pop-up issue

[acstech]

Re: pop-up issue

Linux sounds better every day. - Don't it.

Exactly. I built my parents a Fedora computer about a year ago. Works great. They're on there every day.

[jpdoe]

Re: pop-up issue

The way most system builders configure the partitions is a real pain for any techie that has to deal with the system later.
Besides, most users tend to fill the hdds with the help of p2p networks. So when I get to see their PC I start yelling at the prospects of a windows reinstall.
But viruses and co. are too much of a hassle to remove. Most of the times I took the antivirus/antispyware route I ended up feeling I shoudn't have.

But to be honest I'm not in your shoes. Down here pirating Windows is a must. Kind of a national sport.

[i4004]

Re: pop-up issue

>i set up a virtual PC with ms virtual pc 2004 (earlier.. now i'm using VMWare) & XP.
after i finished installing xp and some basic tools, i just copied the HDD image.
now my mum can surf almost everywhere and get tons of spyware and viruses... i dont care... i just overwrite the HDD image with the backup copy and everything's fine

i don't get that.
can't you just have virtual hdd there too?
if your mom surfs twice a week that still seems pita, i mean resotring image....can't be that fast...

backup...yeah...but it's a pita...
esp if you do a lot of video so many gbs accumulate over a week...
only solution to that is raid, and setting it up is even bigger pita...

[pentium]

Re: pop-up issue

Oh great.
Well it turns out that the incident with the system hanging is in no way related to the trojans and other nasty stuff I have. I was running a disk check and noticed that my drive is starting to develop a bunch of bad sectors so I have a feeling that this 120Gb drive is on its way out.
Looks like it is time for me to go and start dumping whatever I can onto other drives and ditch this drive and hope I can save up for those new 500Gb drives.
Forget reinstalling windows on this drive.

[i4004]

Re: pop-up issue

oh, I WISH all of my hdds would go with that bad sectors warning first!
btw. there's no need to do disk check...
bad sectors are in event viewer too...

what disk and how old was it?

[pentium]

Re: pop-up issue

Leave it to SMART to tell me the drive is fine. :P

[Scenic]

Re: pop-up issue

i don't get that.
can't you just have virtual hdd there too?
if your mom surfs twice a week that still seems pita, i mean resotring image....can't be that fast...

umm.. i just copied the virtual HDD file (bla.vhd) and renamed it (in the same folder).
so.. if somethings messed up i just delete the 1st Virtual HDD file and copy the 2nd one and give it the name of the 1st one.

its a nLite'd XP Pro with only a few Progs installed.. its less than 1GB in size... (the virtual HDD)

the other backup stuff i was talking about has nothing to do with that virtual pc..

[370forlife]

Re: pop-up issue

Exactly. I built my parents a Fedora computer about a year ago. Works great. They're on there every day.

NOOOOO

If too many people start using it--->its going to get popular--->if it gets popular--->viruses will get writen for it!

Keep it unpopular and safe!

[acstech]

Re: pop-up issue

Oh I wouldn't worry too much. If it doesn't run Outlook and Office, most people want nothing to do with it.

You know what their first question was? Where's Internet Explorer? No, it was "Where's the big blue E?

After about 5 minutes of explanation (you click on the little fox with a globe thing now) all was well.

[370forlife]

Re: pop-up issue

ewww, why would you use IE in windows?

FF+adblocker+=

[acstech]

Re: pop-up issue

This is true. I think they thought they had to use it since it said "microsoft" on it.

[i4004]

Re: pop-up issue

>umm.. i just copied the virtual HDD file (bla.vhd) and renamed it (in the same folder).
so.. if somethings messed up i just delete the 1st Virtual HDD file and copy the 2nd one and give it the name of the 1st one.

you mentioned hdd image, and i thought that was image of the whole(real, not virtual) hdd...
virtual hdd file...now you're talking...

[pentium]

Re: pop-up issue

SMART started giving me errors today and I barely had enough time to back stuff up before the drive packed it in.
Well, I have been wanting to upgrade for a while. I guess it is time to start saving up for those two 500Gb drives I have been wanting.

[zandrax]

Re: pop-up issue

Copy all files and zero fill the drive with the manifacturer's utility: this forces the remapping of bad sectors and get rid of malware, so you kill two birds with the same stone

Anyway keep the drive under control: if it starts developing bad sectors again within a few days, it's unreliable and you should change it.

Zandrax

[pentium]

Re: pop-up issue

It has been developing bad sectors almost constantly for the last week.
I don't hold any hopes of it working reliably again.

[Scenic]

Re: pop-up issue

well.. it cant get worse than this... i think...

[pentium]

Re: pop-up issue

Ouch, that is bad.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: pop-up issue

well.. it cant get worse than this... i think...

The whole other half showing up bad may be wrong BIOS settings. Make sure that LBA is enabled and set to Auto!

[Scenic]

Re: pop-up issue

nope.. its the HDD...
started clicking all the time and everything went red in HDTune..
it didn't stop clicking until i removed the power..
tried it again and it started clicking directly after spinning up.. HDTune wasn't even able to start that error scan again ("drive not ready" error).

that notebook HDD is toast

[zandrax]

Re: pop-up issue

@ Pentium: usually zero filling clear the Smart log too, so after the operation the drive would show more "Reallocated sectors" and way less "Unstable sectors", "Uncorrectable sectors", "UDMA CRC Errors" and other bad sector related errors.

@ Scenic: I have a 3 GB IBM 2.5" drive I don't use anymore: full specs here. If you're interested, send me a PM.

Zandrax