-=PCTechTalk=- Re: error message

GMan,

I've looked and can't find anything on the screensaver or restore 
app. Gonna try and talk to them today and see if they have any 
disks for them. Since they live quite a ways from me, my plan is 
to use my full copy XP Pro with SP2 disk, and just get their key 
number from them. Sound all right with you? I've already saved 
the few things that look like keepers to a CD. This computer has 
fewer things on it than any I've ever seen after 3-4 years use. 
No picture, no music, no games. Have to talk to them before I 
proceed.

Jo Ann

GMan wrote:
> Jo Ann,
>     It sounds like SS&D found an infected system file and removed it, 
> causing the boot issues.  The restore replaced it.
> 
>     How best to proceed is gonna depend on a couple of things.  Is the 
> install file for that restore app (&/or the screensaver) stored on the hard 
> drive somewhere?  On most non-techy type owned systems, the Desktop is the 
> favorite destination for downloads, so I would look there first.  Somewhere 
> in My Docs would be my second place to search.  If you don't find it, ask 
> them if they have either of them on disk somewhere.
> 
>     If they can be reinstalled, I would backup, wipe and start fresh.  In 
> situations like this, my method of backing up is to install my own external 
> USB drive, reboot into Safe mode and then copy everything I can into a 
> folder named after the customer (with the date).  My external is a 320GB 
> drive, so it's big enough to store almost anyone's C: drive.  If it's not, 
> I'll install a partitioning utility and make the C drive much smaller, 
> moving anything that's not used by the OS to the second volume.  Then, I'd 
> just use their own second partition for storing a copy of their stuff (again 
> in a folder showing the date of the backup).
> 
>     If those two things cannot be reinstalled, then we'll talk about some 
> things you can do to try and get the system back to a usable state.  I'll 
> need to know what type of OS install disk they have (recovery disks, retail 
> CD, etc.) to better target my thoughts.
> 
> Peace,
> G
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/2de2nh
> "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask!"
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jo Ann Weaver" <bookworm54@xxxxxxx>
> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:38 PM
> Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: error message
> 
> 
>> Gman,
>>
>> It belongs to a friend of my hubby's and I've had it since last
>> weekend. Actually there's very little that would need to be
>> backed up, a few things in my Documents, which I've done already
>> because it's so unstable. They have a nice screensaver and a
>> program Called Fast Stone that makes a backup every time you boot
>> and can restore the system. Here's the story, their complaints
>> were that it's very slow and keeps kicking them off the internet.
>> The anti-virus program they had installed was expired and
>> in-active. I downloaded and installed Spybot search and destroy
>> and ran it. It found about 17 problems including Tango, which I
>> believe is a trojan. I let it remove everything it found. I've
>> never had Spybot cause any trouble before. I called them and got
>> their permission to uninstall the anti-virus program and install
>> AVG. When I tried to boot it to do so, I had problems. It would
>> got to the XP loading screen, then instead of loading the desktop
>> I just got a blank screen with nothing on it, but the mouse arrow
>> which didn't work. Tried booting into safe mode, but it wouldn't
>> finish, tried last good config, same result, blank screen with
>> arrow. Every time you boot, you can hit the space bar and go into
>> the Fast Stone restore program. Did so and restored it to a date
>> before I got it. Seemed to be successful, then I started getting
>> the Windows Explorer error. So that's the story. I would love to
>> fix it without formatting, but I don't want to keep it much
>> longer. Oh, I did install AVG which didn't find any problems.
>>
>> Jo Ann 
> 


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