Pc probleams

[minowevie]

Hi group. well I just had to tell you. I have to go offline for a while. I am haveing alot of computer probleams. the one i have is homemade buy my son. and old at that. don't know what to do about keeping in touch with you all without a computer. but Barry gave me a idea. on his post. how he uses a friends computer to come here. so Ill have to see into that. I just wont you all to know. that you have been some of the best friends I have ever had. I will finish my tiles. too. maybe if Bob wonts to he could post them when he gets them . Like he dosen't have enouph to do. I am sure i will be lost with out this connection. but maybe i can get some work done now. Hope to talk to you all soon. take car of my little brother. love yas. your frined Evie

[Jediscroller]

Evie,
Most public libraries will have computers where you can access the site. There's all kinds of ways to get here.
Hope to see you still posting!

[Rolf]

Hi Evie,

Since you seem to be a critical part of this forum, You NEED a NEW computer, here is my suggestion
Sell some of the beautiful things that you make ( you would of course have to cut more to replace them) then take the money and buy yourself a nice new Dell with all of the software already installed. I used to build my own and don't think it is worth it anymore, by the time you buy the operating system etc.

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Evie

I know you're in the desert, but I'm sure you're not in the middle of nowhere

They must have cybercafes somewhere around you,and as Kevin mentionned the'res the library.

Heck, out here they now have terminals in hospital waiting rooms and metro stations, train/airport terminals. They even have some on the street now: converted phone boots. All of those belong to the phone company.
Because of the Cellulars, they are trying to find a new market, so they install internet access points and charge by the minute.

And you didn't mention what the problem was with the PC, is it hardware or software related?
What are the symptoms?

A few of us here know a bit about PCs and support, so maybe, just maybe, we could be of some help to keep you around?

Let us know,
Marcel

[Charlie_1]

well dang hopefully she will be able to come back , will definetly miss her
gonna miss my big sis


she definetly needs a new one , I do agree with Rolf on trying to sell some of her stuff to get a new one ,with as good as her stuff is ,it shouldnt take very long to do it

I was pm'ing her before she left but she didnt say exactly what was wrong with the computer just that it was having major problems and that was the extent of it

and gotta be something close to her that she can use for temporary internet, hopefully


always your lil brother ,

Charlie

[lucky788scroller]

I wonder if your comp is infected with some virus, like a spamming virus or something. Maybe a big hammer and a shallow grave would be best, as long as you first get a new puter hooked up. miss ya, dale (pc stupid too)

[Charlie_1]

have missed ya Sis ,dont feel bad though Ive spent the last few days trying to get my computer fixed , cause it crashed on me a few days ago and I lost half my hard drive ,which really really annoying lol


Welcome back Sis

your lil brother,
Charlie

[Gill]

Hi Evie

If there's ever anything I can do to help you with your computer problems, just let me know. I may not have the answers myself, but I have enough contacts to be able to find them.

The same offer applies to everyone here.

Gill

[BobD (Archive)]

Ditto what Gill said...I've built up a good working knowledge of computers, and have a friend who does it for a living...

Evie, the first thing I'd do is download Spybot, AdAware, and AVG virus software. If you are on dialup, it may take a while, but all are free and will clear away a lot of clutter on your computer!

Bob

[Rolf]

Hi Evie,
Our local library has free network access. My mom uses it her connection speeds are almost as fast as the modem allows around 52k. She very rarely gets dumped because not many people use the library net anymore. It gives her allot less grief than AOL.
Got luck!

It is nice to see you and Gil back

[GrayBeard Phil]

Way too long of a post.

Evie:

May I offer some word help?

A Virus, is a small bit of computer code that infects your computer, makes it sick, and then tries to find a way to infect other computers. Note: it takes all three to be a Virus: comes into your computer unwanted; makes your computer sick; and tries to find another computer to copy itself to.

SPAM, is more correctly called "unsolicited commercial Email". That says it all. Commercial email you get but don't want.

Virus like SPAM: an unsolicited email that when opened searches for your email address book and tries to send the contents to some some other computer on the Internet. Thus your friends will also be included in the next batch of SPAM. Since this does not directly copy itself to another computer it is not classified as a Virus. There are others, but are less common.

Adware, Spyware: The best way to describe to use an example: Suppose that every month you purchase a shirt from J. C. Penney's over the Internet. J. C. Penney puts a small file on your computer called a cookie that tracks your buying habits. You don't mind that, because you just might get a special discount for being a good customer. But what happens is that J. C. Penney just might sell permission to a third party, say for example T. J. Max to let them place a cookie on your computer to track your purchases. It is none of T. J. Max's business what you do at J. C. Penney's web site. But also, J. C. Penny just might sell permission to Amazon Books, again this is just an example, to open a small window on your computer, called a POP up, to try to sell you a book on fashion trends. The unwanted POP Up, and the spying cookie are clumped as Adware and Spyware.

{Aside: I originally wrote the above using Berry Basket and Woodcraft, but I decided someone would not read this is just examples.}

The generic term is Malware, for which I think have 7 categories, Adware and Spyware are just two of the 7. Be aware, that by far the most common form of unwanted Malware comes on to your computer in the form of 3rd party cookies. Setting the 3rd party cookie blocking in Internet Explorer is another post in this thread.

There are web sites that are built for the sole purpose of putting bad Virus like Malware on your computer. The best example I use is: You get a spam that states you computer is infected with a virus, and gives you a link to a web site. You click on the link, and get a malware cookie and 'virus like adware' code. Now everytime you boot your computer, you get a POP up that tells you must go to their web site and purchase their POP up removal service to rid your computer of the Malware they infected your computer with. Once they have your credit card number, they sell that number to other criminals.

Today, any computer on the Internet needs protection from all three, Virus, Spam, and Adware. Thus you need an Anti-Virus program, a SPAM blocker, and an Adware removal tool. These are three seperate programs, which in the futrue may be combined in one sale package, are still seperate programs on your computer. While I don't use AOL, I understand they offer subscribers a moderately useful Anti-Virus and a Spyware removal tool. If you can learn to use those tools, you might be OK.

However, AOL has a problem with SPAM blocking. AOL has a HUGE problem with SPAM taking up so much computer processing time on their network. AOL blocks as much as they can to save money. In the process, a lot of legitimate email gets blocked by error. AOL being so large, don't care. AOL has in place a lot of rules for Email to get thru their SPAM blocking software. Not every legitimate email source is willing, or able, to overcome AOL's rigid rules. I know of two forum sites that deal with woodworking that cannot send emial to AOL subscribers. I believe our friend W.Y. is aware of this problem also.

I hope this is helpful to you.

Phil

[William Young (SE BC)]

I totally agree with Phil about AOL. I would never recommend anyone switch from what they now have and go to AOL with a hope in hell that it might be better than the service provider they are now using. They would probably be missing a lot of important mail. They are better off to install their own spam fighting programs and manage it the way they want to instead of being with AOL where it is managed in ways that they have no control over.
Of all the internet service providers out there , AOL is the ONLY one that will not let new members join my Woodworking Friends multi board discussion forums site. My site is hosted by Proboards who has a very extensive support site for administrators of their hundreds of thousands of sites and they have told us all the same thing that Phil mentioned . AOL just does't give a **** if their customers are missing important mail.
So what me and my moderators have to do for new members joining on an almost daily basis is to watch for the ones in administrators tools for ones that have tried to register in and every time we see an AOL address we need to contact them and suggest they get a free alternate address with MSN or Hotmail and then they get their registration key back to their alternate address and paste it into my simple registration process and they get registered in as active members in a matter of seconds. I keep my site a secure one to keep out undesireables and known trouble makers as many Proboards administrators do so it requires that I have to take those nuisance steps to help new AOL members get through their one time registration process. Proboards all inclusive support site for administrators claims that AOL just doesn't give a **** if people miss a bunch of their mail because of their far too rigid dumping and deleting processes built into their system.
As an example. I have two signatures added (as live links) as default in the bottom of my emails. One is to my Picturetrail Albums site and the other one is to my Woodworking Friends discussion boards site. Most people I send an email to that are on AOL will never see that mail. AOL dumps it because two very legitamate address are included. So after realizing that I changed my way of emailing anyone on AOL . Whenever I go to email someone on AOL and my default signatures automatically appear I simply back space them out or highlight them and hit delete and then and only then will the mail be recieved by who I am sending it to.
I suspect that many people that use AOL don't get a lot of mail that they should be getting but I suppose if they are used to that they will never know what they are missing.
W.Y.

[minowevie]

WOW Phil and WY and Bob. that was some really good advice. it seems today things are not as bad. You know I bet that is just what happened. Phil. I was getting a pop up from what seemed to be Walmart which was my server. and they said i need to click on there link to get something fixed. it said some one was using my email address to send spamemails,they said i have a proxy server useing my computer or something. the only thing was , walmart sold or what ever to netscape. but dummy me did click on the link they sent me. thinking it was from my server. when I tryed to post this thread. i couldn't get it to go in. so I was surprised when i got back to see it had posted. I was worryed that you would all think I would leave without saying anything.
I am wondering. should i deleate some of my cookies.? I did deleat all my email address so no one could get them. but I don't know what i am doing. I unenstalled alot of things. only what i new i had loaded, but maybe i scrued up some where. I just hate. that i started with AOL . but i get 90 days free. then maybe i will try something ealse if it don't work out. I was only paying around $9.00 a month with wm. and it was ok for what i do. I do have a MSN and Yahoo account. so i can receive emails there. would that help me join your sight WY? I have tryed to join before but couldn't get in.
I do have McAfee security, and AOL has some security things too. If i knew how to use them LOL right. well if i live long enough , maybe I'll get better at all this stuff. I don't think i will do anymore ordering over the internet eather. i didn't know that they could sell my impho. Yikes.
I deleated my last 2 post. after reading back they were just too stupid.
thanks for all your help. and i will have to check into the other computer places, in case this happends again soon. I don't like being with out my fix of scrolling friends. it was only a week but that sucked.sorry cussing. your friend Evie

[BobD (Archive)]

Evie,
I'd use caution with AOL...They are a bear to cancel!

I would delete all your cookies...if you need your password for this site again, e-mail me at [email protected]...I'll set you back up!

Then, go under "Start"
move your cursor over "programs"
It will show you everything on your computer

Then look for McAfree internet security
click on the virus scan software.

Then just follow the instruction to do a FULL scan...

The only reason I suggested AVG is that an out of date virus software is almost as bad as having no virus software at all! AVG is free, so it helps some.

Be sure to delete your internet history and offline content as well, and your temporary internet files...just to be sure!

Bob

[minowevie]

thanks Bob. I will do all that. and i rote it all down. I have a pop up from Aol spyware protection, it comes up every few minutes. this is what that says" We have found 1 spyware & adware items on your computer. To block these applications from running, select Block ALL. " then there is a note: it says " When you block spyware, it may couse other programs to malfuntion or stop. " Soo I don't know what to do about that. don't really know, what they are trying, to get, me to do. I have had AOL before. and there was always pop up something going on. and tons of spam mail. but this was the only cd i had to get back on line, with some protection. so I'll just have to deal with it for now. what do you think of verizon I can not get cabale out here. but i do have direct Tv. Dish. or is this asking you to do something rough here. anyway thanks for all your help. off to deleat cookies. don't know how to deleat the other stuff. hope i don't get lost again. YIKES . your friend Evie