New computer

rmg1

Morning all

My MIL's computer (about 12 years old running XP) has gone belly-up. It freezes just after startup but runs fine in safe mode.
Avast looks to be using 75%+ of the CPU but I can't see why.

If I uninstall Avast everything works fine, but it all goes pear-shaped again when I reinstall it.

I've done chkdsk and a boot-scan (using Avast) but there's appearntly no problems.

What she's decided is to get a new machine so she's asked me to have a look around and see what's available. It doesn't need to be a high-end gaming amchine, just basic emails, face(ache)book and some flash-based games.

I've seen a couple on the PC World website for around £200 but I don't know anything about the processors.

I've told her she might need to order on-line and she's fine with that.

Can someone please suggest a couple of decent machines for the budget?

She's already got monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. but the monitor doesn't have a VGA connector, it's DVI. I think you can get adaptors for VGA-DVI so she might need one of those as well.

I think she's prefer Windows 7 as opposed to 10 so that would be a bonus.

Any help greatfully received.

GunJack

new new or new to her? thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5343343 has some useful suggestions...

rmg1

I don't think she's every had a new new machine so I think that's the option she's going for.

I'm not sure about ebay (one of the link on the opther thread), I'm personally wary of buying electronics from there (that's probably me just being paranoid).

GunJack

rmg1 wrote: »

I don't think she's every had a new new machine so I think that's the option she's going for.

I'm not sure about ebay (one of the link on the opther thread), I'm personally wary of buying electronics from there (that's probably me just being paranoid).

yes, you are no probs with ebay as long as you take normal precautions... but, check ebuyer/dabs/etc. - do you know what sort of spec & OS she's wanting?

rmg1

She just wants a basic machine to run faceache, emails, a few flash games (she's currently addicted to farm heros sage) and a bit of youtube.

Nothing strenuous so don't need an all-singing, all-dancing machine you could run the country on.

She's currently running XP and I think windows 8.1/10 might be a bit steep learning curve so Windows 7 might be a good step up.

GunJack

yup, W7 would be a better bet, a second-user/refurb to suit will be <£100 on ebay (which is where I got my current one from )

rmg1

Thanks for the info, I'll have a look on ebay and see what they've got.
Wonder if the Argos outlet on there will have anything half decent?

I think she'd prefer new new but beggars can't be choosers.

bsod

do a system restore, if it works in safe mode, it's not a hardware problem

rmg1

I tried a system restore and left everything else as-is but the same thing happened.
It only works "properly" if Avast is uninstalled (I've also removed the remnants of AVG using the removal tool).

As noted above, Avast isuisng 75%+ of the CPU for no apparent reason that I can find.

GunJack

why not try free version of BitDefender on it?? While I have been a fan of Avast for many years, it is true that on some systems/configurations it has become problematic of late.... on one such machine (this one with W10 on it) so far so good for BitDefender...

...nothing to lose and possibly a lot to gain (i.e. no dosh spent)

rmg1

Thanks for that, I'll have a look at BitDefender over the weekend (I'm not heading that way until Friday) and see how the machine get's on.