I Vista x64 w/ AVG, Spybot and Windows 7 Firewall Control. I'm fanatical about updating all of them and I still got a really f'cked up virus. This thing called "vista antispyware 2010" got into my system and disabled AVG, Spybot, the firewall and does some f'd chit to my reg files. Then it pops up and says I have all these problems and viruses in my system and for a fee it will eliminate them all. I guess it even hijacks IE but I don't use IE so I didn't have a problem with that. Anyway, I was able to get into Microsoft.com's forums and was told to use this program - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php The virus blocked me from running it so I had to rename the .exe I downloaded and then it ran fine. It installed, removed the virus and restored everything back to the way it was previously. Just thought I would share this joyous experience in case anyone else happens to run into the same problem. Oh, according to the Microsoft forums Norton users aren't protected either but the Norton and the Malwarebytes programs are not compatible and you have to uninstall Norton first but the virus won't let you do that.
I've been having a problem since Jan. 1 where my pc acts like it's brand new every time I start it up. All the intros, all the settings. It says "user profile did not load properly". I lose my favorites, hibernate or sleep don't work. Upgrades and programs I download seem to be gone or hidden each time I start up again. I use IE8 mostly and have Vista. Did it do anything like that?
Wheels, I would go into Start menu / Accessories / System Tools and run System Restore. I would pick a date to restore it to that was before your bro inlaw visited. Maris, I would do what I just told Wheels but you should pick a date before Jan 1st. If it won't let you then you should try to hit the F8 key right when your system is first booting up. It will bring up a menu and you should select Safe Mode. After it loads into Windows (it will take longer then normal) then try to run System Restore.
My neighbor got that one. It took me forever to get in to reformat, and then the computer still didin't work right after I reloaded Windows for him. I gave up...........I'm not a computer wiz, but I used to get the blue screen of death back a few years, and when all else fails, I would reformat.
As long as he could get her a green card I don't think Wheel's sister would care. I think you meant he should tell his wife.
How old is your computer? Where did you get it from? You might want to just spend the money and have someone look at it.
My gf has a Toshiba laptop about the same age. Hers would have similar problems. It turned out her hard drive was going bad (and it was a Western Digital). Have you made your restore disks yet or did they come with the laptop? You might want to have someone look at it. If it turns out that the hard drive is chunking data you should replace it. While you're at it you should also increase the amount of ram. You probably only have 1-2 gigs of ram so you should upgrade to 4 gigs (yes I know Vista x32 will only read 3 1/2 gigs but even a half gig extra helps). If you really want to give your laptop a tune up ask the person who is replacing your hard drive to get you a OEM copy of Windows 7. (or if you are doing this yourself you can get the OEM copy of Windows 7 from where ever you purchase your hard drive from.) My laptop runs much faster on Windows 7 then it did on Vista. Huge difference. Hope this helps.
I always do that when a virus gets in and computer starts acting up, just fuck it and restart the whole thing from day 1.
lol it sucks balls when that happens, plus having to install all the programs you need allover again, pretty much takes half a day to recover
Just burn a backup to a couple of DVD's after you have it all set up the way you like with everything including all the Microsoft updates installed. Instead of going back to scratch just restore from the DVD's. WAY EASIER!
and id recommend making a ghost image of your boot partition after a clean OS install + all the apps etc u regularly use are in. its a better failsafe option