Can anyone help please? Major problems..

Donnie

Lucyeff wrote: »

It's Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, 751MHz, 192mb of RAM, and I think the Office is 2002 - when I checked properties on Word and Publisher it comes up 2002, so I'm guessing that'd be right?

I found a disk in the loft just now with the boxes the guy left when he installed it, December 2004, it's a copy cd with 'Office XP Pro' written on it with a CD key written on it, whether it's any use I don;t know. I found Excel on it anyway, lol!

Luce

Another problem you have is the amount of memory installed. 256MB is the minimum recommended for Windows XP.
Having too many programs open will cause a slowdown and possible crash.

Are you willing to save your documents and to reinstall XP and Office or do want to 'patch up' what you have now, until you can afford the new licence?

Lizbetty

We've decided to go for the free software to cover us for now - the chap who installed it recommended some downloads from his website which will cover us, and not slow it up like Windows Live Onecare has done (is 103mb a lot?!), plus hopefully we'll be better covered - the fact that there's a small button I can see constantly reminding me that our security is only 'fair' is too unnerving for my liking. We've been advised to install AVG (free), WGA Fix and the Google toolbar, as well as CCleaner which I have already. Will this cover everything? He did says so, but I'm wondering about a firewall?

My pc is really slow Donnie, you're not wrong about that. I'm going to uninstall the Live Onecare software after I've made sure I'm downloading all the right programmes to cover me instead, and delete some useless programmes I have. I'm wonderng if I might get some help with that, as I have been through my huge list of programmes I've gathered up, and I'm sure some are just the same thing with a different name. Plus I think there's some I won't need, and some that I probably do but I'm not sure about. They are:

Adobe Acrobat 4.0
Adobe Download Manager 2.0
Adobe Flashplayer 9 Active X
Adobe Photoshop 7.0
Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 Starter Edition
Arcsoft Photoimpression 4
Easyprint 1.1
Generic HCF PCI Modem (guessing that's needed for my modem)
Google Earth - which I CAN'T GET RID OF! My system goes cranky when I try
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer (is this what the chap said to install?)
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 9
Java 6 Update 2
Java SE Runtime Environment 6
Java SE Runtime Environment 6 Update 1
Learn2Player
Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1
Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 (do I need both of these?)
Moonlight AVC Oneclick Compressor
MSXML 4.0 SP2 KB927978
MSXML 4.0 SP2 KB936181
MSXML SP2 Parser and SDK
PC Connectivity Solution
Picasa 2
PIF Designer 2.1
Quicktime
RealPlayer Basic
Scantoweb
Serif Webplus 6 (can't get rid of this, either!)
Viewpoint Media Player
Voyager USB Driver

Phew. I know that there's probably some important techie stuff which would probably make my computer into a plant stand if I deleted it, but I'm wondering if I need all this stuff? We do have a website I'm tinkering with, eventually I'm hoping to be conversant with Adobe Photoshop when I get time to sit down with it (when the kids are of school age maybe??!!). But if anyone can suggest anything I can get rid of, that would be fab.

There's other stuff on there too, but it looks important and isn't using up too much memory so I'm not too worried about it.

All advice would be welcomed, I really would appreciate it. I have this on order btw http://www.hotukdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89609 which appears to be a stonking bargain according to those in the know, to put my stuff onto hard disk as I have shed loads (LOADS!!!) of pics of my two terrors and Si's work stuff that'd be best kept safe. My order confirmation came through ok so it doesn't seem to be a misprint they're giving backword on?

Luce

Chippy_Minton

You can safely remove all but the latest Java (Java 6 Update 2) using Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs.

For the .Net Framework, it depends whether a program you run needs something in version 1.1. You can try uninstalling it and then see if you get an error when you run such a program, and then reinstall if you do. Otherwise leave 1.1 and 2.0 installed.

Fonz_2

Lucyeff,

I'd also strongly suggest that you email [EMAIL="ukpiracy@microsoft.com"]ukpiracy@microsoft.com[/EMAIL] with the details of the person who installed the software on the computer so Microsoft can prosecute.

Fonz

theallpowerful

Lucyeff wrote: »

WGA Fix

Um... don't know what the legality of the WGA fix is... it's a workaround for people with pirated versions of Windows XP which stops Microsoft Update from noticing you have a pirated copy... install with caution...

Lucyeff wrote: »

Google toolbar, as well as CCleaner which I have already. Will this cover everything? He did says so, but I'm wondering about a firewall?

Zonealarm is a good firewall and free too http://www.zonealarm.com

Lucyeff wrote: »

Plus I think there's some I won't need, and some that I probably do but I'm not sure about. They are:

Adobe Acrobat 4.0 Useful
Adobe Download Manager 2.0 Get rid of
Adobe Flashplayer 9 Active X Useful
Adobe Photoshop 7.0 Depends on whether you use it or not
Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 Starter Edition Depends on whether you use it or not
Arcsoft Photoimpression 4 Depends on whether you use it or not
Easyprint 1.1 Depends on whether you use it or not
Generic HCF PCI Modem (guessing that's needed for my modem) Useful
Google Earth - which I CAN'T GET RID OF! My system goes cranky when I try Get rid of - type uninstall google earth into google for instructions
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer (is this what the chap said to install?) Useful - yes it probably is
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 9 Useful
Java 6 Update 2 Useful
Java SE Runtime Environment 6 Useful
Java SE Runtime Environment 6 Update 1 Useful
Learn2Player Don't know what that is
Microsoft .Net Framework 1.1
Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 (do I need both of these?) I'd be cautious and keep both
Moonlight AVC Oneclick Compressor Don't know what that is
MSXML 4.0 SP2 KB927978 Useful
MSXML 4.0 SP2 KB936181 Useful
MSXML SP2 Parser and SDK Useful
PC Connectivity Solution Don't know what that is
Picasa 2 Don't know what that is
PIF Designer 2.1 Don't know what that is
Quicktime With the amount of memory you have I suggest you get rid of it
RealPlayer Basic With the amount of memory you have I suggest you get rid of it
Scantoweb Get rid of it
Serif Webplus 6 (can't get rid of this, either!) Get rid of - type uninstall Serif Webplus 6 into google for instructions
Viewpoint Media Player Don't know what that is
Voyager USB Driver Useful

Mist001

Adobe Photoshop and Photoalbum are going to slow your PC down. You don't have a powerful enough PC to run them properly. Try a less memory intensive graphics program to practice on, such as Paint Shop Pro 7, or 'The Gimp' (It's free).

I wouldn't recommend Google Toolbar either. It's running constantly in the background which will slow your PC down a bit too. Also, it's permanently connected to the net each time you log on, so it will slow your internet connection too.

You could speed up your PC a little by not installing any Microsoft Office/Open Office suites on it. If you need a word processor and spreadsheet, give Google Docs a try. You do it all online and it's free. Take a look:

http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html

HTH.

Michael.

MrsTinks

One Care or infact any half decent AV software will need more RAM than you have at the moment... My home laptop which is just the cheapie one from PC-world has 2 Gig... My tower (ok I'm a geek) had 4 Gb.... I wouldn't even try to run word on a machine with AV and XP... it would be so slow it's not funny... If your systemboard can't take an upgrade to 512mb minimum then it's time to upgrade I'm afraid... PC-world does some ok deals from time to time and all you'd need is a very basic machine. You'd probably get XP or Vista already installed with it (try to get XP if you can... the Vista home edition they install sucks!)

Donnie

Lucyeff

You really need more memory. It shouldn't be expensive. Personally, I would have saved on buying the Internet security package and instead purchased RAM via the internet.
We can point you in the right direction for that.
I've sent you a private message.
Please check and reply ASAP, as I'm off on holiday this evening.

Lizbetty

Donnie, thanks for your advice, I've pm'd you back Have a great holiday, I never asked where you were going?!

I'm just about to read through everyone's advice again and try and absorb it, I really do appreciate everyone taking the time to reply as I re-read my last post and realised it was quite a list of stuff to go through! At the mo, my pc is as slow as a slug with a limp, I've uninstalled Onecare and installed AVG and Zonealarm which has helped a lot.

My pc is going extra slow as I didn't have Excel or Powerpoint installed before for some reason - when I stuck the copy XP disk back in to see what would happen, it's installed all of the programmes and I'm just trying to figure out how to delete them without deleting all of XP again. It takes AAAAGES to come up with the add/delete programmes screen, I can't tell you how frustrating it is.

It's my husband's birthday today so I promised I wouldn't be on the PC too much as I've spent since last Friday (when the trojan message came up)shifting between this and nappy changes/making tea, and doing not much else. So I best go and eat some cake and be birthday like before I have a read through the messages, lol!

Thanks again everyone. I really would be in a mess if it weren't for you lot.

Best wishes
Luce

Fonz_2

I'd echo my earlier concerns around making your copy of Windows legal and reporting the person who distributed the software to you.

You have obviously been unaware of the suspect nature of the software in the past but now that you're aware of the situation you should take steps to rectify it by purchasing a legal and licensed copy of Windows, Office and any other software installed for which you do not own.

I'd suggest that you do report the re-seller so that should someone on the boards report you for owning the counterfeit software, it's clear that you've done everything you can to make it right.