This is topic Yep, you've guessed it - another techincal problem, only this time it's for my sister in forum Officers' Lounge at Flare Sci-Fi Forums.


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Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
Briefly:

Sister got a laptop with Norton Antivirus on as standard.
Removed it in favour of McAfee, despite me telling her and my parents not to.
McAfee fucked up laptop royally - had to use all my basic skills just to get it off system.
Now MSN Messenger won't work on laptop, sister has tried downloading the latest version but it doesn't work.

Can anyone help fix this please or will she have to reformat and start again?

Oh yeah - any McAfee lovers out there - my parents put it onto their PC and had nothing but problems until they recently uninstalled it - now PC works OK - so [Razz]
 
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
 
Your simplest solution is to not use MSN messenger. Your second simplest solution is to use Trillian for all your IM needs. If neither of those is acceptable, I can't help ya.
 
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
 
Define "won't work," please. Your description is completely useless.
 
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
 
Didn't the system come with a restore disc of some type????

For the future get something similier to GoBack. Give it a GB or two of space and life is nice......

The striaght AV program is good, same with Norton, but either of the 'Total Control' packages are crap from what I've dealt with....
 
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
 
*Vader speak* Sssister. . ?
 
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
 
Define "won't work," please.

Also define "royally fucked up".
 
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
 
'Twas crowned and all....
 
Posted by Capped in Mike (Member # 709) on :
 
my dad did something similar against my advice and installed a bunch of crap on his laptop i warned him not to, royally the "fuck"ing things up.

you should try doing what i did: i told him he should listen to me, that his computer is fucked, and that i don't have time to fix it. then continue whatever it was you were doing.
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Charles Capps:
Define "won't work," please. Your description is completely useless.

OK - won't let her sign/log in to both Messenger and Hotmail. Yahoo - e-mail is OK, Messenger is also not allowing her to sign in.

My sister had searched for Trillian before, but spelt it with an "o" rather than an "a". [Roll Eyes] She will now download it and see how it turns out. However, she cannot even get into her HSBC on-line account. We guess Trillian won't fix that, any suggestions?

Omega - That's not very helpful! [Mad] [Razz]

Ritten - GoBack was an option, but it is too long ago for her to use it. "'Twas crowned and all...." - ROFLMFAO! [Big Grin]

Lee - ROFLMFAO! [Big Grin]

Cartman - "Royally fucked up" - means laptop froze, couldn't log in and had to use safe mode, that sort of thing - that you encounter every day with this wonderful thing called "technology" that some twat put together wrong. [Big Grin]

Capped in Mike - ROFLMFAO! [Big Grin] Sorry, but it's the way that you say it - give up your day job and become a comedian! [Big Grin]
 
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
 
Sounds like you need to do the following:

A: Post some pictures of your sister here along with her messenger handle. Really, she won't mind and it is really, really important.

2: Do that installing the Trillian thing.

III: Find other non MS "solutions" to your computer and Intraweb needs.
 
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
"'Royally fucked up' - means laptop froze, couldn't log in and had to use safe mode, that sort of thing - that you encounter every day with this wonderful thing called 'technology' that some twat put together wrong."

More often, the problem with technology is that some twat used it wrong.
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by TSN:
"'Royally fucked up' - means laptop froze, couldn't log in and had to use safe mode, that sort of thing - that you encounter every day with this wonderful thing called 'technology' that some twat put together wrong."

More often, the problem with technology is that some twat used it wrong.

[Razz] HEY! I never said that I was a genius when it came to computers! Provided it allows me to access the Net to ask you lot for advice, receive abuse and have a damned good laugh and play games, I'm happy. [Razz] [Big Grin] [Big Grin]
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Toadkiller:
Sounds like you need to do the following:

A: Post some pictures of your sister here along with her messenger handle. Really, she won't mind and it is really, really important.

No - she ugly! [Big Grin] [Razz]


quote:
III: Find other non MS "solutions" to your computer and Intraweb needs.
Such as? [Confused]
 
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 




Trillian is nice, but I personally find it a bit clumsy. I use Miranda IM, but it's very very basic and slightly buggy, so perhaps not suited for little sisters. I don't really have any problems with MSN, as long as you turn off those annoying sounds and get rid of the Action Bars (or whatever the countless useless toolbars are called today).
 
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
 
Get a Mac. What? Oh... Helpful. Riiiight.

What are other people's experiences with McAfee AV? My dad is thinking of getting a new one, but his buggy-ass system seems like it's always throwing messages insisting he renew his subscription, etc. OTOH he hasn't had any virus problems. I use Norton on my PCs, but that's mostly because I had it and it was easy.
 
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
 
quote:
won't let her sign/log in
That is equally as useless of a description of the problem.

What, exactly, is the nature of the problem?

What, exactly, is happening?
 
Posted by Pensive's Left testes for mayor... (Member # 1203) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Charles Capps:
quote:
won't let her sign/log in
That is equally as useless of a description of the problem.

What, exactly, is the nature of the problem?

What, exactly, is happening?

Technology: It works for midgets, vibrators and midgits with vibrators...

everthing else is Porn. *goes back to playing NWN*
 
Posted by Tora Ziyal (Member # 53) on :
 
Mmm...vibrators.
 
Posted by Nim the Merciful (Member # 205) on :
 
Oh great.
 
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
 
Goal. Open. Wide.

PRESSURE.
 
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
 
... what?
 
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Balaam Xumucane:
What are other people's experiences with McAfee AV?

My computer came with a year subscription of McAfee when I bought it. So far I have no complaints. It'll pop up to notify me if found a trojan or something and deleted it instead of finding things only when I start a scan. A friend of mine has also used it with no complaints.

I would recommend it over Norton. For whatever my recommendations are worth. [Roll Eyes]
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Charles Capps:
quote:
won't let her sign/log in
That is equally as useless of a description of the problem.

What, exactly, is the nature of the problem?

What, exactly, is happening?

MSN Messenger - type in password & username - get message that Net Passport service cannot be accessed.

Yahoo! Messenger - password & username - during signing in, smilie face is rotating and then stops and the application returns to the idle status.
 
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
 
That implies that there's something blocking the communication. If there's a firewall package in use, it may have been instructed to deny access to those programs.
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
Nope, sister doesn't have a firewall on her laptop. Could it be that her security settings have been altered? If so, which one's should she change and to what? [Big Grin]
 
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
 
She's got a firewall package if she's running XP.
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Omega:
She's got a firewall package if she's running XP.

She has!?! [Eek!] [Confused]

Fuck me! I didn't know that! So how do we stop it from blocking her software?
 
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
 
Read me. Now.
 
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
 
I have never had any "installed" AV software. At least not these "Do it all - mess up everything" solutions from Norten/McAffee. And my system runs perfectly.
 
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
 
Downgrade to Win95......
 
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ritten:
For the future get something similier to GoBack. Give it a GB or two of space and life is nice......

Hmm. Something that "restores" your "system". Super brilliant idea, dudes. Well done for being the first to think of it.

Anyway, I've just tried installing McAfee on someone's computer, and it did indeed fuckup, although it worked fine on mine. We found a newer version of Norton, put that on, and discovered that the computer had a couple of viruses on. So maybe they were the problem, I dunno.

But yeah, turn off the Windows firewall, and download Zonealarm. And you should probably do one of those registry cleanups too. I bet there's a billion and one things loading up at startup, and I hate that. Hate it hate it hate it.
 
Posted by Nim the Merciful (Member # 205) on :
 
Nothing says "Mmmm.." like Qttask, Realplayer Start-center and 'Weather-Temperature'!!!
 
Posted by Nim the Plentiful (Member # 205) on :
 
This I think pertains to some of the denizens with itchy fingers here. Also, it made me think of U, psy. N-Joi! ^__^
 
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
I am not obsessed about stuff like that. It's just after fixing the third unpatched PC infected with that blaster.worm thing I started to get a little bit edgy about stuff like that.
 
Posted by Tora Ziyal (Member # 53) on :
 
Zone Alarm is a major memory hog if you keep it running for long periods at a time. Of course, I ran into major slowdowns with it only because my brother had wanted me to keep my computer on 24/7 so he can remote-access it and download stuff his school firewall wouldn't let him download. Now I just use a router.
 
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
 
In recent days, I've actually switched to Sygate from ZoneAlarm, due to the memory and CPU use mentioned...
 
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
 
If you're that jittery about security, then for the love of Bill, buy a hardware firewall/router. Don't ever trust any resource-sucking software package to protect your b0xx0r against a truly determined h4xx0r, because it won't.

(Not that a haxx0r skilled enough to bypass ZoneAlarm would ever target you either, BUT IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS.)
 
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
Actually, I've been meaning to ask that. When we got broadband in our house last month, we decided to make a wireless network. So we got a wireless router and set it up, WPA and all that. Do we actually need software firewalls running on the computers if we have a hardware one?
 
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
 
If you have a default server set up within your router (all ports are mapped by default to one PC), than that PC recieves all the crap the internet throws at you. If there's no defserver, unaddressed* packets to ports not explicitly mapped are discarded.

* Probably not true, but it's summer, and I don't want to get out my Computer Networks book right now.
 
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
I don't think there's a default server. One computer is plugged directly in to the router, but that's just because that was required when setting it up, and seeing as the cable modem is right next to his computer, it makes sense. He's taken his computer away for the summer, and the network still works.
 
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
 
You might have a DMZ instead of a default computer.

Usually, the only benefit of a software firewall, is that it blocks unwanted *outgoing* information because any decent hardware one should be able to handle incoming information.

That way you can detect certain types of adware, malware, trojans, etc.
 
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
Ahh. Well, assuming that the people using the network are intelligent enough not to download spyware, all have Windows fully patched, all know that any emails saying "HERE IS TEH FILE U WANTED!" are no-go areas, and all run Ad-Aware/Pest Patrol/Spy-Bot once a month, I take it that none of them really need a software firewall then?
 
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
How can we find those people, and make sure they're the only ones allowed to use computers?
 
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
 
We round up all the people dumb enough to have ever let their computers be infected like that. And then we shoot them. Evolution will thank us for it.
 
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by PsyLiam:
Ahh. Well, assuming that the people using the network are intelligent enough not to download spyware, all have Windows fully patched, all know that any emails saying "HERE IS TEH FILE U WANTED!" are no-go areas, and all run Ad-Aware/Pest Patrol/Spy-Bot once a month, I take it that none of them really need a software firewall then?

Not so much.

You might want to add/run anti-virus software as well.

Mind you, if you already have software firewalls, it doesn't hurt to keep them around, so any virus that does get into the network has a harder time spreading.
 
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
We haven't actually got around to setting up a network, as such. Well, I tried briefly, but my computer refused to recognise someone elses, even thought they were both running XP Pro and stuff. I gave up trying to figure out the problem after about 5 minutes though, because I couldn't be bothered.

I've installed Norton on everyone's computers anyway. It's not set to continually scan. Rather I told them to do a thorough scan about once a month.
 
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
 
Can you really trust all your roomies to heed what you say, though?
 
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
 
At washing the dishes, no. At this, yes.
 
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
 
Computers are more important than dishes, even alphabetically....
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by PsyLiam:
At washing the dishes, no. At this, yes.

ROFLMFAO! [Big Grin] [Roll Eyes]

Sounds just like my sister and parents! Well, my parents do the washing up and stuff (sister doesn't), but none of them listen when it comes to the PC.

Sigh.
 
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
 
"Sounds just like my sister and parents!"

Except, exactly the opposite.
 
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by TSN:
"Sounds just like my sister and parents!"

Except, exactly the opposite.

Yep, that's what I meant to say but I chose the long version. So sue me! [Razz] [Big Grin]
 


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