Hello,
I use Vista and just ran anti spyware software (PC Tools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus). This seems to have fixed all the threats but, apparently, now every time I want to use a program the computer doesn't know how to open it.

I get the "this file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action" or
"windows cannot open this file: to open this file, windows needs to know what program you want to use to open it. windows can go online to look it up manually, or you can manually select from a list of programs that are installed on your computer"... But it doesn't always work, so there are things I can't use..

Does anyone know what to do?

Much appreciated!

In the past few days my comp now takes two minutes or so to restart/shutdown. It might be because of a new update for explorer 8, but I think it started before that. I'm at a bit of a loss to explain it.

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ 2.22 GHz
1.00 GB of RAM
Windows XP
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX graphics card
Creative SB X-fi sound card

The most recent drivers for my graphics card do something very wrong to my computer, but the ones right before that work so i'm fairly updated there and all other drivers are updated.

I've also noticed games in warcraft 3 lag as if I am having lost packets(i think?). My entire connection was slow until i called the cable company and they reset the modem, though the WC3 problem persists. Any ideas?

My power settings seem to have changed. When I would press the power button in the start menu (Vista), everything would turn off and the power button on the front would flash and if I pressed anything it would come back on in a few seconds. Now everything appears to be on but the monitor. It wasn't in hibernate before because that is what it would do if I actually pressed power on the front. Nothing would be flashing and it would actually go through the startup/restore.

I looked at the advanced power settings and it just has sleep or hibernate options for the start menu sleep button and the physical power button. Sleep is what is keeping almost all the way on and hibernate is when its practically shut down.. what was in between?

Hello! I am new to this community.

My computer is a few years old and was running slowly, I had used up a large amount of space on my computer as well. I decided to save my photos, music, documents, etc, onto disc and then I used the recovery disk to put the computer back to the way it came from the factory, hoping it would run smoother. I got a new laptop and am looking to put the files I had saved back onto my computer, but what I didn't realize is that the program I used to burn the files to cd had "split" the files across 2 disks, I wasn't even aware that was possible! So now I am unable to figure out how to put these files onto my computer and have them work. I have the CDs but do not know how to put the files back together so that I can actually look at them/use them. Any advice on programs or methods for doing this? Thank you so much!

Question/Problem: Basically, the blinking text cursor should only appear when you're typing in an input area, but even if I simply click on a web page, say on some text or nearby an image, I'll get a blinking text cursor. It's become quite a nuisance and I can't figure out how to fix this. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I can take screen shots.

Operating System, Version and Service Pack: Windows XP.

Web Browser and Version: Latest version of Firefox. I made sure to update, just in case being outdated was the problem.

Your level of experience (we simplify or explain instructions based on how you answer): Intermediate.

When did the problem start? Has it been going on constantly since then? I haven't noticed it until today. I haven't done any changes to my computer at all, except a virus scan, however that was after I acknowledged the blinking text cursor.

Any steps you've taken to troubleshoot? Updating Firefox, doing a virus scan, disk clean up. I have not tried restarting my computer.

If you are receiving an error message, please include the entire text of the message. (If you have an error log, please post it under a LJ-Cut): None.

So I've had my PC about a year now. It's slowing down of course from all the junk I've installed and uninstalled since getting it. I don't want to reinstall Windows because I bought Vista OEM from NewEgg and I think it only allows one install so I'm pretty sure I'd be screwed if I tried. I use CCleaner regularly. What else can I do to get back that fresh install speed as much as possible?

Basics: Running Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista Ultimate SP 1. As for my level of experience, I use computers a ton, but have no experience fixing/troubleshooting.

One of my favorite websites has recently stopped working for me. I've used it for many months without any issue, but in the last couple days, I've consistently had a problem every time I've gone on, despite restarting my computer. The problem is that any time I click on one of the site's blog pages, which is about 70% of its content, it makes Internet Explorer close. This is one of the pages that makes it do that: http://www.glamour.com/fashion/blogs/slaves-to-fashion/2010/01/the-stf-manifesto-lets-all-ple.html. The page will appear to be opening normally and then a window will pop up that says: "Internet Explorer has stopped working: Windows is checking for a solution to the problem" and almost immediately thereafter the IE window will close and then restart. I don't seem to be having any other trouble with my computer, and I've never really known of something like this happening before. I'm assuming this problem isn't affecting everyone who accesses the website through Internet Explorer, or else they probably would have fixed it by now. Do is anyone know why this would happen or how I can fix it? I haven't tried anything (I have no idea what you would do....) nor have I tried the website on a different internet program (because I only have IE on my computer).

Thank you!

My sister's computer is being attacked by a virus.

The windows antivirus thing keeps popping up saying the wscntfy.exe file is infected. I can't do anything, every program I start gets an error. I'm a bit at loss for what to do...

The system is Windows XP. My sister claims she wasn't downloading anything, she was chatting with a few friends on MSN. That's all I know.

I tried downloading another virus program on here (my computer), but the system won't read the USB, and I doubt it would work.

I hope one of you can help me.

Thanks for your time,

Emmy

X-posted to computer_help

ok. so yesterday the internet stopped working (limited to no connectivity). i spent a bunch of time trying to figure out why but i can't get the router and the modem to work at the same time.
i don't have too much experience on what i'm doing either.
what makes things more complicated with the plug ins is that i also have vonage. and now my phone isn't working either.
as long as i'm connected to my cable modem (in network connections) i can connect to the internet. but as soon as i connect to the router (i think that's what it is) (intel pro 100 ve) as well the internet doesn't work. it says they are both connected though and that the device is working properly. from reading the internet last night trying to figure it out i was able to see that the dhcp was enabled on both things. not sure if that helps for the info.
i have no clue what to do. the wireless isn't working and i have no idea if it's the router. i've tried turning it all off for a few minutes and then slowly plugging it back in and waiting, i've tried resetting and nothing.
any ideas?

I have an ADVENT ERT2250 laptop (own brand to a British shop chain, and rather crappy) whose power feed has stopped functioning. For a few months before it conked out altogether, it would not work unless I played around with the plug till the light showed, and so I am sure that the problem is with the alignment of the hardware in the power inlet. Is there anything I can do to repair it other than spend a fortune (the machine is frankly not worth it) with a repairman, or throw the lot away?

I have a Toshiba Satellite L500 (L505D), with a AMD Athlon X2 Core (QL-65 2.10 GHz), 3gb of memory, and it's running Vista. I've had problems with it from the get go. It get's over heated with flash based stuff, or sometimes when in messenger, and it will shut down. I think I asked here before and I think people said it was because of my processor.

I was wondering if I possibly upgraded the memory, and maybe bought a good cooling pad, would it help? Also if I upgraded the memory how high can I go with this laptop? What should be the minimum amount I get to make the machine run better? Also could anyone recommend a good cooling pad?

I have a standard nvidia GEforce 6159SE nforce 430 Integrated that came with my comp, running off of Vista. I must Upgrade. My Motherboard is an AMD Athlon 7550 dual-core processor 2.50 ghz, with 3gigs of ram.

I am a cheap bastard and don't want to spend too much. I want it to be at least, at LEAST equal to the Radeon 9600 Pro card that I bought for my old PC, used quite happily, and does not fit on my new PC.

I'm fairly certain I need a PCI card.

I'm currently looking at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150450

Will this fit? More importantly, is there something cheaper (omg cheaper) that will at least match the 9600 I can't use anymore? I'd prefer better but I'm not sure what 'better' is. The maximum I can spend is about 70$ total, but I want to get the most bang for what little I have.

This upgrade is to primarily run games and Photoshop at higher than minimal settings.

I have not been able to find a decent chart that compares side by side different cards. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2404-7.html was provided me, and I'm attempting to use it.

Computer Knowledge Level: Noob to Intermediate. If given directions I can usually find what people need me to find, but tend to be clueless about things like 'what's the difference between PCI and AGP'.

Question/Problem:
A couple weeks ago, my audio and video stopped working. Itune's wont work, I can hit play but then it just stalls and doesn't progress. And videos just freeze over and over and no sound is coming from anything. I got a memory error message one time and showed the pic of it below. Everything is going slower. Please help! Thank you!

( the rest below here )

OK I was just about to create a user profile on my PC for my fiancee, and there is a second user name on here for "ASP.Net Machine Account". What the hell is that?? I went to ASP.net and it says it's some official Microsoft site. Should this be here or did I get a virus or something?? I've never seen that before.

Edit ...nevermind its a .net framework thing I guess.

Hello, hello!

Right now I am dealing with a wireless issues. I am trying to set up wireless in my tiny apartment. I have a Linksys Wireless-G Broad Band Router Model No WRT54G2 that is connected to my cable modem. I am also using a Linksys Compact Wireless-G USB Model No WUSB54GC-RM adapter that has been refurbished. The main problem that I am having is I get this message that my adapter cannot access the access point and the internet. It was working find on Monday when I first set it up but now this is happening.

I bought my Toshiba laptop (came with Windows vista) from Best Buy in early April, without purchasing any geek squad misc. I didn't realize it didn't come with an anti-virus system pre-installed. I discovered this about a month ago, when any search in a search engine redirected me to ad pages. I installed Sophos through my sister's university program and ran the virus scan, quaranteening anything I couldn't delete. Now, after about an hour's worth of use, I get a random error message saying that random things (such as "plug and play") stopped working and then the computer restarts itself.

I just purchased Windows 7 and an external harddrive and understand that it's probably best I purchase Norton.


My question is: can I just upload my files onto the harddrive, reformat with Windows 7, install Norton, and have it all be perfectly fine or will these problems persist?

I just moved to the South FL area for school (approx. 2 weeks ago), so I don't have a "computer guru" or have any idea where would be a reputable and cost-effective place.

HELP!

Hi. I'm having problems with my new scanner. I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but google and the rest of LJ have failed me.

Now, I live in Canada, and my friend in the US bought me an all-in-one for Christmas and I got it about a week ago. It's an HP Deskjet F4480 and it doesn't come with its own USB cable. When I first got it, I hooked it up and it worked perfectly fine, even without using the installation CD. I scan things via a camera and scanner wizard, for reference. I had tried using the CD, but for some reason it would always restard. Later that day my mother took the USB cable to use it for something else and I unplugged my scanner so I could plug in my PSP charger.

Last night I tried to use it again. I hooked it all up and ran the wizard, only to get this error. I've had this error with my old scanner and I never figured out how to fix it (said scanner has since been trashed due to being old, clunky and beyond repair). I finally installed it with the CD and the error persisted. I gave up for the night and I tried again today. I uninstalled everything and reinstalled from scratch... but I still get the same error, and I get a similar one (saying that the scanner is busy) when I try to scan from Photoshop.

I've tried simply pressing the "Scan" button on it, and it opens HP Solution Center. The problem is that it opens to a blank, black window. There's absolutely nothing. I can't even find a proper download or update on the internet for it, either, and I'm fairly certain that I have the latest Flash player. A little sad for a "solution center" to not be working...

And for the record, I'm using Windows XP.

Any ideas?

My desktop died recently. I'm fairly sure it's because one of the two RAM sticks is dead. I tried taking one out and using just the other, to see if that was it. The computer booted up alright, and then Windows XP said it hadn't been activated.

I got Windows XP free through MSDNAA and I'm not a student anymore, so while I'm allowed to keep it as long as I want, I can't reactivate and I can't get any support from Microsoft. I had read before that Microsoft defined a computer as a motherboard, meaning any upgrade that leaves the motherboard intact still only counts as one installation on one computer. I refused offers of new hardware from relatives in the past just so I wouldn't need to change my motherboard and therefore need a new copy of XP. Apparently, since then Microsoft has decided that the RAM -- in my opinion the most changeable thing inside the box itself -- is more unique to a computer than a motherboard now.

My desktop is kind of old and chances are that even if Windows would un-un-activate itself by having the same exact RAM setup, I still couldn't buy an identical replacement.

A new copy of Windows would cost the majority of what I even have in the bank right now, so if I can't get my current copy to change its mind about being activated, this computer is literally unusable in any way. (And before you suggest it, no, Linux is not better than no computer.) I'm kind of scared to turn the computer back on and mess with it now, since turning it on is all I did to break it in the first place.

Is there a way I can still use this computer, or is the entire thing just a space-consuming dead weight now?

*sigh*
I am very, very frustrated.

Somewhat long story, I'll try to keep it brief. My mom gave me her laptop, an Acer Aspire 9410Z to be exact. She hardly used it, and other than the small dings and scratches I was lucky to get it. She had a puppy who caused a bit of scruff in one of the corners, and who detached the cover to the cd drive. Now, the cd drive worked FINE, it just didn't look pretty..you could attach the cover sometimes but it would fall out, so I just learned where to push myself to get the drive to pop open.

A few months ago, my husband knocked over my laptop when it was plugged into the charger (he actually tripped on the cord) and it broke the power port. I looked online hoping to buy one and install it, but found out that while the part was cheap, you have to sauter(solder?) it to the motherboard and nobody I knew wanted to do that. So, I went and just paid 200 dollars to have it fixed. Apparently, they were trying to sell a brand new disc drive for ONLY 130 dollars plus labor, and my husband obviously said no since it works just fine.

Now, I'm home and go to put in a disc into the drive, and unsurprisingly it wont play. Now, there is no cd drive even detected on my computer!

I work in customer service at a call center, so I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it appears to me that something is not right. I'm hoping there are technical people who can either ease my paranoia that this was purposeful OR can give me some ideas.

I didn't really have 200 dollars to spend to fix my laptop, so if the only solution is buy a new cd drive, its going to have to be external. What recommendations do you all have for external cd drives, if any.

Thanks in advance!