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Massive computer issues for me

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Massive computer issues for me

from WinCustomize Forums
Yesterday I was surfing the net minding my own business, when all of the sudden I get a whole bunch of pop-ups. I began closing out of them, but one thing led to another, and somehow, I ended up installing something pretty dangerous I think. I think that because last night at 8 oclock our time, my computer decided to freeze up on my dad (while I was at work). So he restarted it, and now I cannot log into either of the two users on the computer. It simply freezes up before it has a chance to do anything besides display the "Loading personal settings..." dialog. Anyways, I tried to get in via Safe Mode to recover some of my data, but it still wont let me into my user. It will let me into the other user, but since all my files in my user are protected, I cant access or copy them to another computer on our home network. So this has left me in a fine situation. 1) No backups. (doh!) 2) No access to files. 3) Possible reformat on the horizon.

Oh yeah! I also ran three different virus scans from the other user, and all showed up with no results. Nothing new in msconfig that I could find, and when I did a system restore, nothing changed for the better.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could have caused this monumental catastrophe? Any help would be appreciated. With luck, I will be able to figure out some way into the system, but things arent looking good at the moment.

/me crosses fingers
31,440 views 138 replies
Reply #76 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When you boot into DOS
Reply #77 from WinCustomize Forums Top
To get rid of messenger, go to Administrative Tools > Component Services > Services. Right click 'messenger' choose 'stop', then properties > General > Startup Type and change to 'disabled'. That should stop your pop-ups.
TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #78 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah, well only disable messenger when you aern't really in need of it or using your comp cause in general a lot of things that we do rely on it i believe. Also, like i said earlier and what you people probably ignored, was the best thing would be to reformat and in the future just back up and a lot of stuff, as for dling skins, dude... No offense but couldn't you be a bit more well... realistic? Wiping out your whole sysmetrix atleast once every 8 months is always a good thing, stuffing up junk and junk onto your computer isn't worth it, and downloaded stuff can always be downloaded again most likely. Anyway, like i said i suggest you just reformat insetad of waisting time. Of course you probably could send your hardrive to one of those companies that recovers stuff from them, but that's not 100% and it costs hundreds of dollars, possibly sometimes even a thousand. Also, hey if you have installed more than lets say 10 things from the internet, i'de myself just there say you should backup.

Hell, say you had a school laptop and didn't back stuff up and one day ba boom something happens, your gonna have hours to redo that work and some won't even be replacable. So yeah, backing up stuff is good.

Now they have so many good thing's to.

There are 5 ways (maybe even more) now to back up stuff.

1. Floppies
2. Cds.
3. Memmorysticks. http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_BrowseCatalog-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_MemoryStickMedia&Dept=cpu
4. Gigavault hard drive (My biggest recommendation if your backing up a LOT). http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PC%20AccessoriesPeripherals_VaioDrivesandStorage&ProductSKU=RHK40U2&Dept=cpu
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PC%20AccessoriesPeripherals_VaioDrivesandStorage&ProductSKU=RHM40&Dept=cpu
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PC%20AccessoriesPeripherals_VaioDrivesandStorage&ProductSKU=RHCU2&Dept=cpu
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PC%20AccessoriesPeripherals_VaioDrivesandStorage&ProductSKU=RHK80U2&Dept=cpu
5. Usb data storage.
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PC%20AccessoriesPeripherals_VaioDrivesandStorage&ProductSKU=USM256S&Dept=cpu
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PC%20AccessoriesPeripherals_VaioDrivesandStorage&ProductSKU=USM128S&Dept=cpu
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=YtvTQwqHDM7TQ0qS8eHZSEWLZtPGaMoR3Ro=?CategoryName=cpu_Sony_PC%20AccessoriesPeripherals_VaioDrivesandStorage&ProductSKU=USM64S&Dept=cpu


Now, i'm sure some of you didn't even know of all these ways.

I would recommend using using choices 3, 4 or 5.

3 Would probably be good depending on how much you need to back up and the space.

4 Would be good for backing up a lot

5 Would be good for the same reasons as 3 although 3 has more uses and can work in things such as mp3 players, digital cameras etc etc.
Reply #79 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Can't edit, sorry. I meant to say system not sysmetrix.

Oh yeah, some other things memmory sticks can be used in are pdas, printers, televisions and probably much more.
Reply #80 from WinCustomize Forums Top
NO. YOU NEED TO DISABLE MESSENGER. no programs need it anymore. If they do don't run them. it is a serious security hole in windows.
Reply #81 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Travis, while loud, is correct. Messenger Service should never be running.







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Reply #82 from WinCustomize Forums Top
DISABLE MESSENGER


legacy service from the days of wooden computers definitely no longer needed
Reply #83 from WinCustomize Forums Top
cause in general a lot of things that we do rely on it i believe





while this statement WAS true at one time, it is no longer the case. most progs now do not need or utilize the messinger service. if at all else fails in the section to disable it theres a tab to see what programs or other services depend on its running ... look and see whats there ..if there is a prog or service useing it them u must decide if the prog or service is worth the massive security risk.....

the only real use any more for messinger any more, is for hackers to have another way to get in to your system and mess it up....
Reply #84 from WinCustomize Forums Top
http://grc.com/stm/shootthemessenger.htm



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Reply #85 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I accidently bumped my capslock key and decided it wasn't worth retyping.
Reply #86 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I accidently bumped my capslock key and decided it wasn't worth retyping.

Yeah, right.....

Reply #87 from WinCustomize Forums Top
you'll never know
Reply #88 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, if you play games, i believe was it diablo or wacracft 3 that needed messenger, anyway bah. Also, i bet you guys didnt know of all of the methods of backing stuff up now did you?
Reply #89 from WinCustomize Forums Top
JaGWi, is that a re-tread or do you honestly think that no one else has any clue about computers?
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Reply #90 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok, I'll disable messenger right after the reformat, which I will be doing on wednesday, as its my only free day this week. I'll grab the last of my important stuff off it before I do the reformat. I suppose this will be a learning experience for me since I've neve a) had a computer so badly screwed up that there was no hope for repair and b) had to do a reformat. So it'll be fun. Anyways, thanks guys.
Reply #91 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I just reformatted and reinstalled. It took about 3 hours, not including me backing up files which took a little over a day. Its not that bad. As long as you have the original cds for everything you will be alright, and just make a backup of your documents folder.
Reply #92 from WinCustomize Forums Top
hey jag u forgot the most widely used form of backup.. a second hard drive ... i store all my files on a secondary hdd. it is in a removeable server type drawer that i can slide it in(it fits in a standard 5 1/4 slot)and boom theres my back up stuff ready for transfer back to C:\ when im done i take the hdd sleeve out and put it away..no muss no fuss.. it also works if u have more than 1 user on the pc ..each has their own Hdd sleve with their stuff on it they just slide it in and boom thier off and running .. when they are done they take their sleve out and the pc is ready for the next user ...it works well in buisnesses that prioritze security...(u cant hack my hdd while im gone if i have it with me )
Reply #93 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Also, i bet you guys didnt know of all of the methods of backing stuff up now did you?

Please credit us with a modicum of intelligence.

Generally you'll find that people here have likely been backing up computer data for longer than you've had long trousers....

Reply #94 from WinCustomize Forums Top
u cant hack my hdd while im gone if i have it with me


Yep thats for sure.

I'll have to make sure that I get my serial numbers for all my stardock stuff off before I start. Losing them wouldnt be very good!
Reply #95 from WinCustomize Forums Top
you can just get them to email them to you. thats what I did yesterday. took about 30 minutes for the email to send, but I'm not complaining all my object desktop stuff is back up and running smoothly.
Reply #96 from WinCustomize Forums Top
a little late for this, but here you go travis:

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/04/xp
Reply #97 from WinCustomize Forums Top
actually that doesn't cover the basic step that I really needed, a reformat. And I actually could have installed windows in about 4 hours if I didn't have to backup things to discs.
Reply #98 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I actually could have installed windows in about 4 hours if I didn't have to backup things to discs.




sorry, i didn't mean for it to be usefull.. my IT buddy at work sent it to me.. i said 5 hours, aw, come on i've never had a problem installing XP.. he said just read it and i gurantee you'll see something in there that has driven you nuts.

he's right.. i can never find that key when i need it.
Reply #99 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I got my pc with xp on it from dell and the sticker with the key on it is on the cd sleeve so if I can find the cd I have found the key.


hehe that site is pretty funny though.
Reply #100 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If all else fails and you can't get in, before you reformat your drive, try installing the bad drive on a different PC as a slave to access your files. Be careful not to run anything as this may cause probs on the good drive, simply copy the info you want to save to the master. I have had to do this for people in the past. Interestingly enough if you put the drive that you are having access problems on in a machine with a differnt OS, such as Win98, the admin properties don't carry over and you can access anything.

Good Luck


Also if you want to completely remove Messenger, I did, do the following...

Remove Windows Messenger
Click Start - Run
Type the following line:

RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

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