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Maxaxle's computer NO LONGER continues to fail.

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:45 pm
by Maxaxle
Or, rather, I failed. My dad told me to reinstall Windows, but I thought he meant to format the hard drive and start over. So now I'm having issues that didn't come up before. Ah well, hopefully Windows Update will help me with that...

Maxaxle out.

EDIT: Turns out that the drivers for my network adapter are BAD, and yet I was using the newest of new drivers at the time of the reformat! Ah well. Will probably get a "new" network card from the attic...

Please don't offer any advice on the subject. I already know it's not the best course of action.

EDIT 2: Turns out drivers are not the issue, but rather that the port itself is &$%#ed up. A shame.

EDIT 3: Installed a network card, cleaned out the computer chassis and its components, and reseated the CPU and video card and heat sink. No problems anymore!

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 2:07 am
by bgbirdsey
Make sure you do a virus check.

I reinstalled a version of win XP before service pack 2 and was instantaneously infected with a virus when I connected to the internet.

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:05 pm
by Maxaxle
bgbirdsey wrote:Make sure you do a virus check.
I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh. My virus scanner is from the '90s, and offers little to no protection considering McAffee no longer supports it.

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:44 pm
by Shade
Maxaxle wrote:
bgbirdsey wrote:Make sure you do a virus check.
I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh. My virus scanner is from the '90s, and offers little to no protection considering McAffee no longer supports it.
...get a new one then...? Really, there are more than enough out there, even some free ones. A virus scanner as ancient as yours is completely worthless.

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:47 pm
by Maxaxle
Clonkinator wrote:
Maxaxle wrote:
bgbirdsey wrote:Make sure you do a virus check.
I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh. My virus scanner is from the '90s, and offers little to no protection considering McAffee no longer supports it.
...get a new one then...? Really, there are more than enough out there, even some free ones. A virus scanner as ancient as yours is completely worthless.
I've tried getting a free virus scanner before. 99% are trials, 90% will spam you or do nothing after detecting a virus, and 1% are ACTUAL USEFUL virus scanners. I have yet to find that 1% this year.

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:51 pm
by Shade
Maxaxle wrote:
Clonkinator wrote:
Maxaxle wrote: I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh. My virus scanner is from the '90s, and offers little to no protection considering McAffee no longer supports it.
...get a new one then...? Really, there are more than enough out there, even some free ones. A virus scanner as ancient as yours is completely worthless.
I've tried getting a free virus scanner before. 99% are trials, 90% will spam you or do nothing after detecting a virus, and 1% are ACTUAL USEFUL virus scanners. I have yet to find that 1% this year.
Well, obviously you'll have to have good luck finding one that is free and useful at the same time.
If you can't find any, you'll just have to buy one.

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:36 am
by Maxaxle
Clonkinator wrote:
Maxaxle wrote:
Clonkinator wrote: ...get a new one then...? Really, there are more than enough out there, even some free ones. A virus scanner as ancient as yours is completely worthless.
I've tried getting a free virus scanner before. 99% are trials, 90% will spam you or do nothing after detecting a virus, and 1% are ACTUAL USEFUL virus scanners. I have yet to find that 1% this year.
Well, obviously you'll have to have good luck finding one that is free and useful at the same time.
If you can't find any, you'll just have to buy one.
Two problems with that:
1. Most are yearly subscriptions.
1.a. It's DECEMBER.
2. My dad doesn't want to spend money on computers right now, as he is unemployed.

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:42 am
by Shade
Maxaxle wrote:1. Most are yearly subscriptions.
Better pay 20$ or even 40$ or something a year for anti-virus-protection than to pay 500$ or something for a new computer because a virus f*cked up your old one beyond repair.
Maxaxle wrote:1.a. It's DECEMBER.
...that is a problem, how exactly?
Any legitimate anti-virus-program that charges money will give you protection for 365 days, regardless of whether you buy it in january, may, december or god knows when.
Maxaxle wrote:2. My dad doesn't want to spend money on computers right now, as he is unemployed.
Pay it from your own money, then?

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 2:45 am
by Zefz
Try Microsoft Essentionals. I've actually found it to be effective and lightweight to my big surprise (And I'm not a microsoft fan!).

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:15 am
by woodmouse

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 9:58 pm
by bgbirdsey
Avast! antivirus here

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:55 pm
by Maxaxle
Clonkinator wrote:
Maxaxle wrote:1. Most are yearly subscriptions.
Better pay 20$ or even 40$ or something a year for anti-virus-protection than to pay 500$ or something for a new computer because a virus f*cked up your old one beyond repair.
Three words: hard drive reformat. $0 out-of-pocket, besides electricity bills.
Clonkinator wrote:
Maxaxle wrote:1.a. It's DECEMBER.
...that is a problem, how exactly?
Any legitimate anti-virus-program that charges money will give you protection for 365 days, regardless of whether you buy it in january, may, december or god knows when.
Most off-the-shelf antivirus applications I see today are year-specific, but I get your point.
Clonkinator wrote:
Maxaxle wrote:2. My dad doesn't want to spend money on computers right now, as he is unemployed.
Pay it from your own money, then?
Neh. Too lazy. Plus I don't have a steady income for my allowance or anything.

And yes, I should probably get off my ass and get Avast or Microsoft Essentials or that one woodmouse mentioned.

EDIT: @woodmouse: I tried out Avira. Last time I installed it, nothing was detected, and...PC World, was it?...rated it quite poorly under the "virus detection" category.

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:00 am
by Cimeries
*Has not had an antivirus installed for over a year and a half now*
*Computer is absolutely fine*

Possible conclusions:
My computer has a far better immune system (Could be due to Windows 7).
My computer is completely infested and only appears to function properly. (Benign Viruses?)/(Is there an effective difference?)
Maxles needs to visit certain websites less.

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:11 pm
by woodmouse
Cimeries wrote:*Has not had an antivirus installed for over a year and a half now*
*Computer is absolutely fine*
My computer became completely destroyed on the first day when I had a different anti virus and no firewall. :o
...it had like 50 viruses... :lol:

Don't ask how that happened, I have no idea...
Spoiler: Jesus hackers
AND I HAVE TO MENTION, as it's kind of in the topic: beware of Jesus hackers. Seriously. They don't put viruses or anything to your computer, but they fill EVERYTHING with videos, images, audio, etc, of christian things. :shock: When that happened to me, I almost died of shock. :? ...Though, I don't know if it's been done to anyone else, but well...

AND NO, I HAVEN'T OFFENDED ANY SINGLE CHRISTIAN EVER ANYWHERE!!! :lol:

But still, I'd believe they've done it to many people, but where do they know if they'd hack a christian's computer and fill it with that stuff? Wouldn't he be happy about it, lol? So I doubt they've tried to hack EVERYONE's computer, but... Whatever. Jesus hackers are evil, and their secret plan is to hack everyone's computer in the whole world, who's ever said anything non-christian, and flood everything with things about Jesus. :shock: People must use protection, so they won't succeed. :lol:

Uh-oh I can post about jesus hackers for this much, it's... it's... :shock:

But it was scary. When If I'll ever have children, I'll tell them about Jesus hackers when they're about to use computers for the first time. 8)

[/selfish ranting which isn't meant to offend anyone or anything by any of its contents, not even Jesus hackers] :roll:



If you take this all seriously, you're even weirder than me. THOUGH, Jesus hackers hacked my computer, but... all about their secret plans and children... if you took that seriously, you're a bit weird.

Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2010 12:00 am
by Maxaxle
Cimeries wrote: Maxles needs to visit certain websites less.
Antivirus programs are usually a precaution. For example I once almost downloaded an infected game executable! (yes it was freeware, yes it was supposedly on many sites, no I did not get it in the end)

Also: Microsoft Security Essentials seems to be free to those with access to Windows Update and no antivirus protection! Yay for me!