Let me address your newsgroup post (which should be on several continents
and several thousands news servers around the world by now - with your email
address attached - meaning you will be getting spam from all sorts of people
trying to screw you over very soon now..) one point at a time. Let me also
point out that my attitude is presented in the way it is to reflect your
attitude. It is not meant to be offensive, more of a "see what you sound
like - why would anyone want to help you with that attitude?" demonstration.
I assure you, I do have some helpful advice in this response - whether you
take it or not will be entirely up to you.
I am a 55 year old male that got my first computer 1 year
ago windoes 98!
So you bought a computer in the year 2003 with Windows '98 installed on it?
Right there - you got taken. Although Windows 98 was an excellent product,
it was becoming pretty anemic in function by 2003. Essentially it was 5
years old and in computer lifetimes, that is getting up in age. As for your
age - that is irrelevant. I setup my 65 year old (at the time) grandmother
with Windows XP some years back, and despite her age (since you seem to want
to point that out) - she has no problems using it daily. Sure, when she
tries something new, she has questions, but overall, she uses it for her
emails, web surfing, composing letters/faxes in MS Word, etc.. on a daily
basis with little to no problems to speak of. As for your sex, you're
male - okay - great - relevance?
I was talked into upgrading everything! I
am now very very sorry! I now have a big tower intel
celeron etc. etc. With the biggest crock of bovine
excrediment, called "WINDOWS XP "!
So, you - a 55 year old male let yourself be talked into something that you
did not investigate first and you have the audacity to call the thing you
were talked into without looking at it for yourself first the "biggest crock
of bovine excrement"? Wow - that seems like the pot calling the kettle
black (like that "older phrase" thrown in there?) You would think that
someone with your age might have a little experience not to get "talked into
things" they don't understand - or at least make sure there will be some
after-change training you on it.
I now get everything I
look at put onto the hard drive, I get an unwanted
history of every web site I look at! I lost my MC Word
that I used to make letters, resume's, etc. And when I
try to get any help , online or otherwise they want my
credit card #.
Well, you obviously were also convinced that once you put Windows XP on your
computer it would be like your car or home and require no further
maintenance or upkeep on your part.. Wait - you mean you cannot just let
your car run every day without getting it tuned up, oil changed, gas put in
it and other routine maintenance? Your house then.. uhm - you mean you
sometimes have to paint your house or put locks on the doors or mow your
lawn, put a fence around the yard for privacy, etc.. Wow - then I don't know
how you could have ever thought the computer would be like your house/car!
1) If everything you "look at" was being put on the computer, you have other
issue unrelated to Windows XP. Be more specific - you mean when you visit
the sites in an unprotected manner, you click on something then something
you may not have wanted gets installed? It's called
Spyware/Adware/Malware/Worms/Trojans/Viruses. You must have protection from
these things.
Look into Antivirus software (you mention money later on - so how about from
this point on I only list FREE options out there for the taking, eh?) For
the antivirus software, have you tried AVG Free AntiVirus? No? Go have a
look here:
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
Don't like what you see, well, might I suggest avast! 4 Home edition:
http://www.avast.com/i_idt_1016.html
Still not doing it for you? There is Panda ActiveScan - a free ONLINE
scanner, but that doesn't "protect you", more like cleanup after the fact:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
No - wow, you are stubborn, there is also Trend Micro's Housecall Online
scanner. It's also not a protection thing, but can help you cleanup a mess:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
Yes - the last two install from the web - but they are safe.
If none of those Free Options do it for you, look into Symantec AntiVirus.
In my opinion, it is one of the best ones out there. Or you can look at the
pay versions of the free products I listed above.
2) Unwanted history of every website you visit? Well, assuming you have not
installed a third party web browser, this solution was staring you in the
face from day one. You PC (being Windows XP) came with all sorts of built
in help. Internet Explorer itself has built in help. look across the top
of an open Windows Explorer (non-maximized) window and you will see what I
mean. The last word "Help" is a menu - it allows you to look for help on
this particular product. If you use it in this case (contents and index)
and search for "history" (the complaint you have) you will find a subject
called "Specify the number of days that the history list keeps track of your
pages" and if you click on (select it), you will see the following:
To specify the number of days that the History list keeps track of your
pages
1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Under History, change the number of days that the History list keeps
track of your pages.
Notes
- To empty the History folder, click Clear History. This will temporarily
free up disk space on your computer.
- For Help on an item, click ? at the top of the dialog box, and then click
the item.
So, if you do that and "change the number of days that the History list
keeps track of your pages" to zero (0), guess what that does? Admittedly,
maybe not what you expect, but the history of pages will only be there for 1
day, when the calendar date on your machine changes (manually or by the day
actually changing) then your history is gone. That only fixes the "history"
issue. The address drop down may still have some of your pages listed, but
those too should fade. And you can always manually clear the history if the
sites you are going to might offend those using the computer after you.
3) You "lost you MS (yeah - I corrected it) Word"? How can you LOSE a
program? It does not come with Windows XP, it did not COME with Windows 98
either. Microsoft Word is a separate product that you can install
yourself.. Matter of fact - you have to. Yes - it is possible that your
"first computer" came with Windows 98 and that MS Word was on it - but
someone INSTALLED it - it did not come with the Windows 98 product, nor does
it come with Windows XP. You should - when you bough the computer, gotten
some CDs that had the products that were installed on it at the time of
purchase on them for reinstallation in such a case as this. If you didn't,
refer to the "you got taken" comment from above..
4) So when you try to get help online or otherwise, someone wants money?
You don't know how to look. You found this place - this cost you any money?
Does
www.google.com cost money now? Does searching the Microsoft Knowledge
Base cost money now? Does asking a computer savvy friend/family member cost
money now? (okay - that one might - depending on the relationship. heh)
You have to learn to search for the answers if you don't want to pay money
for them. Like learning to work on your own car, repair problems with your
own home - the answers are not usually bred into us and either we pay money
for someone with the knowledge or we try to find ways to learn it ourselves.
My suggestions to you are found in this answer to your dilemma.
Shame, shame, on you Mr. Bill Gates, have
you forgotten that you were wonce poor and worked out of
your garage? And they used to say Henry Ford would roll
over in his grave, when he found out that his product was
no longer available to the average citizen! Sincerlty,
RICHARD
Wow - now this is the dangerous part. It wasn't bad enough you posted your
email address to everyone in the free world, but now we know where you live
and for $25 can know all your neighbors names, probably locate your other
vital information and steal your identity. (Yeah - I removed the
information..) Never do that - BAD idea.
What can I suggest to you to help harden your computer and solve your
problems are mostly already stated above. Some things I did not put will be
listed below in a shortened version of my normal "I have spyware, my home
page has been hijacked, I get lots of spam email, I think I have been
hacked, my computer seems slow" response - which must be annoying by now to
90% of the common volunteers (and yes - these newsgroups are ran by
volunteers - well, most of the questions are answered by volunteers is
probably the more accurate way of stating it.)
Please Notice that if you use AOL, you should at least upgrade to 9.0 or
greater before doing any of the fixes. I know you can get AOL 9.0 at almost
any convenience store, gas station, super market or other retail outlet in
the world, so this should not be a problem.
Turn on that firewall...
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/home/using/howto/homenet/icf.asp
(It has been reported that it now works with AOL 9.0+)
Make sure you have all the updates (critical) installed from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
(Scan for updates, Review and Install)
Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these..
I recommend at least the first three. Also..
UPDATE the definitions for them before using.)
Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.net/
Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de
CWSShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
Hijack This!
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/
I also like "The Cleaner" and "SpywareBlaster" and "SpywareGuard".
-
http://www.moosoft.com/
-
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/
The first is a PAY product, but useable for 30 days - it has found and
eliminated problems in the past the others did not. The latter two are
prevention mechanisms. I like SpywareGuard for those with enough processor
to have something running like antivirus software - and it prevents browser
hijacking quite well. SpywareBlaster is a FANTASTIC free product, I suggest
getting this after you cleanup and keeping it updated as well....
And Assortment of Others:
http://spywareinfo.com/
Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80 to 120MB (seems to be an optimal size for the normal user)
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section,
do the following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the
"Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 80MB
and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to
"Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click
OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or
more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer
- Re-open Internet Explorer.
Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it.) If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.
Tired of Web Page Pop-Ups/Unders.. You could try the Google Toolbar.
http://toolbar.google.com/
Better control your email and lessen the amount of time you spend dealing
with SPAM:
SpamBayes
http://sourceforge.net/projects/spambayes/
or
Spamihilator.
http://www.spamihilator.com
I sincerely hope that there is SOME advice in this long response to your
post that you find useful.
