HELP is at hand for General PC queries, not Foxestalk ones

[AoWW]

Thanks for that, Daggers. I'll give it a go.

Perhaps it's me being cynical, though, or downright suspicious, but If such wonderful things are out there as freebies (without having to illegally download 'em in the first place) why does anyone pay for off-the-shelf anti-virus software? Or are they all just ignorant and don't have a 'daggers' in their lives?

[coale39]

People just dont know about great free anti viruses basically.

[Daggers]

Thanks for that, Daggers. I'll give it a go.

Perhaps it's me being cynical, though, or downright suspicious, but If such wonderful things are out there as freebies (without having to illegally download 'em in the first place) why does anyone pay for off-the-shelf anti-virus software? Or are they all just ignorant and don't have a 'daggers' in their lives?

Avast offer a pro version that you can pay for - but it's pointless doing so.

They initially offered the Home version in order to get IT managers to get into using it at home then pop it on the shopping list for their corporations.

[davieG]

how much u want for it?

as long as its got about 256mb ram and about 4gb hardrive it will be ok,

oh and it will need to beable to run windows xp

Well if it had that on it I'd probably want something but as it's only got a 500mb hard drive and 24mb ram and runs Windows 95 nothing but then I doubt it's any use to you.

You did notice I said it had no CD drive so it was hardly likely to have anywhere near the memory/HD that you need.

[CupidStunt]

Yes but it's not enough ram for the operating system, let alone any programs on top of it.

its not been unknown to run xp on 256mb ram, it will be slow granted, but not unknown

i only want a laptop to run 1 program

@davie, wont be of any use then mate, thanks for the offer anyhow

Edited 24 April 2010 by CupidStunt

[CupidStunt]

Any recommendations for the best anti-virus software? I've always used Nod32 but the licence has just run out and, irritatingly, I can't get a freebie renewal anymore.

I'd be more than happy to pay up and stick with Nod32 - it's never let me down. Best option? I can probably get AVG added to my home lappy through work (free, minimal hassle) but I'm not a big fan - despite its rave reviews. We use it on all the machines at work, but are still constantly getting viruses.

Any other suggestions....?

Oh, and also my Mum wants new anti-virus software on her home PC but only has dial up :eek: (silly woman!!) so it's pretty much impossible to download software. This is probably a daft question, but would it be better for me to get a 2-user licence? If so, can I get an actual disc to install it from - I've only ever upgraded by downloading the software, I think?

nowt wrong with avg, i have it mine, and never have a issue

its on offer through zavvi

but if you want it for free,i can upload it (cracked version)

http://www.zavvi.com/computing/software/avg-family-internet-security-3-users-1-year/10070184.html

btw, the newest version of avg, wont update with a "dodgy" key no more, the latest update has put a stop to that for the being being

[AoWW]

nowt wrong with avg, i have it mine, and never have a issue

its on offer through zavvi

but if you want it for free,i can upload it (cracked version)

http://www.zavvi.com/computing/software/avg-family-internet-security-3-users-1-year/10070184.html

btw, the newest version of avg, wont update with a "dodgy" key no more, the latest update has put a stop to that for the being being

Wow, that's a cracking deal on AVG. Thanks for the offer of uploading it but at that price I might as well get it myself.

[BoneDog]

Are Automatic Updates important?!

I get a yellow shield thing in the bottom right of my screen (near the clock), and I normally ignore it because in the past it messed up my computer when I updated. But someone told me I should always update that thing

[CupidStunt]

Are Automatic Updates important?!

I get a yellow shield thing in the bottom right of my screen (near the clock), and I normally ignore it because in the past it messed up my computer when I updated. But someone told me I should always update that thing

thats windows updates, and yes you should update it

[BoneDog]

thats windows updates, and yes you should update it

I just updated it and nothing's gone wrong so far

[Tubes]

Ive got a laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium preloaded and want to completely wipe the laptop fresh, does anyone know how I do this?

[coale39]

Ive got a laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium preloaded and want to completely wipe the laptop fresh, does anyone know how I do this?

Look under your programs and find a folder the has your manufacturers name on it. Root around and try and find a program in it that will prob be called Recovery.

[Tubes]

Look under your programs and find a folder the has your manufacturers name on it. Root around and try and find a program in it that will prob be called Recovery.

In DOS mode?

[coale39]

In DOS mode?

No, click on Start, All programs and find a folder the has your manufacturers name on it.

[Tubes]

No, click on Start, All programs and find a folder the has your manufacturers name on it.

Got it, cheers.

[davieG]

Any suggestions as to why my laptop keeps stalling and regularly disconnecting from the internet. It doesn't happen on the desktop and that is further away from the router.

I've disabled the power management option that allows would allow it to disconnect to save the battery if idle not that it should be that because it stalls or disconnects when I'm active on it.

[Hitesh]

Any suggestions as to why my laptop keeps stalling and regularly disconnecting from the internet. It doesn't happen on the desktop and that is further away from the router.

I've disabled the power management option that allows would allow it to disconnect to save the battery if idle not that it should be that because it stalls or disconnects when I'm active on it.

A few things you could try:

Re-install the drivers for your wireless card - Start > Control Panel > Device Manage > Network Adaptors > Right click on the driver and update software. If that doesn't kick off the re-install, just go to the manufacturers website and download the latest drivers from there.

Secondly, you could try and do the usual anti-virus / spyware stuff. So use your anti virus software to run a scan and then something like Spybot Search and Destroy. Also worth running CCleaner just to give the internet files a clear out.

If that doesn't cure the issue then it might be the actual wireless card itself. Is it an external card or something built into the laptop? Not sure why it would stall the system though. Hope the first two suggestions work - another thing to try is if you have another wireless dongle then give that a go and see if you have the same issues.

[davieG]

A few things you could try:

Re-install the drivers for your wireless card - Start > Control Panel > Device Manage > Network Adaptors > Right click on the driver and update software. If that doesn't kick off the re-install, just go to the manufacturers website and download the latest drivers from there.

Secondly, you could try and do the usual anti-virus / spyware stuff. So use your anti virus software to run a scan and then something like Spybot Search and Destroy. Also worth running CCleaner just to give the internet files a clear out.

If that doesn't cure the issue then it might be the actual wireless card itself. Is it an external card or something built into the laptop? Not sure why it would stall the system though. Hope the first two suggestions work - another thing to try is if you have another wireless dongle then give that a go and see if you have the same issues.

Thanks for the advice Hitesh, just to clarify it's an internal wireless, I have and run spybot & ccleaner. It's only the web connection that stalls, it shows a healthy connection but whichever site I try to connect to it fails and puts up a message saying thesite is unavailable which obviously isn't the case. Also it's very intermittent some days no problem other days every ten minutes or so.

Will try updating the drivers.

[Hitesh]

Thanks for the advice Hitesh, just to clarify it's an internal wireless, I have and run spybot & ccleaner. It's only the web connection that stalls, it shows a healthy connection but whichever site I try to connect to it fails and puts up a message saying thesite is unavailable which obviously isn't the case. Also it's very intermittent some days no problem other days every ten minutes or so.

Will try updating the drivers.

Strange, seems to me its a wireless device issue. Whats the make and the model of the laptop and wireless device?

[davieG]

Strange, seems to me its a wireless device issue. Whats the make and the model of the laptop and wireless device?

Toshiba Satellite L40-18Z a fairly cheap one that I bought as a back up to my expensive Phillips that packed up after 18months.

Realtek RTL8187B Wireless 802.1 1b/g 54Mbps USB 2.0 Network adapter

[nothin2seehere]

Is it possible to get an internet page to automatically refresh itself or does that have to be set up at source by the page provider?

Use Opera browser and tell the page to refresh every x seconds (from right click menu).

Do I win award for latest thread contribution?

[coale39]

http://download.cnet.com/Refresher/3000-2356_4-10444117.html?tag=mncol

[BoneDog]

Does anyone have the original Ghost Recon installed for pc?

I wanted to play it again so installed but I can't load the game. I've found out that I need the 'options.xml' file. The game only generates this file on first load up but the game won't load up on newer pc's (cos it was made when Windows 98 was around) unless you download the options.xml file and all the downloads that you find on sites have expired cos it's an old game.

So if someone knows of somewhere to download that file or can put it onto a file sharing site I would appreciate it

[pooleyLCFC]

I dont know whether this post is for the right place but my laptop is windows xp and yesterday when i used it it was working fine now when i turned it on today the xp format has gone and is now the one that was before xp and i dont like it how do i get the windows xp taskbar and stuff back ??? Cheers

[BoneDog]

I dont know whether this post is for the right place but my laptop is windows xp and yesterday when i used it it was working fine now when i turned it on today the xp format has gone and is now the one that was before xp and i dont like it how do i get the windows xp taskbar and stuff back ??? Cheers

Do you mean it is no longer Windoows XP ? Or has the appearance just changed? If the appearance has changed I think you can change it back by right clicking somewhere on your desktop and then selecting properties. Then on the themes tab I think you can change it back to the new style. I keep mine on the old style because someone told me it makes your pc work faster but I don't know if that's true or not!

If your XP OS has gone though I've no idea what happened and think you would have to format and re-install XP. Don't do that though until you know for sure cos you will lose everything on the pc!