xbrianx

Hey, sorry for the delay in responding. I've been kind of busy with school, all the hype about getting accepted to a college, and just general laziness. I hope this is enough information. Here are the laptop specs(everything is stock): Processor: AMD Turion 64 Mobile MK-38 Core Speed: 2.2GHz(1 core) Motherboard: Acer Navarro RAM: 1GB DDR2(Weird, because when I first got it, CCleaner said I only had 768MB ) Slot 1 and 2 are 2 512MB PC2-5300(333MHz) sticks Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 Desktop(Upgraded RAM to 1GB): Processor: Pentium 4 Core Speed: 2.99MHz(1 Core, 2 Threads) Motherboard: Intel i925x RAM: 1GB DDR2 Slot 1: 256 MB, PC2-3200(200MHz) Slot 2: 512 MB, PC2-4300(266MHz) Slot 3: 256 MB, PC2- 3200 Windows XP Home SP3 In the Desktop, the standard sticks were the 2 256MB in Slot 1 and 3. And, just to reiterate myself, I'm trying to find out if I could just remove all the sticks in either computer(or both) and just replace them with 2 2GB sticks. I'm not sure about the maximum RAM the laptop motherboard can hold though. Thanks.

I have been thinking about upgrading my desktop RAM(1GB, 2x512MB) and my laptop(1GB, not sure about the sticks), but I would rather remove the old RAM and use 2 or less new sticks. I know that when I upgraded my desktop, I had to figure out the placement on the motherboard for the best results and how much it could handle. I also had to match the MHz speed(clocking speed?). However, if I were to buy 2 2GB sticks, do I need to match the previous MHz speeds and placement? Also, the same thing about the laptop, but I have not figured out the speeds, placement or anything yet.

I'll be 18 on this day next month!!!

I recently had it updated(I don't come here that often anymore ) It updated fine for me, but I disabled the search bar that was added to the bottom of Firefox. But, then the next day, my mom got on and it updated for her and about 10 minutes later she calls me in here to show me how slow pages were loading. I checked the speed and the download speed was at a crawl, while the upload was pretty much the same. I disabled the SiteAdvisor add-on, restarted Firefox, and then everything loaded perfectly. However, I haven't noticed any speed changes for me with it still enabled.. I don't use IE at all and the new process, McSACore.exe, is only using 5, 116K on my system. I'd rather not have another process though...

Great, I'm sure mom has been getting Christmas cards in her email.

Oh, no, it's fine. I'm just not big on downloading many programs.

Thanks for that program, but isn't MSConfig okay for disabling entries too? I'm going through that list now, and it looks like I can disable the jusched, motivesb, and the ATI control panel. Thanks.

Is it normal to have many processes when you first turn on your computer? I normally have about 47 at first, then it goes down to 42. It would be slightly less, but I just installed Avast! and I have a few extra processes running. I was wondering if anyone could help me clean up some of the Startup entries and maybe Services. I've been Googling some of these all morning, but I don't feel comfortable following some of the sites and user's suggestions. I only have 15 Startup entries: smax4pnp jusched iaanotif atiptaxx sgtray tfswctrl regshave aoldial aolsoftware motivesb ashdish digital line detect netgear wpn(wireless card name) tabuserw.exe adobe gamma I know atiptaxx is for the ATI Control Panel, but I've disabled the icon from the tray since day one. I don't ever remember using it, so I think it's safe to disable? Also, the MotiveSB is from Verizon DSL, but I'm now using Comcast Wireless. The two AOL entries are from some stupid update that it made me install, and now I have an AOL icon on my System Tray. It's gray when I'm not connected to the internet, and blue when I am. I don't use AOL, can I disable those two too? Thanks.

Oh, okay. I didn't really notice a real-time protection in the AVG AV, or at least not as many options to set it up.

Is there a way to disable the real-time protection from Avast? I just want a scanner. EDIT: Nevermind, I found it. I disabled: Instant Messaging-I use Meebo.com and don't transfer files Internet Mail- I trust Gmail's scanner and the only files I ever receive are the ones I send to myself to save. Outlook/Exchange- Don't use it P2P Shield- Don't use P2P either. I guess the Network, Standard, and Web shields are good... or are they really needed? Also, does anyone use the VRDB thing? I'm running a "thorough" scan right now. I guess it's pretty good so far, it detected AdWare that was removed with HiJack This and it found it in a restore point. Was it a good thing to just move it to the chest? Or should I delete it? I used to always move the infections(I haven't had many, this is probably the first in a year or so) into the quarantine. I need to remove some more processes, theres 44 running right now

Oh, thanks, but I've already deleted it. I'll go remove the left over files though.

Well, I guess I won't even bother deleting Spybot and try to install then, since the message I got didn't allow me to install anyways and it was really specific. It included things like(not word for word, but it did have the Ewido name) "AVG Version 8 can't install because there are already Ewido Anti-virus or Anti-Spyware programs installed." It also said something about removing Anti-Spyware, since AVG 8 comes with it or something. Thanks, I'll try Avast. Should I just reinstall the old Anti-Spyware, if there will be updates still? Or, would just Spybot be fine?

How did you remove it? Did you just pull it out of the USB port? I had similar problems like this on my Computer Art class' eMacs(Apple). When I would drag a file to the folder, then remove the drive, it'd give me an error saying that the file was either corrupted or didn't save properly. I found out that I need to drag the drive icon to the Trashcan, then remove it. Maybe you have to "Safely Remove" it? Worth a try I suppose. Check out NewEgg.com. I bought a 4GB drive for only a few bucks when I saw other, popular, stores have them for close to $100. I've also heard a lot of good things about the site when it comes to returning items.

I just downloaded the Free AVG 8 program. I was originally using AVG Anti-Virus 7.5 and AVG Anti-Spyware. When I went to install, thinking it'd be like CCleaner, it told me it couldn't install because of previous AVG programs still installed. So, I uninstalled the AV, and rebooted, and still got the same message. I uninstalled the AS, rebooted, and still got the error. There aren't any other AVG programs installed on here, or any other Anti-virus/spyware program aside from Spybot. Is there a problem for anyone else or did I do anything wrong? Should I just re-download AVG Anti-spyware, keep Spybot, and just get a new Anti-virus? Thanks.

Ah, I didn't notice that; must read more careful next time. Yes, me too.

Here's the download site: http://safariadblock.sourceforge.net/ and heres a review(read the comments): http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/12/16/sa...-for-me-please/ Yeah, I hope so too. I'd rather not have to buy Vista, then another OS.

Oh, okay. I really wanted to like it. : I noticed it didn't have an ad-blocker when Myspace had their ads on just about every side of the page. I Googled for Ad-Block on Safari and I read that it isn't nowhere near as good as the one for Firefox, so I didn't even try it. Yeah, I hate Vista. I got a desktop with XP and a laptop with Vista... and wooooooooooo, big difference. The sidebar actually bugs me and has been disabled since I got it and getting asked if I want to run a program every time is quite annoying.

I noticed Safari 3 is out for PC now. I like the simplicity of the standard theme and pretty much everything else that comes with it. My question is, though, is it as secure as Firefox? I've done research on the speed and it turns out to be faster than Firefox 3 Beta, and older, in many areas. It blocks pop-ups and 3rd party cookies as well. It has tabs and spellchecker too. I am using it on a laptop and so far, it's nice. I like it. Anyone use Safari for PC? Somehow, using Safari makes me want a Mac even more.

Instead of getting a new fan right away, could I just try to clean the other one with compressed air, or is the dust in a hard-to-reach spot now? I got a replacement fan from Dell not too long ago, I think last Christmas. Thanks.

I posted something about this in the Spyware section, to see if any spyware or viruses were causing this, but I'm assuming it's not since I didn't get a response and AVG and Spybot haven't detected anything. The problem is, one of the fans, I'm assuming CPU fan, gets a bit louder when I load programs... which has never happened before. Generally, my fan is really quiet and will only get louder when I'm running over 50% CPU usage. Which, in this case, my CPU usage goes back and forth(unstable, I might add) 0%-5%, sometimes up to 20% depending on what I'm doing. Say, when I go to check my DeviantART messages and open up two tabs from there, along with Meebo.com, Gmail, and Myspace open in tabs, the fan will spark up a little louder then get quiet again. Same thing when I load a few other sites. My CPU temperature, according to SpeedFan is 33C, which is how it's always been. I've Defragged, used Disk Cleanup and CCleaner multiple times. I clean out my Temp and Recent Document folders everyday. This began when I had to unplug everything while the room was having the carpet taken up. While it was unplugged, I took the opportunity to clean it and part of the inside. I didn't touch anything on the inside, I just blew some of the dust off with my mouth. I plugged it back up and started using, and then I noticed the fan noises occasionally and sometimes the Hard drives makes a noise when I use Disk Cleanup(which I've never heard the noise from it before, only on my External Hard drive when I add stuff). Could something be off-balance or crooked? That's the only thing I can come up with as to why it's louder, I mean, nothing else has happened and it didn't start until I plugged everything back up. Oh, and to add another irritating problem, Firefox keeps getting script errors and needs to close. It happens usually on Myspace band sites, when they have many videos and pictures on their profile. Could I need to update one of the plug-ins, since I also get something about "The plug-in has performed an illegal action, it is strongly recommended you close and restart Firefox"(or similar)? Thanks.

It's working now. It started working again last week/ beginning of this week. I just forgot to post

Thanks David and Hazelnut. Big_Al moved my thread to the right section and asked if I tried manually updating and if my 30 day trial has run out. It has been off of the 30 day trial for months now and I've been manual updating for a long time. I just downloaded the "last 2-3 day signatures" and installed them twice, but it still says I haven't updated since 12/3/07.

I haven't been able to update my free AVG Anti-Spyware due to similar things like "Error: Failed to send receive data: 0". It has been like this since 12/3/07, with no updates. It's getting really irritating, considering almost everyday while I'm away from the computer doing things around the house, I run an AVG scan after I update everyday. I Googled for similar problems and most people said that it started working again. I also found on the "wildersecurity" forums that AVG Anti-Spyware may be "neglected" because a new AVG8 suite is coming out, with everything. Anyone else having this problem?

Same here

Check out the HijackThis analysis section and post a log in there. I'm sure RRidgley can help you.