I've got computer problems

[goldleaf]

Lately when I click on any links in a thread all I get is a window that says connecting, but it never does. Is there a simple fix for this. Thanks.

[Ponce]

Did you try turning off your comp and then back on again?........many times it works for me.

V

[osoab]

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[General of Darkness]

Try cleaning your cache.

I use this.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

But it will remove passwords etc. So be warned, but I run MAXA Cookie Manager and Avast and you can get those all for free.

BTW - How much available memory do you have and RAM?

[mamboni]

What OS are you using? Have you run a complete virus scan recently? How about registry cleanup using CCleaner.

In the last couple of weeks my PC was acting funky. It would freeze up soon after startup or recovery after hibernation. After a power down and reboot it ran fine. But it just wasn't snappy. This PC has been rock solid reliable for 3 years and then freeze-up and the occasional BSOT(!) Also, videos and other links would not load or run on certain webpages but run on others - quirky. PC just doesn't feel healthy. I'm running WIN7 64 bit. I did spyware scans with several programs and registry checks; and even ran disk check overnight to no avail. Tonite, on a hunch, I ran Avast from the context based menus on the Windows and Users folders. The former came up clean but the Users folder was loaded with dozens of Java files that Avast labeled "HIGH RISK. java malware-gen trj" I quarantined all of them and now my PC is running like the old reliable PC I remember. My games that were crashing - total lock ups - are now running rock solid again. We shall see if performance holds up going forward.

[PatColo]

Try cleaning your cache.

I use this.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

But it will remove passwords etc. So be warned, but I run MAXA Cookie Manager and Avast and you can get those all for free.

BTW - How much available memory do you have and RAM?

CCleaner has all those checkboxes for what it should & shouldn't remove, includes cookies/cache/passwords etc.

I just deleted Avast antivirus after installing a couple weeks ago. My box was running slow (browsing net, youtubes all played jerky, etc) not long after reboot, so it was an exploratory step. Uninstalling it, I used Control Panel > Uninstall Programs, and it launched an Avast uninstall program. I had to go through several Avast screens verifying that yes I was sure, and yes I was sure I'm sure I'm sure, as it was so tenacious in "warning" me about how vulnerable I'll be, I be making a big mistake, yada yada.

When I installed Avast a couple weeks ago, I actually went the "custom" (vs default) route to check that it didn't overrun my box with unwanted shite. I don't know how it got past me, and I frankly don't recall it ever being presented as an option, but it installed joogle-chrome browser, and made it default browser! When I saw that I promptly uninstalled chrome!

Also didn't care for Avast's incessant popups telling me useless shite, complete with audio. I know I could dig into it and turn those off, but never got around to it.

So in short, I have little respect/trust for Avast at this point. I heard someone recently compare antivirus software to "vaccines", themselves being deceptive trojan horses doing more harm than good!

[Glass]

I'm running avast in at least one location. I find it ok. I did turn off those popups which are nuts but I also did custom. No scanning of outbound mail. I excluded folders I knew were clean. I keep apps and data well apart from each other. The box I have it on is pretty old, running a vista. Maybe 6 years? So not a lot of grunt. I never run scheduled scans either. Just background monitoring. No gadgets, no browser tool bars, no in page link/URL safety checks. Lean and mean. I have different machines for different activities and I don't mix them. So work on one PC, entertainment on another, something else on another pc. I'm trying to think of something worth using in it's place. options are pretty thin on the ground these days. I don't like Normans, not nortons which is 110% crappola and I think a major infector vector. Some do like normans but I find it gets corrupted easily and then other things stop working, often microsoft embeded things which cannot be fixed by uninstall.reinstall. I've been through most of them now. there are not a lot of good choices IMO.

[mamboni]

CCleaner has all those checkboxes for what it should & shouldn't remove, includes cookies/cache/passwords etc.

I just deleted Avast antivirus after installing a couple weeks ago. My box was running slow (browsing net, youtubes all played jerky, etc) not long after reboot, so it was an exploratory step. Uninstalling it, I used Control Panel > Uninstall Programs, and it launched an Avast uninstall program. I had to go through several Avast screens verifying that yes I was sure, and yes I was sure I'm sure I'm sure, as it was so tenacious in "warning" me about how vulnerable I'll be, I be making a big mistake, yada yada.

When I installed Avast a couple weeks ago, I actually went the "custom" (vs default) route to check that it didn't overrun my box with unwanted shite. I don't know how it got past me, and I frankly don't recall it ever being presented as an option, but it installed joogle-chrome browser, and made it default browser! When I saw that I promptly uninstalled chrome!

Also didn't care for Avast's incessant popups telling me useless shite, complete with audio. I know I could dig into it and turn those off, but never got around to it.

So in short, I have little respect/trust for Avast at this point. I heard someone recently compare antivirus software to "vaccines", themselves being deceptive trojan horses doing more harm than good!

The avast female voice that announces "Your virus definitions have been updated" was voted Sexiest Voice Clip in computerdom by the I.G.S.*** Yeah, that pissed me off too (Chrome!). I deleted it pronto.


***I.G.S. - International Geek Society

[Jewboo]

The avast female voice that announces...





http://technewspedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/13578_joanna-660x350.jpg
Joanna Rubio


Reassuring having Joanna (http://technewspedia.com/this-is-the-face-of-the-female-voice-of-avast-antivirus/) tell us we have no infection.

:)

[gunDriller]

What OS are you using? Have you run a complete virus scan recently? How about registry cleanup using CCleaner.


a Geek Squad half-literate computer guy told me when he was working on my mother's computer, i was visiting & she must have wanted to spend $200 on, well, nothing.

he told me, "CCleaner is no Good, it creates problems"


i have a feeling, that's what commercial computer tech's are paid & told to say.

it's the same store that told her her dual core E5200 was no good, and convinced her to buy a quad core AMD that was no faster.

so i inherited the E5200 machine.

it had a bad power supply and a bad power connection to the optical drive.

i replaced the PSU and duct-taped the line to the optical drive. FIXED !

+ the E5200 has a reputation as a top overclocker, it can easily get 25 to 50% overclocks, almost comparable to the 8500.


the gouging i witnessed was something. but my mother doesn't like to hear about it, so i give her the short version.

i'll have to try CCleaner someday & see what the brouhaha is about.

[steyr_m]

the E5200 has a reputation as a top overclocker, it can easily get 25 to 50% overclocks, almost comparable to the 8500.


I used to care about overclocking back in the Pentium-1 days. If you use your machine for web-browsing, word processing, etc. you really don't need more that a P-III with 256MB ram. Add in playing movies, movie transcoding, etc. a P4 will suffice.

[mamboni]

a Geek Squad half-literate computer guy told me when he was working on my mother's computer, i was visiting & she must have wanted to spend $200 on, well, nothing.

he told me, "CCleaner is no Good, it creates problems"


i have a feeling, that's what commercial computer tech's are paid & told to say.

it's the same store that told her her dual core E5200 was no good, and convinced her to buy a quad core AMD that was no faster.

so i inherited the E5200 machine.

it had a bad power supply and a bad power connection to the optical drive.

i replaced the PSU and duct-taped the line to the optical drive. FIXED !

+ the E5200 has a reputation as a top overclocker, it can easily get 25 to 50% overclocks, almost comparable to the 8500.


the gouging i witnessed was something. but my mother doesn't like to hear about it, so i give her the short version.

i'll have to try CCleaner someday & see what the brouhaha is about.


I have been a PC user since 1983 when I bought the Macintosh with an 'amazing' 1 megabyte of RAM!!!! CCleaner is the best utility software I have ever used by far. The Geek Squad techie is either a crook or a moron.

[PatColo]

http://technewspedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/13578_joanna-660x350.jpg
Joanna Rubio


Reassuring having Joanna (http://technewspedia.com/this-is-the-face-of-the-female-voice-of-avast-antivirus/) tell us we have no infection.

:)

Pretty sure Joanna just does the spanish lang version of avast's voice notifications. Doesn't sound like the lady who did my english version-- that lady is more plainly a native eng speaker.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-2nuov9Ng