Help!!!

[blueivy]

I read this thread with interest. I noticed that no-one asked Connieb to check that the 'on' button was not stuck in. This would cause the machine to shut down rapidly. Also, I would have run my AV in safe mode before going to the extreme of rebuilding my system, thereby losing all my data.

Hi Ricco,

Connie was able to start the machine and it would reset at some point during the Windows boot. We know this as Windows reported a problem on the subsequent reboot - so it got far enough to know it had started itself previously. If the power button had been stuck the machine wouldn't either have got to that stage or wouldn't have continuously rebooted itself after starting the Windows boot. It was therefore not an option.

Connie indicated in two of the messages that she was unable to run in Safe Mode so running AV software was again not an option.

As I pointed out at the start of this thread, Windows rebooting can be numerous things. I go on the information given and experience. There are a few ways that cvould be investigated to save Connie's data, however they are no for the non-technical user. Connie indicated in her initial message that she is not technical so those were ruled out. I can visit Connie and use those technical ways to save the data, however they may not work. Without knowing whether the hard drive is corrupt or not there is no way to pursue that. I did however tell Connie how it could be done by PM.

[connieb19]

Thanks for all the help folks!! Where would I be without you .orgers?
I have reinstalled Windows, and everything seems to be going fine now. I have lost all data I had saved, but to be honest, I think it was the only option. To have tried anything else would have been far too technical I think.
Is there anything I should do that could avoid this happening again, or at least anything to save what data I do have on the computer?
Blueivy has explained to me about Firewall and how this works, so hopefully I will be more aware now. I suppose it's just a case of learn as you go along. A computing course for beginners might be a good idea..lol

[blueivy]

Hi Connie,

I thought I'd reiterate wht I sadi you in PM here in the hope it helps other people.

I'd always keep up to date active anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall (when I say active I mean software that scans as you go along rather than having to be told to scan manually - using active software will prevent the infection in the first place rather than detecting it once it's there and established).

Make sure your firewall has as few 'holes' in it as possible which will restrict the opportunity something has to get in. You have got a firewall haven't you. To be really secure ensure that you have a personal firewall as well as a modem/router based firewall as a personal firewall will stop outgoing as well as incoming connections. Your broadband modem / router firewall can also do this but needs configuring as they don't do it out of the box.

Use a browser other than Internet Explorer if possible. I'm not suggesting IE is insecure but most exploits are written for it as opposed to something like Firefox (which is getting an increasing share in the browser market and therefore an increasing share in the amount of exploits that are being targeted but it's not as bad as IE), Opera or even Netscape Navigator.

Don't use a P2P program such as Kazaa unless you understand the implications of using it. Using a program such as this requires you to open your PC to the internet and that's never a good idea.

One final tip. Always always ALWAYS shut down (unless you're stuck). Previous Windows version (NT especially) didn't like you just switching the machine off. XP is a lot more tolerant of it but it can still cause problems.

There are probably many others but this is start and I'm sure everybody else will add their tips to it. The above obviously assumes that it was one of them that caused the problem of course and not just 'one of those things'!