Need Help, bring this old vista anywhere close to a properly working machin

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hello evryone, i don’t really know if i’m following proper computer ettiquite. but i’m not very computer savy, and i’m just looking for someone to take me under their wing and help me bring this old vista anywhere close to a properly working machine. my wife tells me i’m the go to guy if anyone needs a computer killer. BUT I BELIEVE IN HOPE, and right now thats about all i have left. I pray i have’nt offended anyone,,but if so i truly apologise.
New To The Site, Humbly, Harpo

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What are the symptoms?

Joe

--Joe

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First let me just say thank you, Well where to start? lets see on startup,it goes directly into safe mode. Then befor i can actually get to the desk top i have to click out of 7pages, mostly showing files, hard drives,and more files. so from the time i turn it on till the time i can astually click out of those pages and get a page up to get on line would be about ohhh, 10to12 minutes. pitiful huh?

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Hey also Joe, this is the first forum of any type i’ve ever been a member of. and if i might add its really nice so far, we’ll right now as it stands i’m off work on medical leave. at least untill they’ve decided weather or not i’m worth saving. So most mornings you’ll find me on-line. the computer i’m on is a toshiba sattilite A135. with vista home premium, Intel (R) cpu,945 express chipset family. copyright 2007 with servicepack 2 / 1gb Ram/ 32 bit oper. sys. / and oh yes, i,m not really sure how to use a forum just yet,but am learning fast. thanks again, harpo

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we’ll i get the feeling its time to go now. even though the norton says i’ts all good. (Bull) there’s just to much strange stuff going on in this laptop,so thank you to those of you who have tried to help me, but i just don’t care to spread anything nasty that may have attached itself to this machine. I hope to be back on soon with a clean bill of health. i really so like this site. so for now at least, Fare the well,to All. If you would please keep me in your prayers,and may God Bless You All. humbly, harpo

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There is the first mistake. NORTON. It is a resource hog and aused BSOD’;s.

Microsoft security essentials is free and light on the resources.

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If you have your installation media, the easiest way to recover might be a clean install. Just reinstall Vista directly in the same partition it presently reside in and start over. I would save personal data on a removable drive (flash drive) so you can put it back afterward. All data, favorites, contacts, etc.

A format, reinstall will wipe out any nasties that presently reside on your PC.

Once you have reinstalled your OS, customized as you like. installed MSE AV and such, read the info on Imaging in the Security and Backup Forum and create a system Image. This will make it easier to restore if bad things happen again.

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Harpo~~

You seem to be a novice. I’d be careful with advice to reformat and reinstall. This MAY be the best solution but be prepared to have lots of things happen you might not otherwise expect:

– You must have backed up all your data files. Otherwise you lose them. Hope you haven’t dumped everything to a bucket called ‘documents’. A lot of crap gets dumped there. Clean up your file structures and move everything you want to keep to an off-line device so you can retrieve it later.

– You must have hard copies (installation disks) of every program you want to reinstall. If you made a habit of downloading programs rather than getting the disks, you will need to back up those install files AND know what programs they relate to. You’ll also need their serial numbers and all the stuff sent to you with the install files. I hope your file structures and naming conventions allow you to find all this.

– You need to reinstall the operating system. If you didn’t create a back-up disk and didn’t get the disks from the vendor, this is a problem best solved by buying a new OS. The cheapest solution is to try a work-around to clean the machine and make a reformat unnecessary.

– If you DO have the original disks, prepare to have a bunch of crap loaded at the same time. Try to avoid including the promo copies of this and that when you reinstall.

One alternative to all this is to spend some $$ on a system optimizer. Internet reviews and comparisons can bird dog one you can use. Prices range from free to $30. A good optimizer should locate and correct the problem if it’s software-based. If not, it could be a hardware problem but this is unlikely.

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Before you do a complete system restoral, you should try various less-drastic things.

Since you say you are a computer novice, let me guess – is your protection program Norton Internet Security (or 360)? And is it the latest version only (2011 for NIS, version 5 for 360)? If not, then you have compromised protection. Uninstall whatever you have and restart the system.

You can use Microsoft Security Essentials as zigzag suggests, but NIS 2011 is not a resource hog and is very stable (no BSOD problem). A few years ago Norton products were a mess, but not anymore (and I do test all the top programs yearly). If you have the money, buy NIS 2011, otherwise MSE is fine.

Also, when you log in, are you logging in through your user account? You may want to log in as “Administrator” to continue, esp. if you have a ‘standard’ user account. The built-in administrator account has the necessary priviliges you’ll need to proceed:

Second, go to http://www.malwarebytes.org and get the free Anti-malware tool they have. Install it, update it, and then run it several times (with system restarts in-between). Keep running it till you get a clean report.

Third, if you have the original Vista installation disk, you can insert it in your system and restart – boot from the CD and run the Repair Windows option. Let it run and when it’s done, remove the CD and restart.

At some point in the above, you might get the system to start up normally (not in safe mode). When you do, install either NIS 2011 or MSE and do a complete scan.

I see you elected to remain offline till your computer has a clean bill of health. If so and you are seeing this now, you may still want to review the above. I’m also posting this for others who are in your situation and still looking for answers.

Just like with your doctor, the more specific information you can provide about your problem/symptoms, the better advice we can all give to help you. Good luck!

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Hello Harpo,
Have you tried “System Restore”? It allows you to “return your system files and settings to an earlier point in time, without affecting personal files.” If you’re not familiar with it, go to Start Menu > Help and Support, then type “System Restore” in the search box at the top of the document and read as much as you need (or more) to understand what it does and how to do it. Choose a restore point that you’re pretty sure is prior to the date of your first difficulties. If the first one doesn’t work, go back further the next time.

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Oh hang on…I’ve a Toshiba Laptop to. I didn’t get Vista program disk with my computer, Toshiba has a hidden partition called “O” which contains all system files including the Vista program files. In light of that may I suggest if you haven’t already got one, make a recovery disk, which will re-installs your laptop back to factory defaults, I’m not suggesting you run that yet, but insure you have one.
You might also like to look for the C:TOSAPINS folder, in that is a number of programs including Toshiba Assist, which preforms maintenance on your system.
Also in Tosapins you will find Toshiba Hardware Setup Wizard…
Back up all important files onto an external drive or drag or copy/paste onto a CD or DVD…
Try as suggested above running System Restore.
You can download and trial a copy Kaspersky Internet Security Services for free, and get it to scan your computer, to do that you you would need to disable Norton. You cannot completely un-install norton, trying will corrupt your system files, but you can disable it.

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