the sometimes senseless ravings (and the occassional rant) of an aspiring marine ecologist who may enjoy killing things a little too much

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Computer Issues

damn computer. i can do everything i need to do on it...except run live update on anything. and no one seems to know how to fix my issues. this all started a while back when i couldn't run live update on norton antivirus. so the symantec support peeps advised me to uninstall the program and reinstall it...which didn't work. so they told me there was probably a leftover registry key, and i had to delete it. but the stupid registry editor won't open. my mouse arrow turns to an hourglass for a second, and then nothing happens. so, i was advised to restart with no programs running on startup...but MS configuration won't open, either. nothing else is messed up. everything else works fine. i suspect that when trendmicro removed a virus from my computer, some little file was deleted that controls these things. but no one can tell me what it is or how i can replace it. norton antivirus is the only file that won't install on my comp. all other installation cd's work fine. i even reinstalled windows, but my problem is still there. certain windows won't open...or they appear for, like, half a second and then disappear. so, i downloaded a trial version of trendmicro's pc-cillin, and it worked fine for a while. but now, i'm having the same problem with it and spyware doctor. but my anti-adware has been working fine through all these issues. so far, symantec support, microsoft support, and hp support have all been unable to solve my computer problems. the last resort: reinstall windows. done. and it didn't work. when i try to reinstall norton, the cursor flashes for a second or two and then nothing. i'm going to scream. i guess my next step is to go to DISL and harass tommy (our resident comupter guy). maybe he can help me. but i don't know.

4 comments:

Vanessa said...

Sorry that the comp has been giving you so much trouble. I would also look into maybe getting McAfee if Norton continues to give you probs & your school will allow you to get a free download (or free copy). I was able to get it when my computer was struck by a couple of trojans at the same time ... the IT peeps were able to remove them and took the liberty of giving me the school version of McAfee (which looks for new virus definitions every time I sign online).

I haven't had any problems since. I'd also consider putting up a firewall and perhaps try using a freeware spyware remover like Ad-Aware or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Also, start using another browser ... like Mozilla FireFox.

Deva might have some suggestions as well?

LaTina said...

i've actually been using firefox for the past couple of weeks. i don't think it's in the browser. anyway, when i don't use the IE version installed with the bellsouth software, i can't refresh pics to get them at full quality when i'm using the web accelorator. i use ad-aware already, it's the only thing that worked through the whole ordeal. but all of this is moot, as i spent the morning making sure all my files were backed up and reinstalling windows again. when i did this earlier, i used the option that repairs windows. this time, i used the XP option that just wiped out everything and started from scratch. this worked, and norton antivirus is safely reinstalled and working properly. anyway, i tried mcafee before...wouldn't install from a disc, either. now i'm in the process of reinstalling all of my programs (the ones i downloaded, i saved the setup files, so i won't have to download them again). and i made sure to back up my iTunes music library (actually, i think i have 3 copies of this). i even saved my browser bookmarks. it's just a matter of time now...man, this is a pain in the ass.

LaTina said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Vanessa said...

Well, glad that you got the comp up and working again!