GerryDavid
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2003
- Messages
- 1,221
- Reaction score
- 9
- Location
- Virginia
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
Im going to explain what has happend with my pc since yesterday, but Ill put a short version at the end for those that dont want to read all of this.
I was away for a week and when ever im away for an extended period of time my pc seems to go weird.
It was working fine at first. I had just got a usb thumb drive so I had used it a fair bit since it was a new toy. I never did the usb remove thing to remove the thumb drive since it didnt show up on the toolbar, so I presume this is what caused my pc to mess up, but I could be wrong.
So yesterday I was sorting through my class notes and trying to open some pdf's in adobe but ps didnt load, it just locked up. Then I noticed other programs started to do this, like realone player, the antivirus main screen although that one now works, etc. This was rather annoying but since I was able to use the internet, firefox, mozilla, etc, it wasnt that bad.
I ran Spybot: search and destroy since I had been seing some spyware blockin messages from it when ever I went to hotmail and I removed like 6 spyware things. I then searched my msconfig>startup settings for new things to see if anything there installed itself and is messing with my pc. I noticed there was two "WinTools" there that I hadnt seen before, that were in c:\program files\common files\wintools\wtoolsa, so I tried to uncheck them and then hit ok, but the window would lock up and not let me save the changes.
So I went into safe mode to do it there and I was able to do it, but when I went back into normal mode, they were there again, also when I tried to fix my taskbar *normally its 2 rows, so I can actually see more than 2 window buttons there at once, and have my quick launch stuff and clock* went to 1 line since safemode changes the screen resolution to 640X480 and it messes up my desktop settings. When I tried to change it from the single line to a double line, it locks the taskbar up, which is very annoying.
I updated my spybot and checked again, and ran my av over night to make sure it wasnt a virus, I had some trojans but I got rid of those. But the pc is still messed up.
I then went back into safe mode and tried to run system restore but it complained that I was almost out of hard drive space, that I should erase 200mb's and try again. I checked my system and it was 3.something gb's free, but I erased 200mb's of stuff I dont need but it wouldnt work.
I went back into normal windows mode and tried there and same thing. I free'ed up about 1gb so im now at 4.something gb's free out of 20gb's but its still saying im almost out of memory, so I cant run a system restore.
SHORT VERSION
I didnt use my pc for a week. Then I came home and started to play with my new usb jump drive a fair bit, removing it with out uninstalling it first since that option wasnt available.
I tried to open ps but it wouldnt open for me, then other programs started to not respond as well.
I checked for viruses and spyware and removed trojans and some spyware that ive had in the past and didnt have any troubles with back then.
I checked my msconfig startup stuff and found a couple new things but when I tried to remove them, the window locked up and it wont let me remove it.
went into safe mode and ran system restore but it says I need 200mb's of free space but I have 4gb's. So I cant do a system restore. Not even in normal windows mode.
QUESTION
Does anyone have any advice on how to fix my pc? I dont want to run the restore CD since theres stuff on my notebook that I dont have backed up, and my pc wont take my thumb drive anymore so I cant move the stuff to the other pc. Also theres a program on here that I dont have the cd to anymore so I cant reinstall it.
I was away for a week and when ever im away for an extended period of time my pc seems to go weird.
It was working fine at first. I had just got a usb thumb drive so I had used it a fair bit since it was a new toy. I never did the usb remove thing to remove the thumb drive since it didnt show up on the toolbar, so I presume this is what caused my pc to mess up, but I could be wrong.
So yesterday I was sorting through my class notes and trying to open some pdf's in adobe but ps didnt load, it just locked up. Then I noticed other programs started to do this, like realone player, the antivirus main screen although that one now works, etc. This was rather annoying but since I was able to use the internet, firefox, mozilla, etc, it wasnt that bad.
I ran Spybot: search and destroy since I had been seing some spyware blockin messages from it when ever I went to hotmail and I removed like 6 spyware things. I then searched my msconfig>startup settings for new things to see if anything there installed itself and is messing with my pc. I noticed there was two "WinTools" there that I hadnt seen before, that were in c:\program files\common files\wintools\wtoolsa, so I tried to uncheck them and then hit ok, but the window would lock up and not let me save the changes.
So I went into safe mode to do it there and I was able to do it, but when I went back into normal mode, they were there again, also when I tried to fix my taskbar *normally its 2 rows, so I can actually see more than 2 window buttons there at once, and have my quick launch stuff and clock* went to 1 line since safemode changes the screen resolution to 640X480 and it messes up my desktop settings. When I tried to change it from the single line to a double line, it locks the taskbar up, which is very annoying.
I updated my spybot and checked again, and ran my av over night to make sure it wasnt a virus, I had some trojans but I got rid of those. But the pc is still messed up.
I then went back into safe mode and tried to run system restore but it complained that I was almost out of hard drive space, that I should erase 200mb's and try again. I checked my system and it was 3.something gb's free, but I erased 200mb's of stuff I dont need but it wouldnt work.
I went back into normal windows mode and tried there and same thing. I free'ed up about 1gb so im now at 4.something gb's free out of 20gb's but its still saying im almost out of memory, so I cant run a system restore.
SHORT VERSION
I didnt use my pc for a week. Then I came home and started to play with my new usb jump drive a fair bit, removing it with out uninstalling it first since that option wasnt available.
I tried to open ps but it wouldnt open for me, then other programs started to not respond as well.
I checked for viruses and spyware and removed trojans and some spyware that ive had in the past and didnt have any troubles with back then.
I checked my msconfig startup stuff and found a couple new things but when I tried to remove them, the window locked up and it wont let me remove it.
went into safe mode and ran system restore but it says I need 200mb's of free space but I have 4gb's. So I cant do a system restore. Not even in normal windows mode.
QUESTION
Does anyone have any advice on how to fix my pc? I dont want to run the restore CD since theres stuff on my notebook that I dont have backed up, and my pc wont take my thumb drive anymore so I cant move the stuff to the other pc. Also theres a program on here that I dont have the cd to anymore so I cant reinstall it.