Hi everyone. I need people who I can ask lots of questions to and who will be very patiient with a non-computer person. The reason is I finally bought my kids the CP they had been waiting for after saving for 3(yes 3 years) back in Feb. this year. I t cost over $2,000 but we have a printer/scanner & speakers, 80Gig Hard drive, P4 3.0G and so on. HOPE this makes sense
So far so good or so I thought. It has XP Home, SP2, Vet antivirus & Microsoft antispyware Beta 1. I have as I mentioned many questions & far too many to ask here & now but my main concern at the moment is the rotton thing keeps crashing. It just literally stops, no warning. It used to be only when playing games I've installed for the kids, AOM, Freelancer, NFS but now it has started doing it EVEN when surfing on the net.  I know the power is still on as the modem (broadband) is still going. I rang the guy where I bought the cp & he said it was probably my power supply, meaning the box inside where the power plug connects at the back right I need a 2nd opinion!! How soon should I get this fixed if this is the case & will it do any harm while in this condition. This is not the 1st problem we've had & the other day I paid him $132.00 to rid the cp of infections that got through my Vet. Now I'm up for more money and it's not even 6 months old and he said it was not under warranty (great) Anyway I could go on for ever but could someone tell me what I should do as my husband will throw the cp out the window if he finds out. (He hates computers/internet in general) Also I would be willing to chat to anyone on messenger  as my cp buddy as I would love to learn more about this piece of equipment my kids & I can't seem to live without.  
Thanks in anticipation ( I've learnt heaps already just reading these posts)   Hey,

Well i doubt if its your power supply. because that wouldent make the thing Freeze it would just shut down.

What im guessing is a virus or Trojan somthing like that.


Download and run this if you can http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=stinger

then get yourself a better Antivirus and Firewall
some of the guys know then best ones to get.

hope that stinger helps.

Ross


                                Hello
                             To bad you didn't get it at staples or
somewhere like that  and under warentee. Try cleaning out your hard drive. Just go on your start menue go
to programs and system tools. if you can. than go to cleanup. It may take a few minutes to do. Also go  to
control panel and add remove programs. get rid of anything you don't need. You might want to try this. doing a ststem restore. that might take out a lot of the  kinks. Be very careful in  doing that. Turn off your computer, restart it again, when you see the black screen you will see the f10 number. press that quickly. you will not have much time. read the rest of it very carefully. if you don't feel comfortable doing that maybe
don't do it or have someone show you. this might make your computer run faster.and not crash. Do you have broadband? or aol. broadband is better. because it will not interfer with the phone line.
                                     Good Luck

                                         ElyseCan you tell us what you have done so far and when the PROBLEMS have started?

I advise you to stop paying the man to solve your computer problems, as he is clearly overcharging. You can easily do/learn to resolve the problems yourself.

You may wish to go to http://www.howstuffworks.com to learn more about the hardware in your computer.

I have never heard of Vet anti-virus. I suggest that you use AVG-Free.

Try the following programs as well :

Virus scanners
AVG Free
-- Anti virus scanner


Anti spy/malware
Microsoft Antispyware
-- Anti spyware scanner. Windows XP Home and Professional only.
Spybot Search & Destroy
-- Anti spyware scanner
Adaware SE Personal
-- Anti spyware scanner

Firewalls
Using only one firewall is advised. Dual firewalls may cause problems.
Using a hardware firewall and a software firewall is even more adviced.
ZoneAlarm Free
-- Free firewall - more user friendly
Sygate Personal
-- Free firewall - more configuration options

Removal tools
The following files are not substitutes for the ones described above.
They are either diagnostic tools or removal tools for malware of a certain kind

HijackThis
-- Manual malware remover. Post the HijackThis log generated only if requested!
McAfee Stinger
-- Virus removal tool. No substitute for a fully functional virus scanner!
CWshredder
-- CoolWebSearch removal tool. Widely known and persistant Hijacker.

Easy Cleaners
-- Freeware registry scanner
Registrar Lite
-- Excellent replacement for Windows Regedit
Crap Cleaner
-- Freeware registry scanner/history cleaner

Caution is advised when using these programs!
Create backups of all important files before proceeding.me nether,

I just googled that virus name and got some information in it.

But it looks like he knows what he is talking aboutDon't be daunted by all the answers here.
Take it very slowly.

1)Update Microsoft Antispyware.

2)From the above links, download, install, update & run AVG.

3)Download & install Sygate Firewall.

Then come back here.                                    
                                       Hi
                                    I would take out all the games
                                in the add remove  programs.
                                 Anything you don't need.
                                Just leave one or two games in
                                your add remove programs.
                                Games take up a lot of room
                               in your hard drive. Go to control
                                control add remove. I would try
                                giving that computer to someone
                                else. And get another one at a
                                store you know  is good.


                                                Good Luck                  .
                                       try considering looking at your cpu fan,your processor might be overheating so your comp tends to hangs....shaffycat......  Vet .....is a anti virus program produced by computer associates ......  
Win XP sp2 is a very stable platform ........ I have never had any of my Xp machines crash .  It's possible that the PSU ( power supply is defective ) however if it failed that soon ....... It should have been replaced by the seller .
Did you buy the puter from a reputable dealer or just some guy that builds pcs ?

My best guess as to the problems would be a trojan or some other malicious bug ......

What is the make of your pc ?

Let us know .

dl65  No point trying to fix anything until the computer is clean & protected. Quote

No point trying to fix anything until the computer is clean & protected.