Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on September 07, 2015, 01:47:56 AM

Title: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 07, 2015, 01:47:56 AM

I've been using PC Tools Antivirus Free for years - and it's gotten painfully slow, progressively borked up my system performance worse while running, and is no longer supported or getting virus definition updates, so stupidly past time to send that nag to the knacker's.

-I also have Malwarebytes, but rarely run it on account of it's never found a single thing but some .pup files.  -Doesn't strike me as exactly erring on the side of caution.


Thoughts?  What's out there that's any good for free download?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: gwillybj on September 07, 2015, 11:55:41 AM

I use Avast, It has a very small footprint. No problems for me.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2015, 04:52:51 AM

-I broke down and installed AdblockPlus today - preliminary returns are indicating that it has less visible impact than I expected, but that it just may be the shiznic everyone claims.

Any ideas beside Avast?  Is that a free download, then?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Lord Avalon on September 09, 2015, 05:22:43 AM

I also use Avast. Yes, it's free.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2015, 01:56:23 PM

AdBlock may be being a problem.

I guess I'll google for Avast.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on September 09, 2015, 02:37:52 PM

I just use the Windows malware detector and firewall (+ inbuilt firewall on my router) on my windows machines.

uBlock (https://www.ublock.org/) is like Adblock plus but lighter on your computer's resources.

What OS are you running, BUncle (I think XP?) and what are the specs of your computer? If your computer is very old and running windows you could just be suffering from that mysterious windows cruft that builds up over time.

If you haven't already, check what processes are running at startup with msconfig.exe (start > run) or by downloading ccleaner and going to the startup tab.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2015, 02:56:59 PM

IE 11.0.9600.17959

W7

Machine's been in service for a few months longer than I've been here, so getting close to four years and I'm sure that there's non-trivial windows cruft built up.  I've tried to explain about that to my mom, who gets really frustrated with the performance degradation that comes with the demon Gate's monopoly over time.

NONE of this crap will freakin' copy/paste:

2.70 GHz
3.00 GB (2.75 GB usable)
64-bit


Does that answer on specs?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on September 09, 2015, 08:42:31 PM

Do you know the processor name at all? For example, one of mine is an "i5 3570k" (I think). You should be able to find this information out from "System Properties" or "System Information" in windows.

See the later answers to this question for some rough instructions on how to find those windows: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10595312/how-to-get-cpus-model-number-like-core-i7-860-on-windows

## Software things you can do to make your PC faster

Anyway, have a look at those startup programs. Even if you turn everything off there's only a fairly small chance of breaking the computer, so just turn off everything you know is cruft (adobe updater, apple stuff, antivirus, etc) and google for stuff you don't recognise if you don't feel brave about just turning it off.

You might find that's enough to bring your performance back to a tolerable level. If not, reinstalling windows is often the easiest reliable way to get a windows machine back to a good level of performance.

Once reinstalled, you can keep it reasonably fast by not installing stuff you don't need, by being careful about downloading crapware from the internet and by policing the startup programs in the startup directory and in msconfig/cleaner.

If you have any naive users on the machine (perhaps your mother?), it's normally best to put them on an unprivileged account for their own good (so they can't install crapware by accident or break things).

Also, you don't have very much RAM. It's possible (but not certain) that this is causing you issues). Unless you have a particularly small case for the machine, it's usually pretty easy to fit more, and RAM is fairly cheap, and if your motherboard is recent enough to support DDR3 (probable), you'll probably be able to use any new RAM in your next computer. 8GB of RAM is a sensible amount these days. Enthusiast machines tend to have 16-32GB of RAM, but there's no real need for more than 8 unless you want to get serious about digital art or photo manipulation or you do a lot of software compilation or scientific/numeric processing.

The GNU/linux laptop I'm using right now (2007 x61s Thinkpad) only has 3GB of RAM, and that serves me well enough, but wouldn't under windows (heavier OS, worse OS scheduling, etc). It does have a really terrible screen, though (1024x768, rubbish colours).

## Hardware things you can do to make computers faster

Clean yo computer. Computers don't like to be too hot. Hotter computers experience faster component failure and processors and other components may throttle themselves to avoid heat death.

First thing to do is to clean any dust filters in your case (these are fine meshes in front of vents). Next, you can go further with compressed air and/or disassembling the computer.

You can clean a computer most easily with compressed air. This is cheap and can be used without disassembling the computer. Simply turn the power off, take the computer somewhere you don't mind getting dusty (like outside) and spray compressed air through the vents being careful not to push any fans the wrong way.

You can clean the computer more thoroughly by taking it apart and spraying components with compressed air or wiping them with a microfibre cloth. Pay particular attention to heatsinks and fans. If you're feeling really enthusiastic, you can also take the heatsinks off, clean them with isopropyl and then reseat them with a fresh application of thermal interface paste.

##

If you try both the software and hardware fixes and can't get the performance that you want then all you can do is partially or fully upgrade your computer. If you run various diagnostic software, you may be able to determine if any component is faulty (SMART data for hard drives, memtest86 for memory, stress tests + looking at sensor data for processors and GPUs).

If you don't have an SSD then you might want to consider investing in one. It's usually the best improvement in computing experience per dollar if you don't have one. You just need to get a smallish one (64GB would be enough) and install the OS and any programs you think are particularly slow on the SSD, user files and other programs on a HDD.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2015, 09:12:58 PM

AMD Semipron (tm) 140 processor  - it was in the same place before (just right-clicked properties w/o opening "Computer" in the Windows corner menu) but I didn't know you needed that.

My machine wakes up stupid and slowly, like I do, so purging the startup junk will probably do it, I bet.

The tower is the smallest I've ever had, but no idea if particularly small - but throwing money at problems is always a last resort.  That's why I tend to HAVE money when it does come to last resorts.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on September 10, 2015, 04:09:08 AM

That processor is very weak. Fortunately, if you have the right kind of motherboard you can reactivate an extra core in the processor and turn it into a passable athlon x2 (still a bit rubbish by today's standards).

Download CPU-Z and confirm you only have one core working.

Look in your BIOS for "Advanced Clock Calibration" and turn it on.

Check again in CPU-Z.

The processor can also be overclocked quite a lot (up to 3.4-3.7 GHz, supposedly). You might not be able to get that high on the stock cooler, though.

If you can't reactivate the core, and performance is still rubbish, I'd strongly recommend that you find out what socket type your motherboard has (could be AM2+ or AM3) and consider buying a better processor (would be cheap).

Considering you use the computer all the time, it's probably a good investment to get one that isn't a pita.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 10, 2015, 04:14:28 AM

I'm still working up the courage to try earlier things you suggested.  I've got a wonky fan that only almost always starts when I turn on in the morning, so overclocking sound like a Very Dicey Idea.

Quote from: BUncle on September 09, 2015, 09:12:58 PM

throwing money at problems is always a last resort.  That's why I tend to HAVE money when it does come to last resorts.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on September 10, 2015, 04:34:06 AM

Best of luck.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 21, 2015, 04:03:28 PM

The adblock seems to have settled in and not be causing problems -and there seems to be significant performance improvement at some sites that had gotten unacceptably slow- but it doesn't seem to actually block many ads...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on September 25, 2015, 12:28:16 AM

Which blocker did you use in the end?

Make sure the blocklists are set to automatically update and that they've been updated recently. If ads aren't being blocked you can add more blocklists, too.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 25, 2015, 12:34:43 AM

... :-[ I haven't psyched up to do anything yet.  I'm at that stage in my moods where getting motivated is beginning to be a problem...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on September 25, 2015, 09:12:13 AM

BUncle, there are some ads you will have to specifically tell it to block.

Just make sure you don't accidentally do that to YouTube, or you won't be able to see embedded videos!

I actually see so few ads now, that it's a weird thing when they do appear. Once you get used to it, you'll wonder why you didn't install it years ago.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 02, 2016, 04:56:31 PM

My machine has had way, way too many sluggish days lately - time to go through Draz' advice and do what I can on the software end...  Half just bumping this thread to make it easy to find...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: E_T on July 02, 2016, 06:34:16 PM

I use Avast for all my stuff, mobiles and desktops.  I have paid for the extra bells and whistles, which is not much.  But the free part is very good...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 02, 2016, 06:46:31 PM

...I definitely need to work up to looking into Avast...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on July 03, 2016, 12:12:21 AM

Avast can sometimes throw fits about a site and insist that it's infested with Something Terrible, but it won't be true.

I use Norton (paid version). I use Malwarebytes on occasion, and in the past have used Avast and AVG (I hate AVG; when it works, it's great, but when it doesn't work it's a pain, and their customer service is awful).

Is your ABP working better now? I honestly couldn't do without that, and Ghostery is a nice thing to have as well.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 12:59:20 AM

It doesn't block all that many ads, and I suspect it's causing some of the performance problems - hard to say, as it's increasingly everywhere has video ads that clearly jam up a machine that was bottom of the line five years ago.  There's some appearance that perhaps a majority of ads have a way to defeat it, eating up a lot of processor cycles I can't afford to spare.  Computer years pass way too fast, let me tell you.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: ColdWizard on July 03, 2016, 01:22:01 AM

Adblock Plus lets places pay them to let their ads show. I use ublock origin.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on July 03, 2016, 01:25:00 AM

I think Firefox has something that can deal with video ads. Or you could try Ghostery; they've upgraded and added a humungous amount of new things.

Hmm - here's one that might work:

Quote

Ad Killer

An easy-to-use tool to permanently ban specific annoying ads from your web experience. No typing required - just point and click.The Firefox Ad Killer gives you thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons on all kinds of banner ads, so you can target the annoying ones and prevent them from being displayed. We hope one day to use this feedback to punish bad advertisers (the ones who are basically spamming you annoyance) and reward advertisers that actually provide good content, but in the meantime, it just blocks the bad ones.

To use, just move your mouse over any banner ad. You should see a small "AdKiller" bar, where you can choose ThumbsUp or ThumbsDown. ThumbsDown will make that particular ad not appear in your browser anymore. Works with image, animated, and Flash-based ads.

If you kill an ad by mistake, and want to get it back, just click in the blank space where the ad used to be. You'll be prompted to get it back.

Please post positive or negative reviews - we love feedback.

Ad Killer tries to automatically recognize ads and give you the option to give feedback, but it's not yet 100% accurate. If you encounter an ad that Ad Killer doesn't recognize, please let us know. Be sure to include the URL of the page.

I haven't tried it myself, so I can't offer any opinions on it. But it might work.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 01:30:00 AM

I think the first thing I need is to do all the tedious stuff Draz talked about on the first page, mostly clean out my start menu.  -Worry about virus scanners and blocking ads when that's attended to - I have the most problems with those things when basic performance was already sluggish.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: E_T on July 03, 2016, 03:47:26 AM

How much memory (RAM and what is the max) and HDD space do you have?  When was the last time you did a disk check and defrag?  Are you running a RAID setup and if so, is one of the disks going bad?  How many search bars have you added to your basic browser?  Has your boot up (or restart) time gotten significantly longer over time or stayed the same?  Have you looked at possibly getting a SSD (Solid State drive, very fast and big)?  How much does your HDD light stay flashing while doing things?

How many windows/tabs do you have open?

All things that have effects or ways to help with slowdowns.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 03:56:44 AM

I answered some of that on page one a long time ago.

-I haven't done a defrag and scan in several months, so good catch there and let's see if I can't get a defrag out of the way tonight, and start a scan when I go to bed...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: E_T on July 03, 2016, 09:57:22 AM

Ok, so you likely still have a wonky fan that is on a rubbish CPU chip that might have a 2nd core that you could easily unlock and use, if it is available to be unlocked.  Have 3.0GB (assuming that is your RAM) out of a maximum of unknown on a Mainboard that is also of unknown make and type (which will allow you to know things like what is the best CPU and Memory that can be installed on it).  I likely also has a HD(s) of a size that has been filled to some percentage of total capacity (I am guessing at greater than 85%, or very near to that mark) and a defrag is listed as requiring a full day to do or is showing less, but will actually take that long to do...

Fans are cheep compaired to replacing a burned out Chip and sometimes, chips that have been heat stressed and are starting to go sometimes also slow down (or thermal  protection is automatically clocking them down).  If your MB can take 8GB of RAM (of whatever max speed and timings) then get a matched set of Sticks and replace the uneven set you have (Likely one 2 and one 1 stick of memory).  Granted, memory IS getting cheeper, but as the MB sounds like is a much older one, the RAM for it might be out of production and as stocks deplete, be getting more expensive.  As for the chip, first match socket and then the max speed that the MB can handle.  Also be sure that the  Power Supply will be able to give the upgraded chip the watts it will need, too (should be good, but might be less due to the one core and slower speed of the chip).

Look at what you have, then what you will need in the future.  Might be better to get a newer rig (not brand new, but something that is at least dual core, if not quad, that Win7 or 10 can make great use of for all your stuff.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: E_T on July 03, 2016, 10:13:31 AM

http://accurateit.com/computers (http://accurateit.com/computers)

Check this site often, as they get different stuff all the time.  And those are somewhat upgradable, with more memory, But 4GB is a factory matched set and they come with Win7 Pro 64 (and associated product key) for a separate machine.  Network in your older machine for remote storage and your cooking with gas....

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: E_T on July 03, 2016, 11:38:13 AM

D@mn, I hate losing a large post to a miskey...

The most import thing is, what do you want and need your machine to do over the next 2 to 6 years? 

Goes back to the one question I had, which delt with browser windows and tabs open.  Then. I also know your doing photo processing, both still and video at same time.  Any word processing or some other main program do you have running at the same time?  And that is now, not next year or one after, when those programs are also upgraded or a better version installed??

Do you use duel monitors?

These are the real questions you should be asking and examinig closely....

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 11:46:37 AM

I keep AC2, Facebook and my Yahoo email open at all times, with a forth for this and that most of the time - I try not to go over that, 'cause I already knew it was a bad idea.  went through a lot of cat pictures in GIMP yesterday, not so much with videos.

I've run a scandisk, and of course the turkey effectively doesn't report unless you happen to be there when it finishes - things seem smoother so far.  Defrag seemed to be locking up and non-functional, so I gave up, bed looming.  Will report back later.

Let me catch up with Draz' advice to try from last year - overwhelming me doesn't help, thanks.  I feel like a knicklehead not to have run a scan and defrag two weeks ago.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 01:02:23 PM

Wow.  No kidding that I'd made an idiot oversight.

I read an anecdote when I was a kid about a chimpanzee that has being raised indoors like a human, allegedly science - and one day, they were having trouble with a lamp that wouldn't come on.  Changing the bulb didn't work, nothing they tried worked.  And the kid chimp came over and picked up the cord, traced it behind the couch, and plugged it in.  Then the lamp worked.

I call that the Chimpanzee Lesson -make sure it's plugged in first, check the basics- and I just failed a pop quiz, after all the times I've showed my mom how to run scandisk and defrag.  I just did my morning driveby of the other sites in our circle in under half an hour, and I couldn't tell you the last time all three were loading pages for me at a decent rate.  I had a key bad sector on my disk, apparently, and I feel stupid.  :doh

-I guess now before I get caught up in doing something else -I definitely will- see if defrag is working now...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: E_T on July 03, 2016, 01:37:33 PM

Don't say that...

Consider this:  computer user calls tech support because the computer is not working.  After several steps of Q/A, the tech thinks that the power cord might have been knocked out and asks the  person to check if they can check to see if the cord is plugged into the wall outlet.  The person replys that they can not, because it is too dark back there, as they only have the outside light from the window to currently see with.  After the tech asks if turning on the lights might help, the person states that they will have to wait until the power outage they are having to work through to be over with...

True story...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 01:48:30 PM

Defrag has been claiming C: is 0% fragmented all along, but has taken this long, since my post 46 minutes ago, to get 60% analyzed.  There's also something called "System" I've never seen before that purports to be 30% fragmented, but zips through a defrag attempt and does nothing.  I'm going to have to leave this on running, assuming it's merely slow and not broken, and do other things.

-In my own defense, I've never in decades seen a disk scan make this much difference before, and it's normally the second thing I try when addressing basic poor/slow performance-type stuff.

-Correction: it finished the analyze while I was typing and now has begun a defrag pass...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 02:35:36 PM

It raced right along between beginning actually defragging and the middle of pass six, which is progressing very slowly.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 05:26:46 PM

Defrag finally finished pass six in the last half hour, progressing more quickly on pass seven so far, which has increased five percent consolidated, to 17%, while I typed this...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 08:01:18 PM

Okay - it finished defragging while I was AFK for an hour anna half.  -It still wouldn't do anything with System, and D: Factory Image should be in the state it left the factory, so I didn't touch it and just closed Defrag.

I'm not sure what to do next, 'cause I scheduled a walk with my perfect niece in about an hour - later when I have more time open, I'll continue to make system maintenance tasks a priority over this and that I'd rather do - too much of my time has been stolen lately by letting things get this sloppy.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 09:25:01 PM

Well, got screwed over on the walk appointment w/ little Buttercup- now to go to page one and see what to do first, if the thunder storm brewing don't put its foot down.

-In case Draz looks in, about an hour ago, I was able to successfully use the mass upload for two screenshots with this account and browser - and I didn't get logged out.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 09:34:38 PM

-Actually, I think I'll shut down and go watch the storm for a while - there was just a scary spark noise came with a lightening strike.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 03, 2016, 11:55:06 PM

...Actually, the storm was already over when I posted that - but no way to know that before it was too late.  -And the damage to the local ISP server was done; took forever to get back online.

-Shot my nerves even worse than they have been, actually - I need to do nothing useful for a while and unwind...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on July 04, 2016, 02:06:42 AM

Just for the hell of it, here's a screenshot of what this topic heading looks like to me, with my XP laptop, and the zoom on ('cause otherwise everything would be too small for me to read):

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 04, 2016, 03:01:14 AM

I wouldn't stand for them charging for the viruses - that's like getting spammed on your cell phone.

You're even blinder than I am.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on July 04, 2016, 03:37:21 AM

I think the screenshot is actually a bit bigger than it really is on the screen (I don't have my favorite image editor bookmarked on this computer, so I just took the screenshot and attached it), but honestly, the topic heading really does end with the word "virus". It's like that in my email, too.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 04, 2016, 03:42:49 AM

So that's the white at the top you mentioned this morning?  Huh.  Maybe I should try cranking the zoom in ff...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on July 04, 2016, 03:48:45 AM

No, that's not the white I meant. This particular white is just due to my not cropping the screen shot. The white I was talking about was something completely different, like you were tweaking the forum background and were between images.

I did restart, and it's not a problem right now. The hard-to-read font still is, but I think I'd better try to deal with a screenshot for that on my other computer; it's easier to access Photobucket on that one.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 04, 2016, 03:52:29 AM

The white probably was a bad page load getting cached like I guessed, then.  The legibility is just a color tweak from a fix, once I know just what to look for...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 05, 2016, 11:17:43 PM

Quote from: DrazharLn on September 09, 2015, 02:37:52 PM

If you haven't already, check what processes are running at startup with msconfig.exe (start > run) or by downloading ccleaner and going to the startup tab.

About to do this now...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 05, 2016, 11:25:55 PM

Okay - I've turned a bunch of stuff off, and am about to hit the Restart prompt - if I don't come back it's Draz' fault...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 12:06:15 AM

Whoah.  Draz messed me up real bad - had to log in on my mother's machine to come find out what he had me use, to turn some stuff back on...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 01:09:34 AM

THAT'S an hour and a half of my life I'll never get back.  Turns out the wireless receiver software was in the boot stuff, best to not turn THAT off - and the password to our wifi I had handy, someone not-me had written "I" for "1".  Had a miserable time getting everything straightened out - upside is, I finally got into the booster I'd never been able to join, so I'm not making do with "poor" signal anymore.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 01:15:03 AM

...Of course my machine is stinking performance right now, but it's only been on 20 minutes, so time to go spoil some cats while it wakes up more.

-I swear, it's weird to see ALL THOSE BARS on my connection...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 03:02:56 AM

I think I better get back on the horse what threw me, with an hour to mess around before bedtime.  Let's go see if Draz' next suggestion also sabotages me...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 03:09:51 AM

Quote from: DrazharLn on September 09, 2015, 08:42:31 PM

reinstalling windows is often the easiest reliable way to get a windows machine back to a good level of performance.

...The install disk is lost among Mylochka's computer room crap even before the move back from Texas.  It's come up before, and 'fraid it's not going to happen...

-My office is a pig sty, and I have the rudimentary skils to have installed a couple of drives before - I can definitely get the case open, and the works definitely can use cleaning, but I want to run though the feasible software stuff first - one thing at a time, and the cleaning is going to make me a little sick, so not tonight...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 03:52:24 AM

Quote from: DrazharLn on September 10, 2015, 04:09:08 AM

Download CPU-Z and confirm you only have one core working.

Look in your BIOS for "Advanced Clock Calibration" and turn it on.

Check again in CPU-Z.

The processor can also be overclocked quite a lot (up to 3.4-3.7 GHz, supposedly). You might not be able to get that high on the stock cooler, though.

One core.

-Okay, somebody tell me where my BIOS is and how to turn on the "Advanced Clock Calibration".  I'm curious about the overclocking, too, though not inclined to risk being very bold...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 01:34:54 PM

ANYone?

Performance is good this morning - it may not have responded the same to restarts yesterday evening, when it was a little stall-y.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Spacy on July 06, 2016, 03:36:55 PM

The one time I tried it was using a AMD Overdrive utility.  Just had to download the utility and run it like any other program. 

Failed miserably in my case.

Here is a PDF I found after a quick google search.  Use with caution.  https://www.amd.com/Documents/AMD_Dragon_AM3_AM2_Performance_Tuning_Guide.pdf (https://www.amd.com/Documents/AMD_Dragon_AM3_AM2_Performance_Tuning_Guide.pdf)

I ended up having to throw out that computer. 

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 06, 2016, 03:42:39 PM

I'll have a look later.  Thanks.  -For the warning, too.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 08, 2016, 03:13:58 AM

Performance comes and goes -nothing as crap as I'd gotten sadly used to, but still getting tabs lock up and jam other tabs until the problem clears up, which should almost never happen, not several times a day and that an improvement.

I think I better email Draz' attention before I try the technique that backfired on GodKing...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 08, 2016, 03:41:00 AM

Oooh, that .pdf isn't in Martian or anything, but skimming it has intimidated me enough that I'm definitely waiting for more input - and I wanted to activate that core days ago, that sounding like just the ticket for not having all pages load slow enough to see...

---

Odd thing.  It's Thursday, I changed the setting for the auto-defrag to about suppertime yesterday -it had been set to 3 in the morning, and I don't know when the machine's been on then- but I just now realized I don't know about it happening.  I better check that for last time defraged...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 08, 2016, 03:53:02 AM

Nope.  It last ran on the 3rd, Sunday.  WTF?

---

Hey - has anyone else noticed how awful Hotmail is since they changed around everything about a year and a half ago and coerced a second email which incidentally started getting a hellacious amount of spam?  I mean, I hate all the interface changes more than the next guy, but I'm talking about performance - takes forever to load, freezes constantly, jams up other open tabs while it's constantly crapping itself?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 08, 2016, 04:03:14 AM

-That took five minutes to post.  In an incredible coincidence, I still had Hotmail open from pinging Draz when I posted.  This one will go right up, mark my words.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 08, 2016, 04:03:24 AM

It did.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on July 09, 2016, 11:02:52 PM

Love the new sigline - I do my best :P

I haven't thought about this since last year, of course...

Hotmail is really bad, overclocking can kill your computer instantly if you do it wrong, but going in small steps should be safe-ish.

OTOH, there is a risk of cooking the whole thing, and if you can't afford a new machine, maybe don't do that.

I'm sorry you had some trouble with turning off startup stuff. Glad you sorted that.

I don't have much more to add to my earlier list. Getting an adblocker will help a fair amount, though. Use ublock origin if it's available for whatever browser you use.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on July 10, 2016, 12:26:35 AM

I don't really know what else I can help with, here.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 01:50:54 AM

Quote from: BUncle on July 06, 2016, 03:52:24 AM

Quote from: DrazharLn on September 10, 2015, 04:09:08 AM

Download CPU-Z and confirm you only have one core working.

Look in your BIOS for "Advanced Clock Calibration" and turn it on.

Check again in CPU-Z.

The processor can also be overclocked quite a lot (up to 3.4-3.7 GHz, supposedly). You might not be able to get that high on the stock cooler, though.

One core.

-Okay, somebody tell me where my BIOS is and how to turn on the "Advanced Clock Calibration".  I'm curious about the overclocking, too, though not inclined to risk being very bold...

The bolded bit - I don't know where that is/how to do that.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 01:55:07 AM

...I haven't looked into it, but would dumping AdBlock Plus in favor of ublock be as simple as go find ublock, uninstall AB+, etc.?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: ColdWizard on July 10, 2016, 04:22:41 AM

Quote from: BUncle on July 10, 2016, 01:55:07 AM

...I haven't looked into it, but would dumping AdBlock Plus in favor of ublock be as simple as go find ublock, uninstall AB+, etc.?

That's basically what I did. Though keep in mind ublock and ublock origin are different. Ublock is like ABP in that it whitelists stuff where Origin is a branch by the original ublock guy that actually still blocks things. Or that's how I interpreted the saying of people more knowledgeable than me.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 04:38:29 AM

I like the sound of actually still blocks things.  Ain't been enough of that going around.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: ColdWizard on July 10, 2016, 04:51:44 AM

Plus you can block other page elements pretty easily. The right third of my Facebook is blank because I blocked all the trending and suggested nonsense, for example.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 04:54:18 AM

Oooh!  I rather like the trending when it's not sports kadsian or something else hopelessly stupid/trivial, but if I never had to close a suggested anything again, that would be great.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: ColdWizard on July 10, 2016, 04:57:34 AM

Most of the ones that show up in my feed do show up, but I might not have tried blocking those yet as I've found a couple of them interesting enough to follow.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on July 10, 2016, 01:48:38 PM

> ...I haven't looked into it, but would dumping AdBlock Plus in favor of ublock be as simple as go find ublock, uninstall AB+, etc.?

Yup.

> Look in your BIOS for "Advanced Clock Calibration" and turn it on.

* Get into BIOS (restart computer, hold down delete, usually)
* Look through the various pages for anything that sounds a bit like advanced clock calibration

If you can't find it, look for the name of the motherboard and I can maybe get a manual.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 02:23:57 PM

If that's anything like just bringing up the W7 Control Panel and poking around, I've tried at frustrating length, both running searches and clicking and categories and looking.  I imagine clock settings are buried pretty deep on purpose...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on July 10, 2016, 03:48:04 PM

The BIOS system is separate from your operating system. You access it by turning your computer off and then holding a key down or repeatedly pressing it when the machine starts.

Looks like this: http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bios.jpg (http://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/bios.jpg)

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 04:42:36 PM

I will be looking into this in an hour or two if things stay as slow on the boards as I expect on a Sunday afternoon during summer in the American hemisphere...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 11, 2016, 01:30:56 PM

It was a more interesting day IRL than I'd hoped.  -This morning's looking slow, though, so if there's nothing interesting when I go investigate who's stomping around the kitchen, I'm going to try to gut up and take the plunge when I come back, before I get projects going and programs open...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 11, 2016, 02:11:44 PM

Okay - shutting down now.  Cross your fingers for me; good Lord willing and the creeks don't rise, I'll be back in about 20 minutes, maybe.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 11, 2016, 02:32:21 PM

No dice.  I swear I've seen the blue DOS-y screen -or one very like it- a million times after a power blink or something of the sort, but the holding down a key, delete, only gets me some W7 diagnostics/boot stuff, no BIOS access.  I couldn't swear I've seen it on THIS machine in the last 4.5 years.  $#@!

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on July 11, 2016, 02:52:36 PM

Try F1, F2 and so on. Here's a list of likely keys for different mobo manufacturers: http://www.cpucare.net/Hardware/BIOS/Access_BIOS.htm (http://www.cpucare.net/Hardware/BIOS/Access_BIOS.htm)

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 11, 2016, 03:06:31 PM

Okydoke.  I did have a look at the same screen where I got the other system info for you in September, but it doesn't say anything about what motherboard unless I'm just not understanding the labels, and I don't think that's the case.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 11, 2016, 03:22:45 PM

...My machine takes entirely too long shutting down - not news, but I customarily shut down at bedtime and don't have to watch; not an option doing this, as once W7 starts booting, I'm stuck for another restart cycle...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 11, 2016, 07:39:00 PM

RL is happening, so no idea if I'll get in another run at this today - gotta go make up a new batch of my bbq sauce now...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 03, 2016, 02:43:25 AM

Can anyone tell me how to turn off AdBlock+ for a specific site?  I can never find any controls or settings for the thing, and I'd like to test if it's causing more problems at CFC than it solves.  My performance there has been truly terrible there lately, 3/4ths of the time...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on August 03, 2016, 02:58:13 AM

You've got the red icon on your toolbar, right? Left-click the icon and you have several options. One is to disable it only for the page you're on, and another is to disable it for the site you're on. Click whichever is appropriate, and the ABP icon will change from red to grey on the affected pages/site. Refresh the page and carry on with whatever you're working on.

Keep in mind that I use Firefox. I have no idea if this works for any other browser.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 03, 2016, 02:59:54 AM

...IE, and I don't know about anything like that...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Valka on August 03, 2016, 04:10:31 AM

In that case, you'd best google some variation of "Internet Explorer+adblockers" and see what comes up.

On my toolbar ABP looks like a red stop sign with white letters that say ABP. If I disable it, the red becomes grey. Some shopping sites require disabling it before a person can use those sites. Thank goodness for Ghostery that prevents me from being instantly overwhelmed with all the crap those sites want me to see, and the tracking they want to do.

I'm not having any problems on CFC due to ABP.

Have you posted about this in the computer forum at CFC? That's the likeliest place I know of to find answers. My own go-to person there is Zelig.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 03, 2016, 04:27:42 AM

I've been talking to Petek in Site -he's a pretty awesome troubleshooter I've seen shoot trouble stone dead many many times for years- and he said to try turning it off at CFC to see if it's causing the problem.  Makes all kinds of sense to me, but I don't know how to do it.  I think I'll just uninstall the turkey tomorrow.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 03, 2016, 05:29:14 PM

I did do the uninstall, but I think I need to restart before I see the results.  Random events have triggered and this is the first time I've caught a breath in hours.  Will report back when I know more.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 03, 2016, 09:15:56 PM

Nah, the restart took entirely too long, and when I finally found a minute to look around some places, no improvement.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 09, 2016, 05:10:05 AM

...Actually, I see absolutely no difference anywhere; poop on that and the general terrible performance of this machine.

The new one ordered Friday night is allegedly to be delivered tomorrow; between an appointment to have a fasting blood draw for testing tomorrow that's not until 10 -not eating early's no big change, but coffee black and unsweetened sucks as much as waiting rooms in the morning- and coping with learning to do ANYthing on W10 -ugh- tomorrow should make for a really fun day... ;sarc;

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 09, 2016, 03:59:16 PM

What did you get?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 09, 2016, 06:25:18 PM

I don't even know - Mylochka said it was a good deal, and I said go for it.  My little brother did the ordering.  It may not come until tomorrow, but I'll report back when I lay hands on it.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 10, 2016, 02:04:18 AM

...I asked Mylochka what it was, and she doesn't recall.  Will report - apparently tomorrow, since I think they won't deliver tonight...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 11, 2016, 04:41:52 AM

BU's New Machine Hostage Crisis, Day Two

Nerdwatchers all over are a-quiver with anticipation, while insiders claim the hapless tubes personality and tiny forum owner is "beside himself" after a second day of no delivery.  "His machine sucks and he's tired of the thing burning off his time and keeping him from taking care of business," a source close to the 51 year-old hermit claimed.

-Why a man too dim to know it's not pronounced "bidness" would have told friends such a thing was unknown at press time, as was what the deal is with UPS drivers thinking they can park anywhere they want to, the middle of a busy street, between two cars in an imaginary space with four inches clearance on each side, they just don't seem to care.  Whomever hasn't delivered could not be reached for comment.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 11, 2016, 06:39:36 PM

It's an HP!  Bouncing Baby Computer Delivered at 12 :43 EDT

Forgive  me if I don't bring up the system specs right away - lots of setup crap to take care of.

NOTE: none of the buttons over the replay page seem to work; I keyed in the bold code above...  I NEED the buttons working, Draz...  It brought up the smiley popup lightning-fast, but clicking on those isn't working, either.  -Obviously a default setting problem in the browser; it's that new W10 default one on the taskbar and I don't even know how to bring up the main menu yet and look at Help - somebody please advise...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 11, 2016, 06:51:03 PM

Found IE, the buttons work in IE and I seem to be able to find stuff in it, though a new version that does display the new site icon, finally.  :danc:

I probably ought to learn that new browser they're forcing down all the new lUser's throats, though...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 11, 2016, 06:59:51 PM

Wow.  It's been YEARS since I was seeing pageloads this fast...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 11, 2016, 07:41:40 PM

Well, I still say screw the new OS, having to learn the new OS, having to port multi-gigabytes of stuff off my old machine - but man, Poly pages load fast on this new machine in IE - and for MONTHS I'd been having to boot the Great Satan Firefox to browse there at all...

I'd forgotten what browsing at a decent speed was like.  I'm so happy...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 11, 2016, 08:48:35 PM

I need to find the settings for hibernation - it's doing it after 10 or 15 minutes afk, and no; just no.  And to turn off wasting my time asking for a password - I don't need the security.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 12:36:41 AM

Okay - I took a screenie of the specs -it's a bunch of noise to me- but can't find stinking MSPaint or anything to paste it into, nor any way to search for stuff, so I don't know how to save it to post, and have no intention of downloading anything just for this when I should have the old hard drive plugged in as an external tomorrow...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 11:57:34 AM

MS Paint is now just called Paint. To get to it, I just press the windows key then type "paint".

To get to the power and sleep settings, press the windows key and type "sleep", look for something called "Power and sleep".

Told you a new computer would be better :)

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 12:02:11 PM

Found those settings yesterday -but not Paint- but I'd still like to turn off having to log onto the machine in the morning, as that's a time sink.

Wow.  I popped open the case of my old machine last night, and the hard drive is going to be a girldog to get at - but I already went to post a 6 avatar this morning before I realized.  I need to get this done.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 12:05:16 PM

To sign in without a password you need to find the accounts settings. Searching "manage account" gets it for me.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 12:05:51 PM

Okay.  Paint turned right up.

Here you go...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 12:07:54 PM

Searching that googled it - on Bing, in MSEdge.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 01:28:56 PM

By searching I mean just press the windows key and type it. Or go to the start menu and type it. Same thing.

If you'd rather look through the menus, just go to the start menu and press settings.

Processor is good and you've got a decent amount of RAM. Can't say any more based on that info, though. Should be good enough, though :)

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 02:28:10 PM

I hit the windows icon in the bottom left corner and started typing...

Now, I also need to figure out how to get a Gigaware external drive case open - I only just spotted the two screws; that should do it...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 02:30:38 PM

I've just bothered to download the latest version of GIMP, 'cause I've got a few new kitten pics to process and that can't wait; also, the giant doll in the woodshed for Uno...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 02:55:55 PM

Quote from: BUncle on August 12, 2016, 02:28:10 PM

I hit the windows icon in the bottom left corner and started typing...

Then right click on the windows icon and go to control panel or just look for the win10 settings program.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 03:00:59 PM

Okydoke.

...Given the timing, I have a genuine suspicion that when I downloaded W10 on the 27th, Microsoft deliberately windows-crufted my old machine worse to force me to this.  I imagine that's a felony and they were very careful to leave no memos and relayed instructions face-to-face "You say this needed security update will tend to have an unfortunate impact the users' computers performance?  Wellll - security is VERY important, and I'm sure the performance hit is trivial and they'll manage..."

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 03:08:22 PM

I THINK I'm in the right place, but I find no way thus far to undo the 'password protected'...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 03:24:13 PM

I misremembered. Just run "netplwiz".

win+r > netplwiz

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 03:29:38 PM

Okay!  I unchecked 'Users must have a password to use this computer' and that should be that.  Thanks.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 05:03:52 PM

Embedded videos are not displaying for me here and WPC - oddly, they're fine at 'Poly and CFC.  I've looked around the View and Tools menus in IE and found no helpful setting yet...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 05:36:06 PM

Have you installed flash?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 07:07:49 PM

You have to install that turkey?  I thought that was one of those things so pandemic you get it automatically the first time you go online, sorta like porn and disgust.

Googling...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 07:14:47 PM

Man - I don't know how you're supposed to get at the hard drive in my old machine without cutting up the tower... ;clenchedteeth

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 07:26:37 PM

Quote

Flash Player is integrated with Internet Explorer in Windows 10.
You do not need to install Flash Player.

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-issues-windows-10-ie.html

It's enabled, too...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 09:43:12 PM

Then possibly you don't have the codecs. The klite pack is legit.

For the HDD, if you don't have much to transfer just stick it on a USB drive or something. If you have a lot, just unplug and unscrew stuff until you get to it.

Maybe search for a teardown of your chassis name here.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 10:14:31 PM

I finally found how the cage it's mounted in slides out, and I expect I've got it, now...

There's a lot to transfer, though; I had a major portion of the machine before that's hard drive cloned -and thus. all my SMACX art files for nearly eight years- and I need it for an external to transfer in any reasonable time...

Where do I look for these codecs?  Search term?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 11:22:56 PM

...I finally got the drive out - and the casing for the two-machines-ago drive is for the other kind of HD than the one I have on hand wanting to mount.

-There's just no way there's a place in the new machine -the tower's very small- and free plugs to install it internally, is there?

That's not theoretically outside my technical/mechanical competence -I transferred the floppy drive from three machines ago to the one two machines ago and it did work fine and all- but I'd really be more comfortable not cracking the case and trying, suspecting as I do that there's no place and plugs - and if I have to buy parts anyway, I'll go with the simple/easy external case...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 11:26:06 PM

-And on actual topic - Draz, you say to just let the Windows stuff in place handle the viruses?  I don't download much, and I'm paranoid about sketchy downloads and emails...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 12, 2016, 11:45:21 PM

Yes. Win defender is fine.

Just google what I suggested for codecs: klite codec pack. Same thing with the other issues, just google e.g. (PC model number) number of hard drives or number of sata ports or something.

Sata cables are cheap, but you'd have to check to see if your power supply has a spare sata power connector.

If your HDD is ide rather than sata, you'll need to buy something different maybe an ide to USB bridge.

In fact, for a slowish connection, you can just buy a sata to USB cable, but you need to check your HDD can be safely powered by the low current (1A) provided by two usb sockets.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 12, 2016, 11:56:37 PM

Mylochka claims the case was less than $20 five years ago, and it's sata -I did read the sticker stuff on the HD- and I reckon I better put my shoes on and go shopping...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 03:28:43 AM

;clenchedteeth

I think I finally have a case that will work...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 04:20:25 AM

It worked.  I spent a whole lot more time multitasking since that last post than figuring it out and putting it together...

It's too late to fool with fishing out links to everything tonight, but I can get at all the junk I left behind at will now, and all is right with the world...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 04:39:30 AM

No luck so far w/ the klite codecs, downloaded now - will check again tomorrow morning to see if they do the trick after starting back up...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 12:51:04 PM

This morning, nothing is displaying w/ the embedded vids...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 01:45:51 PM

Any idea why pulldown boxes aren't working for me today and what to do about it?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 08:55:05 PM

A serious-seeming related-seeming problem; can't upload to an album, at least in IE; getting a popup blocked notice but can't bring up the options.  Most of the options in the tools menu seem to be non-functional, so can't get at the popup blocker.  Help!

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 09:00:38 PM

...That works in stupid slow MSEdge, but the formatting buttons I complained about yesterday still don't...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 13, 2016, 09:16:23 PM

I don't use IE or Edge and I don't know why they're misbehaving. Soz.

Search google for the popup thing, maybe?

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 13, 2016, 09:24:20 PM

Maybe. ;clenchedteeth

-Somehow, this is your fault.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2016, 01:57:34 AM

Not sure exactly what fixed it, but after a reset, the pulldowns were working again...

No luck with the stupid videos, though.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: ColdWizard on August 14, 2016, 04:13:16 PM

I wonder if it might be a security setting thing. Poly uses https and it's http here.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2016, 04:35:55 PM

Hmmm.  No, I don't think that accounts for the problem at WPC...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2016, 07:01:17 PM

Odd - I uploaded an upgrade of my avatar earlier, spotted a detail I'd missed, fixed and resaved - and the browse button to re-upload the improvement had stopped working in about two minutes, and I got the popup blocker warning bar at the bottom, though the popup blocker is turned off...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2016, 07:16:50 PM

Stupid MSEdge doesn't have the problem, so I workarounded that way...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2016, 07:24:28 PM

I can report that the embedded video problem is there in Edge and Chrome, too, so presumably a direct OS problem.  I need to fish the Great Satan Firefox out of my old drive and check that, too...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 14, 2016, 07:53:44 PM

Very odd - just checked, and now the browse button works again - I hadn't done anything.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 15, 2016, 04:35:47 PM

The embedded video display problem is definitely something to do with Flash - when I right-click on where they should be, I'm getting a Flash settings popup.  I guess I better google it...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 15, 2016, 04:57:37 PM

Tried some things from a Microsoft website - no luck so far, despite a reset.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 15, 2016, 06:15:15 PM

...I'm getting one of those bottom of the screen "An add-on for this website failed to run" bars across the bottom of the screen when I try to fix things...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 18, 2016, 02:58:08 AM

Irritating thing is, some problems come and go in the course of a day in tabs that have been open the whole time.  -A new one as of sometime yesterday is the Quick Reply box twitching back and forth between two widths as I type, which is maddening as the second line moves back and forth.

The video display cleared up mysteriously sometime late afternoon...

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: DrazharLn on August 18, 2016, 11:05:43 AM

If IE and Edge aren't working, try Firefox and Chrome for a while and see if the errors are there too.

Title: Re: Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on August 18, 2016, 01:29:05 PM

[shudder]  Chrome ain't so bad, but Firefox is teh Great Satan...  I have both working, and we'll see.