(no subject)

[gwynhefar]

Ok, so hopefully my computer problems are fixed. Although the Dell support guy didn't exactly fill me with confidence at first when he tried to suggest that the freezing was due to malware and send me to a fee-based malware support line. Not that it *couldn't* be malware, but I am usually pretty careful with my machine (I have a firewall, I run virusscan and Spybot frequently, etc.) and it seemed suspicious to me that I only had problems with freezing immediately after installing a new video card.

I managed to convince him to at least check the video drivers to make sure everything was working properly before I wasted my money on the malware support line, and when the computer froze in Safe Mode he finally admitted it might not be malware. So we uninstalled the video driver and then downloaded a new version from the website and installed that one.

So far it's been about an hour and a half with no freezing, which is longer than I got any other time since I first installed the new video card, so I've got my fingers crossed. I won't really consider the problem resolved until I make it a few days with no issues, but for now, things look good.

Comments

[harkalark.livejournal.com]

Cool. I hope it's okay now. My computer has been being kinda weird on me lately, and I really hope it's not time to buy a new one (I got this one in 2004) since I don't have the money for it. I mean sure, I'd love a new shiny, but I'd love to pay rent more.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling - thankfully this one is still under warranty, so any repairs (including the new video card) were covered. If it hadn't been, I definitely wouldn't have been able to afford even the new video card for several months, and if the whole computer had needed replacing, it would probably be another year or two before I could even think of it.

So I'm really glad I got the extended warranty!

[robertlyon.livejournal.com]

the best virus protction in my opinion is webroot.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Better than either Norton or McAfee? I admit I don't know much about that one.

[robertlyon.livejournal.com]

yes, much better than both. I especially think Mcaffee is no good. Norton is okay but webroot spysweeper gets the most and I like the interface the best.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Hmm . . . well maybe I'll add it to my list of things to buy as soon as I scrape together a little extra cash :)

I have Norton right now, and I run SpyBot - which I'm sure isn't the best since it's free, but it's better than nothing.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

The common versions of McAfee are almost worse than no protection at all. If you have no protection, you hopefully don't do dangerous things thinking you have protection. If you think you have protection you may act more recklessly. I regularly see clients who use McAfee products who end up infested with all sorts of nasty stuff that it should have prevented. Norton Anti-virus does a reasonably good job of protecting a computer as long as it is a recent version but running the whole Norton security suite causes problems for a lot of people with slower computers. I recommend AVG which costs noticably less even if you choose the paid version rather than the free version. (The free version does anti-virus and some anti-spyware. The paid version adds various other bits and pieces depending on how much you pay.)

As far as I know, Webroot spysweeper doesn't even claim to be an anti-virus program. It is an anti-spyware program. That's not to say it isn't good, but it isn't a replacement for your current anti-virus program. There are a number of types of malware and you can't neglect to watch for all of them.

For non-virus malware, I recommend that you get Malwarebytes Anti-malware in addition to Spybot. Spybot is good, but it can't remove some of the things that the Malwarebytes program handles. There's no need to wait until you can afford to buy something. Go to malwarebytes.org and get the free version soon. The paid version will run resident rather than having to be run manually so you might want to pay for it at some point but in the meantime the free version works nicely.

Note that price is not at all an indication of quality where anti-malware programs are concerned. Many of the best of them are free for individuals (not necessarily businesses or organizations). When Mr. McAfee owned the products that still bear his name they were free for individuals too and they worked well. He sold them to a company that did away with the free versions and started turning out junk for profit. Greed for profit is not necessarily a motive that produces the best protective software.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[kaitouace2750.livejournal.com]

When it comes to the newest malware I've had some good experience with "Malwarebyte's Anti-Ware". Before I got my new computer I had a few infections that Spybot, Ad-Aware, etc. couldn't get rid of but Malwarebyte killed it no problem. Won't necessarily "swear" by it but it's one of the best freeware programs I've used (I believe you can pay for a more robust version but there is no real need if you use it for just virus scanning and the like).

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Did it detect things that SpyBot that couldn't detect, or just fix things SpyBot detected but couldn't fix? Damn thing froze on me again last night, and SpyBot found a few browser items, but nothing serious that would cause freezing. So looks like I'll be on the phone again tonight.

[kaitouace2750.livejournal.com]

It detected things that Spybot didn't. At least in that instance. I'd run Spybot and get rid of some things and reboot but the problems persisted. I ran Spybot again and again found some things and got rid of them. But it wasn't until I ran Malwarebytes that I found the "root" of the problem which stopped everything.

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll definitely have to download that and run it and see if it finds anything. I'm still not totally convinced this *isn't* a driver problem - the fact that it got so much better after reinstalling the driver seems telling to me. But I'm willing to cover my bases.

Re: I remember talking with Tom Brewer one time ...

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately not. Although reinstalling the driver did seem to make it last much longer before it froze again, it eventually did. So back on the phone to Dell tonight. I'm not saying it's *not* malware, but when the problem seems to be connected to a piece of hardware, I'd like someone who is at least willing to check other options before making me pay for a service that may or may not fix the problem. I seem to remember that Windows has an event log program - I'm going to suggest to the guy tonight that we at least check to see if any errors occurred right before freezing. You're right - it would be nice if the tech support guys didn't automatically assume we were all idiots.