Reintsall AOL 8 fixes problem??

I think my PC is sick, it often refuses to boot and it being a real nightmare.
However today, for the second time, reinstalling AOL 8 seemed to fix the boot
up problem (I only tried this as eventually when it did boot the broadband
connection wasn't there).

Anyone else found this or know why?

(No AOL-bashing please - I know I'm a sucker already!)

Tom

> I think my PC is sick, it often refuses to boot and it being a real nightmare.

I recently got the job of helping one of the lads in work fix his PC - it
was almost a completely bare install (<1.5Gb in total on that partition)
but it was taking him over *SIX HOURS* to boot, with the HD thrashing
constantly as it went.

It was infested with spyware, and spybot restored it to normal
functionality within seconds when we finally managed to restore a backup
of his damaged registry. Gator was the primary culprit, and it had
allowed some other crap to get in too.

http://security.kolla.de

There are several download mirrors, and if one fails to work, simply
reload the page and try again.

When it`s downloaded, install and run it. It will warn that some programs
may stop working if they depended on spyware, but if they were spying on
you, you don`t want them on your system to bloody start with !

Hit the "online" tab to the bottom left, and check for updates - download
the includes and the updated help files.

Go to the "tools" tab on the left, and select the "hosts" option -
download the S&D hosts file - that will redirect known malicious
advertisers to a dummy address on your own PC, so they can`t do anything
nasty.

Go to the Spybot tab at the top - there are 3 icons - select immunize,
and hit the "immumize now" button in the main pane. This will close down
even more ways your machine could be infested with crap.

Finally, hit the Spybot S&D icon, then "scan now" (the link is down the
bottom). It will scan approx 8000 trojans / known spyware, and anything
particularly nasty will automatically be ticked. Other methods of
tracking may be found but not ticked - don`t worry about them.

When it`s finished it`s scan, hit "fix selected problems now"

I would recommend running it every month or two, after doing an update -
and remember to check the "immunise" option, as more can be added.

This may not fix your problem, but it won`t do you any harm :-)

>This may not fix your problem, but it won`t do you any harm :-)
>

Hello Colin,

That sounds very useful indeed, I'll give that a go. Many thanks for your
reply. My PC's been driving me up the wall recently, and as I record music on
here, I'm worried about losing stuff. I need to get it running well again, then
buy a big backup drive.

Cheers,

Tom

> I need to get it running well again, then buy a big backup drive.

If you were looking for a "simple" solution, I can highly recommend
Liteon CD writers (i`m using a "TX" branded Liteon drive and it`s
fantastic), and I don`t think i`ve ever found anyone with a bad word to
say about this place:

www.121cdr.co.uk *

(also known as SVP Communications or www.blankdiscshop.co.uk)

I`ve used them for a couple of years now for both blank CDRs and
hardware, and never had any problems - it`s also worth signing up for
their "offers" email, as they do 99p shipping offers on orders over £30
regularly for "buyers club" members.

Their website can look a bit basic, and they use of a third-party payment
service (which can be off-putting) but it`s all legit.

* sorry for the advert, purely unintentional, i`m not affiliated with
them in any way other than being a happy customer !