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This
page contains answers to common questions handled by our support staff
(ie me), along with some tips and tricks that I
have found useful and presented here as questions.
Guides to windows XP can found on the software page. See also
Download help Many answers to XP problems can also be found at this
excellent web site
Troubleshooting Windows XP, Tweaks and Fixes for Windows XP
ALWAYS
use a virus checker!, ALWAYS
use a firewall! ALWAYS check for Spyware!
For your firewall I recommend
ZoneAlarm Security suite now with integrated virus checker and
ad-aware to remove spyware.
There is a firewall within XP follow
these instruction to turn it on.
,
- Open
Network Connections
- Click the Dial-up, LAN or High-Speed Internet connection
that you want to protect, and then, under Network Tasks, click
Change settings of this connection.
- On the Advanced tab, under Internet Connection Firewall,
select one of the following: To enable Internet Connection
Firewall (ICF),
select the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access
to this computer from the Internet check box. To disable Internet
Connection
Firewall,
clear the Protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access
to this computer from the Internet check box.
If you Have Service pack 2 then a "Firewall"
icon will be in your control panel. If you haven't got a third party firewall
installed, turn this on NOW. I really do recommend using sp2 because not only
do get all the updates, but a much better Windows Firewall. However Zone Alarm
takes some beating.
NEVER EVER
click on or download any plug-in or software that you are not 100%
certain about. Most are spy ware or worse.
If you ever even
THINK about installing the Anti-Leech plug-in, LimeWire, iMesh, Kazaa,
Edonkey and others, wait a few moments...
First imagine the worst possible spyware available inhabiting your computer,
popping up active x control prompts when your browser isn't even open, penis
enlargement banners coming from no-where repeatedly, gator spy ware install
attempts, shortcuts appearing on your desktop, your surfing habits recorded,
private information collected, and your system settings modified.... You name
it, its there...
I installed the Anti-Leech plug-in for the first time today, why so late? Well
I KNEW it would be laced with spy ware.
But hey, I found a decent Mp3 site that used it so I tried it out. Much to my
non-surprise I was raped right up the ar*e . Oh and
what's even better, you can't un-install it. It puts some Second Thought.ink
shortcut on your desktop, which is not listed in add/remove programs I might
add...Quite ingenius I think...
Many file sharing applications also use these forms of advertising and
malicious code in their software. The only way to remove all the crap that
gets bundled with these programs is to install and run a system scan with
ad-aware (see software page)
You might be thinking, "whatever, this
doesn't sound like a real problem"...WRONG!
This shit will not go away, popups will spawn from your desktop forever until
you remove their spy ware. The trick of it is that with any luck you have
other browser windows open, so you wont be able to tell where they're coming
from...It's very sneaky and works very well, to the average user.
Ad-aware
picks up over 50 or 60 items from
anti-leech alone, and in case you aren't aware, this is very bad
news.
After a scan you will see numerous spyware items recognized with the registry
key entries of Software\STC and objects located in c:\program files\STC, and
weird registry entries such as Free Scratch Cards which execute a program
called stcloader.exe. This is Anti-Leech's nest of spy ware.
Ad-aware
classifies Anti-Leech and its partner
programs as Malware.
Malware
"Malware" or, more correctly, "malicious software" is a term
which is applied to cover the entire gamut of "hostile" software, like
Viruses, Trojan Horses and Worms or software designed specifically to damage
or disrupt a system.
Once removing all of this garbage your PC will be totally spyware free, not
only from Anti-Leech but from everything else you've managed to pickup along
the way. Some files might require you to reboot and schedule
ad-aware
to re-scan once your system loads up
again, this is due to the fact that some of the files are currently in use by
windows and cannot be removed straight away.
It's very common for even professional users to have hundreds of items
recognized by adaware, and its a real shock to most people.
Also I might add, if you have a variety of file sharing programs installed,
you're completely infested and I seriously recommend an
ad-aware
scan right away
Disconnect your Dial-up modem from the line if you
have cable or broadband. There are a lot of nasty trojan programs that dial
up premium rate lines abroad without your knowledge. This really is a nasty
little scam that is very prevalent nowadays.
You keep getting spam...I get over
100 a day...it really does p*ss me off!
Never ever put your main e-mail
address on the net. Set up a free hotmail account and use that instead if
you want to subscribe to mailing lists ect.
Do not click the "Click here to un-subscribe" or the "Remove
Me" links in email. More often than not you're
just proving to the spammer that they have found a valid/active email address.
Do not open spam email....Most of them have trackers set so
the spammer knows your account is active he will then sell your address to other
spammers! . You need to RIGHT CLICK the email title (do not open it) then you
click DELETE
Zone Alarm Security Suite now includes a
very effective spam blocker.
For Messenger spam see
How do I disable messenger?
First and foremost if you can pin it
down to particular piece of software then try to delete and re-install it.
You could also look for help on the web. Use
Computing.Net - How Tos and
freePCtech , don't
forget to look in the forums, someone somewhere will have had the
same problem.
Repairing/reinstalling Windows
will fix most problems, if the above don't help,
To reinstall Windows XP by starting your computer from the
Windows XP compact disc, follow these steps:
- Insert the Windows XP compact disc into your computer's
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer. When the "Press
any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on the screen, press a key
to start your computer from the Windows XP compact disc.
NOTE: Your computer must be configured to start from the
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. For more information about how to configure your
computer to start from the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, please see your
computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer.
- The following message is displayed on the Welcome to
Setup screen that appears:
This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft
Windows XP to run on your computer:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
Press ENTER to set up Windows XP.
On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8
to agree to the license agreement.
Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP
is selected in the box, and then press R to repair Windows XP.
Follow the instructions on the remaining screens to
reinstall Windows XP. After you repair Windows XP, you may be required to
reactivate your copy of Windows XP.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
310064 HOW TO: Troubleshoot
Windows XP Setup Problems When You Upgrade from Windows 98 or Windows Me
Performing regular maintenance such
defragging, deleting temp files ect will keep your machine running sweet!
Use Tuneup utilities a great little collection of tools to clean up
your machine.
VITAL !!!!
After You Perform an In-Place Upgrade
After you perform an in-place upgrade or repair
installation, you must reinstall all updates to Windows. To reinstall
Windows updates, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
If have a serial number problem, ie you
cant update cos you've got a pirate copy of XP, see below
Many programs copy DVDs, not many copy
commercial DVDs..See SlySoft Products |
Copy Movie DVDs with AnyDVD and CloneDVD and explore this site!
How do I delete or turn off messenger?
A disturbing new trend is "spam" coming via messenger,
This really is a pain in the Arse having Porn popping up at any time in the
middle of the screen. Heres how you turn it off....
Disable the Windows Messenger Service to
Stop Messenger Spam........
- Click Start and click the Control Panel.
- In the Control Panel window, make sure you're in Classic
View. If you're in Category View, click the link on the left side of the
window that says Switch to Classic View.
- Double click on the Administrative Tools entry in the
Control Panel.
- In the Administrative Tools window, double click on the
Services entry.
- Scroll through the list of entries in the Services window
and find the one named Messenger. Double click on the Messenger entry.
- In the Messenger Properties (Local Computer) dialog box,
click the Stop button. You'll see a clock displayed while the service stops.
- Click the down-arrow in the Startup type drop down list box
and select the Manual entry. Click Apply and then click OK.
To remove messenger altogether
from your system, Go to Start/Run, and type: "rundll32
setupapi,InstallHinfSection BLC.Remove 128 %SystemRoot%\INF\msmsgs.inf"
It'll never darken your door again!
Brilliant.
Back to Top
How do I get Newsgroups?
Newsgroups are like giant noticeboards
which any one can post information on. There are about 50,000 newsgroups on
every possible subject, and they can be a very useful form of information.
They can be accessed by Outlook Express but not directly by Outlook. Heres
how to configure Express then.....
- Open Express click on "tools" then
"accounts".
- Click "add", then "News"
- Enter your Nickname (don't use
you're real name!) then "next"
- Enter an email address (DO NOT USE
YOUR OWN, MAKE ONE UP OR USE A HOTMAIL ACCOUNT OR YOU WILL BE SPAMMED TO
DEATH!!)
- Enter the name of your ISPs news
server, for BT its "News.btinternet.com" If you don't know it then use one
of the free servers, some are listed at
newzbot! public USENET resources for the masses, but these aren't as
good as your ISPs servers.
- Click finish, it will ask you if you
want to download a list of newsgroups type "yes"
- You will then have a list of
newsgroups, in the box "Display Newsgroups Which Contain" type the subject
you are interested in for example "racing"
- A list of groups relevant to racing
will appear, again foe example pick "alt.sport.horse-racing" and double
click on it.
- Alt.sport.horse-racing will show in
the folder list on the left under the server name. You are now subscribed
to that group.
- Click on this and a list of posts
will appear, select one of interest and read away.
Back to Top
I keep getting messages at Boot-up saying "Windows can't find ...BLAH BLAH
BLAH"
This usually happens when Adaware or similar has removed files but the
reference remains in the Windows start up list. To sort it use tuneup
utilities and run the section called "start up". Any invalid links in the
start-up list will be deleted! That should cure it!
Back to Top
How do I stop those damn pop-ups?
You should by now be using ZoneAlarm .(if you
aren't you want F******g !!) Open Zonealarm by clicking on the
red/green meters or the zonealarm icon in the system tray. Go to "privacy"
and set the "Adblocking" lever to medium. Thats it!!
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How do I block porn sites
from the kids ?
Once again ZoneAlarm to the rescue. Open it up and select
Web filtering. Switch Parental Control on. You can customise which type of
sites to block by selecting categories and ticking the appropriate boxes.
You may wish to password protect this, you can do it in the "overview" menu
then "set password". That will stop the little angels changing the settings!
Back to Top
How do I find illegal
downloads easily?
You want movies,
games and MP3's and dont' know where to get them, thank god there is
Google,
Note that this gives access to Directories not Webpages....
Goto
www.google.com or
www.Google.co.uk
Copy and paste these
strings in
"parent directory " /appz/ -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5
-md5sums
"parent directory " DVDRip -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5
-md5sums
"parent directory "Xvid -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums
"parent directory " Gamez -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5
-md5sums
"parent directory " Name of Singer or album -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx
-md5 -md5sums
Notice that I am only
changing the word after the parent directory, change it to what you want and
you will find all sorts of interesting stuff!!.
Explore those folders
How to
recover from a corrupted registry
If your Windows XP computer won't boot because of
corruption in the registry, you may get an error message that says XP can't
start because a specified file is missing or corrupt, or you may get a
Registry File Failure stop message (c0000218). You can use the recovery
console to back up your registry files, delete the existing registry and use
the repair folder files to boot into XP with a clean set of registry files.
The step-by-step process is described in KB article 307545 at:
How to recover from a
corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting
How to
View and Remove Installed Updates
Want to see which updates have been
installed on your system? Suspect a recent update is causing your crashes or
other problems and want to remove it? Here's how:
- Click Start | Control Panel and then click the Add |
Remove Programs icon.
- With Change or Remove Programs selected in the left
pane, click the checkbox "Show updates" at the top. This
box is not checked by default.
- Scroll down to Windows XP - Software Updates in the
currently installed programs and updates list.
- To remove an update, click it to highlight it, then
click the Remove button.
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