Computer help?

Lifeisbutadream

I bought a computer a couple of years ago (actually maybe 3 or 4) from a local 'comp0uter man' - I didnt not have a clue what I needed, I just knew what I needed it to do (I run a business and use a lot of spreadsheets for my business, plus photos for the business and home use, plus always have a lot of things open at one time etc.) - he sold me a printer and computer for around £1500 - the computer is a MAXDATA with a large HP screen - the printer was a CPL-510 Samsung.

I dont need anyone to tell me I was ripped off. I trusted this man and he sold me a pile of crap IMO - I have just sold the printer on ebay for 99p - it was so crap I just wanted rid of it.

The computer however, I cannot afford to replace at the moment, but it has been nothing but trouble since I got it.

It has Windows Vista, which (I think ?) has a lot of bugs, but dont know whether any of these are the fault of that?

The main problems I have are as follows:

1. Sometimes when I open a documents file, the file decides that it will stop working and make an irritating 'ping' when I click anywhere. THe only way to shut it down is to turn of the whole computer at the mains.

2. Sometimes all the files just decide they will 'stop working' and close everything down

3. Sometimes files decide to disappear, or rename themselves with a number, saving an earlier version, confusing the hell out of me as I dont always know work is missing.

4. Lastly, but probably most irritating of all, the computer, periodically just 'freezes' for anything up to 5 minutes. There is nothing I can do during this time, except wait, or turn off by the mains. If I am out of the room when it happens and dont start using the computer again as soon as it 'unfreezes' there is nothing I can do except turn everything off.

I have not yet thrown the whole lot out of the window, but it wont be long, I am sure. Any help would be very gratefully received.:o

(I should say that I got the man who sold me the computer at the end of last year. He just sold me some more memory, but it didnt change anything at all - I dont want him back again)

jaydeeuk1

Sounds like spyware/poss virus to me. Alienrik's your man for this.

gonzo127

yes in some ways it does sound a bit like a virus etc,

as ever you will need to download install and UPDATE malwarebytes antimalware and hijack this run the full scans not just the quick ones and post the logs,

the other one is what virus scanner are you currently running? when was the last time you ran a defrag and do you have windows set up to auto update, as although vista is horrible (i still use it as cant afford to upgrade to windows 7) it has been updated a lot since first launched which should fix quite a lot of the older problems

fwor

It's quite possible that it's malware, but if the PC has had these problems since you got it, it's also possible that the "PC Builder" was so incompetent that he did not install the correct device drivers for the computer's motherboard.

If he just used the drivers that are shipped with Vista, it's quite likely that you will have problems with system stability.

If you are going to resolve that, you will need to do some detective work (or pay someone to do it for you) to find out what make/model the motherboard is and then download and install the latest Vista drivers.

However, a good compromise would be to use Windows Update to find out if there are any hardware driver updates available for your PC. You won't get the absolute latest via that route, but I've seen examples where that can fix problems with a PC feeezing.

Lifeisbutadream

gonzo127 wrote: »

yes in some ways it does sound a bit like a virus etc,

as ever you will need to download install and UPDATE malwarebytes antimalware and hijack this run the full scans not just the quick ones and post the logs,

the other one is what virus scanner are you currently running? when was the last time you ran a defrag and do you have windows set up to auto update, as although vista is horrible (i still use it as cant afford to upgrade to windows 7) it has been updated a lot since first launched which should fix quite a lot of the older problems

Thank you.

Could you please tell me in layman's term what I need to do?

Lifeisbutadream

fwor wrote: »

However, a good compromise would be to use Windows Update to find out if there are any hardware driver updates available for your PC. You won't get the absolute latest via that route, but I've seen examples where that can fix problems with a PC feeezing.

How do I do that?

Donnie

Drivers here.

Personally I would go the back up and reinstall route. 'Computer man' sounds like a shambles.

CPU-Z will give you the details of the motherboard, at no cost.

In addition, you can give us some basic information about your computer. You can retrieve said details by using the keyboard. Press the Flying Windows key and whilst holding it down, press the Pause Break key. If the Pause key on your keyboard is coloured in blue, you will have to press the key in this order(holding them down in turn) Flying Windows > FN > Pause

Windows Edition, Processor and RAM will be enough for now.

Then maybe Rik or someone else with time on their hands, can take you through ChkDsk and scanning for malware and defragmentation.

If none of that gives a drastic improvement, consider the full reinstall.

JasX

....and next time please go and buy a bog standard dell typee thing that'll do everything you need for £300-400

Lifeisbutadream

Donnie wrote: »

Drivers here.

Personally I would go the back up and reinstall route. 'Computer man' sounds like a shambles.

CPU-Z will give you the details of the motherboard, at no cost.

In addition, you can give us some basic information about your computer. You can retrieve said details by using the keyboard. Press the Flying Windows key and whilst holding it down, press the Pause Break key. If the Pause key on your keyboard is coloured in blue, you will have to press the key in this order(holding them down in turn) Flying Windows > FN > Pause

Windows Edition, Processor and RAM will be enough for now.

Then maybe Rik or someone else with time on their hands, can take you through ChkDsk and scanning for malware and defragmentation.

If none of that gives a drastic improvement, consider the full reinstall.

Windows Edition: Windows Vista Home basic
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.46GHz 3.46 GHz
RAM 2.00 GB

Lifeisbutadream

JasX wrote: »

....and next time please go and buy a bog standard dell typee thing that'll do everything you need for £300-400

Thanks - I will be replacing it later this year or early next year, so would be grateful of advice on what to get when I do.

macman

Windows Edition: Windows Vista Home basic
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.46GHz 3.46 GHz
RAM 2.00 GB

Hang on, are seriously saying that you were charged £1,500 for a PC with the above spec, and a printer that costs about £50? And which presumably came originally with only 1GB of RAM (never enough to run Vista on anyway), which he subsequently increased (and charged you for) to 2GB RAM?
If this guy is still trading, please could you post his details so other people can avoid him?