geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

dickbill · 2004-02-16 11:21:45

Here is my personnal experience :

I have a PC, a cable connection that gives 24/24 h internet connection and Windose Me. I browsed internet, after about 1 year, the system declined, became unstable with a fatal crashed soon after. I used the 'factory recovery' first but soon after again the system, again became unstable, with some progs freeezing or not working anymore, culminating in a fatal, dead computer. No Hard drive recognized, etc. Decided to upgrade to Xp Home full, not upgrade, to start on a brand new system. After complete reformating and some data lost, the system ran fine for a while. This time a firewall was included, always with a cable connection to internet.
Since the system was healthy, decided to add some new hardware, graphic card, memory etc.
The system started to crash again. Three times I reinstalled Xp, with a call to Microsoft because it tracks the number of time you install Xp, they gave me a new key number, generously. I also figure out that the unstability was caused by a 250 Mb micron DDR ram. The ram caused random crashes with different programs and even forbid me to install properly Xp from the CD. After I figure that out and some data lost again, I did a complete clean reinstallation of Xp. That was about 1 year from the last reformating. But I had exhausted all my windose Xp home reinstallation capacity.
Since the system was now healthy, I decided to upgrade the hardware again, New Mother board (Gigabyte), new processor (athlon Xp 2400+), more memory and since I knew I was out of OS reserves, I bought Xp pro for a clean install. This time I had also 2 Hard drives , one with the OS (Xp pro) and the other with data.
haha, virus hackers haha ! 'bring them on !'

That was 6 months ago. Feb14, at the latest online Xp upgrade, I had a frozen screen and had to flip back the system to Feb 12. Reboot....disaster : no HD recognized at all....Boot Master failed...fatal error.
"Xp cannot reinstall, there is no HD on your system".
ggrrrrrrrr ! what do you do ?
Dickbill smart, he has a third HD in reserve with W2000 on it.
Pluged it, removed the DATA driver, reformat the driver with the OS, reinstall Xp pro on it (pfff, I was scarred by a messsage like "you have intalled windose 3 times, this is too much, buy a new one, bye bye")
Removed the HD with W2000 and put back the HD with data. Still, some data lost, like keys and password and pictures. Had to reisntall some softwares, took me the week end and surprise, surprise :
A folder named 52874hj3423j5hs7jgdHFa something like that was on my data HD, never seen that before. Access denied, cannot open it, cannot delete it. It's still there by the way. cannot even quarantine it with Norton antivirus. I guess it's a worm a trojan and that my computer has been hidjacked for a time. The folder was also probaly on the drive with the OS, but after complete refomatting, I guess it's gone. I won't reformat the DATA drive to get rid of of it becuase obviously I want to keep the data. But I could delete an executable inside the folder (I THINK it is deleted at least).
Anyway, after clean reformating of the drive with the OS, a brand new Norton antivirus pro + Norton personnal firewall, and my beloved cable connection to internet (through a router) the question is :
"How long before it crashes again and need a clean reformating ?"
If you think about it, this is all good for Microsoft, because after a time I wont be able to reinstall Xp, I will have either to buy a new one, or an upgrade. The fact that my problems arose during an online Xp upgrade also make me suspicious to turn "automatic upgrade" ON.

Cable connection to internet is fast, but obviously it is dangerous for the computer. I don't surf on dangerous sites believe me. No porn if this what you think. I got a lot of spam though. Deconnection to internet is not an option : you need internet now, for softawre upgrades etc.
But my opinion is that no matter what, firewall, antivirus etc, the system will be corrupted in about 1 year, at best, with a 24/24h connection to internet.
Since these fatal corruptions request clean Windose reinstallation, and if you are lucky enough that the first reinstall works, you might go with a legal copy of windose at best for 2 years, before you cannot legally install it again.

So, maybe Microsoft fights hackers, how hard I don't know, but I have the feeling that all these hackers are not so bad bussiness for Microsoft finally. What's your opinion ?

~Eternal~ · 2004-02-16 12:21:17

Hmm... its probably a "secret" virus (OMG), that was probably "secretly" excuted when you downloaded a corrupt file.
OR THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO GET YOU.
Your first problem is you got Windows Me XD.
Sorry I can't really help you.

Rxke · 2004-02-16 12:39:36

Wow... Didn't know that, about the limited # of installs.

Mac OS does not have this,, once you bought it, it's possible to do a clean install every week if you'd wanted to do such a crazy thing.

Wow... I'm not a Mac zealot (bought mine cheap second-hand etc... 'puter before that was a 286, so no windows (well windows286 was a joke, right...)

... but I would feel *really* angry if i were in a situation like yours, having to re install because ofe some dumb virus,trojan,worm... and not being able to because you only get 3 chances... (or 4, 5, whatever, it's the idea that bothers me)

dickbill · 2004-02-16 12:57:18

Hmm... its probably a "secret" virus (OMG), that was probably "secretly" excuted when you downloaded a corrupt file.
OR THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO GET YOU.

It's fixed now, no problem. No, I don't believe in secret governmental conspiracy, i just believe that computers, especially the PCs, will have to face this reallity : computer virus are there and they won't go away. Better accept it, they are part of the OS almost.
The antivirus software are not 100% efficient, so over time, a computer linked to internet, must accumulate corruptions.
The question of this thread is how long will it take for the computer to need a clean reinstall. In my experience it is about one year, for you it might be longer, i don't know. It certainly depends a lot of the usage intensity and internet connection.

Probably microsoft has statistics about that.

Rxke, yes there is a limit of reinstall allowed. Since you have 30 days to activate your copy of the OS, they know how many times you used it. At least with Windows Xp Home, I could reinstall 3 times before it was denied. But then I called microsoft, telling them that I was reinstalling on the SAME computer and they give me a new key to activate the Xp copy again. Now, I have Xp pro, maybe the total number allowed is different.

Rxke · 2004-02-16 14:22:11

Oh, ok, I read that like it was 3 times, no discussion, that would be really devious.

Funny thing (well, not really funny) is: it's been literally years since i've been tinkering with windows, but the last week saw me doing exactly that, here in Belgium also *a lot* of people experiencing problems with virii, spyware etc... Since i'm known to be a bit of a computernerd (i am not, but try to tell 'em that, esp. when you succeed in cleaning a system by downloading some free stuff etc...)

So i saw my share of popups and other niceties, too...

IMO this is getting out of hand, some friends are in the middle of writing their endpaper and i saw some of them in tears... This should not happen, you know, we're all getting more and more dependant on our computers, but increasingly we cannot trust them to operate reliably... Sigh.

As i said, I'm running an old Mac (5 years old, obsolete OS, so absolutely no virus and other stuff to get me worried...) but it does its job, as long as i don't want to do whiz-bang fancy stuff, like watching DVD's etc...

In an ideal scenario... We should all keep one computer as a 'spare part' for getting on the 'net, and keep our workhorses 'clean'...
But not everybody has the room for 2 computers
(money is not a problem, you can buy an old (read: laughably cheap) model for surfing...)

I'm rambling, again.

Mundaka · 2004-02-16 16:33:03

Cobra Commander · 2004-02-16 17:23:24

It's threads like this that remind me how nice Linux really is.

Oh, right. There is the whole "won't run any of my software, need another computer and pretty soon have the friggin' batcave" thing.

In my experience, reinstalling Windows every 6 months or so is just par for the course.

dickbill · 2004-02-16 17:43:45

well guys, using hardware from the 80's is not a a solution for everybody. And using a second computer deconnected from internet, or something like an old mac or an amiga, is not much better IMO.

It is fascinating that we have here a model of evolution. Future OS might be as much designed to fight future virus than the future virus might be designed to infect future OS.
The code for windows is on the net, supposedly, so Microsoft should acknowledge that and ask, OK now what do we do ? we gonna have an epidemy of worms and other nasty stuff soon. A possible answer is antivirus softwares provided and updated for free by microsoft. Or continuous online scanning of the system for virus, again provided by the OS provider, microsoft, or maybe the IP provider, for free.

dickbill · 2004-02-17 10:46:31

In my experience, reinstalling Windows every 6 months or so is just par for the course.

Exactly, reinstalling windows, in the actual situation, must be the rule for almost everybody that browse internet, run softwares, games, multimedia etc.
The problem is that the number of activation is limited, with 3 allowed, "every 6 months" means that you have to buy a new copy of windows every 1.5 years. I wonder how many people have been confronted with that issue.

So maybe Microsoft should sale Windows with an unlimited number of activation.

Cobra Commander · 2004-02-17 15:51:16

So maybe Microsoft should sale Windows with an unlimited number of activation.

A friend of mine was recently struggling with the same problem. My solution:

Bootlegged XP pro with the corporate license. Just type in that serial number, good as often as you need. less of a hassle too.

Hey, I paid for it once, so it's not really piracy. ???

DonPanic · 2004-02-17 20:07:23

LO
Reformated "system partition" and reinstalled on W2K pro 6 times this year without any kind of problem.
(hadn't an antivirus )
Must be because, here in Paris, only old folks buy a known mark PC.
We have them assembled much cheaper by asiatic salers,
khmers, viets or chineses who repare at once for free when you bring them back the central unit, and as they dont like that,
(asiatics don't like to loose face), they are very carefull when they assemble the PC and are very aware of hardware compatibility.
PCs on 24h/24h because they run Seti

dickbill · 2004-02-17 22:02:15

LO
Reformated "system partition" and reinstalled on W2K pro 6 times this year without any kind of problem.
(hadn't an antivirus )

reinstalled 6 times W2K in a single year ? you should panic, donpanic, it seems a lot to me. Unless it's on a different PC of course.
why did you have to reinstall 6 times ?
and don't you have a limited ****** of installations allowed ?

DonPanic · 2004-02-18 11:10:29

LO
Told you, because of system viruses.
And maybe I could reinstall W2K because that summer I had an UpG with new motherboard and new processor;
just after reinstallation, had a virus, I thought I just could reboot
on no failure mode and put the virus in the dustbin,
but that was a system virus, then at reboot, blackscreen.
New reformating and installation...
I didn't even knew Windows had a limited number of installations till I read these posts here,
I've a copy of a friend's original CD who bought XP Pro.
I had Millenium, but as this ware doesn't work and often frozed,
I do consider I have been somehow tricked when I bought it,
and having a full right to use a windows operating OS.
When I did work with .psd 80 Mo multicalc docs equivalent to 1 giga doc ou having a 3 hours VUE4 coulor setting and the system did froze, I was really getting mad at B.Gates

Alt2War · 2004-02-19 11:21:43

I bet you have a bad stick of RAM

clark · 2004-02-19 19:04:38

Wahoo! Somehow I made it work. New DIY PC, canabalized from some spare parts, mainly from my tower PC. I got one of those little Shuttle things.

It took me three hours just to get sound.

Rxke · 2004-02-20 09:29:15

I got one of those little Shuttle things.

The Shuttle C, i suppose?

Can you service Hubble with it?

Aaaarg, wrong thread....

clark · 2004-02-20 11:03:01

Well, I guess Bill White has more of an influence on me then I thought!

Anyone know how to fix or get rid of Windows Media Player with an error of "unregmp2.exe missing export value linked to ADVAPI32.DLL:setnamd securityinfow"?

The blasted thing won't let me uninstall or reinstall windows media player, any version (win 98). I tried upgrading to winxp, but stopped in the middle becuase of the whole activation issue, and now I get this!

It won't let me delete or replace the dll file as it says windows is using the blasted thing. I've looked online, but nothing helps. Any suggestions?

dickbill · 2004-02-20 14:19:19

It won't let me delete or replace the dll file as it says windows is using the blasted thing. I've looked online, but nothing helps. Any suggestions?

If you play with the system files, you are going for a long trip of tears and nerves . Save you data first and after...do what you can.

clark · 2004-02-20 14:25:50

System files? Not unless I have to.

WMP works on some media files, but WMP specific (they have that old-time movie reel icon) files won't work becuase of a lacking filter... a missing filter to play WMP files on a WMP program.

Bill Gates, I hate you.

I'm probably going to ghost the drives, then do a full reinstallation of the OS. Perhaps I'll try out that new Linux, Knoppix while I'm at it.

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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Re: geeks, how long can be a PC before it crashes ? - spam virus and other threads

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