[NunyaBus]

Not sure where to begin.
1) At times, no icons are showing up on the task bar by the clock even though programs are running. They've always been there before.
2) AOL is one of them that is no longer showing up even when I am logged on. A few hours ago it was there but it said there was no connection even though I was logged on. Also, I have cable so there is always a connection anyway.
3) Prior to #2, I was using Windows Media Player, rippin some music, and an AOL notice came up to update my AOL spyware. I did. After I did that, WMP no longer would get album info for me and my AOL logo on my taskbar went to "no connection". Well, I logged on to AOL just to check it out and I logged on no problem. The AOL logo still said no connection available. I spoke with an AOL tech and now I am getting album info again but still no logo. I even did an AOL restore.
4) Whatever it is that happened, it has also bogged down my computer. I have ran Ghost Surf & AOL spyware, Norton Anti-Virus, Trojan Finder 4.2 (?), CWSearch, and I have done every test I know of. Oh ya, even Mozilla Firefox has bogged down.

My computer is usable but there is obviously something wrong with something. Please help.

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The icons can be if you have an arrow on the taskbar and behind this are the hidden icons, you can change the setting by right clicking the taskbar, properties then customize for hidden icons, you then get options to always show, hide or hide when inactive

Click start, control panel, network and internet, network connections, right click the connection, click properties to check for tick in show icon in tasbar when connected, click apply

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, click more options then clean up restore points, click confirm, click OK. Then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete, then reboot

When it has loaded to the desktop, click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and get a blue progress bar, after the bar goes, reboot.

When it has loaded to the desktop, click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot.

This will take an hour, it will appear to load normally then either the monitor will show progress or the screen will go blank, do not disturb this.

When it gets to the desktop, the system files and the hard drive will be as they should

If no change, the next thing to do would be a repair install, this will leave data and settings intact

http://www.geekstogo...ws_XP-t138.html

Beyond this it is likely to be a hardware fault

The next part is optional

Get the trial of Tune Up 2006 here

Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run disc clean up then registry clean up then click optimize to run reg defrag, which needs a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[Retired Tech]

The icons can be if you have an arrow on the taskbar and behind this are the hidden icons, you can change the setting by right clicking the taskbar, properties then customize for hidden icons, you then get options to always show, hide or hide when inactive

Click start, control panel, network and internet, network connections, right click the connection, click properties to check for tick in show icon in tasbar when connected, click apply

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, click more options then clean up restore points, click confirm, click OK. Then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete, then reboot

When it has loaded to the desktop, click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you need the XP CD and get a blue progress bar, after the bar goes, reboot.

When it has loaded to the desktop, click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot.

This will take an hour, it will appear to load normally then either the monitor will show progress or the screen will go blank, do not disturb this.

When it gets to the desktop, the system files and the hard drive will be as they should

If no change, the next thing to do would be a repair install, this will leave data and settings intact

http://www.geekstogo...ws_XP-t138.html

Beyond this it is likely to be a hardware fault

The next part is optional

Get the trial of Tune Up 2006 here

Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run disc clean up then registry clean up then click optimize to run reg defrag, which needs a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[NunyaBus]

Thanks for the help Keith. Nothing worked however. I'm going to do a system restore and if that doesn't work...I don't know what I'll do but I'll probably be back. I just don't know what all that would have to do with icons not showing up. Seems to me to be some kind of setting that I screwed up. The thing is, I didn't do anything but update my AOL spyware. We'll see.

[Retired Tech]

I think AOL is a bit like Norton in terms of removing it, not easy

If you ran through all that then system restore might not make any difference either

[NunyaBus]

Hey Keith,

I did do a system restore and it has very minutely helped. Maybe this will give another clue: I can't even get my "volume" icon to show up. I have "always show" checked and it's still not there. The same goes for the Norton icon. Norton is enabled but the icon won't show up. Firefox is still really slow as are all programs at times. I'm thinking about doing a XP repair. Does that sound like a good idea? Will I lose any files or anything? Is there any way someone can actually look at my computer's set-up? I received an error recently and I can't remember exactly what it was (I'm on drugs, I had surgery last week so I've been kinda light-headed lately). The computer couldn't find some kind of .log file. I've tried to duplicate it but I can't remember how I got it in the first place.

By the way, I really appreciate your help.

[Retired Tech]

You can do the repair as there is obviously something wrong

http://www.geekstogo...p?showtopic=138

The most important part here is to press R

Your data and settings will remain

Leave it till you are wide awake unless you need the PC urgently

[NunyaBus]

I did the xp repair and it worked fine for about 1 hour. All of a sudden, as I was browsin' files on my computer, the screen goes black, then turns blue with this error message (along with a page full of messages telling me I had a problem):

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

then at the bottom of the page it stated it was dumping my physical memory. When it was done, the computer rebooted and the exact same problems I had before the repair were back again. Somewhere in the mix of things Norton deleted a virus called: w32.spybot.worm. It was shown in the Norton quarantine files about 15 times.

I already have all of my files, except for my music which I have all of the CD's of so it really doesn't matter about them, backed-up. I guess I'll just run a debug and do a fresh reinstall. I just did that about 3 days ago but I guess, unless you have a better idea, I'll do it again.

If you can reply to this message soon, I'll probably check back one more time in about an hour. If not, I'll check back after I reinstall to let you know how things went. If a debug and fresh install don't work, I guess it would have to be hardware problem. Or maybe that w32.spybot.worm caused all this garbage. I'm so far beyond frustrated I'm not even mad anymore.

[Retired Tech]

If you know the make of hard drive then you can get their set up utility which will hav a write to zero option and will clear the drive completely

Worth doing considering the trouble you are having

Download Everest Home Edition

Run it, click + next to computer then summary, look on right for storage, then the first drive listed after floppy.

Visit the manufacturer's site for a suitable utility, check it has drive erase

If you are unable to find anything, or are unsure if the files are correct, post the make and model here before you download anything

[NunyaBus]

I didn't do anything last night. I went to bed instead. Anyway, I downloaded that Everest program and ran it. The only thing I noticed that I wasn't sure of is under: Computer - Power Management. The Power Management properties say I have No Battery. Is that talking about a power source or is it talking about the little battery that goes on the motherboard? Could that little motherboard battery cause this kind of trouble and how often should one be changed? I will probably do an XP repair one more time before I do a clean install. I know I did it correctly last time but I'm going to uninstall some of my programs this time before I do it and also my harddrive is Western Digital and I will get the utility to do what you explained. One more thing it said is that my BIOS is over 2 years old. Does that matter at all?

[Retired Tech]

It is referring to a different battery, you would have one to let you save data during a power cut but they are not standard

The BIOS battery would show its age by the taskbar clock becoming unaccurate

Upgrading the BIOS is a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it, flashing (updating) the BIOS is not reversible, if you install the wrong update then it would likely mean a new motherboard

If you are lucky, your motherboard may have an auto update utility, the manufacturer's site would have one, or you could ask their tech support for it, or the correct file

[NunyaBus]

OK. I'm back. The debugging and install are done and there is trouble already. No virus's are present. I received a message that said: Remote Procedure Call is shutting down my system and I have 60 seconds to save any work. This is not the first time I have seen that. By the way, I downloaded the utility to write my drive with zeros but it wouldn't let me because my operating system is on my drive. I know I did the install correctly.

[Retired Tech]

Can you post exactly what it said about OS on drive

Usually they are bootable files which you run from a CD Image, this loads before Windows and gives options to check or wipe the drive

If it doesn't there are other files which will do this

[NunyaBus]

I can't remembert word for word what it said. It just said that I could not write my drive to zeros cause my OS was on the drive.
Just after I wrote that last entry, that same virus that I mentioned before popped up and it wouldn't go away no matter how many times I pushed ok. (w32.spybot.worm) I have since spent about 2 hours following Symentec's instructions on how to completely remove it. I'm not totally sold on it being comletely gone but for now, Norton is not picking it up. I had to delete a bunch of registry stuff that was associated with the virus. Even though it seems to be working okay now, I would still like to erase the drive and start all over. I don't want to rip 200 CD's just to find out that I have to start all over again.

[NunyaBus]

Okay I found it. It says: The selected drive is your windows system drive and may not be erased.

[Retired Tech]

Is this what you already have

http://support.wdc.c...&pid=999&swid=1

If so, get UBCD, you need Nero, (trial version will do, get first two parts) and burn the file as an ISO Image file to a CDR, then you boot with the CD in, check it is set to boot from the CD ROM Drive first

Then you can choose from a number of drive erasers

It is a hefty file but worth it

http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/

When it loads, press F2 for hard disc tools then use the right arrow to find autoclave etc

Choose the longest one, autoclave at level five is 8 hours, you can run it overnight

Then install XP but when it starts to format, check it is partitioning C Raw1, if not, reboot the PC, with the reset button

You can have either the basic or full and the ISO Image is best

http://ubcd.sourcefo...t/download.html