Major Problems With Windows Vista?

joec said:
The latest version of IE is 8 Mav. It actually runs better than the rest on my systems and I've also tried them all. Now with that said results can be different as no to machines are really the same when one things about the software configurations involved.
Click to expand...

I just checked, yea it's Version 8, I turned it off and installed Firefox on her computer. It is running much better now and way faster. Microsoft claims that Version 9 will be much faster and have a better experience.
I think I will stick with Firefox for now.
 
Yes I've tried safari and found it the same as Firefox and Chrome all of which depend on IE files to run hence to me slower with more overhead, but then that is me. Overhead to me means it starts slower though once going about the same as the rest including IE.
 
I don’t really like having Adaware, SpyBot, etc, always running in the background, so I don’t use those types of programs an instead rely heavily on a good AV and Firewall.

This PC I’m on now, I had built fresh at the start of the year, so I’m about a year in running nothing but Avast.

Out of curiosity, I just downloaded the Malware program everyone is talking about in this thread and ran a scan.

It found nothing! Perfectly clean!

A year of working and surfing with nothing but Avast between me and the world…..and no infections.

That speaks volumes to me! :thumb:
 
I can respect that, but eventually you become a digital hoarder or agoraphobic if you aren’t careful.

If you need personal protection, you might buy a .357 magnum……then, just in case, a derringer in the back, a .38 at the hip, a boot knife, a Kubaton keychain, pocket mace, a taser in the cargo pocket, credit card knife in the wallet, assault rifle in the trunk of the car, shotgun under the bed, ruger under the pillow…….and on it goes.

The just in cases can build up into a maddening array, when in the end, a good .357 and proper training does all you ever need.
 
To hell with the .357 as a Glock 9mm has more impact power, no ballistics other than gun type but not individual is all that is needed in most cases. It is also easier on the recoil than a .357 so at my age less sore muscles. The only thing better is a shot gun but then they have some recoil hence I take a glock. :wink:
 
We watched a show on one of the Court channels the other night abut some psycho that goes crazy and unloads on a school of kids. A 16 year old girl took three hits from a 9mm uzi and ran off! And lived perfectly fine!

Thank god!

But, the point being I’ve read many a medical reports saying the proliferation of the 9mm into the population (it’s a cheap, popular, and an easy semi-automatic to get) has lead to an incredible rise in long-term care shootings. The rounded bullets of the 9mm tend to pass cleanly through the body, have no stopping power, and the victim often runs off in fear and then undergoes hours of surgery to stop bleeding arteries and is released within 24 hours. The most common carry over fatality is infection and not the gunshot.

Without hollow points, I don’t see the stopping power in a 9mm.
 
LOL! You and Joe are cracking me up here! I still can't get the image of you with a 9mm next to your computer as "personal protection".

It reminds me of an afternoon I spent at my neighbor, Jay's, house with him and Kinky Friedman (who is Jay's best friend.) Anyway, when I asked Jay if he got mice every year when they mow the big park area near us, he said yes. When I asked him how he dealt with them, Kinky interrupted and said "he shoots them". I laughed and asked again. Kinky said "I told you - he shoots them". He walked me into the kitchen where, sure enough, there were several big holes in the cabinets near the floor!!! (It was the weirdest afternoon ever.)
 
FryBoy said:
Not if he does a clean install.
Click to expand...



A restore back to an even earlier date, or even a recovery might be in order to kill the suddens problems that have occuered since last Thursday.

The friend who helped me restore THIS pc, I asked him if he's had any problems with Vista, and he said he has and has had to do a restore himself. :ohmy:
 
Fisher's Mom said:
LOL! You and Joe are cracking me up here! I still can't get the image of you with a 9mm next to your computer as "personal protection".
Click to expand...

I can honestly say there have been times I have wanted to point a gun at my computer...:glare:

A Glock 9mm, gotta respect that! I am partial to the Colt 45 semi auto, especially the pearl handle my dad carried while in the Marines (to go with the dress uniform). Nice gun. Also kinda like their revolvers, too. The ones you always see in the Westerns.


Guns and computers in one thread, who woulda thought it?:lol:
 
Keltin said:
I can respect that, but eventually you become a digital hoarder or agoraphobic if you aren’t careful.

If you need personal protection, you might buy a .357 magnum……then, just in case, a derringer in the back, a .38 at the hip, a boot knife, a Kubaton keychain, pocket mace, a taser in the cargo pocket, credit card knife in the wallet, assault rifle in the trunk of the car, shotgun under the bed, ruger under the pillow…….and on it goes.

The just in cases can build up into a maddening array, when in the end, a good .357 and proper training does all you ever need.
Click to expand...


Keltin - You never told us you worked in NYC. LOL
 
I am running on Vista with the new computer. I have Avast.
No problems whatsoever.
Don't expect any either.
 
Ok, I've restored the pc all the way back to the first bacup, which was done on June 29th of this year.

If the pc still shows signs of acting up, then the next and final course of action is a recovery, which erases EVERYTHING and brings the pc back to when it was brand new with the setup process as though I'm setting it up for the first time, ever.

Let's hope that this isn't neccesary, but if it is, them it will have to be done.
 
Sherman said:
Ok, I've restored the pc all the way back to the first bacup, which was done on June 29th of this year.

If the pc still shows signs of acting up, then the next and final course of action is a recovery, which erases EVERYTHING and brings the pc back to when it was brand new with the setup process as though I'm setting it up for the first time, ever.

Let's hope that this isn't neccesary, but if it is, them it will have to be done.
Click to expand...
total reinstall isn't that bad if you backup everything. i do it often just to get rid of the stubborn crap that can't be deleted.
 
I'l have to start making new backup disks next month as long as this latest restore lasts that long or longer.

I've also created a restore date in System Restore just in case things start to mess up then.

If needed, I'll go back to that restore date through System Restore and then make a backup disk immediately.
 
Sherm -

you may want to investigate "disk imaging" software. it takes a byte-for-byte 'image' of your hard drive / partition and can put all the ones and zeros back in exactly the same pattern.

"System Restore" sometimes cannot cope with the 'damage' done - a disk image is a lot like the on-board utilities tp 'put it back to factory conditions' but you can put to factory fresh, do all the updates, install your normal software stuff, then capture an image - saves a boatload of time when you need it.

has other advantages - I suspected a hardware failure issue - so I made an image, then put it back to factory condition with the hidden partition utility thing, then rechecked the hardware. (yup, web cam broke. . . oh well)

then using the just captured image, in 30 minutes I had my "old" machine back exactly as before and saved myself a lot of time&effort troubleshooting a broke webcam.
 
Malware Bytes is a great piece of software and I've used it a few times to remove trojans that no other utility could remove. I agree that Norton & McAfee are way down the list- there are much better AVs, many of them free.

The disk imaging software is a good idea. But short of that I suggest keeping extensive backups of your important files and making sure to keep 'em current. Your music collection, photos from your parents anniversary or your vacation to Hawaii, your tax returns...keep this stuff on an external drive that you can plug in just to back up. Then when you do have problems it's just an inconvenience, not a catastrophe.

Ask me how I know.:glare:
 
Rob Babcock said:
s...keep this stuff on an external drive that you can plug in just to back up. Then when you do have problems it's just an inconvenience, not a catastrophe.

Ask me how I know.:glare:
Click to expand...


Thats what I started doing.

I got a 1Tb external, copied and backed up the internal three different ways (DAMN! Storage has gotten cheap!).

Then did a low level format on the internal and reinstalled the OS and all programs.

The external drive sits here unplugged or is in the safe.

What I've found is I have transferred damned few files back into the machine.

Mostly I move data out of the machine, no need for old eBay graphics or last semesters files.
 
I do the same myself and backup the office data daily to my personal computer and the external HD's (I have 2 WD book type).
 
In addition to the external drives, consider www.mozy.com. Runs in the background, updating the backups on a remote server in Utah whenever the computer is idle or on any schedule you select. You pick the files/directories/discs to backup. Fast. Highly secure, 448-bit encryption, 2GB of backup free, $5 per month for unlimited storage. A good supplement to your external drive as it can't be stolen or destroyed by fire.
 
Adillo303 said:
All well and good. External drives are also hardware and will fail eventually. Does anyone back up the externals?
Click to expand...

I actually do first with a second external hard drive as I said. Now I also back up to DVD once a month as my data can't be lost for 7 years regardless. I might add we also keep hard copy of everything so if a computer goes down I'm not with 3 machines and a new one on line with in a week.
 
Some good news!

One of my laptop pc's, (this one) has been set up and is now running smoothly after some major adjustments!

It crapped out earlier last year. I had the hard drive and keyboard replaced, but never used it or went online with it. A friend set it up for me, and it now flies. Going to have to get a Norton Ghost disk to make backups, as Windows Vista backups won't restore the pc properly.

The one that I was using, now needs a complete recovery done to it to completely erase the hard drive and reset the pc back to the new way that it was when I first got it.
 
Adillo303 said:
All well and good. External drives are also hardware and will fail eventually. Does anyone back up the externals?
Click to expand...

All of my computers back up to a network drive once a week. Done automatically in the background which means I know it will get done but also while it is going things slow way down. But I also know if I leave it up to the kids to let it do its job when it asks, they don't LOL.
The network drive is backed up once a month onto DVD. Since the DVD burner is part of the network drive case, it is also done automatically for me but in this case it only starts automatically. It takes multiple DVDs to back everything on the network drive up, so as soon as it finishes the first DVD I get a notice on my computer to swap it out.
This means a quick trip(or 4) downstairs to keep loading the DVD burner with fresh DVDs but hey, it works so I won't mess with it for now LOL.

I have been eyeing a Terabite Station (not sure of the spelling) which has a huge 1tb HDD and a built in DVD with changer so it will autoload the DVDs and save me the trip downstairs to re-load. But, unless the price drops by 50% or so I don't know if I can justify such an expense. The only real info of great importance is the wifes business stuff, and her laptop has dual drives so her second drive is acting like backup storage between the weekly backups to the network drive.
Mine laptop also has two hard drive in it (320gb each), but they are both full right now!
 
Most people have less than 1 gig of real personal data. Video files bump that, but really……text files, spreadsheets, some pics. Not much that makes a system “yours”.

You can back that up to a thumb drive and then do the right thing and wipe that freaking drive and start clean.

I’ve no idea why anyone would sweat a full wipe. As long as you have the key and own the OS S/W, back up the gig or so of your stuff to a drive, then do it. The OS is so advanced now that drivers aren’t usually a problem, and the rest of your pet proggies can be DL’d again. In fact, I keep my fav proggy EXEs in my backup files.

I OWN my PC……it does not own ME. If I want to wipe it, I’ve got the OS discs and the backups to make it happen. It’s really very easy. Patches upon patches are just duct tape on top of duct tape over a very real hole that is blowing fire and ice.

Don’t let your PC own you…..you are the master if you choose to be.
 
I don't back up the OS, any programs, or drivers. I have all that on CD and is a cinch to re-install all of it. I always have done it this way so I am not dependent on OEM disks or 'restore' partitions on the HDD. What I do back up is all of the wife's files, her pictures, my pictures, the kids pictures (they take their own pics too), my movies, everyone's videos, my files, kids files. Comes to about 600gb worth in the end.
I alone have over 4,000 songs on my computer and about 150 movies in various formats but mostly in HD format for playback. One of these days I will get around to burning them onto DVD, LOL. When I do it should free up about 400gb worth of space, mostly on my computer.
As for restore partitions and OEM disks, if you use those you end up with your computer back to square one, complete with all those useless 'add-ons' and unwanted programs they ship your computer with.
For this reason, I always get a full copy of the OS it is running, then wipe the computers HDD clean with a full reformating (including removing the restore partition so the drive has one partition not two) and do a fresh and clean install of the OS. Then I can load it up only with the programs and freatures I want with none of the clutter that it came with. I have always found the computer runs both faster and more stable this way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top