Attack of the Outdated computer, Please help me!

Mrs K 2004 · Jun 15, 2004

My apologies in advance, as this will be long!

I have a 3 year old Dell computer, with only 20 gig harddrive and 256 ram... however I only have about 20% free on my harddrive; I'm a BIG time internet addict, as I talk to my family and friends 600 miles away via MSN often! I also have Photoshop and other imaging software because I love making graphics!

Recently the computer has been painfully slow! And covered in spyware... I've used Ad-aware to remove spy ware...but still have a TON of it, popping up every few seconds... And I can't use MSN (our ISP) anymore... I connect to the internet; then it gives me an error message saying it must close, and then I'm stuck using Internet Explorer...

I can't even defrag my computer!! I run my Virus (Norton) software and NOTHING...

Do I have any hope? Or should I just upgrade my computer? I can rarely stay on for more than 15 minutes... and it's driving me crazy! I don't really have the money to pay for a new computer (my wedding is in 1.5 weeks and I just put a TON of money into a honeymoon vacation, and the rest into a downpayment for a new home)

Thank you for ANY advice at all!

God Loving Cowboy · Jun 15, 2004

Time for a format dear, big time. If you have XP on it, and you bought it w/XP on it, its a simple little process of pushing F10 until your system restore comes back on, if you don't want to do that, then you can format your hard drive, buy XP Home/Pro, and start fresh w/out all of the added software they might add. After you do that, you will want to make sure to update your computer for the all of those nasty little Worms we got last year, and the beginning of this year ect.

I hope that helps.

rdale · Jun 15, 2004

Mrs K 2004 said:
I have a 3 year old Dell computer, with only 20 gig harddrive and 256 ram... however I only have about 20% free on my harddrive

Hard drives are getting cheaper and cheaper these days, add another drive when you can. For now, congrats and focus on your approaching marriage. Do you have a CD or DVD burner on your Dell? If you do, try to free up some space by moving data from your hard drive to cd or dvd.

But first !!! get that spyware cleaned up... some links to check out...

Lavasoft's Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Spybot - Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/

HiJackThis
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

http://www.christianforums.com/t703193

post back when you've installed and tried those three programs, hopefully things will be running better then...

God Loving Cowboy · Jun 15, 2004

She said she tried AD-Aware...I still say my way is better, gives her a clean start. But adding anew hard drive is ideal.

SirKenin · Jun 15, 2004

You can either format and start over, or pay someone like me to come and clean it. It would cost you about $150 for that though, so you might want to format and start over.

doofus125 · Jun 16, 2004

If you are using Adaware, make sure you click the "Check for Updates" link when you open it......Also, how old is your norton, when was the last time you ran liveupdate? I know this may cause a riot, but I just upgraded to Norton Internet Security 2004 and Norton Antivirus is included and it has an adware scanner, it is $22.75 w/free shipping I believe..... http://store.yahoo.com/glob2000/frshnoinse201.html

firecracker · Jun 16, 2004

You can't beat a fresh start. Copy off everything you want to keep safe. Then, making sure you have your Windows CD and any other 3rd party program files/drivers, reformat the drive completely. When you're all done and reloaded, try and stay away from sites that you know will be putting rubbish on your system. If in doubt get advice first!

Meanwhile, when I was on Win98, I had to do this task every 6 months, and since Xp, I've only ever had to do a 'restore to previous state' routine the once in 2 years...so Xp is better!

Every blessing for your marriage and congrats.

pgp_protector · Jun 16, 2004

Better yet than re-formating, get a new drive, make your old one a secondary drive & do a new install, then you can backup / cleanup your old data at your leasur.

If you dont play games, and only use your system for Word/Office work, Web & E-mail, try SUSE 9.1

kurabrhm · Jun 16, 2004

rdale04 said:
Hard drives are getting cheaper and cheaper these days, add another drive when you can. For now, congrats and focus on your approaching marriage. Do you have a CD or DVD burner on your Dell? If you do, try to free up some space by moving data from your hard drive to cd or dvd.

But first !!! get that spyware cleaned up... some links to check out...

Lavasoft's Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Spybot - Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/

HiJackThis
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

http://www.christianforums.com/t703193

post back when you've installed and tried those three programs, hopefully things will be running better then...

I highly reccomend Spybot search and destroy. It does exactly what it says on the label!!!

Mrs K 2004 · Jun 18, 2004

Thank you all! I will attempt a reformatting... if that doesn't work; guess it's time to buy a new harddrive... ugh!

MiccyNarc · Jun 18, 2004

Gah..reformatting. What a major pain in the butt, but it helps.

Good luck Mrs K 2004

Athanasian Creed · Jun 18, 2004

Yup, agreed...but if you take precautionary steps after doing the reformat...make sure to download the latest AV definition file and install with your antivirus software as well as a firewall installed BEFORE connecting to the internet (or if running XP turn on the native firewall). These steps are VERY important as it takes only seconds to infect your unprotected computer - if the AV & latest virus defs and the firewall is on you greatly minimize getting zapped just by going on line the first time after the reformat. Then go immediately to Microsoft update site and install Service Pack #1, then repeat for any other critical updates.

After that, make sure to keep the AV up-to-date as well as the Microsoft updates and you'll keep protected !!

Blessings on your wedding - hope the day and your future together bring God's best - keep Him LORD !

Ray

Mojo_Morning_Kick · Jun 20, 2004

Without refomating the computer world would be a complete waste of space. I acctually enjoy reformating if i have the time to install everthing afterwards, if not it's very stressfull.
-moj

Attack of the Outdated computer, Please help me!

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