The Digital Surgery (computer questions/problems here)

[richard]

I did see it from your post BUT this is what I get on callers original post.

Now I'm worried about my machine

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[hhfarang]

Can't seem to figure how to post a screenshot.

Migrant,

There's an excellent small, free, pretty easy to use screen shot program called MWSnap. You can snap the entire screen or a portion of it and save it as a file that can be uploaded to the forum via the attachments mechanism.

You can download it here: http://download.cnet.com/MWSnap/3000-20 ... 24229.html

[Roel]

Or use the Snipping Tool that if you use Windows is already there under All Programs/Accessories.

[Big Boy]

Or use the Snipping Tool that if you use Windows is already there under All Programs/Accessories.

I did consider suggesting that one, but I've only seen that available on Windows 7. If the work computer is anything like where I work, Windows 7 is light years away.

[migrant]

Thanks Guys!!

HHF I used the tool, pretty easy so here it is. As you can see the word save is highlighted and underlined. When I cursor over a box appears with some type of marketing link.

I ran Malwares full scan but didn't get rid of it

Thanks!!

[margaretcarnes]

This question is probably for Buksi because it's mainly about the recent Hotmail virus, which has its own thread.
First - what exactly does this virus do - apart from sending the infection on to people in your address list?
Second - I've changed the password as advised, but still can't sign right out of the Hotmail account at all. My AVG needs updating but there isn't enough disc space for the update. The disc clean up has partially worked, but there's still a temporary file which won't delete.

I'm getting a new anti virus programme to install by the weekend - its one used in UK schools and supposed to be the bees knees. This of course will necessitate uninstalling AVG first, and I don't know yet whether there will be capacity for the new programme. But is there a further risk by uninstalling AVG, bearing in mind sign out from Hotmail still isn't possible?
Could the temp file I can't delete be anything to do with the virus?

AND - sorry to say this - but I've only had problems with disc space since installing Firefox. Coincidence?

[hhfarang]

Migrant, that is very strange indeed. The only time I've seen anything like that is when reading research sites like Wikipedia where there are underlined words like the names of people or cities that link to a definition of said items. Never seen random ones that link to advertisements. Does it only happen on this forum or also on other sites you visit?

Mags, FireFox drags my machine down too. I'm just about out of disk space (but I think that is due to bloated XP patches and updates), processor (and page file) usage is near 100% constantly when FF is running as well but then I have an 11 year old computer. I tried the latest version (FF4?) and it was more of a hog so I went back to version 3.6.25 which gets along a bit better with my older hardware. I've also tried several other browsers that are supposed to be "lighter" but they all seem to hog my processor (Pentium III 866 mhz )to near 100%.

[buksida]

migrant, those links are definitely not there so either your browser has been hijacked or you have a plugin that is highlighting specific words.

What browser are you using? Can you try with another one and see if it still occurs. Try to avoid using IE at all. I would recommend running a full scan with malwarebytes and hijackthis:
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/4716- ... lware.html
http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/ ... ckThis.msi

mags, firstly we need to address your hard disk problem - you need to remove some files from C drive (preferably at least 2 gig) - Windows will not function properly if the disk is full. Then update AVG and run a full scan, then scan with the two programs suggested above, it is likely that you have malware on the machine. The Hotmail virus automatically emails itself to anyone in your address book to spread itself. By clicking the link you're allowing the malware into your machine - once it is there is can do anything from stealing your banking passwords to allowing hackers remote access.

There is a little more info on the MS website: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... b599b31bf5

hhfarang, today's browsers are not designed to run on 12 year old hardware with less processing power than a phone!

[hhfarang]

hhfarang, today's browsers are not designed to run on 12 year old hardware!

Don't I know it! But I'm a stubborn old fart that doesn't believe in throwing away a perfectly good appliance (That cost me $2k) just because there is a newer model as long as the old one works.

Plus I take pride in being able to keep it going as long as possible; maybe it will make the Guiness book someday as the oldest continuously running (daily use) desktop in history. It still has the original 30 gb hard drive running Windows ME on it, but I've added (dual boot) a 160 gb drive with XP plus I maxed out the memory to a whopping 500 mb (it came with 128).

The cheapest smartphones on the market today have more processing power than my desktop!

Mags, on the disk space issue. When Microsoft sends out patches or hot fixes, they back up the old files that are replaced in case you want to remove the patch and go back to the original code. If your machine is stable so that you think all the MS patches installed are ok you can remove the backup code files. With a machine running XP for 6 or 7 years, I did this and it gave me back 1.5 gb in hard drive space. You can download the free (XP only) utility I used here:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm

As I said, only run it if your PC is stable because once you do it you can't back out any Windows patches and go back to the original (unpatched) code. If you have an XP machine that has been running for a few years with a lot of patches this can get you back a lot of hard drive space.

[lomuamart]

I've had malwarebytes for some time but nowadays (for at least the past 6 months) it just gives me a message saying it "has encountered a problem and needs to close". I can't get the program to run.
I must have uninstalled it a dozen times and then downloaded the latest version but still get the same message.
I've a feeling that I'm not uninstalling properly because once I've done a new download the computer tells me it's updating. So, I've a feeling that fragments of the old download remain on my computer and that makes the new download unusable. It could well be that ages ago I didn't download the original version properly (maybe the connection broke as I was doing it).
Anyway, I'd like to do a scan but can't at the moment. Anyone got any ideas?

[buksida]

Would only suggest what you've done, uninstalling and reinstalling.

You could try Spybot which is still a good alternative: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

[hhfarang]

Also you could use the free Revo Uninstaller (carefully) as it will do a much more thorough uninstall than the standard Windows "Add/Remove Programs" in my experience. It hunts down everything in the registry, temp files, etc. and gets rid of them. It does show them to you (in bold) and give you the choice to delete but I have done it many times always deleting whatever they have bolded and it works great.

Get it here:

http://download.cnet.com/Revo-Uninstall ... 87648.html

[margaretcarnes]

mags, firstly we need to address your hard disk problem - you need to remove some files from C drive (preferably at least 2 gig) - Windows will not function properly if the disk is full. Then update AVG and run a full scan, then scan with the two programs suggested above, it is likely that you have malware on the machine. The Hotmail virus automatically emails itself to anyone in your address book to spread itself. By clicking the link you're allowing the malware into your machine - once it is there is can do anything from stealing your banking passwords to allowing hackers remote access.

There is a little more info on the MS website: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... b599b31bf5

Thanks Buksi - will do. As of now my Hotmail account has been re-activated and I found that AVG had updated itself. New HM password set etc.
C drive is still a problem. There is little else I can delete. BUT - I think the photo files need to be compressed so working on that.
I've run the AVG Analyser though which has thrown up some stuff I don't really understand - or know how to sort out. Bear with me!
There are 47 Registry Errors - mainly HKEY_CURRENT_USER_ software\microsoft\windows file extensions.
Then Junk Files - 9 errors mainly 'thumbcach' in temp folder - are these the photo attachments which Hotmail sticks on the end of your inbox?
Disk fragmentation -shown as 34.63% - high fragmentation level. I really don't understand this or how to rectify it. A disk defrag runs automatically every week and had just been completed...
Finally Shorcuts is showing an un needed programme - Acer Arcade - but I uninstalled that months ago and it no longer shows on the desktop.

Getting there - but still confused!

[buksida]

Basically you should not be storing any personal data (documents, photos, music etc) on C drive - this should be reserved for Windows and your programs only so that when it goes wrong a quick format and reinstall will have you running again without data loss.

Get yourself a portable external hard disk and move all of your personal stuff off C and make regular backups of it.

[hhfarang]

It's possible to move things to a different drive (other than the OS, it has to be reinstalled I think) if you have more than one. I have "my documents" including photos (huge) on the C drive and the operating system (XP) only on the D drive. I have all installed programs on my E drive. Most people have all these on one drive which can eat it up fast.