[lorran]

Eight months ago in August 2007 I purchased a new PC: an emachines T3616 desktop PC w/AMD Sempron processor 3600+ and a pre-installed Windows Vista Home Basic OS. Everything worked great until I stupidly allowed my free trial antivirus program to lapse. There may be no relation but for the past two weeks I have been having great difficulty booting my computer and often receive odd error messages. I want to download and install AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition but first need to boot up. When I turn power on, all I get is a message telling me (duh!) that Windows won't start and saying that I should press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart. When I do so, that darn message reappears and no boot. If I actually get past this and press Start, the Start Menu opens and then freezes! Since I have dial-up, a friend with DSL has offered to download AVG, then email the AVG installer to me as an attachment. This would be great but I must find a way to boot first. Can someone give me some advice on what to do? My warranty is still good till August but I'd like to first see if I can find a way to boot, install AVG, and scan for viruses. Also, my friend with DSL already has a copy of AVG on her PC. Would it be okay for her to download a second copy and then email the installer to me? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

lorran

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Hi lorran
1st check you do not have any floppy disk or cd's in any drive. if not then start the machine and start tapping F8 key straight away. This should give you a menu to choose boot options. try last known good configuration.
If that does not work then choose safe mode with networking.
You will get a lot of black and white type with this - that is normal. It should then come to a log in screen.
Cheers
peterm

[peterm]

Hi lorran
1st check you do not have any floppy disk or cd's in any drive. if not then start the machine and start tapping F8 key straight away. This should give you a menu to choose boot options. try last known good configuration.
If that does not work then choose safe mode with networking.
You will get a lot of black and white type with this - that is normal. It should then come to a log in screen.
Cheers
peterm

[lorran]

peterm...

My drives are empty. I will try what you suggest and report back. I sure hope it works because I desperately need a good antivirus program since I do a lot of email and I've heard that is one of the best ways to transmit viruses. Thank you for your advice.

lorran

[Troy]

Hi lorran,

This doesn't help to your problem at present, but I find avast! to be an excellent free anti-virus. I would recommend it over AVG for your needs because it has a separate plug-in that starts every time you open your e-mail program (and it is always scanning for web email by default). If you're interested, the link is in my signature.

Cheers

Troy

[lorran]

To Troy...

I've heard of Avast. But please explain what you mean by it having "a separate plug-in." I'm afraid I'm a beginner. Sorry.
Thank you very much.

lorran

[Troy]

Hi lorran, the "separate plug-in" was probably a wrong choice of term...

I simply mean that when you open your email program, avast loads an extra level of protection specifically designed to scan your emails.

For example, when I open Microsoft Office Outlook, a small splash-screen briefly appears which tells me avast is on the job!

When you close it, avast will not continue monitoring your emails. Avast does it all automatically, so it only takes the extra resources from your computer as it needs them.

Cheers

Troy

[peterm]

hi Loran
Did any of the boot options work.

[lorran]

To peterm and troy...my computer trouble has been solved!! After I emailed Best Buy from another PC to take advantage of my warranty that ends August 5th I powered on my troubled computer with dial-up connection and everything was normal again!!! Not only was I able to boot but I took a chance and downloaded and installed AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. On dial-up this took 3 hours, 18 minutes. Slow but very strong dial-up connection. When I finished I ran a scan and actually jumped for joy when I saw the green checkmark and the words "Your system is fully protected!" I have seen crashes before but never anything like this. I wonder if some virus got in and derailed my PC and all it needed was a fresh copy of anti-virus software. I wanted to let you guys know how much I appreciate your time and very helpful advice. Whew! Now I'm sending emails and web surfing. And keeping my fingers crossed because one never can be too careful with computers. Thanks again, friends.

lorran

Edited by lorran, 02 May 2008 - 08:40 AM.