another thing people fail to say. If you profile gets corupted you computer can run slow. you don't want your XP profile to get bigger then 3 gigs. Don't store thing in your profile unless you have too. Very large profiles can cause alot of problems. create a temp or another folder in the root. Best yet have at lease 2 partitions. store your music, files, photos and other stuff on 2nd partition.
create a new profile and copy favorite and desktop to new profile. then copy my documents to the new folder on the root. Wait a day or two before you delete the old profile. it's under my computer advance tab.

Miliamber has some interesting steps, however your real problem is that your trying to be too secure lol =) read my post "the truth about a virus)

notice that she is running maybe 10 programs when Windows boots, walk her through the ms-config process =)

huh???

listen guys, I'm technically challenged, I'll be the first to admit it. I don't know what programs need to be running and which don't. And who looked at what I was running?????

I think it might be wise to have a friend or professional check this out.

It's really hard to diagnose even one problem over a post, much less 2 or 3 issues. Your connection problem could be totally the fault of your ISP, a resource problem or a myriad of other things.

If you wait too long you might lose things you don't want to lose.

Beware of trying to many fixes at once or clicking on pop-ups that tell you that you have "71 dangerous virus's on your computer". Alot of that stuff is scams. There are plenty of free programs to aid in keeping your computer running smooth. Several were mentioned, but read the help files so you know what to do with it.

IMO I would wait on the restore option as well. That's more for returning your computer back to a stable state after trying out a new program or configuration that didn't quite "fit" with your existing software. If you have a nasty virus/malware, chances are it's already in the restore files too.

I think we would all just be making educated guesses at this point, which would be real hard without sitting down in front of your computer.

Thanks to all who have tried to help me. Some things are working better, others still not and I agree, I think I need someone to actually LOOK at it.

I took mine to Best Buy. They did a free 10 min. diagnostic test. They will ask if you want to pay for a longer, more thorough test where you leave the computer overnight. I took the 10 min. free test. It showed that my motherboard was fried. But...that's not your problem.

who said you could come out of your room?????

gawd...all that whining...you need to go to my "I want a new drug thread...NOW! God told me to tell you that!

Lightening is going to strike me real soon, I can tell it.

So...NOW you're doing what God tells you to do?

unhuh, if it's me telling me what God says and not some...............well you know!!! So far, he's not come back to that tread either!

send me a hijackthis log and i will help you

Sometimes it's comical just reading some of these posts. I'm no expert, nut I wonder how many of these people actually work on computers for a living. :) I've read in the past that in order to make a windows machine work well, about every two to three years you should back up your data and format the hard drive. Then reinstall the os, applications, and your data. I have been supporting mac, windows and linux for the last 8 years and there is nothing like a clean install of windows. Even better than the day it came from the manufacturer.

With the way The registry, system folder and other components need to work together...after time, there is no real quick fix.

Anyhow. This of course is my experience, others I'm sure will be quick to disagree.

Also, Clamwin is an opensource antivirus app. we've been using. If you absolutely have the need to pay for one, nod32 and spyhunter have worked well in my recent past.

Norton and Mcafee are system hogs and will bog down your system.

9 out of the 10 people I've spoken to about this have been so dissatisfied with the Geek squad. I started my small business out here in socal for the purpose of helping the homeowner that cannot help themselves. And purposely did the research to make sure I was charging less for more.
Also, I might add, backup,backup, backup. I've had way too many dead hard drives come to me that would not mount or spin up at all. Data recovery can cost you a minimum of $600 and it's not totally guaranteed.
:)

Nod32 is what I use.....wins for me hands down.

She'll need to take it to a professional to format. She's already said she's not tech savvy. Why spend countless hours frustrating yourself if your going to have to take it to someone in the end?

run error check

if xp

open my computer

right click drive o s is on

properties

tools

error check

click both boxes

click start

box will can't now run on start up

click yes

restart

will take some time

should do this regularly to avoid future issues

I completely agree, Heather.

The problem with this is that most so-called professionals are happy to wipe your machine and then reformat and reload the O/S without actually backing up your content first. So sure, drop it in but either make sure you have it backed up or get them to do it!

I agree talldub. We cannot assume someone is on the same page as you.