Author Topic: PC on point (Read 1847 times)

bill440cars · « **on:** January 07, 2006, 11:23:24 AM »

I need some feedback on this thing that's supposed to repair problems on Internet Explorer. I hope to find something that I can download that hopefully will actually be free. I know there are some out there but, some are misleading. They let you download eanough to scan and detect problems and then they want you to buy their product to repair the problems. If I'm going to have to pay for it, I want to know about up front. ANyway, any input would be appreciated. Leater on, Bill

jotor · « **Reply #1 on:** January 07, 2006, 11:44:15 AM »

I'd look at alternate programs like Opera...http://www.opera.com/download/

or Mozilla...http://www.mozilla.org/download.html

They have more features than IE, don't have the security problems of IE and...............

..................they're free.

Gordon · « **Reply #2 on:** January 07, 2006, 11:46:53 AM »

I second the Mozilla Firefox. I've been using it for over a year now and never had any problems.

SteveD CB500F · « **Reply #3 on:** January 07, 2006, 12:09:51 PM »

Firefox is the business. More features and no security issues*

* until it gets popular enough to attract attention - on second thoughts, Firefox sucks, don't use it!

GraveRobber · « **Reply #4 on:** January 07, 2006, 01:34:21 PM »

What's the problem you are trying to repair?

bowhunter · « **Reply #5 on:** January 07, 2006, 09:08:34 PM »

Go with FireFox and you can ignore IE.(along with all it's deficiencies)

bill440cars · « **Reply #6 on:** January 07, 2006, 09:35:37 PM »

Thanks guys, I do have FireFox and IE at present. I downloaded FireFox awhile back, because I wasn't happy with IE. What I don't know is should I do away with IE completely or just keep it as a backup or what?

Bob Wessner · « **Reply #7 on:** January 08, 2006, 04:21:24 AM »

Quote

What's the problem you are trying to repair?

Gordon · « **Reply #8 on:** January 08, 2006, 05:37:38 AM »

Quote from: bill440cars on January 07, 2006, 09:35:37 PM

Thanks guys, I do have FireFox and IE at present. I downloaded FireFox awhile back, because I wasn't happy with IE. What I don't know is should I do away with IE completely or just keep it as a backup or what?

I still have IE installed, but I've only had to use it once or twice in the last year because there were a couple of websites that weren't compatible with Firefox. But the newest version of Firefox has taken care of that problem. I'll probably keep IE around, though. I seem to have this thing for old-fashioned, outdated stuff.

Jim Shea · « **Reply #9 on:** January 08, 2006, 05:44:08 AM »

I had a lot of probs with hijackers and adware crap and I could not use my laptop. These guys sorted out everything for me, I had to send them some 'dumps' and other info, but they gave me a ll the fixes and the procedures to fix it and it is now fine. Also, it was free, you can send a donation if you want to.
http://forums.techguy.org/register.php?a=ver

6pkrunner · « **Reply #10 on:** January 08, 2006, 07:11:45 AM »

I am another of the Mozilla converts. IE was just getting to time-consuming to ward off all the attackers at it out there. But as Firefox gains in popularity, I'm sure the hackers will switch focus.

dusterdude · « **Reply #11 on:** January 08, 2006, 08:38:06 AM »

ok you firefox gurus,i just downloaded it and thought i would give it a fair shot.how do i load my yahoo toolbar onto firefox?

Gordon · « **Reply #12 on:** January 08, 2006, 08:56:45 AM »

Quote from: dusterdude on January 08, 2006, 08:38:06 AM

ok you firefox gurus,i just downloaded it and thought i would give it a fair shot.how do i load my yahoo toolbar onto firefox?

Just go to http://toolbar.yahoo.com/

heffay · « **Reply #13 on:** January 08, 2006, 09:56:01 AM »

speaking of gurus. why is my comp running so slow. i have countless virus checks and spyware checks. it has always run so much slower than other computers with similar components. does buying a bottom of the line dell only a year and a half ago merit speeds not worthy of 1995?

i have a celeron processor w/ 2ghz
it is an inspiron 1000
firefox rules!

jotor · « **Reply #14 on:** January 08, 2006, 10:20:53 AM »

Quote from: heffay on January 08, 2006, 09:56:01 AM

speaking of gurus. why is my comp running so slow. i have countless virus checks and spyware checks. it has always run so much slower than other computers with similar components. does buying a bottom of the line dell only a year and a half ago merit speeds not worthy of 1995?

i have a celeron processor w/ 2ghz
it is an inspiron 1000
firefox rules!

There's a little free program you can download from the PC Magazine site called WinPatrol. Among other things, it allows you to see and control what programs run at startup and in the background. I turned a bunch of stuff off on my PC and it is a lot faster.

Joe

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1549052,00.asp

bill440cars · « **Reply #15 on:** January 08, 2006, 11:06:31 AM »

Graverobber,

I didn't intend to ignore your question, I meant to respond to your question sooner. Guess I got distracted. Anyway, I've had problems with program loading, the screen locking-up and errors being caused. I think I'm going to mainly rely on Firefox and see if I can't clean up my computer some. After all, It's not new, wasn't new when I got it, (I don't know exactly what year it is but, it has Windows 2000) and far from being the top of the line. I'm considering doing away with some of the features that I know I'll never use.

dusterdude · « **Reply #16 on:** January 08, 2006, 02:59:36 PM »

Quote from: gordon on January 08, 2006, 08:56:45 AM

Quote from: dusterdude on January 08, 2006, 08:38:06 AM
ok you firefox gurus,i just downloaded it and thought i would give it a fair shot.how do i load my yahoo toolbar onto firefox?

Just go to http://toolbar.yahoo.com/

got it,thanks gordon

eldar · « **Reply #17 on:** January 09, 2006, 11:38:17 AM »

Free programs besides firefox: AD-aware and spy-bot for adware and spyware. Avast for antivirus and maybe AVG still.
Spybot has ability to show programs running and allow you to shut them down. You need to switch to advance mode for this.
ccleaner to help clean out tons of junk files.

heck you can even just use disk cleanup and defrag on windows itself.

GraveRobber · « **Reply #18 on:** January 09, 2006, 02:25:29 PM »

I agree, Spybot, AVG, are great programs. Another good spyware program is called Bazooka spyware scanner.
Do you have a firewall? You wont believe how many hackers are randomly probing for open ports on your computer.
( I can see the remarks coming.

)
Windows XP's firewall only protect you from incoming stuff, if you allready have something on your system it does no good. A better (free) firewall is Zone Alarm.
After that you will need a program to clean up your registry. Try looking at Tucows.com for one.
Next you need to see what is running in the background. First look in Start-Programs-Startup.
Consider anything you really don't need to have running all the time and delete the entry.
Those are the easy fix's.

eldar · « **Reply #19 on:** January 09, 2006, 02:32:17 PM »

Dont bother with the windows firewall. It is an open invitation. Use zonealarm or kerio (I think it is called) Both are free and work well.
Remove all printer related crap from your start up. Same with any music or jukebox program. REMOVE ANY REAL OR REALPLAYER OR QUICKTIME OR ITUNES GARBAGE!!!!!! It does not need to be running in your system unless you open it.

dusterdude · « **Reply #20 on:** January 09, 2006, 03:30:06 PM »

i like zonealarm

Bodi · « **Reply #21 on:** January 09, 2006, 03:30:44 PM »

Regarding sloooooow running:
There's a sweet utility callad Iarsn Taskinfo that will show you a lot about your computer, and most usefully tells you what programs are using of your processor time. There's a free trial that expires to a nag screen popup but it still works after the trial period.
It showed me that the Microsoft Antispyware (beta) was taking 95% of the CPU, explaining the slowness.
The printer, display, and media player utilities take up memory more than time, but there's no reason to let them run. If you're tight on memory then everything slows down while the system swaps RAM on and off the disk though.
No program will find processes hidden by rootkit cloaking though, there are online rootkit scanners that look for out of bounds branches from the system lookup table though, you should run one occasionally.
Also, if you use Skype on a broadband connected system without a firewall it will make you a "superhub" and use a LOT of cpu time and gobs of internet bandwidth.

cbjunkie · « **Reply #22 on:** January 09, 2006, 08:50:44 PM »

is there any way to find out about the Skype/hub problem? i have noticed a significant slow-down lately on my computer at work - and i use Skype...but we have a pretty good firewall as far as i know...this scares me, because i haven't been able to figure out why i'm running slow - i hate to think that i'm the cause of slowing down the network on the system at work...

Bodi · « **Reply #23 on:** January 09, 2006, 09:42:26 PM »

Skpe normal user vs superhub:
If you run" netstat /a" you should see (in addition to the many mysterious "normal" network connections) one established connection to a local superhub, they are usually on university networks on my system. If you show a lot of connections to assorted broadband network addresses in your area (around here it's Sympatico and Rogers mostly) then YOU are the superhub.
If this bothers you - hey, someone has to be the hub so you can call Japan free... you can shut down Skype regularly; it won't normally become a superhub for several hours. I believe a NAT firewall prevents superhub operation. A big commercal entity's network will usually firewall the local domain but assign "real" IP addresses and if you can use Skype at all it will be fully functional.

News:

Author Topic: PC on point (Read 1847 times)

GraveRobber

bowhunter

Jim Shea

eldar

GraveRobber

eldar