Posted: 3/8/2013 5:57:33 PM EDT
| My 18 month old Dell is acting up. It will freeze up when online, the cursor will jump around on it's own, it runs slow at times and as I was typing this it closed IE on it's own. I have Webroot security active and have since it was new. I ran Maleware bytes and it found nothing. What I want is a program I can download, or buy that can scan the computer and fix it. I see the commercials for PD Matic all the time and that is what I need. I don't trust just anything seen on TV so I came here to ask for help. I'm not a computer guy as I'm sure you can tell. Thanks. |
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1) Save or backup what you can onto an external Hard Drive.
2) Then, just restore to the Factory Image -- just like the first day you opened the box. Do this by hitting F11 (?) while booting and you'll get the prompts to go ahead and re-image it. WARNING: You will lose all data on the machine by doing this, which is why I'm saying backup any important documents, pictures, home videos, etc to an external HD first. 3) THEN, don't go to any sketchy virus-laden sites (porno, games, free shit, downloadable screen savers or ANY other bullshit software you think looks cool). Keep everything patched and updated (automatically, and manual checks every few days... you could try something like Secunia PSI to help with this). Also, install and run Microsoft Security Essentials and/or AVAST! and/or MalwareBytes and have them scan daily. But most of all just don't visit stupid sites (porn, etc). 4) Try browsing using Chrome &/or Firefox too. 5) KEEP YOUR SHIT UPDATED -- this is an ongoing struggle with patches being released what seems like daily for Java, Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, etc 6) Become an educated user while doing all of the above... check these sites daily or at least once a week to help keep up to date with new shit to be aware of -- krebsonsecurity.com & isc.sans.edu & US-CERT (sign-up and Subscribe to receive ALL the US-CERT emails, and they'll let help remind you when you need to update something on your computer due to some new, known vulnerability.) Good luck. ETA: edited since I don't know how to make a numbered list.. 
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Quoted:
1) Save or backup what you can onto an external Hard Drive. 2) Then, just restore to the Factory Image -- just like the first day you opened the box. Do this by hitting F11 (?) while booting and you'll get the prompts to go ahead and re-image it. WARNING: You will lose all data on the machine by doing this, which is why I'm saying backup any important documents, pictures, home videos, etc to an external HD first. 3) THEN, don't go to any sketchy virus-laden sites (porno, games, free shit, downloadable screen savers or ANY other bullshit software you think looks cool). Keep everything patched and updated (automatically, and manual checks every few days... you could try something like Secunia PSI to help with this). Also, install and run Microsoft Security Essentials and/or AVAST! and/or MalwareBytes and have them scan daily. But most of all just don't visit stupid sites (porn, etc). 4) Try browsing using Chrome &/or Firefox too. 5) KEEP YOUR SHIT UPDATED -- this is an ongoing struggle with patches being released what seems like daily for Java, Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, etc 6) Become an educated user while doing all of the above... check these sites daily or at least once a week to help keep up to date with new shit to be aware of -- krebsonsecurity.com & isc.sans.edu & US-CERT (sign-up and Subscribe to receive ALL the US-CERT emails, and they'll let help remind you when you need to update something on your computer due to some new, known vulnerability.) Good luck. ETA: edited since I don't know how to make a numbered list.. This sounds like it would work and thanks for the time you took typing it out. I may need to have a friend help me back up my data. I have an external hard drive but it is several years old and was a pain in the ass to use when I backed up our old computer. In the meantime, is there something else I can do to try and rid my computer of this virus or whatever it may be? I have a tech savy friend but he may not be able to make it over for a couple of weeks. If I loose all our pictures my wife will kill me. Thanks again. |