Match

Hi Graham Normally this is associated with the removal of trojan or from a bad uninstall of some software, so can you tell us what AV you are using and what happened prior to or just before this started happening?

After just having to crawl around on the floor sorting out some plug sockets, This thought came to mind. Its Something I do as standard procedure to plugging a PC in. but just wondered how many other people think the same? I personally am happy using a Surge protected extension lead from the socket, so what do you use, if anything?

In some ways fortunately or unfortunately Windows XP is coming to the end of its life and so is fairly cheap. When buying an Operating system from Microsoft they have two liecence types OEM and Retail, the OEM can only be Installed on one Machine and generates a Checksum which it registers with microsoft, when it activates. and so is cheaper than the Retail The Retail does the same as The OEM but with a phone call to Microsoft can be re-activated on a different machine LINK TO XP HOME OEM Now for the above reasons of XP's age It might be worth while looking at Vista Vista System Requirements Again you have the same Licensing as XP (OEM and Retail) LINK TO VISTA OEM If you look around you may find them cheaper, but I was generally pointing you in the direction of what you need to be looking for.

I would say you have ether a Hard Drive that's just starting to fail, or a bad install of Vista, However its hard to check if you don't have the PC. If you have been having problems in moving/opening files strange noises slow to respond/lock ups, PC Freezing then a HDD failure is most likely the cause if not then I would say the problem is with the install of Vista becoming corrupt.

Thanks for that Feed back, I've made a note of that site ;)

Hi and Welcome Sam That's what we are here for :) if you want to know anything (other than how to turn your pc on, we assume you have worked that out already :)) just ask

OK just to clarify we understand what you are doing You are opening your emails from a MSN online account, clicking on a link in your email to open windows Internet Explorer and then the linked web page then you are saving the web page in Favourites and when you open Internet Explorer again the save web page has gone are you doing it as described HERE by clicking the STAR with The Green + to add to Favourites?

Hi Talisman Was this an add-on (Plug in) to fire fox? if so Tools/Add-ons and you should find it there highlight and uninstall. If not then this wont work

Hi talisman welcome wonder if you will think the same when you realise how mad we all are

This sounds like an impending drive failure, My advice is to get what you can off the drive to what ever you can and use it as little as possible, you will need a windows XP/Vista disk depending on Machine specifications and personal preference, ether an OEM disk that you should have with your machine or a Retail. and hopefully a spare Machine so we can advise you further :)

Well that narrows it down a lot, as in down to a component failure, or problem, as it is under warranty I think your best course of action is to return it, not what you wanted to here, as we all like to get our new toys and play with them not have to wait, :o

Hi sandmandan We all have to begin somewhere, and where better than somewhere there are answers to all the problems you can think of :)

Hi Bathroomboy To be totally honest 64bit or 32bit? well with what I have just read as I have no practical experience with 64 bit Vista I would seriously be thinking of giving it a try if I had 8 Gig of RAM and a copy handy. There's an Interesting review HERE and another HERE but to be totally honest again I don't have what you've got lying around and hopefully soon will be adding another 2 GIG of RAM to my system, which still won't make it worth my while buying the 64 Bit OS

Hi and welcome

by posting what I mean is does it go 'Beep' what happens when you turn the power on is all the fans should start up then the motherboard should run a quick diagnostic check, if all is ok then it should go 'Beep' if their is a problem then you should get a series of bleeps some long some short, (like Morse code) that can be used to diagnose where the problem is. :)

Hi Sandman first of is it posting? second what motherboard do you have? third is it under warranty? fourth have you checked that all the components are seated correctly and haven't come loose in transit?

Hi Paul OK then, Lets get this right, apart from all the other problems you've had you now have a PC that wont Boot. can you tell us how far it gets? do you get a 'Beep' then loads of post screens (Black and white text), then the Windows Vista loading screen before ether getting the log in, or desktop screen? (obviously you Don't get them all as it wont Boot) and could you tell us the model of the Machine. p.s. the bit about free copy of Vista cause XP SP3 wouldn't work I don't believe, something from Microsoft for free, that's got to be fiction and an engineer to install it I only have dreams about things like that ;)

Hi shrimply Get ready to kick yourself lol, as they say easy when you know how :) right click in the folder, should get a little menu box at the top view, move the mouse over it another little box at the bottom, Auto Arrange should have a little tick by it if not click on it and that should do it for you :)

Hi Zillah after reading through this thread and others posted on other forums, I think that some how your windows registry has been corrupted and rather than spend weeks and weeks trying to find a repair the easiest option would be to wipe the drive clean and start again with a fresh install of windows :( HERE is a link to Microsoft's support page on how to, please read it carefully, and I would advise printing it off before you commence this procedure

I know in post #5 you answered about CPU temps, but what do you class as load? I also know that is quite often the case that windows applications that read the bios temps have a % of error but by comparing what Bios reads to the application can give an accurate temperature. which brings me to the point of Temperature under load!! my version of under load is Both cores (Yes you have more but we wont talk about that) running at 100% in task manager (Transcoding Video is good), then monitor the temps A) to make sure that there is no more than a couple of degree's variance per single core B) to work out the average temp per single core And why I say this is that you have a core sitting at 14C that goes up to 28C sitting idle in bios (I take it that's where you are getting your readings from).

Hi Gaz from which site did you purchase Microsoft Office from? and do you also get an error code? ie "error 1402 could not open key" There is an article that I found on the Microsoft site that might be of relevance to your problem!! LINK HERE

Right then I think this is the clue can you tell us what security you had and how you (tried to) uninstall it. and could you tell us what version of Norton Security you are trying to install?

Hi Billy Silly question but has to be asked to make sure, but is there, and have you tried rebooting to make sure, and have you checked in your task manager to see what's going on. Failing that what AV are you using? How long has this been happening for?

Hey guys don't want to mention this but you seem to have Hijacked someone else's thread, think that if you would like to continue the defrag, solid state HDD's debate to a new thread, and maybe add a pole ;) Hi Dan I was going to suggest what Maynard already has done in post #9, just to be on the safe side.

Hi Cheffi I take it that this is a buffalo LinkStation that we are talking about, connected to your network with a RJ45 cable, How is it connected, to a PC, Network Media player, Router? and have you tried resetting it to start with? or turning the power off to it and then re-booting it. have you checked that the cable is ok plugged in properly?.