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11-02-05 12:59 PM
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Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Hardware/Software - I'm at a bit of a loss here. | |
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Xkeeper
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Posted on 11-19-04 10:32 AM Link | Quote
Alright, I got another ocmputer I can borrow for a while.

Problem is... it's crap. Pentium 3, that's better, but... ugh:

The Bad
- For some reason, it ticks like it's a time bomb. Nearly onec a second or so the computer itself will make a tictock noise, and I dno't know what it is.
- It's Win ME
- It's got a ton of unneeded programs, malware, etc; dialers, too, and likely pron.
- It also has a ton of crap installed; mindless extras I'll never need


The Good
- It's got a lot of Flash stuff (Flash MX, Dreamweaver, Freehand, Dreamweaver Firefox Fireworks (all legal; the previous owner (my cousin) got it from his school, hehe)
- It's got some good things, like, uh, an OS
- There appears to be no major problems with it atm, since it runs fine
- It's the fastest computer I've got right now



I need to decide: should I format this and reinstall another OS (preferaby 2000 or 98)?

If so, how would I retain some programs, like the Flash crap and a load of other memoriable files (like pictures)? There's nowhere I can put them right now... Also note that I don't have the CDs to install them, and he doesn't have them anymore.

If not, how am I going to rid this crap? There's far too much to sort through and I can't leave an AV on overnight/all day (which would likely happen -__-) so..

Yeah. I need some help here


(edited by Xkeeper on 11-19-04 01:33 AM)
(edited by Xkeeper on 11-19-04 01:33 AM)
(edited by Xkeeper on 11-19-04 01:34 AM)
Karadur

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Posted on 11-19-04 11:06 AM Link | Quote
There's a good chance the ticking noise is caused by your hard drive. From what I read on some other sites, it may be from your hard drive constantly 'seeking'. I'm making a guess here, but I'd say if you want to keep the stuff that's on there right now, get it off that hard drive and onto another one. Thing is, if the hard drive is indeed failing, then that pretty much puts everything else you want to do out of the question

For the next bit, let's suppose the ticking noise is a clock someone put inside the computer somehow , and thus doesn't matter.

- It's Win ME
I haven't heard alot of good things about that edition of Windows, but I guess as long as it works without crashing an awful amount or anything, be glad with that. I don't know whether 2000 came before or after ME, but if it's before, you could always try doing an upgrade install. If that isn't possible, you might try installing XP (if you have the CD for it), but judging by what you said, the computer wouldn't be able to run it.

- It's got a ton of unneeded programs, malware, etc; dialers, too, and likely pron
I'd suggest getting a spyware / adware scanner on there as soon as possible. I assume there'd already be a virus scanner, but there may not be, so you might have to consider that too. Even if you decide to try to get the stuff you want off the computer first, then format, it won't do you any good if spyware or a virus got into one of the files required for the programs you want.

- It also has a ton of crap installed; mindless extras I'll never need
Extras as in the stuff you'd install off the Windows CD? If that's what you're talking about, I know those sorts of things can be uninstalled. If it's programs or whatever, there should be some uninstaller for each of them that you can use, unless you have to give the computer back sometime in the future.

There's probably not alot you can do in the way of keeping the programs that are on there if you format. You could copy the folders over fine, but then there's all the registry entries and other files that you'd need as well.
Surlent
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Posted on 11-19-04 11:13 AM Link | Quote
a.) The long and most secure way:
If you have broadband and/or a connection to another person (take it to a friend and try to establish a LAN with your comp), the easiest way might be to download all setup files (installer ) files, save they locally and burn them (if you have a CD burner) or send them to the other computer.
Then simply reformat the drive fully and reinstall Windoze ME. EDIT: I recommend, like Karadur, rather Windows 2k, which runs fluently on older computers, unlike Windows XP.
After you are done, please get AntiVir, Spybot, a firewall from tip b.) and don't forget Windows Update.


b.) The shorter way, may not be successful, but you can try it anyway.

Take your time, that's imho the best freeware antivirus (I used it on my old PII and am using it on my AMD XP 2800+ too), at least in Germany, and thus doesn't take too much RAM. There is also an English version available:

AntiVir (English)
Spybot Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware

All three tools don't need to much RAM and are finished pretty fast. Make sure you update them just after install, boot into safe mode and perform a full scan with every one, of course only one program at a time.

When you are done, go to Windows Update, only works in IE:
Click me
The final tool you should need is HiJack This!
Download

Unzip it anywere, run it, click on "Scan" -> "Save log", after you were prompted to save it to a location, copy ALL the stuff within the opened editor window and post it here.

Don't remove anything by going selecting the checkbox and "Fix checked" - that would be our task to see, if any mal- or spyware starts up when you boot into Windows.


(edited by Surlent on 11-19-04 02:16 AM)
neotransotaku

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Posted on 11-19-04 11:13 AM Link | Quote
it is possible to install a new edition of windows without formatting. It's called booting up in DOS and renaming the windows folder.

As for saving the Macromedia stuff, you can always save the program files but the registry settings are going to be lost unless you can pull them ALL out of the registry. Also, there may be some DLLs in the Windows\System32 that you might need. Nevertheless, it is possible to use an installation of many programs on a new OS.
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Posted on 11-19-04 11:14 AM Link | Quote
FYI, Win ME is considered the worst Microsoft OS ever by most people; when I ran it I had enough problems (the taskbar disappearing beneath IE windows with Always On Top on, systray resetting, etc), and that was within 5 mintues...

Generally a HD seeking would be more or less random clicks without that much delay; I do need to get everything off of it ASAP though, as .. yep



I'm going to see if I can get a 2000 ISO off a filesharing network and burn it so I can install, since I don't have one (and finding one is a joke, heh)

Worst case I can just find all of the old programs.

----------

And as a side note, most of the uninstallers don't work. At all. They just idle and eventually crash


===================================
EDIT: I just figured I'd let you in on something:

I was planning on formatting becasue it's full of complete crap, almost nothing useful besides what I pointed out.


(edited by Xkeeper on 11-19-04 02:15 AM)
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Posted on 11-19-04 03:55 PM Link | Quote
Good idea that your planning on getting 2000, 2000 is the best Microsoft OS ever since it's fast without hogging too much memory. (XP is the best now, thought it's an memory hog compared to 2000... I prefer 2000 on "old computers".) 2000 is litarally faster than Win98 even on a 300 mhz, sure it may take longer time to boot for some people but the awesome memory managment makes it's up.

How much RAM does that computer have?

And well, Flash is so easy to get... that's all I can say.
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Posted on 11-19-04 07:25 PM Link | Quote
with a few tweaks, I got XP to run on a p3 800mhz, with 196mb ram prettty smoothly, and all I had to do was turn off some of the visual features of XP.


(edited by Dcahrakos on 11-19-04 10:26 AM)
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Posted on 11-19-04 10:12 PM Link | Quote


As I can't remove the wireless card from the G350, since this one needs access to the internet since I'm not allowed on the WXP one but I can use it for storage without them knowing, heh.

But to hook up that one, I'd need to disconnect the one I'd store things on...

Later today I'll do what Surlent suggestied, heh...
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Posted on 11-19-04 11:25 PM Link | Quote
Important:
Ensure, there is NO other antivirus installed or if there is another software firewall installed (_excluding_ the Windows one of course) before installing an antivirus or firewall.

Two virus scanners or two firewalls disturb themselves, so only one should be used. In some cases it even could hook up the system; most people know that, but just in case something happens



(edited by Surlent on 11-19-04 02:26 PM)
Xkeeper
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Posted on 11-19-04 11:51 PM Link | Quote
There's an extremely old version of Norton on there; I think I'll uninstall that (die, norton) and will opt for something better like, uh, AVG or something.

Hopefully soon I can do this; after all, my stepmom might not let me disconnect her computer for a while and as I said I can't just do this... what I might do is just burn those programs to a CD and install them later, or something.

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Posted on 11-20-04 12:29 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Surlent
Important:
Ensure, there is NO other antivirus installed or if there is another software firewall installed (_excluding_ the Windows one of course) before installing an antivirus or firewall.

Two virus scanners or two firewalls disturb themselves, so only one should be used. In some cases it even could hook up the system; most people know that, but just in case something happens



I know what you mean, I did that once, not knowing what would happen, the computer would start...that was with norton and panda....good thing I had a restore from earlier that day.

if you wanted to use a different antivirus, you could try avast, its pretty good, doesnt take much cpu, and scans everything on open, and doesnt seem to slow down the program thats opening.
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Posted on 11-20-04 05:25 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Xkeeper
The Good- It's got some good things, like, uh, an OS

DOS.

Originally posted by Karadur
I haven't heard alot of good things about that edition of Windows, but I guess as long as it works without crashing an awful amount or anything

You've never used WinME have you?

It's a good bet the clicking is coming from either the HD or a fan. A clicking HD is NOT good. The only one I ever had that clicked started doing it halfway through a format and immediately died. (Tip: Before installing an old HD, run a full format. This way if part of it's messed up, you'll find out.)
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Posted on 11-20-04 03:39 PM Link | Quote
Windos ME _can_ run fine if you disable the System Restore option. I reinstalled ME only once in four years (hence my laziness ), but I never got System Restore to work properly and it seemed, it ran even better without it.

On the other hand, without Windows XP's version of System Restore I might be fugged up, since the upgrade of Sygate firewall (I made a _clean_ uninstall) cocked up my system after booting - uninstall even didn't work in Safe Mode - so I managed to restore the system before that and it worked. The consequence was a backup of my data on a DVD immediately - just to ensure everything
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