The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[cohenmarioman]

How to reboot a windows 7 PC

As it turns out, after having the same computer for 5 years, I finally got a virus that requires me to fully restart my computer. Thing is, I do not know how to do it on windows 7. And I want to know what a reboot does. Does it get rid of most of the files on the hard drive, or just temporary files. Please, after 5 years, I don't want to have to get another one anytime soon.

 

[cohenmarioman]

Didn't realize we had this, but how do you reboot on windows 7? And does that usually get rid of all spyware/malware/trojans? Cause a virus I just got is preventing me from going on YT, Amazon, and many other well known sites, as well as having pop up every few seconds on a "free scan" Will a reboot even get rid of this, or should I just pay the money to get it fixed?

 

[Meson]

A reboot is a restart. You basically turn off your comptuer and then turn it back on without turning off the hardware. It won't affect anything.

As for the virus, get rid of it first.

 

[cohenmarioman]

A reboot is a restart. You basically turn off your comptuer and then turn it back on without turning off the hardware. It won't affect anything.

As for the virus, get rid of it first.

I think I am looking for a way to start up my computer as it was before. Do you reccomend o just get a better virus protection software, or could it be too late for that to help? Should I just hire the geek squad and have them fix it?

I think the right word for what I am thinking of doing is a clean house type of thing, a clensing of the hard drive erasing all non vital files.

 

[Mynd Hed]

I think the word you're looking for is "reinstall."

 

[En Sabah Nur]

As it turns out, after having the same computer for 5 years, I finally got a virus that requires me to fully restart my computer. Thing is, I do not know how to do it on windows 7. And I want to know what a reboot does. Does it get rid of most of the files on the hard drive, or just temporary files. Please, after 5 years, I don't want to have to get another one anytime soon.

Reboot or restart is to simply turn it off and on again. You are confused with your terminology. What you want to do is to format your PC and reinstall the OS anew. That will get rid of all of your files though.
What I dont get is if your computer is 5 years old, and windows 7 came out this year, how do you expect to get Win7 on it? You would need to actually buy the Win7 OS DVD and then use a clean install method. But a 5 year old computer isnt powerful enough to support Win7 anyways. So in your case its easier to buy a new computer with Win7 and with internet security suite.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Didn't realize we had this, but how do you reboot on windows 7? And does that usually get rid of all spyware/malware/trojans? Cause a virus I just got is preventing me from going on YT, Amazon, and many other well known sites, as well as having pop up every few seconds on a "free scan" Will a reboot even get rid of this, or should I just pay the money to get it fixed?

'Reboot" is to restart. Its that simple. You want to format and reinstall. You would need to buy a copy of Windows 7. If your PC is very old, Windows 7 will be incompatible. And yes, it will remove every file on your PC. but the again, if you have a virus or malware of some sorts, its more likely then not that it can be fixed without having to format the PC.

 

[cohenmarioman]

Reboot or restart is to simply turn it off and on again. You are confused with your terminology. What you want to do is to format your PC and reinstall the OS anew. That will get rid of all of your files though.
What I dont get is if your computer is 5 years old, and windows 7 came out this year, how do you expect to get Win7 on it? You would need to actually buy the Win7 OS DVD and then use a clean install method. But a 5 year old computer isnt powerful enough to support Win7 anyways. So in your case its easier to buy a new computer with Win7 and with internet security suite.

I am actually going to get a new laptop soon, but it always nice to have a backup. And I have the upgrade disk, does that not support the reinstall?

 

[Mynd Hed]

Yes, the Windows 7 upgrade version is what you use to install Windows 7 on your machine, but before you do so, make sure to double-check that you meet all the system requirements, because with a 5-year-old machine you'll probably have a better experience just reinstalling whatever operating system it came with (most likely XP).

In either case, make sure to make backups of whatever files you want to keep.

 

[SirLemming]

The Windows 7 "upgrade" disc isn't really any different from the "full" disc, as far as I know -- it's the license that's different. Owning the "upgrade" version simply means you own an older version of Windows and you're piggybacking off of that license.

Now, there's also the separate matter of "clean vs. upgrade" installations. An "upgrade installation" keeps your files and settings while upgrading to 7. But you can only do it from Vista, not XP. However, whether you have a "full" version or an "upgrade" version of 7, you can always do a clean install. The only difference is buried somewhere in the license keys.

As for the actual installation process... well, it sounds like you should have someone help you out with it, if at all possible. The most likely way to do it will be to insert the Windows 7 disc and then reboot your computer. If your computer is properly set up to boot from a disc, it will either go into Windows 7 setup automatically or ask you to push a key to go into it. If that doesn't happen, then someone needs to change your computer's BIOS to boot from disc, which is not hard to do, but you have to be careful when doing it. Once it does boot from the disc, it'll give you the option to format your hard drive and then install. The "format" part is what removes your existing copy of Windows. Along with everything else on the drive -- so like everyone said, back up your stuff.

The actual clean install process should only take about a half hour, unless your computer is significantly slow. Which... it might be. If you want any more recommendations about that, you should post whatever system specs you can find. It depends; if your computer was "high-end" 5 years ago, it might be able to run 7 quite well. Vista is actually 3 years old at this point, after all, and 7 is slightly less intense than Vista. But if your computer was low-end 5 years ago, there might be a problem.

 

[cohenmarioman]

I exaggerated a bit, my computer was a medium end (700 dollar) 3 year old, around when vista was around. It met the requirements for 7, and ran it pretty well. Yet after seeing a NW Sony Vaio, I really want one of those, but I can't pay for it, so my parents would have to help me out, which means I will either be out of a personal computer for a while, or stuck with a spyware ridden PC (I know it is spyware because it is one of those foney virus protections that automatically installs, not too bad, but it blocks many websites such as Amazon)

Just for kicks, here are the specs I remember off the top of my head.
2 GB Ram
2.2 Ghrz Processor
250 GB hard drive
ADM Processor

An update: Thank You so much SirLemming, I booted it from the disk and it worked, no more spyware. I lost most of my files, but what I needed I saved on spare CDs. I am still going to get a new Laptop, but I don't know when.

And thank you mods for moving it to the right place.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

I finally got sick and tired of all the spyware crap and installed the Firefox extension Noscript on my work PC. You can allow trusted sites to function normally, but for everything else you can block Flash and a wide variety of other stuff that can be used for popups and spyware exploits. It's sort of the nuclear option but it hasn't changed my browsing that much and I'm at least a little less worried that I'll get hijacked and get fired because Internet Security 2010 is blackmailing me by visiting porn sites. What set this off was the annoying voicefive popup on another site. I was adblocking it with Adblock Plus, but that just made it invisible except for the line about its privacy policy and easy to accidentally click and install.

 

[Rho]

Laptop refuses to connect to the internet

I'm aware of the Computer Issues thread, but when I've posted my issues before, I've gotten no responses, and was eventually told it was just for PC issues, and this is a Mac issue.


My laptop randomly decided to not connect to the internet - an iBook G4.

I'm using Airport to connect, and whenever I go to select the router, it asks for a password. I enter it in, and a few seconds later, it says "Connection Timeout". There's only one other router I was able to connect to, and it, despite showing bars at the top of the screen at the Airport symbol, the browsers say my laptop isn't connected to the internet.

I don't know what went wrong. I tried reinstalling Leopard, nothing. I tried doing a repair in Disk Utility, it told me everything is fine.

I tried unplugging the router for two minutes and putting it back in, didn't work.

I really need to get this working ASAP. Any help is appreciated.

 

[cohenmarioman]

I'm aware of the Computer Issues thread, but when I've posted my issues before, I've gotten no responses, and was eventually told it was just for PC issues, and this is a Mac issue.


My laptop randomly decided to not connect to the internet - an iBook G4.

I'm using Airport to connect, and whenever I go to select the router, it asks for a password. I enter it in, and a few seconds later, it says "Connection Timeout". There's only one other router I was able to connect to, and it, despite showing bars at the top of the screen at the Airport symbol, the browsers say my laptop isn't connected to the internet.

I don't know what went wrong. I tried reinstalling Leopard, nothing. I tried doing a repair in Disk Utility, it told me everything is fine.

I tried unplugging the router for two minutes and putting it back in, didn't work.

I really need to get this working ASAP. Any help is appreciated.

When dealiong with Macs, you need to make sure all your hardware is Mac approved, including the router, the DSL cable, and other things. That is one reason I do not buy Macs, but since you have one, just check and make sure it is all Mac compatable, or try to install drivers for the router.

 

[MDawg]

When dealiong with Macs, you need to make sure all your hardware is Mac approved, including the router, the DSL cable, and other things. That is one reason I do not buy Macs, but since you have one, just check and make sure it is all Mac compatable, or try to install drivers for the router.

Airport is the official Mac router.

That said, are you able to connect to the Airport via a wired connection? Are you sure it's actually working? Are you or whoever is responsible for your network able to take a look at this? You may just have a router that is having some issues that need to be addressed.

 

[Beefy]

That said, are you able to connect to the Airport via a wired connection? Are you sure it's actually working? Are you or whoever is responsible for your network able to take a look at this? You may just have a router that is having some issues that need to be addressed.

Seconded.
The first thing you need to do is determine if the problem is with your wireless router or your computer.

Can you connect to the Internet using a different wireless network?
Can you connect to the Internet using your wireless network using a different computer?
Can you connect to the Internet using the wired connection on your laptop?

 

[wonderfly]

I was just going about my normal business on Toon Zone, and I started getting pop-up's again from something called XP Antivirus Pro 2010...that's a virus, isn't it? I never click on the pop-ups, I merely close them (I don't click on the "run scan" button)...

My Microsoft Security Essentials then popped up and said it's detected some severe threats (which I had it remove)...and it said that it had successfully removed the threat...but the dang XP Antivirus Pro 2010 is still popping up messages saying that it's detected threats, and wants me to run a scan...

I've got Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal running a scan on the computer right now, but is there anything else I should do?

 

[En Sabah Nur]

I was just going about my normal business on Toon Zone, and I started getting pop-up's again from something called XP Antivirus Pro 2010...that's a virus, isn't it? I never click on the pop-ups, I merely close them (I don't click on the "run scan" button)...

My Microsoft Security Essentials then popped up and said it's detected some severe threats (which I had it remove)...and it said that it had successfully removed the threat...but the dang XP Antivirus Pro 2010 is still popping up messages saying that it's detected threats, and wants me to run a scan...

I've got Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal running a scan on the computer right now, but is there anything else I should do?

Sounds like malware is trying to install viruses on your computer, do not click on those scan buttons. Use Malwarebytes or Spyware Doctor to scan your PC for malware threats.

 

[wonderfly]

Is there a good website with a program to remove this virus?

Microsoft Security Essentials can't find it, neither can the Malware removal tool...the pop ups are still "popping up" on my computer...

The latest pop-up doesn't have an "X" in the upper corner for me to click to get it out of my sight, it just says "Do you want to block this attack" click yes or no? How do I get that off of my desktop without clicking an "x" in the upper corner? Just click no? Or is clicking no just as bad?

How the hell did I come into contact with this thing again, I was just surfing Toon Zone...

 

[cohenmarioman]

I was just going about my normal business on Toon Zone, and I started getting pop-up's again from something called XP Antivirus Pro 2010...that's a virus, isn't it? I never click on the pop-ups, I merely close them (I don't click on the "run scan" button)...

My Microsoft Security Essentials then popped up and said it's detected some severe threats (which I had it remove)...and it said that it had successfully removed the threat...but the dang XP Antivirus Pro 2010 is still popping up messages saying that it's detected threats, and wants me to run a scan...

I've got Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal running a scan on the computer right now, but is there anything else I should do?

Same thing happened to me. Either buy some good software to remove it, or reboot from the start up disc.