Plastic Nev

Hi and welcome Laura, although I am on staff, I am probably the least qualified but still get by mainly from personal experience. However you will find much here to learn, even quite few good short cuts that were never written in any manuals. Nev.

Just to add an explanation here, a quite common default setting is for the BIOS to look for an operating system on the CD/DVD drives first, if empty, then it goes to the hard drive. If any disk is in any drive at that time, the BIOS will see it, recognise it is not a bootable disk, so sometimes will stop dead at that point, especially after a shut down due to anything other than a normal user shutdown. So if possible always remove any disks, preferably before shutting down, or when the system forces a shut down, remove them before attempting a re-start. Once everything is OK, it pays to go to the BIOS and change the boot order to Hard drive first. It is only when either installing a new operating system, or performing a repair of the operating system, that the CD/DVD drives need to be selected as first choice. For the moment, Frank may well be right, a good clean out of dust may be all that is needed, it is surprising how it can build up and stop the cooling air flow. Nev.

If it is of any comfort, I have had three friends recently suffered the same problem, but in their case it was via MSN, Hotmail, or as it is now Windows Live mail. In all cases following the same advice as from BeeCeeBee, and at least changing your password, stopped it all. Nev.

Hi,I do agree there may be a malware issue here, so rather than post everything here, go to this page= http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/malware-infection-removal/10689-before-posting-malware-removal-help.html Follow all of Starbucks instructions, it may help to print them off first, then post the logs as instructed in this forum section= Malware Infection Removal - Computer Support Forums - FreePCHelp.co.uk One of our security guys will help from then on. Best of luck with it all, Nev.

Hi, sort of reading between the lines, and also taking into consideration that you have had others tell you it is the hard drive, though you have managed to get it working for a while in the past, I am thinking the reason for the installation or repair of the operating system not going forward is because the hard drive has finally failed altogether. If you can answer Franks questions, and if possible to go any further, that will confirm the hard drive to either be OK or failed. Nev.

One thing I think I can pick out of this is the statement "My registry is clean" Have you used a registry cleaner of any type? If so that could be the source of the problem, we never ever recommend the use of registry cleaners as they can cause more damage than they can ever put right. Let us know if you have used a registry cleaner and which one. Also have you used any other antivirus or general antimalware programs as well as AVG? if so also let us know please and which ones you have used. That will help us to diagnose things further. Nev.

Hi, this does sound like even the semi working card has a problem, the only real way to be sure is to install a different and known to be OK card, if that works OK then there must be something damaged on the original card. Liquid spills into any electronics is always bad news as so many things can be damaged, but still seem to be working till something else is asked of it. You are lucky to be able to have got the main computer to work OK. Nev.

Hi and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help. Touch screen technology is still fairly new and it has brought some odd problems with it and I suspect this is related to it. I know very little about the touch screen and haven't even had chance to try one yet, but can it be turned off so that you are back to the old methods of keyboard and mouse? If so does the mouse pointer still keep vanishing? Hopefully one of our weekday members may know more. Nev.

Here is something to think about Isaiah, birthdays are good for you, the more you have, then the longer you live.

Thanks for letting us know and your problem is solved. Nev.

Hi, at this point will Malwarebytes run now or not? Also try installing Superantispyware and see if that will run also. Get Superantispyware from here click the red free edition button. SUPERAntiSpyware.com | Remove Malware | Remove Spyware - AntiMalware, AntiSpyware, AntiAdware! If neither will run it suggests malware is preventing those programs from running. Do you get any pop up windows telling you to run their versions of antivirus, and asking for cash? If so you definitely have malware and I suggest looking in our malware removal section for further help. Nev.

Hi, as Synapse said, it depends on the type of shutdown you do, if just sending to sleep mode, the sytem will start up again and record events for all sorts of reasons but the usual one is the wake on LAN. Ideally the shutdown should be a full one, OK it means waiting for the boot up when re-started, but is safer, and actually does the system good. Plus of course you can then turn off the power till you need it again, saving on your electric bill. Nev.

The biggest clue to your problems is in the statement you run registry cleaners. Please please stay away from them, regardless of what the program vendor says, there is no such thing as a good registry cleaner. What is also important is the fact that the registry in itself will not slow the system just because there may well be many odd useless files in it. Windows knows to skip them and ignore whatever is in the dead or orphaned file. Companies and organisations who tout registry cleaners are to my mind legalised scammers, taking your cash for something that is of little or no use, and more likely to destroy your registry by removing needed files. Next thing is to think seriously about upgrading to Windows 7 rather than Vista, a lot of us feel Vista was at best a trial version that didn't work very well or at least a prototype for Windows 7. So, even if you stick with the idea of going Vista, you will certainly need more RAM and 1Gb is only basic for it to run well. If your motherboard will take 3GB or more go for the most you can afford. However also weigh up the processor before even buying that RAM, the modern quad cored processors are much better able to handle Vista or W7. Ask yourself can you afford to upgrade the processor as well? and will the motherboard support that extra processor power? What about the graphics? do you have a separate card in, and if so is that good enough? If going to go for bigger and better, you may need to upgrade the power supply to run it. You may well find too many shortcomings elsewhere in the system, you don't say how big the hard drive is for example, although not necessary to run Vista or W7, if it is only say 80 or 120 GB it may be getting full so a larger drive may be a good idea. It all adds up, and you may well be better off buying a new machine in the end. At the top gaming end of the market even, new desktops are getting cheaper yet more powerful all the time. In fact some laptops are beginning to see decent performance on gaming. Nev.

What happens if you try to turn that slider control down to the next level? that is where you want it for installing most things anyway. The message itself says that one or more settings are too high. Also there are quite a few messages there about problems in the maintenance section, but the open window is obscuring them. Have you tried anything to resolve those problems? Also there may be more problems showing in the security section. I am pretty sure something is not correctly set, so some item in security is stopping your downloads from installing. Nev.

Indeed system folders are protected by that fashion in Windows 7. A good thing really as it prevents accidental deletion, and better prevents the damage that could be done by those not fully aware that those folders and files are there to ensure the system works correctly. I hold my hand up and say "Yes, in the early days, I did that once in XP". It meant a full reinstall to get back up and running again. Gaining ownership of those files may be a long winded process, but again it prevents the wrong thing being done by the raw beginner. Nev.

Rather than an edit I will make this a fresh post, I now see you have posted regarding changing the use of a key, have you by any chance done any of that? If so I reckon a system restore to a time before you did that, should be an answer to undo it. Nev.

Hi Bob, I know you are running windows7 so we need to get your computer to not re-boot so we can see what message comes up to give us a clue what is wrong. Click "Start" then right click "Computer", on the left hand side click on "Advanced System Settings" this should open System Properties. You can get to here from control panel as well, however click on the "Advanced" Tab then in the "Startup and recovery box" click "settings", In "System Failure", untick "Automatically restart". Then click the OK at the bottom and leave the system running or do a restart, it shouldn't matter, but next time it shuts down, instead of re-booting, it hopefully will give a display with the error code. Let us know what that code number is please. Nev.

It has come to my notice that folk are finding themselves infected through hidden malware on photo's, pictures or other web based images. It is happening due to a facility within Internet Explorer where a member of certain types of forum, not necessarily not innocent ones, as this happens with quit ordinary types of forum that will accept an image. Quite simply, you go to say Google images, find an image you wish to share with others on the chosen forum. A right click on the image, choose "Copy", got to your forum and simply paste into the reply box. The image is shown in the reply box and subsequently on the forum page once the reply is posted. OK if the original image is a safe one, not so if there is malware hidden within the images code. The malware is transferred to your clipboard during the copy process, and it then installs itself on your machine. even though the image will be deleted when the clipboard is used for another copy, it is too late, the malware is in. This can be done with greater safety if the copy is done using the "Save Image As" facility is used, especially if using Firefox instead of Internet explorer. The "save image as" facility does mean the image will be on your computer, but if configured correctly it will be scanned by your antivirus software before it is accepted.

Having now lost that little crystal in a can, things may not be easy. The important detail, the frequency at which it works, may have been written on the side, it is vitally important that a replacement is the same. One from a different make of memory stick will only be likely to be the same providing exactly the same chips and chip numbers match. Without buying a lot and taking them all apart it is not something you can find out easily. Just hope you can buy a perfect match to the damaged one. Once you have got that far though it should be possible to obtain a replacement crystal oscillator canister, so you will then have two working sticks. Replacement though is a fine art of small soldering technique, not to be undertaken by any one with the tremors. Nev.

Hi, from what you say it is the laptop keyboard itself and is possibly the space bar button broken, it can only be repaired by a new board if that is the case. Providing you have all the details of the make and model number plus the Dell service tag number you should be able to buy a replacement keyboard from Dell. It is likely to be a fiddly job to replace it though. If not sure about doing it yourself, try a local repair shop that has a good reputation. Nev.

I do agree Synapse, Epson do seem to be poor value even in the days of XP. The only manufacturer whose cartridges cannot be refilled being one of many complaints I have seen. Nev

Nice one Kev. For any one else reading this thread, you do need to have Microsoft Office 2010 installed first. For folk like me who don't want to pay for that, Windows live is a good alternative E Mail system that will also incorporate Hotmail within it along with your ISP based E Mail. Nev.

A slight puzzler here in your first post you say you connected with a 3.3mm jack, do you mean an ordinary jack plug into the sound out from your computer? If so that is why it doesn't work, if however you have connected via a USB socket and lead it should. Nev.

I must warn you that the old copy of Windows XP you have, if that has already been installed to another computer previously, it is not legal if that copy is an OEM version. It will not validate either. I would first follow Dalo's advice and completely reformat the drive, then obtain a copy of Windows, I would go for W7 myself, your choice, but a fully legal new copy via an authorised dealer and start again. Nev.

As Dalo said, a lot of times it can be the RAM or memory faulty, have you at any time installed any extra RAM? If so remove it and see if any change. Nev.