Pc restarts after intial boot.............

"PSYCHOPIXIE" wrote in message
...

Thank you for your most informative answers there.

You are welcome.

I think I have been a bit of a bad owner to my pc

I see you as more of a victim of the IT industry's
lack of concern in providing an appropriate user experience.
The hoops that you are made to jump through are inexcusable.
The majority of people are incapable of brain surgery,
gourmet cooking, auto or TV repair, garden design,
safe driving, and a host of other skills.

Including computer setup and maintenance.
Or should I say, especially computer setup and maintenance?

With regards to norton av 2004 or 5 I
actually used my go back facility to revert the drive to the time before
installation, simply because I thought uninstalling would make a
complete mess of my pc.

Good plan.

I think the illegal operations happened some
time after that inccident anyway and as I install a lot of games (legit
software, not anything dodgy) and then uninstall junk I no longer use I
would be hard pressed to find out exactly what has gone on.

You are vulnerable to any badly written install software
which may have improperly overlayed a shared file
with an earlier version, as scenario which Microsoft
only seriously addressed beginning with Windows 2000.

You are vulnerable to any badly written uninstall software
which may have improperly removed a shared file.

When I
first got the pc it worked a treat but I installed alot of free with
magazine software and thats when things got shakey. I had a double lot
of vxd blue screens of death on start up last night which I was able to
ignore and then go back to the desk top but then screen went black and
had to restart after yet more. I know some free screen savers I
installed are problematic and they cause illegal operations so I have
since dropped them in favour of the less exciting windows ones.

SCR files are a common method of propagating viruses.

Generally the pc behaves itself but when it spits the dummy out it
really goes for it. I know a new pc would be a cop out and I have no
intention of getting rid of or donating my current one either way but I
am a sucker for black shiney new pcs and the more I see and hear about
it windows xp is growing on me!! Maybe I ought to set a side two days
of my time and just reformat the hard drive. I think I may only have
the upgrade of win98se so how can I be sure I have the necessary disc
if I were to consider doing that (question mark)

What is the part number stamped on the disc?

I'm not sure but I have opened up the box thingy before to replace the cd rom and fit more ram so I will have a look. An easier option may be just to hassle the manufacturer as I found them very helpful. The pc is a 3 year old (roughly) compaq deskpro.(yukky beige colour!!) Actually I have some compaq diagnostic nonsense on the pc, so might that hold that sort of info. I also wanted to ask what is the best thing to use to keep the fans inside the system unit dust free or at least to de-dust them. I hear people use compressed air but is that suitable for the fans(question mark). Thanks again. I should change my username to the 'corrupter' as in corrupter of pcs

Originally Posted by Hugh Candlin

"PSYCHOPIXIE" wrote in message
...

Thank you for your most informative answers there.

You are welcome.

I think I have been a bit of a bad owner to my pc

I see you as more of a victim of the IT industry's
lack of concern in providing an appropriate user experience.
The hoops that you are made to jump through are inexcusable.
The majority of people are incapable of brain surgery,
gourmet cooking, auto or TV repair, garden design,
safe driving, and a host of other skills.

Including computer setup and maintenance.
Or should I say, especially computer setup and maintenance?

With regards to norton av 2004 or 5 I
actually used my go back facility to revert the drive to the time before
installation, simply because I thought uninstalling would make a
complete mess of my pc.

Good plan.

I think the illegal operations happened some
time after that inccident anyway and as I install a lot of games (legit
software, not anything dodgy) and then uninstall junk I no longer use I
would be hard pressed to find out exactly what has gone on.

You are vulnerable to any badly written install software
which may have improperly overlayed a shared file
with an earlier version, as scenario which Microsoft
only seriously addressed beginning with Windows 2000.

You are vulnerable to any badly written uninstall software
which may have improperly removed a shared file.

When I
first got the pc it worked a treat but I installed alot of free with
magazine software and thats when things got shakey. I had a double lot
of vxd blue screens of death on start up last night which I was able to
ignore and then go back to the desk top but then screen went black and
had to restart after yet more. I know some free screen savers I
installed are problematic and they cause illegal operations so I have
since dropped them in favour of the less exciting windows ones.

SCR files are a common method of propagating viruses.

Generally the pc behaves itself but when it spits the dummy out it
really goes for it. I know a new pc would be a cop out and I have no
intention of getting rid of or donating my current one either way but I
am a sucker for black shiney new pcs and the more I see and hear about
it windows xp is growing on me!! Maybe I ought to set a side two days
of my time and just reformat the hard drive. I think I may only have
the upgrade of win98se so how can I be sure I have the necessary disc
if I were to consider doing that (question mark)

What is the part number stamped on the disc?

"PSYCHOPIXIE" wrote in message
...

I'm not sure but I have opened up the box thingy

That would be the case, i suppose?

before to replace the
cd rom and fit more ram so I will have a look.

I asked you to check a disc, not a disk drive.

An easier option may be
just to hassle the manufacturer as I found them very helpful.

That would be my first choice.

The pc is
a 3 year old (roughly) compaq deskpro.(yukky beige colour!!) Actually I
have some compaq diagnostic nonsense on the pc, so might that hold that
sort of info.

Nonsense, because you don't know what it is, I suppose?
Why not run it and find out what it is?

I also wanted to ask what is the best thing to use to
keep the fans inside the system unit dust free or at least to de-dust
them.

A small paint brush, about as wide as your thumb.

I hear people use compressed air but is that suitable for the
fans(question mark).

It won't hurt, but I use a brush.

Thanks again. I should change my username to the
'corrupter' as in corrupter of pcs

Computers are just like cars if they don't get regular maintenance.

It's "pay now, or pay more later".....usually, a lot more.

'box thingy' yes I was refering to the system unit. And no the compaq diagnostic program is not considered by me as nonsense and yes I do know what it does to a certain degree but I didn't find any problems there. It warning me of overheating a short while ago during game playing but I shut down, cleaned out fans(obviously pc was unplugged) and turned my heating down. The pc sits quite near to the radiator but I have moved it up a shelf and tend to keep my room cooler now.




[




QUOTE=Hugh Candlin]"PSYCHOPIXIE" wrote in message
...

I'm not sure but I have opened up the box thingy

That would be the case, i suppose?

before to replace the
cd rom and fit more ram so I will have a look.

I asked you to check a disc, not a disk drive.

An easier option may be
just to hassle the manufacturer as I found them very helpful.

That would be my first choice.

The pc is
a 3 year old (roughly) compaq deskpro.(yukky beige colour!!) Actually I
have some compaq diagnostic nonsense on the pc, so might that hold that
sort of info.

Nonsense, because you don't know what it is, I suppose?
Why not run it and find out what it is?

I also wanted to ask what is the best thing to use to
keep the fans inside the system unit dust free or at least to de-dust
them.

A small paint brush, about as wide as your thumb.

I hear people use compressed air but is that suitable for the
fans(question mark).

It won't hurt, but I use a brush.

Thanks again. I should change my username to the
'corrupter' as in corrupter of pcs

Computers are just like cars if they don't get regular maintenance.

It's "pay now, or pay more later".....usually, a lot more.[/quote]