TWC Today Forums
Other => General Discussion => Topic started by: Mike M on November 03, 2008, 03:23:44 PM
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I was rebooting my Compaq computer last night because I installed an update for Norton, and I get this error that says something along the lines of "Disk Boot Failure - Insert Disk and Reboot." The screen is also appearing very blurry. Is this a sign of a harddrive failure? If so, if I send this to a computer repair shop will they back up my files? Someone please help! I'm worried that all my important files will be gone! :(
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What operating system were you using?
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Windows XP Media Center 2005, service pack 2
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Do you see any indications of your OS starting up? Try tapping F8 after the BIOS screen and see if you get any options to boot in safe mode or last good know configuration. Also how old is your computer?
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Put in your XP CD. Boot from it, and at some point you'll be asked if you want to repair XP or install a clean copy. Do the repair. This will repair windows, but leave all other files intact.
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It's about three years old. All it shows is the Compaq screen with the system recovery/setup/boot menu options on the bottom, then it shows me the system boot error. Also, my computer didn't come with an XP CD (not sure why). It was preinstalled on the computer.
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It's about three years old. All it shows is the Compaq screen with the system recovery/setup/boot menu options on the bottom, then it shows me the system boot error. Also, my computer didn't come with an XP CD (not sure why). It was preinstalled on the computer.
Then try Compaq's recovery option that you speak of.
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If only you actually lived near by, I would offer to have you come over to my house and I would fix your computer for free, and probably make it better than it was before, lol... But alas, you don't :(
I would not recommend what Gary has said, most recovery options would overwrite your C: partition, thus you would lose your files completely.
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Tried that, and I still get the disk boot error. :no:
Well, I live only like a half hour from you (if not less), though probably not close enough that I'd stop over. :D
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If only you actually lived near by, I would offer to have you come over to my house and I would fix your computer for free, and probably make it better than it was before, lol... But alas, you don't :(
I would not recommend what Gary has said, most recovery options would overwrite your C: partition, thus you would lose your files completely.
I wouldn't want you to work on my computer. :P
Actually, the truth is that recovery programs are not meant to write over your files. Their supposed to recover the operating system back to a usable state.
BTW, I repair and sell computers for a living. So I do have some idea of what I'm talking about. ;)
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If only you actually lived near by, I would offer to have you come over to my house and I would fix your computer for free, and probably make it better than it was before, lol... But alas, you don't :(
I would not recommend what Gary has said, most recovery options would overwrite your C: partition, thus you would lose your files completely.
I wouldn't want you to work on my computer. :P
Actually, the truth is that recovery programs are not meant to write over your files. Their supposed to recover the operating system back to a usable state.
BTW, I repair and sell computers for a living. So I do have some idea of what I'm talking about. ;)
Even know I know more than the average user, and used to sell computers and equipment in the past, I wouldn't be the one to work on it, I'd invite my significant other of 10 months to do it, since he works in IT and such... My recovery program overwrites my C: partition and I lose all of my files :/ Same for all of the other 2 laptops I have had in the past so I don't know. If you run a repair install of Windows XP, then yes, you won't lose your files.
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let's put an end to the ginormous pissing contest before it starts.
I would do what Gary says, but that's just me.
My final statement: Macintosh. :D
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let's put an end to the ginormous pissing contest before it starts.
I would do what Gary says, but that's just me.
My final statement: Macintosh. :D
I could rebut that response with Linux, but I won't. I prefer Windows over OS X.
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So if using system recovery doesn't work and my computer didn't come with an XP disk, is my only option to send it to a repairshop for service?
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Yeah those seem to me to be your only options. If your lucky they'll be able to save your data. But it may be too late.
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You could always install Windows on a seperate hard drive, so you can still access your old drive to get files off.
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Or, if you have an external hard drive case to where you can put hard drives in, you can take the hard drive out of your computer with all your important files and put it in the external hard drive case. If you don't have one, I recommend getting an external hard drive case so you can save all your files and such and not loose all your data.. The cheapest that I know of is $50 from Staples or you can get them really cheap at Newegg.com. It's the only recommendation I have for you to save your important stuff..
Robert
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Or, if you have an external hard drive case to where you can put hard drives in, you can take the hard drive out of your computer with all your important files and put it in the external hard drive case. If you don't have one, I recommend getting an external hard drive case so you can save all your files and such and not loose all your data.. The cheapest that I know of is $50 from Staples or you can get them really cheap at Newegg.com. It's the only recommendation I have for you to save your important stuff..
Robert
$50 for a CASE? You can practically buy a new drive for that price! :o
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You could always install Windows on a seperate hard drive, so you can still access your old drive to get files off.
Buy a cheap drive, and do this. Also three years on a Compaq is most likely starting to push on the old end. It may be worth it to upgrade to another computer. For about $280 I got a Compaq, Dual Core PC with 3gb RAM, DVD/CD RW. Im using it as a second server now but my point is the price to repair your computer vs purchasing a new one is small these days.
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Or, if you have an external hard drive case to where you can put hard drives in, you can take the hard drive out of your computer with all your important files and put it in the external hard drive case. If you don't have one, I recommend getting an external hard drive case so you can save all your files and such and not loose all your data.. The cheapest that I know of is $50 from Staples or you can get them really cheap at Newegg.com. It's the only recommendation I have for you to save your important stuff..
Robert
$50 for a CASE? You can practically buy a new drive for that price! :o
Yeah, that is kinda ridiculous, but if I had important files on my computer and need to save them, I would go for it...
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You could always install Windows on a seperate hard drive, so you can still access your old drive to get files off.
Buy a cheap drive, and do this. Also three years on a Compaq is most likely starting to push on the old end. It may be worth it to upgrade to another computer. For about $280 I got a Compaq, Dual Core PC with 3gb RAM, DVD/CD RW. Im using it as a second server now but my point is the price to repair your computer vs purchasing a new one is small these days.
I don't buy into this philosophy at all. Age, like in humans, is but a number. If the computer does you fine, why spend the money? At three years old that computer is at least 1.5 Ghz, if not more. Unless your into architecture or some other resource hogging endeavor you don't need anything more than that. Bottom line: don't get rid of your computer just because its a couple years old.
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You could always install Windows on a seperate hard drive, so you can still access your old drive to get files off.
Buy a cheap drive, and do this. Also three years on a Compaq is most likely starting to push on the old end. It may be worth it to upgrade to another computer. For about $280 I got a Compaq, Dual Core PC with 3gb RAM, DVD/CD RW. Im using it as a second server now but my point is the price to repair your computer vs purchasing a new one is small these days.
I don't buy into this philosophy at all. Age, like in humans, is but a number. If the computer does you fine, why spend the money? At three years old that computer is at least 1.5 Ghz, if not more. Unless your into architecture or some other resource hogging endeavor you don't need anything more than that. Bottom line: don't get rid of your computer just because its a couple years old.
Very true. I guess it all depends on what you use your pc for
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Sorry, but I hardly consider my 33 MHz Macintosh LC 575 an outdated computer. :P
My dad bought his computer (complete set) in late 2002 for about $1200, has a 1.4GHz P4, 512 RAM, 80 GB Hard drive. That's over 6 years old, and it's got at least 3-4 years before even considering a replacement.
Computers are not disposable at this point in time. They should last a good 5+ years.
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I have a feeling it could also be a boot sector virus. I don't see how a three year old harddrive would fail already.
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That does sound like a boot sector virus, 3 y/o HDs don't suddenly die like that
-Tech Dude
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I have a feeling it could also be a boot sector virus. I don't see how a three year old harddrive would fail already.
Actually, there was a discussion about hard drives on another forum I go to. Most people agreed that OEM hard drives are of much lower quality do to the manufacturers buying in mass quantities.
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I have a feeling it could also be a boot sector virus. I don't see how a three year old harddrive would fail already.
Actually, there was a discussion about hard drives on another forum I go to. Most people agreed that OEM hard drives are of much lower quality do to the manufacturers buying in mass quantities.
I can agree with that. Does your drive by any chance make any strange noises?
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It doesn't make any weird sounds like it's failing or anything.
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It doesn't make any weird sounds like it's failing or anything.
It still is probably corrupt.
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Okay, tonight I ordered a Compaq recovery disk, because apparently they recommend you make the discs yourselves (what good that does these days), which is why there was no XP disc included. The harddrive also definitely needs to be replaced. It's only three years old, so it's surprising that it needs replacement already. This laptop's harddrive is more than a year older and it still works like a charm. Same with my 1999 PowerMac (albeit it's slow since it's only 12 GB).
I just hope I can at least still access the files on my old drive, I don't have most of them backed up anywhere (how stupid I am).
Hopefully I get this all fixed soon; I have several TWC/Weatherscan/WeatherPlus videos I want to share on YT.
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you could buy an external hard drive enclosure for the type of hard drive you have and pull the files off of it before reformatting if you want.
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Yeah, that's what I plan on doing. :yes:
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Same with my 1999 PowerMac (albeit it's slow since it's only 12 GB).
It's slow because of the disk size? :huh:
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Same with my 1999 PowerMac (albeit it's slow since it's only 12 GB).
It's slow because of the disk size? :huh:
LOL, I loveit when people say things like that. :rofl2:
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Same with my 1999 PowerMac (albeit it's slow since it's only 12 GB).
It's slow because of the disk size? :huh:
LOL, I loveit when people say things like that. :rofl2:
Are you referring to my comment or Mike's?
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Same with my 1999 PowerMac (albeit it's slow since it's only 12 GB).
It's slow because of the disk size? :huh:
LOL, I loveit when people say things like that. :rofl2:
Are you referring to my comment or Mike's?
Mike's. :biggrin:
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Well, I put in my new harddrive and inserted my restore disc in, and it's still not working. In the XP installation, I only get as far as which drive I want to install the OS in, and the computer doesn't detect anything in any of the drive bays (both the harddrive and optical drives). So, I think I can say that, my computer is "dead."
I'm gonna try to see if I can get this fixed at a repair shop. If not, then it's time for a new computer. I would also have to get an XP software kit off of somewhere (I'm not a fan of Vista).
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Do you have an XP installation CD? Then you won't need the software kit.
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Do you have an XP installation CD? Then you won't need the software kit.
I only have system restore discs for my computer. I don't think it will work with others.
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If not, then it's time for a new computer. I would also have to get an XP software kit off of somewhere (I'm not a fan of Vista).
If you do choose to get a new computer, you can get one from Dell - you can choose to get a PC with XP still (along with a Vista CD so that you can upgrade when you're ready). :yes:
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Dells still have XP installed? I thought all new PCs now come preinstalled w/Vista?
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Dells still have XP installed? I thought all new PCs now come preinstalled w/Vista?
Yes - if you purchase a Dell desktop/laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate or Business Bonus, you can get XP Professional pre-installed for you: http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/winxp_inspndt?c=us&cs=19&l=en&ref=dthp&s=dhs
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Thanks for sharing that, Stephen. Are Dells any good? My school has them but I've never owned one myself, or tried it anywhere else.
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I've had a Dell Dimension 3000 for 4 years now and it's still running great. :thumbsup:
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Thanks for sharing that, Stephen. Are Dells any good? My school has them but I've never owned one myself, or tried it anywhere else.
Yeah, they're pretty good machines. :yes:
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Before making a final checkout, search online for some coupon codes. One guy I helped get a laptop, there was a 20% off coupon available that expired Oct 31 and he thanked me for it...
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Dell is pretty good. Its the only name brand I would recommend to anyone.
Mike, it sounds to me like the motherboard kicked the bucket. Usually if the hard drive is the cause only THAT hard drive won't be seen by your PC. But your saying that no drives are seen by the PC, which certainly points to a bigger problem. :yes:
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Dell = Hell.
HP is better than Dell.
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Dell = Hell.
HP is better than Dell.
ROFL. Just plain 'ol ROFL.
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Dell = Hell.
HP is better than Dell.
ROFL. Just plain 'ol ROFL.
I should say so. It's astonishing how terrible their computers are.
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Dell = Hell.
HP is better than Dell.
ROFL. Just plain 'ol ROFL.
I should say so. It's astonishing how terrible their computers are.
As in, HP sucks so bad its not funny. :happy:
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Out of all of the PC manufacturers, HP is probably the best. eMachines is probably the worst.
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HP is also pretty good IMO. I have an HP Pavilion 563w that's around 5 years old, and is still going strong. It has pretty decent specs, even for this day and age (512 MB RAM, 2.39 GHz processor speed, 80 GB HD, etc.). It cost us about $1,000 or so when we bought this thing, and it was definitely worth that money (because of the long life). :yes:
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Have either of you ever tried to FIX one? :happy:
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Have either of you ever tried to FIX one? :happy:
No, because this machine has never really needed repairing besides reinstalling the OS. :no:
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HP is also pretty good IMO. I have an HP Pavilion 563w that's around 5 years old, and is still going strong. It has pretty decent specs, even for this day and age (512 MB RAM, 2.39 GHz processor speed, 80 GB HD, etc.). It cost us about $1,000 or so when we bought this thing, and it was definitely worth that money (because of the long life). :yes:
Wow, that's almost the exact same scenario as my dad's computer. Pretty much the same specs too. My dad's is 6 years though.
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Absolutely DO NOT BUY DELL LAPTOPS.
The battery in mine choked out 16 months in.
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Have either of you ever tried to FIX one? :happy:
No, because this machine has never really needed repairing besides reinstalling the OS. :no:
Consider yourself very very lucky. :yes:
As for Dell laptops...I can definitely concur with that. I have two batteries in my laptop and can't get an hour off of them most of the time. :no:
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Have either of you ever tried to FIX one? :happy:
No, because this machine has never really needed repairing besides reinstalling the OS. :no:
Consider yourself very very lucky. :yes:
As for Dell laptops...I can definitely concur with that. I have two batteries in my laptop and can't get an hour off of them most of the time. :no:
NEVER EVER buy two laptop batteries at the same time... batteries degrade overtime, used or not. When you notice your battery time beginning to degrade, that's the time you go and order an extended battery.
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I always tend to go with
Laptops: Sony, Apple
Desktop: Dell, HP
I know you all have been hating on Dell, but I have had some great computers from them. It also helps that I can get a 12% discount since im friends with my teacher who lets me use her info to get a teacher discount. :P
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Have either of you ever tried to FIX one? :happy:
No, because this machine has never really needed repairing besides reinstalling the OS. :no:
Consider yourself very very lucky. :yes:
As for Dell laptops...I can definitely concur with that. I have two batteries in my laptop and can't get an hour off of them most of the time. :no:
NEVER EVER buy two laptop batteries at the same time... batteries degrade overtime, used or not. When you notice your battery time beginning to degrade, that's the time you go and order an extended battery.
Didn't buy them. Got the laptop for free from a friend and he gave me two batteries with it. I can either use the extra battery or the floppy drive in the front bay, so i figured I may as well use the extra battery since I seldom, if ever, use the floppy. :D
I've been repairing computers for 15 years. Dell's have been the best of the name brands. Compaq and HP's have always been the worst for me. Gateways are good also, E-Machines are alright. But E-Machines are basically supposed to be a cheap Gateway knockoff, so what more could you expect?
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If you're gonna go for a desktop, build it yourself. That's all I have to say for that case.
As for laptops, I had an HP, and the video card died after about eight months due to overheating. I got a Dell after that, and haven't had any problems with it thus far.
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If you're gonna go for a desktop, build it yourself. That's all I have to say for that case.
As for laptops, I had an HP, and the video card died after about eight months due to overheating. I got a Dell after that, and haven't had any problems with it thus far.
I couldn't agree more! :biggrin:
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I always tend to go with
Laptops: Sony, Apple
Desktop: Dell, HP
Yeah, this iBook is more than four years old and still runs quite well. Never had major problems with it. It's specs are quite outdated compared to today's Apple laptops, though (especially the harddrive - it's only 30 GB). The battery is also pretty good. This is the original battery and still holds a 3-4 hour charge (depending on what I use it for).
I'll think about getting either a Dell or HP desktop. Definitely not another Compaq if this one only lasted for roughly three years.
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I'll think about getting either a Dell or HP desktop. Definitely not another Compaq if this one only lasted for roughly three years.
Compaq IS HP, by the way. ;)
(HP bought them out several years ago.)
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I'll think about getting either a Dell or HP desktop. Definitely not another Compaq if this one only lasted for roughly three years.
Compaq IS HP, by the way. ;)
(HP bought them out several years ago.)
Yes that is true. Compaq is the cheaper side, HP is the better quality, more expensive side.
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I'll think about getting either a Dell or HP desktop. Definitely not another Compaq if this one only lasted for roughly three years.
Compaq IS HP, by the way. ;)
(HP bought them out several years ago.)
Yes, but they still operate as seperate entities, sort of like TWC and NBC. there's a definite difference in quality between the two.
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YES, Apple owns in the laptop market FOR SURE. I don't know what I'd do without my little iBook.
Apple's notebooks have probably the most superior battery life of any notebook out there. I recently bought an original, Apple-branded charger to replace the one that broke back in early May. What a difference! Both of my batteries went from less than an hour battery life, to over 4 hours! and the batteries are over 4 years old! That's simply impressive.
One thing with notebooks is that people don't fully drain the battery before plugging in the AC adapter. I "callibrate" every time I use this computer, by letting the battery drain until the computer goes to sleep, before plugging it in. Never fails.
Apple pretty much owns the market in everything, but of course, there's a hefty price tag that comes with it. Bang for your buck though. My 1995 Power Mac 9500 is chugging along beautifully.
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Sorry I haven't been updating on you guys. I took my computer to the repair shop and it looks like Gary was right, the motherboard went bad. So I ordered a replacement computer last week (same model# as the old one). Hopefully I won't have this problem again. The harddrive is still good too, so I still have my files.
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On New Years Eve my computer got infected with Trojan.Virtumonde
I was able to get rid of it but dang its a pain to get rid of.
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I had the trojan wd32silly.dc as well but Norton got rid of it thank goodness.
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I reread my log file and found out that I had
Trojan.Vundo.H (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Trojan.Vundo (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Adware.Hotbar
Trojan.Agent
Rogue.Installer
Trojan.Downloader
Malware.Trace
Trojan.Seneka
Trojan.FakeAlert
All thanks to Trojan.Virtumonde (I never downloaded it. It downloaded by itself.)
I'm just glad that I got rid of all of that stuff.
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I reread my log file and found out that I had
Trojan.Vundo.H (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Trojan.Vundo (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Adware.Hotbar
Trojan.Agent
Rogue.Installer
Trojan.Downloader
Malware.Trace
Trojan.Seneka
Trojan.FakeAlert
All thanks to Trojan.Virtumonde (I never downloaded it. It downloaded by itself.)
I'm just glad that I got rid of all of that stuff.
Viruses don't download themselves. :no:
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I reread my log file and found out that I had
Trojan.Vundo.H (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Trojan.Vundo (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Adware.Hotbar
Trojan.Agent
Rogue.Installer
Trojan.Downloader
Malware.Trace
Trojan.Seneka
Trojan.FakeAlert
All thanks to Trojan.Virtumonde (I never downloaded it. It downloaded by itself.)
I'm just glad that I got rid of all of that stuff.
Viruses don't download themselves. :no:
Well I woke up that morning to see a bunch of spam pages and a Potentally Unwanted Program Warning Box initiated by my antivirus program. (I didn't do anything to make those pages come up.) And I couldn't do anything because it froze my computer (Crashed my computer).
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I reread my log file and found out that I had
Trojan.Vundo.H (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Trojan.Vundo (Trojan.Virtumonde)
Adware.Hotbar
Trojan.Agent
Rogue.Installer
Trojan.Downloader
Malware.Trace
Trojan.Seneka
Trojan.FakeAlert
All thanks to Trojan.Virtumonde (I never downloaded it. It downloaded by itself.)
I'm just glad that I got rid of all of that stuff.
Viruses don't download themselves. :no:
Well I woke up that morning to see a bunch of spam pages and a Potentally Unwanted Program Warning Box initiated by my antivirus program. (I didn't do anything to make those pages come up.) And I couldn't do anything because it froze my computer (Crashed my computer).
Whether you realize it or not, you DID do something to make those pages come up. You either visited a website that put a bug on your PC, or you downloaded something that put a bug on your PC.
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Now that I think of it.
I think it was a malicious website that came up when I clicked on a search result in google
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That's why I like McAfee, It has SiteAdvisor to protect my computer from those sites
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You can get SiteAdvisor for free online on McAfee's website. Then you can actually use an anti-virus software that is actually worth something like Norton or AVG.