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[chrissie]

I think a few of you know how much trouble I've been having with my computer, (slow to boot, hanging, "program not responding" notices coming up a lot, "end program now" coming up but won't click off..grrr, can't get rid of Postupdate.exe no matter what I try, and lots more that's niggling and hissing me off.

Well I did summat about it yesterday, well I tried to!  I got this local bloke in who advertises "no fix no fee" for computers in our local church magazine.  He turned out to be a very nice guy, turned up bang on time and launched straight into sorting things out...well that's what I thought.....

He wanted to take things off of start up which I thought ok.. then looked at add/remove progs.... and said, "You could remove the Orange Seimens Router prog..."  GULP I thought... that's my ISP box to get on tinternet... so said "No thanks!"

He then brought in his own external hard drive and plugged it into my PC and said he had a registry thing on there which compares registry of his against mine.  Whilst he was getting that hooked up, he was reading off of the screen..."Ah those are my daughters photos, mostly of cats...that's my son's program (for whatever)... that's... ah yes there's my registry thing".   I was getting a bit worried by then of course... thinking he didn't even do a virus check on it......

(this is a long post.. hope you have a cuppa with you...)

He then proceeded to sort things out on the registry....whilst telling me of other's computers he's fixed et al.... then when he'd finished that he said there was summat working in the background ALL the time on PC that's why it was slow and things were hanging.  Said he didn't know what it was and couldn't figure out how to find what it was.... said he'd have to get some software and bring that along to try and find out what was working away and that's why the prog not responding thing keeps coming up because it's busy doing summat else... etc etc.

He also said that upping the RAM from 256Mb wouldn't cure the problem the PC has got and probably wouldn't make the machine go much faster because of the "being busy all the time" though it would help a little.  He said he would do it for me though and probably could put in 1Gig... though he'd had to check with the manufacture/his computer shop bloke how much this computer could take in RAM.

Anyway.....he left saying he'd get the memory and software and let me know when he'd come back.  After he left I went to go on tinternet.... but found Nortons AV with a big X across it on the task bar.  Thought that's ok I'd enable it... but it wouldn't let me.  Tried and tried but it kept coming up "There is an internal error... please go to Symantec site.....".  Well how could I when I didn't have protection with an AV anymore?

I rang him and he came back (luckily local here)... said he was puzzled as to why that had happened, kept trying to enable it but (as I found out) it wasn't having any of it.  Said he'd probably done something within the registry when he stopped things et al... so out come his hard drive again , plugged it in, did somethings on that... (after his daughters fotos came up on my screen... ) and after all that STILL couldn't figure out was was wrong with Norton's....was scratching his head.... and staring at the screen....ARRRGHH!!  In total he'd been here 2½ hours and this was the result.  In frustration I then said.... can you do a system restore to get rid of what you've done... he said, "yes that might work but it doesn't always but we can try" 

Thankfully he did it and it restored back to the day before... phew.... and he left saying he'd get the memory et al......

Later after I'd calmed down (I panic when my computer can't get on tinternet)... I rang him and told him I'd changed my mind and I'm leaving things as they are....

So that's it... I can't trust anyone can I?  I wanted to get PC World guys in (they come to your home now) but some peeps said don't touchPC World.... local pc shops want to have my unit on premises... I dont' want that.... or they will only do a reinstall of Windows XP and I will lose everything I have.  So it seems I can't get it fixed.

I'm really hissed off now I can tell you, I don't want to go through what I went through yesterday, as I say a nice guy and didn't promise anything... BUT.... he really didn't know how to solve things and that's what I want!

Sorry to go on but I wondered what you guys thought of all this....just wish I had a nice knowledgeable techy guy living near who I'd gladly pay to sort my PC out... but I'm having no luck in that direction..... think I'm gonna have to suffer the problems and shurrup!!!   

(a very deflated and fed up) Chrissie

[roseway]

I'm not a Windows user, but 'something working in the background' shouldn't be too difficult to find. Control-Alt-Delete will bring up the list of processes running on the machine, and if you're not sure what's what you could copy the list here, and I'm sure someone will be able to advise. Nil illegitimi carborundum!

[UncleUB]

Chrissie have a look at what BT might be able to do to sort your problems out.


http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=22814&s_cid=con_FURL_homeitcall


Edit,they can access your computer remotely and fix it from their end if you don't feel confident enough.Dell once did this to my computer,it was amazing just to watch everything getting sorted without having to touch/do anything.

[Floydoid]

If you know what the little blighter is, this tool should be able to get rid of it for you:

http://www.dr-hoiby.com/WhoLockMe/

@ Eric, these days you can rt-click the taskbar to bring up the task manager.

[dave.m]

Chrissie,
Not much of a clue on Google as to what it is, some say an updater for Shockwave (the online game player, I think) not Adobe Shockwave. As it ain’t doing much except making you pull your hair out, let’s try to disable it.

Start -> Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools.
Double click Services.
Scroll down the list  and see if it is there.
If so, double click it to open it’s own window.
In the General Tab look for the Startup Type and select Disabled.
Below that check the Service Status. If it says Started, click Stop.
Click Apply and OK.

Try that for a start then let us know how you got on.
dave

Whilst on,
download and install RevoUninstaller from here:
http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html
May have to use it later but it is a much better tool than the Add/Remove that windows supply.
dave

[chrissie]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for that.  Yes it is the online game player update, but I didn't download it, it appeared after I'd been onto Shockwave site!  Anyway, it's not in the services I've checked.  It is in Win32 macromedia file and I've tried to delete Shockwave8 and the updater.exe file and it comes up each time with error deleting file or folder – access denied so I can't delete it!  I did a search and it came up with it being in the prefetch folder under POSTUPDATE.EXE-ODO65608.pf.  I have read that a lot of peeps have trouble with this and can't get rid so it's not just moi.

Also, I have found out today regarding Norton's not only can I not get into the quarantine reports, it now isn't updating live updates, it's stuck on the day it did it when the "techy" guy messed it up... scream. 

I have emailed a few pc repair people and some have said it needs a complete reinstall... well not only have I not got the discs for Win XP I don't have for Norton's either and my subs don't run out until December!

Tearing my hair out is right... really peeved I got someone in to look at it now... I should have had PC World at home service where they come in to see to it.....now I don't know what the heck to do... sob.

Chrissie

[dave.m]

Does your PC have the facility to 'return to factory settings'?
If you are not sure then try the manufacturers site for instructions or, what is the make and model of your PC and one of us could probably find out for you.
To return to factory settings you lose all the things in My Documents and other software that you have installed but you can save them to another hard drive before hand. If you get hold of an XP Disc and reinstall, the same thing will happen so you could do with getting an external hard drive like one of these:
http://tinyurl.com/6har9f
It is a good idea to have one of these to always keep a backup copy of all your files and folders in case of what is happening now.

To do this, you would lose Norton, which many would consider a good thing, so you could then use some of the free stuff that a lot on here find more than satisfactory. You would also notice a bit of a difference to the speed when a lot of programs that you never use but are, at the moment sat on your computer, remopved.

dave

[dave.m]

Hold up on my last post.

How to remove Macromedia (Adobe) Shock Wave 8:
http://sdc.shockwave.com/shockwave/download/alternates/
Scroll down the list a bit.

Try that first.
dave
Hope that works 'cos it's pub time.
If not we can have another try later.

[chrissie]

I have seen the the PostUpdate.exe is running in the processes on task manager.  I have clicked on it to end process but decided against it when it came up "Terminating a process can cause undesired results...etc etc..." so I thought I'd leave alone.  HOWEVER.... as mentioned before, when I go to delete the shockwave8 file and PostUpdate.exe file, the message comes up access denied and it also says ensure it is not running.  So..... can I remove from the process on task manager or will it cause problems with my computer?

Not that this is the be all and end all... because I have the probs with Nortons etc, but I wondered if it would help.

Don't really want to do the factory settings because of loss and I don't know what the heck I'm doing.... but seriously considering buying a new pc cos I'm sooooo fed up with all of this.

Chrissie 

[Floydoid]

Ignore the warning, and go ahead and terminate it.

Let me explain it a bit more... that warning is just a standard MS scare tactic - sure if you terminate a vital system process your PC could become unstable, and at worst you'd have to reboot the machine, but in this case it's not a vital process that you're stopping.

[dave.m]

Chrissie,
As the Updater is showing in Task Manager, turn it off (stop the process), then follow my link above and when you scroll down, click to get the Macromedia 8 uninstaller and run it.
That will shift the program and it's updater from your PC and when a new program needs  a flash player it will ask and, if you say yes, will install the latest Adobe not the old Macro.
dave

[chrissie]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS....YESSSSSSSSS......YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

I've deleted PostUpdate.exe and got rid of the icon in my task bar... yaaay.  Haven't had to delete the shockwave8 because it's always been there... just the ruddy postupdate.exe that came in and outstayed its welcome 

All I need to do now is try to get Norton's right.. but I think it's going to take someone else to do it.  I know you guys don't like Norton's (hate it with a vengeance I'd say) I keep hearing it, but I've read of some probs with AVG8 and you guys know how to fix these things... whereas little ole me knows nuffink <sniff>.  Trouble is, my version of Norton's isn't supported so if it can't be fixed then I will have to buy a new version...scream.  All this because of that poo techy guy who sodded about with the registry.

Just another question, can one stop "Quick Time" starting up and getting onto the task bar or do I need it there?  Don't know what it does you see.  I've also got HP digital imaging monitor on the task bar too.... why does that have to come up on start up...or am I being thick here?

Chrissie

[Pwiggler]

No you're not being thick, get rid of 'em coz they arent needed.

it might be worth running MSCONFIG and looking at the starup tab to ditch  a few more un-needed startup items as well.  post here if you need help identifying the items if needed.

as for norton, delete that as well and go for something a little less intensive such as AVG.  to completely remove it goto www.symantec.com/symnrt and get the removal tool.

Byeeeeeeeeeeee

[UncleUB]

Don't want hi jack your thread Chrissie,but I've also got HP digital image monitor on my task bar.What does it do?When I get a list of startup programmes,it says remove or disable.Which one should you use.If you select disable does it come back when you restart your computer?

[scottiesmum]

Chrissie,

but I've read of some probs with AVG8 and you guys know how to fix these things...

I am using AVG 7.5 524, which is still available:-     http://www.filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus/4029/

 I did install AVG 8 and problems started but because updates are still available for the older version I reverted to that .   I am going to use the 7.5 version until I HAVE to move onto AVG8, by which time I'm hoping all the "teething problems" will be sorted.  The advantage for us not very techy people is that we can ask all the geniuses on here   (and Other Places    )  when we get stuck.    I haven't any experience of Norton, but had heard all the complaints about it.....  In your situation I would download from the link above,  then   get rid of   Norton (asking fore any help to do so if necessary), then Install AVG 7.5      Hope this encourages you.