Thread: Computer people please help.

All the reformat and reinstall advice is good, and I think all the sneaky little places that you can put data have been covered, but you may want to think about it for a day or two just to be sure you aren't forgetting anything. As far as drivers are concerned, I'd redownload all the drivers for the devices listed in the device manager, especially your NIC drivers. You might also want to copy down all your recognized hardware. I had a bitch of a time with an old soundcard I have last time I reinstalled XP.

If you use firefox there is a utility called mozbackup that will backup bukmrks, extensions, and cache for you.

Oh, doing a search for file types that you know you'll need can be helpful. For example, if you have word documents you want to save, search "*.doc". Note the directories where they come up and check to make sure you've gotten what you need out of there.

If it wasn't for the fact that it was a work computer (and you probably need windows), I'd have suggested that, given you were/are up for a complete reinstall anyway, you try a linux install. Something like Ubuntu seems to be a nice intro for old windows users.

Good luck and I hope it all works out. I would also suggest that as well as an anti-virus software, you also get something like spybot search and destroy (but maybe do not install teatimer).

James.

If it is a work computer, and you are not that computer savvy, then why are -you- reinstalling Windows? Isn't there an IT guy at work to help you out? Perhaps he even has premade images that he can slap on your computer to have you up and running within half an hour, with the necessary service packs and hotfixes installed already.

Btw, how do you connect that computer to the internet? directly or via a firewall or wireless router?

Originally Posted by Bruno

If it is a work computer, and you are not that computer savvy, then why are -you- reinstalling Windows? Isn't there an IT guy at work to help you out? Perhaps he even has premade images that he can slap on your computer to have you up and running within half an hour, with the necessary service packs and hotfixes installed already.

Btw, how do you connect that computer to the internet? directly or via a firewall or wireless router?

sorry for this confusion, i'm surprised it didn't come up earlier. when i say work computer i mean that i own a health food store and it is the computer i run my Point Of Sale program through (AKA my cash register). so unfortunately i am the IT guy

i am against Wi-Fi because of the constant EMFs givin off (i know this is controversial but it is my opinion ) and since i would be sitting in them for 9 hours a day so i used a simple 4 way router (we have natural practitioners int he back that also use it). i don't know about the firewall with it but i run the windows firewall. i am always open to suggestions though.


thanks
Wes

Originally Posted by chee16

i am against Wi-Fi because of the constant EMFs givin off (i know this is controversial but it is my opinion ) and since i would be sitting in them for 9 hours a day so i used a simple 4 way router (we have natural practitioners int he back that also use it). i don't know about the firewall with it but i run the windows firewall. i am always open to suggestions though.


thanks
Wes

If the device you use to connect to the internet is not a router but a switch or a hub, then you won't even get to the point of enabling windows firewall without being infected.
Last time I checked, a vanilla XP install is infected before you even get the chance to enable firewall or install updates.

If you open a command line window and execute the command 'ipconfig', what IP addresses do you see? I don't need the full address, but if you can post the first 2 numbers, I can tell whether you are safe or not.
For example, if the IP address is 192.168.1.1, then just post the 192.168 part.

Anyway, due to the nature of tcp/ip and current networking concepts, most internet routers perform an operation that switches the IP address of your computer with its own IP address when making an outside connection. This is commonly called NAS (Network Address Translation).

A side efect of NAS is that by default, it is impossible from anything on the outside to make a connection with anything on the inside. Otoh, a hub or a switch passes everything through both ways. And it might surprise you, but any public IP address is constantly under attack from various botnets or viruses. So if you don't own a firewall, then at least you should use a router (which may or may not be the case already).

A friend of mine had a wireless router, and he didn't use wireless anymore so he planned on connecting his ethernet port directly to the net I convinced him to simply take off the antennas and replace them with blind caps, and use it as a router.

A real firewall would be even better, but that would require a good understanding of TCP/IP if you want to actually do anything useful with it. Without that, the use of a NAS device + windows firewall is good enough for most home users.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If the device you use to connect to the internet is not a router but a switch or a hub....
....what IP addresses do you see?

i am using a D-Link Ethernet Broadband Router (EBR-2310).

the IP address starts with 192.168

thanks for all the help and the info, i really appreciate it.

Wes

Originally Posted by chee16

i am using a D-Link Ethernet Broadband Router (EBR-2310).

the IP address starts with 192.168

thanks for all the help and the info, i really appreciate it.

Wes

192.168 is an address range that is reserved for private use. The main implication for you is that this means that your device is indeed a router and uses NAS. And unless otherwise configured, it will not let outside connections get in.

This means that your computer is relatively safe during installation, and if you are using windows firewall, you should be fine as long as you take no unnecessary risks like installing things you got from unkown people / sites.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

If it wasn't for the fact that it was a work computer (and you probably need windows), I'd have suggested that, given you were/are up for a complete reinstall anyway, you try a linux install. Something like Ubuntu seems to be a nice intro for old windows users.

i ran Ubuntu on my laptop for 4 years and really liked it. my problem is that i am always tinkering and for me to tinker with Linux i really needed to know a lot more about things. i was OK at it but some fairly simple things would hold me up and i would go a while without using any of the things i learned so i would forget them. so i went back to windows about 6 months ago, its not bad, i wouldn't say better, but not bad. i did really like Linux though. plus i had a theme that looked really sweet