VIRUS ATTACK

2011-06-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

FOR WINDOWS XP/ VISTA/7

Do you have a virus? First thing to do is don’t panic. You can restore your pc to a time before you got the virus.

If a pop up security system window appears telling you that your system has detected trojans and worms and viruses. Most likely that is a virus which will also tell you to purchase the product to fix the problem.

how to get rid of it.

Turn off your laptop or desktop. Turn it back on pressing F8. A list of options will appear.

Choose to boot in safe mode. This will load windows with minimum programmes running. Once safe mode is loaded if you are running XP it will tell you that safe mode is running and give you an option to restore your pc to an earlier time.

click No to open system restore console.

For vista and windows 7 to open system restore console you can press:
STARTALL PROGRAMMESACCESSORIESSYSTEM TOOLSSYSTEM RESTORE

Please note: It is important to make sure you have your charger plugged in and no chance of your pc cutting off during the process. Do not turn off your pc while this process is running.

Wait about 30 sec for the restore console to open than follow the instruction to restore your pc to a previous state. You could choose to restore the pc 1 day before or 1 week.

When the process is complete your pc will reboot and windows will boot. Once booted, a box will appear telling you whether the restore operation was successful or not.
If the restore was not successful for vista and windows 7 users, than theirs another way to restore your pc.

On reboot press F8 and an option appears to repair your pc. Through following this procedure you can also restore your pc.

Also you can use the operating system disk can be used to restore your pc. Just follow the instructions and instead of installing theirs an option to repair your pc at the bottom left of screen.

This will lead you to the next set of options

FX MY PC

If the system restore does work make sure to download a good antivirus and do a full system scan.

Free Antivirus links:

LAVASOFT ANTIVIRUS

AVIRA ANTIVIRUS

MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS

If this fails the best thing do is to reinstall your operating system.

However for vista and windows 7 you can install windows using a disk on top of your current windows saving any data in a folder called windows old if your hard drive has 20GB free space.

most new pc have a recovery partition on your hard drive but that would wipe everything and restore your pc to factory settings i.e. the way it was when you first got your system causing you to lose all your data.

The best way to save your data and reinstall would be to use a windows operating disk if you have 20GB free space>
For more confident people

Another method would be to get a usb hard drive enclosure for around £5-£10 from the market or online (usually sata for newer pc models).
Make sure you remove the power cord and remove the battery.
Turn over your laptop and look for markings similar to this image
with a cover that can usually be removed by taking out 2 screws.

This image is of an 2.5 IDE hard drive notice the pins at the top

Take out your hard drive remove screw from the holding enclosure and place it in your enclosure which you can connect via usb to another pc and extract your data.

Usually when the hard drive opens on your pc your files will be found on your hard drive under:

*Hard drive locataion (D: or E: or F:)

For XP
Documents and Settings--->your user name

For VISTA WINDOWS 7
USERS--->YOUR USER NAME

You may need to change the file permissions to view the files.

Right click the USERS-->PROPERTIES-->SECURITY-->ADVANCED-->CHANGE PERMISSIONS-->TICK THE 1-2 BOXES AT BOTTOM-->APPLY

Please not:only use this method if you have tried to access the files and it has says access denied.

You will than take ownership of all files.

Extract the data to your desired destination. And then put the hard drive back in your system and reinstall O/S.

Please note: If you keep getting error messages or the system seems to be hanging or taking too long to install, it could be your hard drive that is faulty especially if its clicking or makes strange noises usually caused by dropping or knocking the laptop or has just simply failed. This could be another reason why your pc may be running slow. replace the hard drive and reinstall.

Once you have reinstalled you may find that you will have to install drivers for the network, sound or any other device to work.

The yellow indicates missing drivers.

The best way to install the drivers would be to go to manufacturers website and using your model number or service tag download and install the drivers. Unless you have the original drivers disk.

If you have only one system and have no network to access the internet than its best to take down your model number and using a usb go to friends house or an internet cafe and download the Ethernet driver and wireless drivers from the manufacturers website.

Manufacturer’s website for drivers
DELL DRIVERS

HP DRIVERS

PACKARD BELL DRIVERS

ACER DRIVERS

TOSHIBA DRIVERS

SONY DRIVERS

FOR OTHER SYSTEMS PLEASE GO TO YOUR SYSTEMS MANUFACTURERS WEBSITE

Dont forget to activate your copy of Windows with the product key provided underneath your system and sometime under the battery. For desktops it will be on the side of the system.

product key sample

PC TWEAKS

is your pc runing too slow? want to make it faster?

try this tweak

click start--->run

type "msconfig" in the window that appears.

on startup tab tick disable all and than search for your antivirus in the list and just tick that box (to be started on startup) click apply.

click the services tab
warning do not disable any microsoft services
make sure to tick hide all microsoft services so these services are not effected.

tick disable all and than go through the list and tick only your antivirus which will startup.

click apply and close and you will be promted to reboot your pc.

tick dont show this message again and reboot.

once rebooted a message will appear

tick dont show this again and ok.

Over time applications you download like messenger or yahoo skype adobe ect automatically start when your pc boots causing it to slow down. By disabling startup applications this will help your pc run faster.

viruses can also make your pc run slow so make sure to scan your system with a good antivirus.

Do a check disk of your system.

Right click my computer and click properties

In the propeties window that appears choose the tools tab.

in the tools tab click check now where a window will open.

tick automatically fix system errors and than click start. You will be prompted that windows cant check the disk while it is in use.

click yes and windows will schedule a disk check when your pc next starts up.

Reboot your pc where disk check should start (do not press any buttons to abort the process) and check for any errors and fix them.

Sometimes people download antivirus software while their old one has expired but fail to remove the old antivurus from the system. two antivurus on a system can sometimes cause conflict and make your pc run very slow.

Click start--->control panel

in control panel choose add/remove programs

a window will appear of installed programs

locate your old antivirus and click remove

you can also uninstall any other programs that you do not need.

If you still find your system to be slower than it used to be than the best option would be to save your data and reinstall the operating system.

Hard drive failure is also another reason for your pc to run slow.

LAPTOP NOT STARTING

Check the power supply and make sure its plugged in.

If your laptop is still not switching on try removing the battery and power cord and holding down the power button on the laptop for 30-60 sec(Discharging any static on the board).

without the battery put the power cord back in and try the laptop again.

If this Fails to power up your system and their is no sign of any life, it could be that your DC Charger needs replacing or if you believe the charger to be good than maybe the DC port needs to be repaired or replacing. Contact your nearest repair center for advice.

Please note some older HP Laptops with Nvidea graphics chip have a design Flaw in regards to overheating.

Over time what happens is the Motherboard overheats and the graphics chips comes away from the board.

Symptoms are everything comes on, lights ect as normal except the screen is blank.

You could double check this by connecting a Vga cable and trying an external monitor to see whether anything displays.

If your windows does display on external screen than it could be your lcd screen or inverter that needs replacing and not the graphics chip problem.

If you are experiencing the graphics chip problem it is best not to get this fixed unless the repair specialist gives you a 1 year warranty which most dont.

most repair centers will repair your laptop and give you 3 months warranty where the problem will return because of the underlining problem which is the overheating.

click on the link for more information regarding this problem

GRAPHICS DESIGN FLAW

Repair would be in the range of £75.00 to £100.00.

If you have a laptop and its ok but you feel it is running too hot and will eventually pack up, than it would be advisable to invest in a good cooling pad that has fans that will help keep the laptop cooler and help disperse heat. This will not solve the problem but help the product last longer.
I would also extend the warranty or have your laptop insured.

USB COOLING PAD

LAPTOP KEEPS SHUTTING DOWN AFTER SHORT PERIOD OF TIME

If your laptop is shutting down and restarting after 5-10min because it getting too hot it is probably the Thermal cooling paste which has dried up and will need to be reapplied on the processor. The system is shutting down to prevent any damage to the system.

Not an easy job for a Novice if the laptop has to be stripped down to get to the processor.

Some laptops have easy access underneith the laptop after removing a few screws from a panel to get to the processor

check the link for more information

INSIDE MY LAPTOP