The Official Computer Technical Help Thread

Sounds like a physical problem with connections in the speaker itself. Does it play at all, for example if you hold the power button in and try using it?

 

Nope, the light won`t even flash until I let go of the power button. What do you mean, connections to the speaker itself..as in the wires? :/

 

Yeah, the wires and circuits and stuff in the speaker itself. Sounds like they're shot and need physical repair/replacement.

 

Ehh...thank you for your help, would you happen to know how cheap speakers can be yet still for decent quality?

 

Couldn't say, I use earphones plugged into my machine, gives me everything I want without annoying anyone else. But I've never had quality problems before with standard level speakers on other machines.

 

How do I start my PC up in safe mode and disable the Wtool stuff?

 

Valyn: Boot your computer and press F8 before the XP loading screen appears. This will take you to a boot-up menu. Select Safe-Mode with Network support (if you have DSL/Cable). This will load the necessary drivers and may take a few minutes to finish, so give it time. Once in safe mode seek out and destroy the unwanted files.

 

My Windows/System32 folder is heavily infected. Other people have recommended that I reformat.

Should I pay a retail store to reformat, or would it be okay to do myself? I heard people mention that it's best to use a retail store if I don't know how to reset the drivers.

I don't know anything about drivers and I've never reformatted myself before.

 

The system32 error that is popping up is acutally related to a virus. You need to run 3 programs.

1. Ad-Aware 6.0
2. Spybot 1.3 or 1.2 (I prefer 1.2)
3. Symantec Antivirus.

Get the first 2 at download.com, and I recommend you buy the 3rd one. Install, and run all 3 in the order presented. That should take care of the windows error you are seeing.

I imagine your homepage keeps changing as well. It's a nasty worm.

 

Actually, my homepage isn't changing. I'm not getting any System32 errors. I used AVG anti-virus and it located a bunch of infections in the System32 folder. I tracked down and deleted some, but there are still a lot more that don't appear when I go to My Computer, C:, Windows, System32.

 

Was it a pre-installed system? If so, did it come with a recovery disk? The needed drivers are usually on said disk, unless you are changing platforms.

Master Mishima

 

I upgraded from Windows 98 to Windows XP...and the only CD I can find is the Windows XP upgrade one.

 

Well, since my brother screwed up my PC, I've convinced my parents to make him contribute (with them) to buy me a new one.

All I'm looking for is something with Windows XP, a CD burner, and a reasonable amount of memory and processing power (all I use my PC for is talking online, writing, school work, music, and research basically).

Any recommendations? I've seen ads for an HP PC that costs around $500 (comes with monitor, speakers, and keyboard), has the CD burner and DVD capability, and 80 GB.

I have an HP printer and it's great, but how would you guys rate their PCs?

 

If that's all you want, and that's all it would cost, then I would say go for it....

 

Does HP have a good or bad PC rep?

 

Dude, if you're going to buy one off the shelf, then go here, and pocket the difference. Click on PC Windows and take alook at the lists. I've been going there since 1995!

Master Mishima

 

Thanks for the link. But I can't buy anything online right now...since I have so many Trojans on my PC

 

up...

 

Valyn: All is not lost. Since you have the upgrade disk it can reformat and reinstall XP for you. This sounds like the cheapest alternative. If you have a CD/DVD Burner, start burning off your data, MS Office files, Outlook Address Book, My Favorites, My Documents, AIM/ICQ/Yahoo/MSN account files and buddy lists and any other programs that have user settings and data files that can be copied. If you don't have a burner, then you might look into buying a cheap external burner, assuming you have USB ports.

Once you've checked, rechecked and rechecked again that you have all of your data, put the upgrade disc in the drive and reboot. You should be prompted to boot from the CD, select "Y" or "Enter" ( I can't remember which). The CD will ask if you want to repair or reinstall. Reinstall with format and let it go from there.

NOTE: If you have programs installed on your PC that you don't have the media for, you will loose those programs. However, this would be the case with a new PC anyway. Also, by attempting a reformat, you're showing your parents that you tried to save them money. They will be more open to buying you a new machine if the reformat fails - assuming they're reasonable people.

 

I can't pop-up anything on my PC. I can't even "open link in a new window" - I have to copy/paste the shortcut in a new browser. Anyone else has this problem? I have Windows XP Professional.

 

How do I stop my MSN contacts being added to my Outlook Express address book?

 

Anyone have an opinion on NetZero Highspeed? A couple friends near me don't have DSL access and are considering it.

I've heard that you can get regular access easy enough, but when you "switch" it to highspeed, it creates problems.

Thoughts?

 

I would like to download something (presumably free) that will allow me to unzip files. Obviously there are plenty out there that are easy to find, but I want to download one that won't have any junk attached to it (popups, spyware, ect). Anyone have any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Lightsabre: So it's really just that easy? What about resetting drivers and stuff like that? I don't even know what a driver is.

 

WindexedStormtrooper, go to download.com. There's a bunch of stuff there. If this is a one-time unzip thing, use WinZip. But it's only a trial.

Valyn, a driver is a set of instructions that come with hardware peripherals and components. These allow the peripherals to function properly. Windows has a bunch of drivers built in that allow the peripherals to function, but it's usually best to go to the manufacturer website and download the latest ones. For example, you will need a driver for your printer, network card, graphics card, webcam, and more.