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Aarg... computer help please.

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Old 11-01-2012, 12:28 AM
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Aarg... computer help please.

Vista Home on my laptop. Often, when I click on the Favorite link, nothing. Hit Escape a couple times, most time it frees up and I can get into my Favorite links. I have tried deleting some links, reset and deleting cookies & saved links. No cure. Any thing else I can try?

Thanks.
Old 11-01-2012, 12:34 AM
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Egg way to technical to walk you through, have someone look at it.
Old 11-01-2012, 01:05 AM
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ok. any hint where to look for and I will try? I Googled and no luck.
Old 11-01-2012, 01:40 AM
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try resetting internet explorer, disabling add-ons, running IE in no-add-on mode to see if the problem still exists. Also this may be one sign of many of a failing hard drive especially if you're running a vista aged PC. is this the only issue you're having with your PC or is it slow to load webpages, launch apps and respond to your mouse clicks and keyboard presses?
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Old 11-01-2012, 05:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Eggplant-EX
Vista....
Let me stop you right there....
Old 11-01-2012, 11:10 AM
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Windows 8 mofo!
Old 11-01-2012, 11:17 AM
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Osx!
Old 11-01-2012, 03:16 PM
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Originally Posted by #1 STUNNA
try resetting internet explorer, disabling add-ons, running IE in no-add-on mode to see if the problem still exists. Also this may be one sign of many of a failing hard drive especially if you're running a vista aged PC. is this the only issue you're having with your PC or is it slow to load webpages, launch apps and respond to your mouse clicks and keyboard presses?
yup! So far this is it. It is an older laptop. If it truly is the hard drive, I may consider buying a new hard drive for it since it will be nice to have as a spare. I guess I should also back this up too....

FML!!
Old 11-01-2012, 05:00 PM
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Well if you have data on it that you want to save then you better back it up now before it dies. It's NOT going to get better it will only get worse, the clock is ticking....

Depending on how bad it is it might be clonable which only takes a few hours and is relatively hands-off process (so should be cheaper labor wise). But usually in my experience performance has to be REALLY bad for a normal user (you) to speak up about it and if it is that bad it's probably best not to clone the failing drive.

I got two PCs right now with bad hard drives (I've had six in the past two months) and one they waited until the drive was so dead that computer didn't even know it was plugged in and the other won't even finish booting up. They just keep using it and not saying anything to anyone until it's too late.

Last edited by #1 STUNNA; 11-01-2012 at 05:02 PM.
Old 11-01-2012, 05:17 PM
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Someone?? Does Vista have the W7 harddrive testing software in it?
Old 11-01-2012, 05:20 PM
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Check disk? Yes. 7 has a memory diagnostic built-in, so does Vista
Old 11-01-2012, 11:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Eggplant-EX
Vista Home on my laptop. Often, when I click on the Favorite link, nothing. Hit Escape a couple times, most time it frees up and I can get into my Favorite links. I have tried deleting some links, reset and deleting cookies & saved links. No cure. Any thing else I can try?

Thanks.
This is IE? If so, what version? If you don't have IE9 installed, try it and see if the issue goes away.

Do you have Vista Service Pack 2 installed?

What IE add ons are installed? Try resetting IE:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923737
Old 11-03-2012, 01:40 AM
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yes to all of the above. I may try IE 8 this weekend and see if that changes anything.
Old 11-03-2012, 01:57 AM
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Old 11-03-2012, 04:37 PM
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Anything but IE
Old 11-03-2012, 07:12 PM
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perform a disk health check and get a SMART utility to check for any values that are abnormal. If the drive checks out and SMART shows no abnormalities, then do the following:

1. Schedule a disk check and have it check for bad sectors and come back about 2 hours later

2. Clean up IE settings (delete temp files and whatnot)
3. Disk Cleanup
4. defrag hdd
Old 11-03-2012, 09:15 PM
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ok.. thanks...
Old 11-03-2012, 09:26 PM
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If your only issue is with IE favorites, highly doubt it's a bad hard drive/file system..
Old 11-03-2012, 10:25 PM
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^ hdd in the laptop is creeping up on 3.5 years old (if you use RTM date for Win 7) and it would not be too far fetched to see a drive failure at this time......

Also when troubleshooting pausing issues like that, you have to rule out the physical media first...
Old 11-04-2012, 09:25 AM
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If it's hard drive related it may be logged in the event viewer.

Start > search for Event Viewer > Administrative Events

disk errors will show up under "ntfs" or "disk". HDs can test clean with their built in SMART self tests (DPS Self Test) and still have issues. I had one this past week that tested clean with a fresh deployment but when we installed Acrobat X Pro it never worked right. Repair installations kept failing.

Last edited by ez12a; 11-04-2012 at 09:30 AM.
Old 11-05-2012, 12:40 AM
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I went into the Admin Events and clicked around. Looked at the Events and suddenly, the screen went blank and started doing a download followed by a scan. After I booted the computer back up, the computer seems to be working fine and faster.

Old 11-05-2012, 01:04 AM
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Just for future reference. If you want to give that old lappy some life. Put a samsung ssd in it, 840 series just came out 128 gb is around $109. Couple that with windows 8 and it will be a whole new machine.

You can prob do the whole switch for less than $150 depending on what you pay for win8. once you go solid state, you will never go back.
Old 11-05-2012, 01:26 AM
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OK... Thanks.
Old 11-05-2012, 02:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Eggplant-EX
I went into the Admin Events and clicked around. Looked at the Events and suddenly, the screen went blank and started doing a download followed by a scan. After I booted the computer back up, the computer seems to be working fine and faster.

sounds like you have a virus. Something popped on your screen while you were in event viewer and started downloading and scanning!? That sounds like a fake virus program. What was the name of the program that was downloading and scanning. Event viewer doesn't download or scan anything....
Old 11-05-2012, 08:59 AM
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Bonjour Service . I googled this but it is tied to Itunes. I did delete it anyway as it said if Itunes needed it, it would download a new one.

It still locks up but with less frequency. I will live with it for now....

Thanks all.
Old 11-05-2012, 09:14 AM
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What anti-virus program do you have installed?

Try running TDSS killer in default mode and see if it finds anything. If it finds something and there is a "cure" option, then tell it to go ahead and "cure" the issue. If it does not have a "cure" option, then skip it and report back here what the issue was.

http://support.kaspersky.com/downloa...tdsskiller.exe
Old 11-05-2012, 09:20 AM
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Bonjour service is ok.
Old 11-05-2012, 12:00 PM
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Originally Posted by #1 STUNNA
sounds like you have a virus. Something popped on your screen while you were in event viewer and started downloading and scanning!? That sounds like a fake virus program. What was the name of the program that was downloading and scanning. Event viewer doesn't download or scan anything....
Originally Posted by nfnsquared
What anti-virus program do you have installed?

Try running TDSS killer in default mode and see if it finds anything. If it finds something and there is a "cure" option, then tell it to go ahead and "cure" the issue. If it does not have a "cure" option, then skip it and report back here what the issue was.

http://support.kaspersky.com/downloa...tdsskiller.exe
These^ Whatever you do, don't call those geek squad assholes. They are secretly working for the justice department. They turned in a "friend" of mine for file sharing. If you caught your computer STD from something you don't want them to see, you'd best be trying to fix it yourself.

I also recommend an external hard drive for backing up those hard to replace files after you get the issue resolved. That way if the system ever crashes again you can reload all the important stuff.
Old 11-05-2012, 01:28 PM
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Old 11-05-2012, 01:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr Marco
These^ Whatever you do, don't call those geek squad assholes. They are secretly working for the justice department. They turned in a "friend" of mine for file sharing.
There has to be more to that story. The only rule GS has is to notify the authorities when child porn is found. I know, I've made that call twice myself.

Reporting simply because of file sharing is against their TOS.
Old 11-05-2012, 01:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Maharajamd
There has to be more to that story....
x2

Originally Posted by Maharajamd
...Reporting simply because of file sharing is against their TOS.
That's news to me. Link?
Old 11-05-2012, 02:23 PM
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I can't find a link anywhere online. But it should be in the disclaimer on the paperwork you sign.

Edit: At least it was 7+ years ago when I was a "geek".
Old 11-05-2012, 02:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Maharajamd
I can't find a link anywhere online. But it should be in the disclaimer on the paperwork you sign.

Edit: At least it was 7+ years ago when I was a "geek".
Wow, you're making a statement based off of foggy memory from over 7 years ago?? Next time, please don't.

They specifically allow reporting in their privacy policy:

"We also reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we, in good faith, believe to be unlawful."

http://www.geeksquad.com/policy-for-privacy.aspx

Also, FWIW, the GS TOS for their support plan:

http://www.geeksquad.com/uploadedFil...ortPlanTOS.pdf

Last edited by nfnsquared; 11-05-2012 at 02:39 PM.
Old 11-05-2012, 02:41 PM
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I didnt actually work directly for GS, just contracted for them,, but we saw a lot of shit, porn, file sharing, etc. but unless we saw child porn or something very illegal we weren't reporting anything.
Old 11-05-2012, 03:10 PM
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perhaps an overzealous GS employee reported your friend, cause he got on a power trip.
Old 11-05-2012, 03:21 PM
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Originally Posted by nfnsquared
Wow, you're making a statement based off of foggy memory from over 7 years ago?? Next time, please don't.

They specifically allow reporting in their privacy policy:

"We also reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities that we, in good faith, believe to be unlawful."

http://www.geeksquad.com/policy-for-privacy.aspx

Also, FWIW, the GS TOS for their support plan:

http://www.geeksquad.com/uploadedFil...ortPlanTOS.pdf


Who said something I remember from 7 years ago was a foggy memory? Lol

I could have a 1000 movies on my computer. That does not, however, make it "unlawful". The extent they would have to go to prove that is quite large. Think about what they would have to do to prove such things. It's not worth their time.

Oh I found their TOS and their Privacy Policy. Any idiot can Google those, obviously. I was looking for something a bit more...specific. Which, last I looked, was on the back on the paperwork you sign in the store (like I already said).

As I said before, there has to be more to that story. Because the only thing that EVER prompted a red flag was child pornography.
Old 11-05-2012, 03:32 PM
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Bottom line, there's nothing in the GS TOS that limits reporting illegal activity...
Old 11-05-2012, 03:36 PM
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Originally Posted by nfnsquared
Bottom line, there's nothing in the GS TOS that limits reporting illegal activity...
If the TOS and PP they have online is the same as it is in stores they yes, that would be correct.

Should I reiterate the "At least it was 7 years ago"?

Old 11-05-2012, 03:43 PM
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Sorry OP. Joke turns into pissing contest...my bad.
Old 11-05-2012, 03:44 PM
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^^^^ Saved by the "edit" function
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