ArcticWolf

There's another website - if you are using Windows XP that has quite a bit of helpful info and other things:

http://www.tweakxp.com/

MSN Messenger is one program I had a royal pain trying to remove till I found a simple run line at this place and have had no more problems with it - totally removed from my system.

Hoss

First of all I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Second, thanks for all of the suggestions.

I've been using Firefox for a few days now and for some reason it just will not stay running on my computer. It will do okay for a while and then I will click on a link or something and it will just freeze up and I have do "End Task" to shut it down.

The good news is that at least for the time being I seem to have the pop-ups in Internet Explorer under control. The other good news is that I was able to disable the registry entries that were causing the "Home Search Assitant" hijack bug to keep changing my home page.

The bad news is, Compaq makes a piece of junk computer and this thing has been nothing but a problem since the day we got it. We're thinking of ordering a new one from Dell.

So, thanks to everyone for the suggestions and keep them coming. I'm trying many of them to see if I can keep this computer running. Part of our problem is that our RAM (128 MB) is almost completely used and it's slowing the whole system down and just causing lots of problems. Upgraded RAM for this computer is going to cost in the neighborhood of $300. I'd rather spend $300-$400 more and get a new computer than spend $300 to upgrade this one.

So...that's where I'm at right now....still using IE on this junky computer.

jfpointer

Hoss, how old is that PC? If it's more than about 2 1/2-3 years old, and if it has 128 MB of RAM I'll bet it is, it's probably time to replace it anyway. What I normally do is upgrade, either buying or building a new PC, every 3 years. At the rate technology moves, you can typically upgrade to something significantly faster without spending the really big bucks for the cutting-edge gear. For example, my previous PC, which I bough in 1999, was an Athlon 600, 20 GB hard drive, 128 MB RAM, 4x CDRW drive, 16 MB video card. Over the years I had upgraded it to 512 RAM and put in an extra 80 GB hard drive. My current PC, which I built last year, is an Athlon XP 2500+, two 80 GB hard drives, 1.25 GB RAM, 52x CDRW drive, 128 MB video card. Total cost for the newer machine, which is many times faster, was slightly less than the one it replaced.

Hoss

We bought it in the summer of 2001 so it's about 3 1/2 years old. Obviously it is outdated.

We decided to go ahead and order a new one so we have a pretty basic Dell on the way. It's a Dimension 3000 Series with Pentium 4 processor (2.8GHz with 1 MB cache), 80GB hard drive, 512MB SDRAM with Windows XP Professional and then the support software that they put on their computers. It also has a 16x DVD ROM and a 48x CD-RW. We deleted the speakers and the monitor and will continue to use what we have (19" Compaq flat screen with upgraded JBL speakers and powered subwoofer). Aside from that...there's not much to it. I already have all of the software that we need so I didn't order any software on it at all.

Should be here the week after New Year's. Hopefully it will be a big improvement.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. When I install my Verizon Online DSL on the new one I will NOT install the IE that they provide. I will download Firefox and try it on the Dell though...along with a few other essentials like Ad-Aware and Spybot. Merry Christmas to me.

jfpointer

I think it will be. Another tip for the DSL is to get a router if you don't have one already. It'll provide some hardware firewall protection, and it'll let you share the internet connection if you decide to rebuild the old PC and/or get a laptop, etc.

Hoss

The DSL actually came with a wireless router that will support up to four computers so I should have that covered. I don't fully understand how the hardware firewalls work, but between that and my Norton Firewall I should be okay.

On that subject, what's better...Norton or McAfee? I've always heard that Norton uses a lot of system resources.

Now I just have to find a better way to keep all of the spyware, adware, malware, hijackers, etc. off of the new computer. It seems to me that all of that stuff poses more of a threat to a PC than viruses and trojans do.

jfpointer

With a wireless router you'll want to make sure when you set it up that you enable any security it has, such as encryption, etc. In addition, you might want to make sure it's set up to provide IP addresses only to the number of computers you are using with it, and only to the specific MAC address(es) of those computers to keep threats from being on your network instead of against your network (and to keep your neighbors from using your DSL bandwidth for free). As to Norton or McAfee, I'm not fond of McAfee's anti-virus but I'm using it anyway because my employer has a very generous license with them that allows them to provide it to employees free of charge. For a firewall, I'm using a freeware version from Tiny Software that I like really well. Spybot S&Ds immunization seems to work pretty well to prevent malware from taking root, as well as using either Firefox or the Google toolbar for IE to prevent "drive-by" malware installations from pop-ups. Prevention is usually easier than eradication.

joel

I use Norton Anti-virus. My work has licensed Norton, McAfee and Fprot for all employees to use at home on all computers. Logic being that if you have it at home, you won't bring a virus into work. Anyway, I tried McAfee a while back and it missed some things that Norton got but not vice-versa. Once you get a fast computer, you won't notice that it does take up some resources.

As for a firewall, I think the best is Zone Alarm. It's freeware and, according to this review, the best out there. I've used it and it works great where others - especially XPs built in and Norton's have failed miserably. You can download it at www.zonelabs.com. And if you want to read a little about it, look here: http://www.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm. This site has lots of other interesting stuff you can read about if you have the time and interest.

Good luck!

jfpointer

ZoneAlarm seems to be a decent personal firewall, when it's working. If it flakes out on you, just get out your OS or recover CDs and get ready to rebuild your PC. My personal experience with it is that Its failure mode is to lock all network activity. Obviously a very secure failure mode, and probably the best way to fail in some environments, but frustrating for whoever has to fix the thing.

joel

I've been running it without a glitch - including the regular updates and upgrades - for over 4 years now. It's never flaked out on me. And I customize it for multiple wireless networks and even, recently, a VPN.

And I'm only an amateur geek.

jfpointer

You've been lucky. At one point we were reimaging laptops on a weekly basis because ZoneAlarm was rendering them useless. I will say that more recent versions seem to be a bit more stable, but still slightly flaky.

Hoss

I should clarify that I'm not not actually use the "wireless" part of the router. It IS a wireless router, but it also has the spots for hard wires...which is how it is connected to my computer.

If you have a hardware router is it still necessary to have software routers?

jfpointer

Good idea, that's a lot more secure. Defense in depth is never a bad idea, so if you have a router that does some firewall duties along with a software firewall running on the PC, you might have a bit of overlap or redundancy, but they might also cover for each other's deficiencies and give you better protection overall.

We've been renovating our house, so we put network jacks all over the place, all running back to a patch panel in a cabinet and wired to switches which are wired to the router. It may have been built in 1899, but we're dragging it into the 21st century one room at a time...

nickleinonen

i just installed foxfire and so far i like it.... now if i can finally kill the spyware off my PC [adaware and spybot can't seem to kill them] i'll be happy


edited by me thursday at about 2240

this sucks... firefox is just as unstable as netscape to use... friggin spyware on my pc that keeps launching program internat, and internat crashes firefox...

i hate spyware... i would take great pleasure beating to death the programers of spyware. i'd act just like their spyware. you close the program and it pop's up again to bother you... they beg me to stop, i will for about 30sec and then continue beating...


and i can't get rid of the spyware crap

Hoss

I haven't used it yet, but there is a fairly new program out called Spykiller that I've heard is better than both Adaware and Spybot combined. You can check into it at www.spykiller.com. They give you a free 30 day trial but after that you have to pay for it. Might be worth trying.