Vista woes!!!!

[duncan]

Hi All,
Just lost everything on my Lappy. Problem was caused by accidentally left clicking on a zip file before extraction. This caused Internet Explorer to just keep on opening uncontrollably. Only way to stop it was to pull the plug on the machine. Tried to restart and problem went from bad to worse. In the end i couldn't even use Windows Repair. Got to the point of not even being able to start Windows.
Only solution was to do a complete recovery, which means losing everything.
So i have been busy downloading all my Astro programs, not to mention all the updates for Windows etc. etc. etc.
Finally got the Toucam working again as well.
Got to get a copy of XP i think. Much safer platform i think.
Anyway hopefully problem is solved. I can smile again.
Cheers,
Duncan:)

[michaellxv]

Duncan, sorry to hear about your lost system.

I also have XP machines which open up tons of IE windows. It happens when K9 blocks a page and displays the blocked message, then it proceeds to try again and again etc. The key is that it stops when 99 instances of IE are opened. Then I can right click on the task bar and select 'close group' all gone.

Actually it's the kids that have to suffer this :rofl:i haven't been bothered to sort out why it does it.

[duncan]

Thanks, gotta laugh at your last line,

"Actually it's the kids that have to suffer this :rofl:i haven't been bothered to sort out why it does it."


:lol::lol::rofl::rofl::rofl:
Cheers

[toryglen-boy]

couldnt you have booted into safe mode, or just carried out a system restore, from a set restore point?

would have been ALOT less drastic than any of this !!

:D

[duncan]

Hi Duncan,
In short NO, it wouldn't start up to allow any Safe Mode or to go to a Restore Point.
I worked on it all day and half the night trying. Eventually said stuff it and used the Recovery Disk.
Cheers,
Duncan:thumbsup:

[toryglen-boy]

Glad you got it sorted anyway mate

:)

[duncan]

Yep me too,LOL.
Thanks:)

[Dennis]

Have you read this regarding "McAfee antivirus program goes berserk (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/1043254/mcafee-antivirus-program-goes-berserk)"

Cheers

Dennis

[duncan]

Hi Dennis,
Just read the article. I don't run McAffee. At the time i was running AVG9 free. Now i've got the latest Norton for 90 days till i get somewhere to buy a new one. But does sound similar to what happened to me.Wonder if it could have been transferred with one of the zip files i was playing with. I was downloading filters for Virtual Dub via source forge when it happened.
Not to worry i'm up and running again.
Cheers,
Duncan:thumbsup:

[Tandum]

Duncan,
It's possible your hard drive is faulty, it's really common in laptops due to heat. I'd advise you to download the hard drive scanner from your hard drive manufacturers web site and give the drive a full scan for errors or it might just do exactly the same thing again. If you go to device manager it might just tell you what brand your hard drive is. Normally the tester is an iso that you burn to a CD and boot from to test.

[supernova1965]

You might want to consider giving Microsoft Security Essentials a go it is free so you have nothing to lose I would steer well clear from Norton I find it really slows your computer down and is very invasive and difficult to remove if you find you don't like it.

[duncan]

Thanks for the suggestion Robin. I've done both a memory test and Hard drive scan and results were fine. I'm not going to worry about it anymore. I'll just back up all my Astro Programs and other files.
Cheers,
Duncan:thumbsup:

[duncan]

Thanks for the heads up Warren.
Cheers,
Duncan:)

[Tandum]

Bad move, testing stuff under windows is a mistake ....

[duncan]

Ok Robyn i'll give it a go. I think i'm going bush again tomorrow so it will probably be next week. But i'll have a look for it tonight to put on disk.
Cheers,
Duncan:thumbsup:

[mithrandir]

Tautology?

[ANDYB]

Duncan
If you can, get a copy of windows 7 and load it in place of Vista or XP. I have changed my Laptop and desktops to windows 7 and the difference is considerable.
Good luck

[marki]

I had exactly the same problem. Vista ran without fault for 2 years then one day it crashed and I could not get it back no matter what I tried. All my computer geek mates said it was a hardware problem so I just replaced the lot and gave the bits to my nephew. He has since put it all back together with a fresh install and has had no problems:shrug:. I put win7 on the new machine and so far so good except I have to use office 2007 which I don't like, it kept giving me error messages with office XP. Means I have to buy more equation writing and math software to get back to where I was 3 months ago:mad2:.

Mark

[supernova1965]

You might find that you are saving documents in the new Office format if when you first save the document you change the format from 2007 format to XP format like in this screenshot:thumbsup:

[marki]

Thanks Warren but I usually save in the 97 -03 format as many of my students do not have the 07 version and cannot open .docx. I guess I should elabourate a little. I have a set of programs I bought (basically macros) which allowed me to easily write chemical equations and draw organic structures as well as mathematical equations, shapes, graphs and so on. These will not work on 07 and as I use them so much I will have to buy the new versions. My only other option is to use sub/super scripts and equation editor in word which is very time consumming.:(

Mark

[supernova1965]

Ok I thought it may only be a simple fix sorry that it wasn't simple bugger:sadeyes: I am not sure if you know about DIA an opensource free program that might do what you are looking for

[mithrandir]

Related topic. A critical server destroyed on Saturday by the Windows support team applying M$ patches. We had to rebuild from scratch. Five people (on and off) for three days. Three or four picking up pieces Tuesday - Thursday. And it's still not perfect.

Wonderful way to spend daughter's birthday and a long weekend.

Scrap Windows. Run any *nix variant. At least they can be backed up properly.