago @ £199.... and a P/C with a brilliant specie and well worth having if you can't build your own!! which is obviously cheaper like my own...

But this one @ LIDLE is brilliant and top software package too......@£749.. a 3 yr warranty on both of them :rolleyes:
 
Colin why???? I did miss a word out of the last post(already) and left out an R but did not bother to correct them trying to cook my steak and mushrooms................... :rolleyes:

Colin………… I think A/C is rubbing off on you he normally criticises everything I post I.E. HYPHENATION, TOO MANY SMILIES, ETC ETC............ :lol: everyone makes typo’s :D
 
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