Members 320 Posted February 12, 2011 Members Report Posted February 12, 2011 My computer is having trouble booting up. I keep getting the message "primary hard disk not found", so I press the button to turn it off, and press and hold the button again, and although it seems to struggle a bit, it boots. My next computer is gonna be a HP. Dells are just to much of a PITA to reformat. i've had both and the proprietary configuration is problematic. the only way to beat it is have someone build you a custom machine with a clean windows install. honestly the price will probably be lower. the hdd is probably not spinning up fast enough to be seen by your machine. have some IT person copy or create an image of your existing drive to a new one and have it installed. the last one i had done only added $25 to the cost of the drive. though to complicate things my son's pc had the same symptom and it turned out to be the power supply. fixing either is much cheaper than a new machine. good luck! Quote
Members Lurker Posted February 12, 2011 Members Report Posted February 12, 2011 My personal recipe of programs that I have on my computers and put on all my friend's computers when they kill them and call me in a panic is: AVG free, Zonealarm free, and Ad-Aware Free. Ad-Aware free in my opinion is the #1 MOST IMPORTANT! No other spyware removal program will do IMO. With these three programs you can download pr0n to your heart's content without having to explain to your wife/partner the next morning why the computer isn't working anymore. A hint though: If your computer is a tad bit on the old or slow side you want to make sure you don't install all the extras offered with the programs. The basic components is all you really need. As pointed out above, if you have a router you don't even really need the firewall. I used to work for <bigname computer manufacturer> as their lowly outsourced Canadian tech support (also known as the "thank gawd you're not Indian" tech support) and I couldn't bring myself to sell the crappy programs they offered. Particularly after a call I got where the customer had an obvious spyware issue, bought the recommended program from another tech support agent which did NOT catch the spyware and I had to get her to download Ad-aware for free which fixed it. I then helped her uninstall our crappy program we sold her (for $40+ dollars) and told her to use the installation CD for a frisbee if she wanted because that's all it was good for. Quote
Contributing Member Denise Posted February 16, 2011 Contributing Member Report Posted February 16, 2011 I have been told that Ad-Aware and Malwarebytes will neutralize each other (best of my understanding) and I have had knowledgable people recommend both. Is it a good idea to have both or not? If you were only going to have one, which one should it be? (No wars, here, now!!) Quote
Moderator Johanna Posted February 16, 2011 Moderator Report Posted February 16, 2011 Denise, with a Vista or better computer and good surfing habits, you don't need anything more than a Windows firewall behind a router. If the screen goes dark and the computer asks you for permission to do something, ask yourself if you initiated this action? If you didn't, tell it "no". If the computer is XP, I would update the OS or buy an Internet Security software from one of the big guys, like Symantec, that updates regularly. Always burn a recovery DVD for a new computer, and do regular backups. Then anything can happen and you don't need to care. Johanna Quote You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain
Members hivemind Posted February 18, 2011 Members Report Posted February 18, 2011 Honeslty, it's all about safe surfing habits. I have not ran an antivirus program on any of my PCs (five at last count for personal use) in at least three years. About once a year, I install and update ComboFix and MBAM and run them just to check; they never find a thing, so I uninstall them. Just remember: If it says it's free, it usually isn't. If it claims to help, it probably won't. If it offers you great porn, it's probably goatse. Quote
Members Lurker Posted February 18, 2011 Members Report Posted February 18, 2011 I have been told that Ad-Aware and Malwarebytes will neutralize each other (best of my understanding) and I have had knowledgable people recommend both. Is it a good idea to have both or not? If you were only going to have one, which one should it be? (No wars, here, now!!) One or the other is the basic rule. Any programs designed to do the same thing will usually not play nicely together (particularly firewall and anti-virus programs but sometimes anti-spyware too, I've seen it.) If you find you have something that one doesn't remove...get the other, use it and delete one. It's kinda like a condom, two is not more effective than one and doubling up can cause both to fail miserably. Honeslty, it's all about safe surfing habits. I have not ran an antivirus program on any of my PCs (five at last count for personal use) in at least three years. About once a year, I install and update ComboFix and MBAM and run them just to check; they never find a thing, so I uninstall them. Just remember: If it says it's free, it usually isn't. If it claims to help, it probably won't. If it offers you great porn, it's probably goatse. If you don't have the skills to get it for free then you don't deserve it free. I googled the last one and recommend nobody else do so. MY EYES!!! :brainbleach: Quote
Members hivemind Posted February 25, 2011 Members Report Posted February 25, 2011 Oh gawd, don't do that. Some things cannot be unseen. Quote
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