My computer seems reeeally messed up :o(

[Gina Stevenson]

Yeah, came in here tonight and fund the thing no longer hooked up via the DSL. So, what I did was a computer restart. Then we did a wireless modem unplug/replug. THEN we took out the wireless adapter, & put it back in.

None of this worked, so we did a computer restart again. Mind you, we've been keeping the AVG & ZoneAlarm open/updated, so ... ???

Then suddenly the thing refused to complete the restart we were trying ... we tried again ... and then again ... and then again. Finally, instead of sticking on the Cisnet start-up screen and doing nothing thereafter, it let me get past there into boot-up.

Then we found that in the Internet Connections, the Wireless thing was not just showing "disabled" or whatever, but had totally disappeared. So, we went through the old deal of re-entering the 10-digit key for the wireless modem; why it got wiped out ... ???

Worse yet, we're now on Internet Explorer !! Yeah, I tried 2-3 times to open Firefox, as usual, and instead of opening, or asking me if I wanted a previous session, it popped up that list asking me "which program do you want to use to open this file?" Duh! So, I did a search, and don't find it ... just "add-ons," "browser settings file" from before the crash/redo just a few days ago! (abou a week?)

Is something getting past AVG, wiping out Firefox, or what!? Some "Internet Explorer" preferring hacker ... ?? Have never had so much trouble before having this faster DSL, which I do really like. But I don't like the crash I had, this new-fangled problem, whatever it is .............. :(

Any suggestions, ideas ??? In the meantime, guess we'll try to DL Firefox again. Weird! It wasn't acting right, anyway. I could not get it to proect a tab, duplicate a tab, open a tab next to the one I was in when that's where I wanted it, could not rename them anymore. Not sure what happened to all those nice commands/features since this last crash. :(

Thanks sooo much! I'm baffled.

[Doug Kitchen]

Yeah, came in here tonight and fund the thing no longer hooked up via the DSL. So, what I did was a computer restart. Then we did a wireless modem unplug/replug. THEN we took out the wireless adapter, & put it back in.

None of this worked, so we did a computer restart again. Mind you, we've been keeping the AVG & ZoneAlarm open/updated, so ... ???

Then suddenly the thing refused to complete the restart we were trying ... we tried again ... and then again ... and then again. Finally, instead of sticking on the Cisnet start-up screen and doing nothing thereafter, it let me get past there into boot-up.

Then we found that in the Internet Connections, the Wireless thing was not just showing "disabled" or whatever, but had totally disappeared. So, we went through the old deal of re-entering the 10-digit key for the wireless modem; why it got wiped out ... ???

Worse yet, we're now on Internet Explorer !! Yeah, I tried 2-3 times to open Firefox, as usual, and instead of opening, or asking me if I wanted a previous session, it popped up that list asking me "which program do you want to use to open this file?" Duh! So, I did a search, and don't find it ... just "add-ons," "browser settings file" from before the crash/redo just a few days ago! (abou a week?)

Is something getting past AVG, wiping out Firefox, or what!? Some "Internet Explorer" preferring hacker ... ?? Have never had so much trouble before having this faster DSL, which I do really like. But I don't like the crash I had, this new-fangled problem, whatever it is .............. :(

Any suggestions, ideas ??? In the meantime, guess we'll try to DL Firefox again. Weird! It wasn't acting right, anyway. I could not get it to proect a tab, duplicate a tab, open a tab next to the one I was in when that's where I wanted it, could not rename them anymore. Not sure what happened to all those nice commands/features since this last crash. :(

Thanks sooo much! I'm baffled.

To check for processes that shouldn't be there (e.g. malware): Try ctrl-alt-del and go to the tab labeled processes. Sort by memory and see which programs are close to the top, sort by cpu and see which programs are close to the top. you can google the names and usually you see that they are supposed to be there but on occasion you will find one that is virus or malware.

However, that doesn't sound like the problem. Get an inexpensive backup disk and copy everything you can to your external disk. You might have a hard disk problem or a piece of hardware (probably related to networking) that is causing trouble. you may need to replace the disk or one of the other parts in the computer. Many times these parts only have a 3 year lifespan under daily use.


Doug

[Gina Stevenson]

Oh, so you're suggesting that some of these 3-year-lifespan parts might be beyond their lifespan when "only five years old," huh!? ;) Thanks!

Didn't know you could even sort the processes! Have to check. I know that I've printed the list out before, and was going to try to find out just what's what, b/c it seems a rather long list. But, where it is now ... and wasn't sure where to look ... just google them, huh? OK, thanks again. Have to try some of that, I guess.

DO have Firefox back; realized that what I'd done was put it back on from a backup disk. Once I deleted it, and downloaded it again, I tho't I might have some of the options back that are missing (mentioned elsewhere), but they're still not there. :(

[Doug Kitchen]

Oh, so you're suggesting that some of these 3-year-lifespan parts might be beyond their lifespan when "only five years old," huh!? ;) Thanks!


yes your mileage may vary, as they say. :)



Didn't know you could even sort the processes! Have to check. I know that I've printed the list out before, and was going to try to find out just what's what, b/c it seems a rather long list. But, where it is now ... and wasn't sure where to look ... just google them, huh? OK, thanks again. Have to try some of that, I guess.

some will be pretty obvious. Often microsoft stuff starts with ms. but they may still look suspicious but if you find the name on the official microsoft.com site,it is a pretty good indication that it is supposed to be there.



DO have Firefox back; realized that what I'd done was put it back on from a backup disk. Once I deleted it, and downloaded it again, I tho't I might have some of the options back that are missing (mentioned elsewhere), but they're still not there. :(

I'm not sure where the preferences are stored but there is probably a file on your backup disk that had your old settings. it might be in your c:\windows folder or maybe in firefox's Program Files area. Depending on the version of windows you might be able to find temporary internet files, Application data and a few other folders that might have useful settings. These would be in c:\Documents and settings\<your username>\ (probably under local settings).
If you sort various folders on your back up drive by date you might notice something that changed recently that has the firefox name in it.

Doug

[Gina Stevenson]

OK, I feel "dumb" ... but do we go to the "import" place in Firefox, and then tell it to import that particular "browser settings" file?

[Doug Kitchen]

OK, I feel "dumb" ... but do we go to the "import" place in Firefox, and then tell it to import that particular "browser settings" file?

you can download add-ons from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/extensions/. they may need to be reinstalled anyway.

I don't think there is an "import preferences" menu. you may need to copy the file from your backup disk (once you have found it) to the same spot on your working disk. I'm not working on a windows machine at the moment so I can't help you from that stand point. Some of your other information and settings are probably in your "documents and settings" area. you could add a password to naznet and see what file changed on your c: drive. That should tell you where you can find the same file on your backup disk.

Doug