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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: HEAVEN: Ancient Geek - the computer thread
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
OK - I need some help. I have a computer that's about 8 years old, running Windows XP SP2. I use Opera, occasionally resort to Firefox and rarely use IE.
What versions? Are you up-to-date on upgrades?
quote:
Some time on Sunday afternoon, connectivity suddenly dropped to a crawl, so that clicking on a link resulted in a page hanging indefinitely and not loading. I thought it might be an ISP problem, but I still have it this morning. A broadband speed checker tells me I have connectivity in the morning of up to 4Mbps, which is OK with me, in the evening, it drops to somewhere around 1.9-2. I might as well be on dial-up.
Oddly enough, occasionally, it's normal speed for a couple of minutes, then it goes back to hanging.
Sounds as if you have two different problems. It that speed-checker thing is true (which software are you using to do that?) then you have a network problem that is nothing to do with your PC. Possibly contention with other local users. NB the network performance the ISP says they give you is just a guideline as you will find if you look in the small print - in practice none of them offer a guaranteed bandwidth, and all of them make you share resources with other users.
If there is a repeated diurnal variation in performance that's a Big Clue that someone else is doign somethign on that network at that time. Business Internet use tends to peak in late mornings, domestic in early evenings when people get home from work or school. Repeated bad performance at those times is likely due to network contention.
quote:
Same day, I also tried to stop some unused programs loading at startup, because it takes so long to start up.
Which ones?
Its also worth looking at the Windows services and stopping ones that aren't needed - but that's useless advice if you don;t know which ones are needed. (After far too long doing this I usually do...)
quote:
Any suggestions? (Please don't suggest anything that takes ages to download.)
How much disk space have you? How much is free?
When things are bad open up the Task Manager and take a look at the Performance and Networking graphs. What do they look like? What numbers do the CPU use and Memory get up to?
You can use the "Processes" tab in Task Manager to finds out which process is using CPU, disk, or network resources. You need to get the "View/Select Columns" menu and turn on at least PID, CPU Usage, CPU Time, Memory Usage, Memory Usage Delta.... oh turn them all on. And select "Show processes from all users" from the bottom of the screen as well. Click on columns to sort by any value, and you can find which process is using most of any resource.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Thanks Ken!
I've run Spybot, which said I had some kind of spyware bookmarked on all three browsers (that was news to me), uninstalled a few programs (including sat nav, Sophos and Zone Alarm), transferred a GB or so of files off the pc, and speed is back to normal. Weird. Fingers crossed it stays like that.
I knew the speed was "up to" 6Mbps and that in practice it never actually achieves this great height, but it was unusually low for what it was. My ISP's pages have a broadband speed checker which was quite useful, though I have also used the Onspeed one as well.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
I'm thinking of buying one of those nifty-looking little netbooks later this year, mainly so I can sit in coffeeshops and surf the web on their wifi. Are there any typical pitfalls or machine foibles that I should look out for? I know I should try out the keyboard to make sure I'm okay with the size and layout of the keys, but is there anything else? Anyone here have one they love or hate?
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
I've never really been much interested in netbooks, because I've always assumed that they fill a niche of portability that doesn't really apply to me. For a student with a backpack full of texts and papers and so forth, a compact netbook makes sense. So too for someone travelling light. But since all the places I want to lounge and surf wifi are easily within range of how far I'm willing to haul my monster laptop (it's actually a CAD machine from work), I prefer its larger screen and full-size keyboard and longer battery life.
Maybe there's something I'm missing. What is it about netbooks that makes that class of device appealing? Or are they just the "in" thing, or is their very daintiness is what makes them appealing?
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
I think you've largely covered it - Netbooks generally appeal to people who need small, light and portable, and who don't need monster processing power. Plus, for some gadget bunnies, they have a possible "cute" factor (and are cheaper than a Mac, which is the other heavy 'form over function'* choice).
I have a few clients who use them for some of the wandering workers and almost without exception the reaction is exactly as predicted: they love it at first, and then they go slowly insane with a 10" widescreen ...
RuthW - I'd suggest having a look at the Thinkpad Edge, which is slightly larger (13"), but still very light and portable, and has a really good keyboard, and is well built.
If you definitely want a tiddler, then the Ideapad isn't bad (although Win 7 Starter), and the MSI Wind range seem to be able to handle modest abuse. The Asus EeePC is the one that kicked it all off; Asus are a weird brand at the moment - great apart from when they're not! Samsung NCx range people seem to love/hate in equal measure. Personally I would avoid the Acer Aspire One, because having flirted with Acer on and off for budget-struck clients over the years, I remain unconvinced of their build quality in general, although I know at least one content owner.
With the above, please bear in mind I tend to see this stuff in the context of business use, often being handled by people who aren't that careful because of the "I didn't pay for it" attitude, which makes me a bit snobby/precious about some stuff. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the stuff at the lower/home end of the market, but it won't be built to the same standards as stuff that costs that little bit more. As long as you have your eyes open, that's just a choice you can make.
*For the avoidance of doubt and to skip platform wars, I know Mac's function too, and as tools I like them as much as the next guy, but for most of the Mac users I know, one of the primary drivers in the purchasing decision was the image/looks/ergonomics and the marketing, not because of what it is as a computer.
[Edited for spelling and to minimise PCvsMac angst]
[ 19. March 2010, 08:19: Message edited by: Snags ]
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
Price is a deciding factor too. Netbooks are roughly $300. Most notebooks start around $450. Exceptions of course exist. I found a nice NEC 15" notebook at BestBuy back in November for $299 and saw some netbooks on black Friday for $199.
I have an Asus eeePC 901 9" model with WinXP. I like it for what I use it for, light web surfing. I like it as my second PC. I'd hate to have it as my only option.
I travel with it a few times a year. Easier to transport than a netbook and can pull up Google Maps just as well.
I'd buy one again.
I'm considering loading a Linux OS on it to experiment with.
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
Snags and monkeylizard: thanks for the advice. On Acer: we had a bunch of Acer desktops at my job a while back, and they were all crap. I may still be too scarred to consider Acer.
quote:
Originally posted by RooK:
What is it about netbooks that makes that class of device appealing?
To me? Price. Plus I don't think I need the monster laptop to surf the web.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
Any opinions on whether my hard drive might be gubbed?
I have an Acer Aspire 5630 laptop with Win XP which I have been happily using for internet, documents and spreadsheets, media streaming and online transactions since 2006. It's done ok, though I recently had to weed out large amounts of guff to make enough room to defrag. the main part of the hard drive.
It's now started to glitch. Everything stutters and glitches. It's most noticeable with video and audio. Even the Windows noises turn into a series of rapid clicks or tones. The mouse doesn't even run smoothly. Is this a terminal event? Should I try to fix it or just rescue my data and replace the machine?
Cattyish, computer numpty.
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
Plus I don't think I need the monster laptop to surf the web.
<blink><blink>
Next you're going to say that you don't need high-speed bandwidth or some crazy shit.
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
cattyish - could be loads of things :/
[ETA]
Before first make sure you have anything you care about backed up. Obviously we all keep meticulous backups, but just in case you aren't doing, I need to get that in up front ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
First: check the event logs. Right-click on My Computer, choose Manage, and expand the Event Viewer. Main interest are likely to be Application and System logs. What you don't want to see are lots of red circles. Info blobs ignore, warning triangle not too concerning usually. If you see a whole pile of red criticals with "disk" next to them, your hard drive is on the way out. But it could be plenty of other things too.
Second: check free disk space - if you've only got a tiny bit of space free that's not going to help
Third: close all apps and then clear out your temp directory (Start > Run, "%temp%", OK to get to it, then Ctrl+A and Shift+Del to clear it. There will probably be some files that won't go because they're in use. Switch view to Detail, sort by date, do Ctrl+A again, then hold Ctrl down whilst clicking on anything with the current data to de-select, the Shift+Del again)
Fourth: check your antivirus is up to date (and working). <start_war>If you're using McAfee swap it for something that works ![[Biased]](wink.gif) </start_war> And scan the machine. If you don't have AV (gasp) use an online scanner like Trend Housecall
Fifth: scan the machine with something like Malwarebytes or Spybot to pick up on bits the AV misses.
Sixth: Use Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to check how much RAM you've got, Total & Available (Performance tab, Physical Memory). If the answer's not a lot, use something like Microsoft's Startup utility (Start, Run "msconfig") to stop unnecessary guff running in the background (or SysInternals autoruns if you want to be horrified ![[Smile]](smile.gif) ).
Seventh: have a coffee and bung us some more info
[ 20. March 2010, 10:37: Message edited by: Snags ]
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
Or tea. People can also have tea. Especially while collecting info. In fact, while doing almost anything.
Carry on.
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
I'm not convinced. In fact, tea may be the problem.
As any fule kno, computers (and all electronics) run on smoke*. Also as any fule kno, computers are generally most respectful and subservient to people who run on caffeine** and pizza, and shun bright light.
So cattyish's best option might be to fire up the coffee machine, stock up on Jolt, close the curtains and phone for take-away.
*You can tell this, because when the smoke gets out, they stop working.
**OK, I know there's more caffeine in tea, but it just doesn't work the same. Plus tea tastes like week-old vomit
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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AdamPater
Sacristan of the LavaLamp
# 4431
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
I'm thinking of buying one of those nifty-looking little netbooks later this year, mainly so I can sit in coffeeshops and surf the web on their wifi....
I bought an Asus Eeepc around May last year. I'm very happy with it, with no complaints.
I have a Dell 15.4" laptop that now mostly serves as the requisite Windows machine for stuff that Paters-Minor and -Major want to do. I'd probably not by it again: it's large and heavy enough to be one more bag to lug around, and forget about trying to open it while flying economy class. By contrast, the 10" Asus thing feels genuinely portable and useful. It's the size and weight of a largish book and fit's quite happily as just one more thing in the bag. And it kept me amused for most of a Perth-Brisbane trans-Australia flight last year. Very definitely cattle-class-friendly. Genuine 7-8 hours battery life.
But I think it is definitely an accessory, albeit very handy. I'd never choose it to replace the real main box at home or work.
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Put not your trust in princes.
Posts: 4894 | From: On the left of the big pink bit. | Registered: Apr 2003
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
We, or rather I, lugged a full size laptop round SE Asia last year and it got heavy! We have since bought a little MSI notebook that is great for lots of things and weighs just over a kilo. Loads of features, too.
- - - -
Now a question:
I have just tried to install Freenet but my Kaspersky didn't like it. Is there a way around this? I don't know why I want Freenet but it seemed like a good idea to see what is available over there.
Can I run Freenet in Kaspersky's Sandbox? How do I do it if it doesn't like me installing it in the first place?
Any help appreciated - I am not particularly techno-savvy so keeping it SIMPLE would help - my brain is small and old and feeble.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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The Revolutionist
Shipmate
# 4578
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Posted
I love my little netbook - it's so handy for writing my novel on while out and about, and for web and email and so on. Most things I use the computer for I can do on my netbook without a problem.
I've got an Acer Aspire One with a 8.9" screen, but I happen to have very good eyesight and fairly small fingers, so I don't have any problem reading it. The touchpad and small keyboard took a little bit of getting used to, but I quickly adjusted.
The small screen is only a problem if I want to do something like designing posters or the like, or if a particular webpage or application has an interface that doesn't fit into the 1024x600 display properly. I wouldn't want to rely solely on a netbook, but I use it much more than my desktop now.
3D graphics are something else it doesn't handle very well - Google Earth chugs along, usable but not very slick. It can just about manage HD video at 720p depending on the codec and video player, though not in Flash. HD video on YouTube on my netbook would be nice but isn't a big priority for me.
So for me it's most of the functionality I need for a computer, as easy to carry around as a hardback book, for only around £200. Netbooks don't suit everyone, but mine is perfect for my needs.
Posts: 1296 | From: London | Registered: May 2003
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RooK:
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
Plus I don't think I need the monster laptop to surf the web.
<blink><blink>
Next you're going to say that you don't need high-speed bandwidth or some crazy shit.
Next you're going to say that you you miss the brick sized mobile phones.
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
I seem to have lost the Volume icon off the taskbar on my laptop. Can anyone tell me how I can get it back?
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
<<Assuming windows XP, probably close enough for Vista/Win7>>
Start...Control Panel...Sound and Audio Devices
On the first tab, there's a check box for "Place volume icon in the taskbar"
[ 01. April 2010, 14:31: Message edited by: monkeylizard ]
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
Next you're going to say that you you miss the brick sized mobile phones.
The salient part is that when it comes to screens, I like them bigger and higher-resolution generally speaking. Likewise, I prefer a standard-sized keyboard. Hence, I prefer larger screens and full-sized keyboards on laptops (though, I wouldn't mind if they were super-light and thin in dimensions perpendicular to what I care about, as long as they're not fragile).
And, in point of fact, my iPhone is pleasantly larger than my old Razr was.
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by monkeylizard:
<<Assuming windows XP, probably close enough for Vista/Win7>>
Start...Control Panel...Sound and Audio Devices
On the first tab, there's a check box for "Place volume icon in the taskbar"
That works with my desktop pc which is XP, but the laptop is Vista and that is very different! Still flummoxed.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leetle Masha:
Sparrow, have you tried this on your Vista computer?
That's done it, thanks a lot!
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Leetle Masha
Cantankerous Anchoress
# 8209
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Posted
Oh, that makes me very happy, Sparrow! May your Easter be full of joy and trouble-free computing!
Mary
Posts: 6351 | From: Hesychia, in Hyperdulia | Registered: Aug 2004
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
Fixed! Thank you all. I discovered that I don't have to shut myself away from the real world in order to fix a computer, just find a Priest of the Pizza-Eating sect of the Ancient Geeks to do it for me. Mr C was around for a few minutes last week so he reinstalled everything.
As far as netbooks are concerned, I have one for creative writing in cafes. It's an Acer thingy and it works fine for me, though Mr C hates them.
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leetle Masha:
Oh, that makes me very happy, Sparrow! May your Easter be full of joy and trouble-free computing!
Mary
Yes indeed, it meant I was able to listen to Stainer's Crucifixion followed by Allegri's Miserere, on my laptop in bed on Friday night!
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Leetle Masha
Cantankerous Anchoress
# 8209
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Posted
Sparrow, that makes my Easter Day!
I discovered, by the way, in reading the comboxes on that link, that the initial solution did not work for everyone, but there were Ancient Geeks on that website who devised, several pages down in the comboxes, some alternate solutions that helped the folks that the first solution didn't work for.
I should have given proper credit to dear old Google--I typed the question "How to restore speaker-volume icon to taskbar" in the Google box, and that website appeared. The miracle was that the solution it gave worked for you, as I don't have Vista--I have XP!
God works in His mysterious ways, even on computers at Easter-time!
Mary
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eleison me, tin amartolin: have mercy on me, the sinner
Posts: 6351 | From: Hesychia, in Hyperdulia | Registered: Aug 2004
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Vista question here - yes I know, church offices get foisted with the dross and have to make it work.
Acer laptop installed with Vista has .NET framework errors when we got to it, showing as errors on the registry with CCleaner - we were checking after removing the Acer Bloatware. These errors prevented the creation of the Vista set up disks in factory settings.*
We've set it up with passworded user accounts and an admin account - which was all fine and good until we went to put the admin password in properly - and have managed to scramble it so we can't get back in. Has anyone got any bright ideas?
So far we've tried Trinity Rescue kit as live boot CD to set up a virtual machine and NT-Password registry editor as a live boot CD, neither of which will load. What we need to know is how to set the CD to load first.
This is all compounded by people refusing to spend any money. Amazingly we've managed to set this up legally with freeware or legal paid software, but it's been a bit of battle to get this far.
Two things to try and fix - the .NET framework - any ideas and solving the password problem.
* No, the person who purportedly set this laptop up hadn't done taken a copy of the factory settings. Two possible reasons, it was already in problems hence why we've got it, or their knowledge isn't as good as they think it is, either likely.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Curiosity does this page help. It appears you need to change the bios. It is a long time since I looked at a computer bios but they seem to give pretty good instructions.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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lilBuddha
Shipmate
# 14333
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Posted
You likely need to access your bios in order to change the boot sequence.
Try this.
* You can make use of the DEL or F2 keys after switching on your system.
As for reseting the password after you are able to boot from CD, this page may help.
(x-posted with Jengie. Drat this slow network!)
[ 08. April 2010, 18:06: Message edited by: lilBuddha ]
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I put on my rockin' shoes in the morning
Hallellou, hallellou
Posts: 17627 | From: the round earth's imagined corners | Registered: Dec 2008
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Yep, exactly that - administrator password now up and functioning, thank you both. You were beaten by the other place we asked, and the Trinity Rescue Kit did the trick.
Any ideas on the .NET framework?
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Not on this one we can't, not without the orginal factory setting disks, which we can't download with these problems on it. Bless the dear soul who set this one up originally. I suspect that he's either dumped the office with the laptop (he bought two, we got the one surplus to requirements) in problems when he bought it, or he's done something that's caused the problems.
I would be less irritated if he'd actually set the thing up to function, but users without passwords, all the bloatware left on the computer, no Windows (2007) software to operate the computer, no firewalls, meant what he did was worse than useless. And it's taken 6 months for him to not do this much.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
What errors are you actually getting? All the Net Framework bits should be available as straight downloads, so if the Framework's borked, you should be able to remove that, clean up, and reinstall, then create your recovery CDs.
In theory, of course ![[Paranoid]](graemlins/paranoid.gif)
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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Curious Kitten
Shipmate
# 11953
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Posted
When I tried to make the recovery disks .NET framework threw illegal operation errors and in the registry it has lots of missing reference entries.
Posts: 107 | Registered: Oct 2006
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Wesley J
Silly Shipmate
# 6075
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
[...] the Trinity Rescue Kit did the trick. [...]
And I see you've got a Rescue Kitten there as well. I hope all'll be ok in the end and neat with the .NET! - Good luck!
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Be it as it may: Wesley J will stay. --- Euthanasia, that sounds good. An alpine neutral neighbourhood. Then back to Britain, all dressed in wood. Things were gonna get worse. (John Cooper Clarke)
Posts: 7354 | From: The Isles of Silly | Registered: May 2004
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curious Kitten:
When I tried to make the recovery disks .NET framework threw illegal operation errors and in the registry it has lots of missing reference entries.
What Snags said. If you have admin access to the PC you should be able to at least try to uninstall the various .Net packages through 'remove programs' in Control Panel. Then get the 3.5 redistributable package from here (Microsoft link), which should[1] sort through your hardware options and install the appropriate version.
Neither of these actions should[1] affect any software that uses .Net; if it's not installed correctly they aren't going to work anyway!
Good luck.
[1] Note the use of 'should'; usual disclaimers about melting PCs, etc. apply.
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Is this any use? Do you have e-recovery on the machine? If so it should take you back to factory settings.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
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Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
Ooops. I linked to the Compact Framework by mistake. ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
This is the correct version.
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Spouse:
Ooops. I linked to the Compact Framework by mistake.
This is the correct version.
Mr. Spouse, did you mean to post that particular link? It comes up with a "Save file" message, and no other info.
[fix wrong words]
[ 09. April 2010, 14:46: Message edited by: jedijudy ]
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
Not doing very well am I? The page link is
.Net Framework 3.5
which has the general setup download. All that file does is download other files. Near the bottom of that page is the redistributable version, which is a smaller download. I linked to the direct file (dotnetfx35.exe) as there is no holding page.
So, yes, the link I posted was OK but I should have got there the long way round...
[ 09. April 2010, 16:09: Message edited by: Mr. Spouse ]
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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Curious Kitten
Shipmate
# 11953
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Posted
The errors are missing shared DLL's for 1.0.3705 which shipped as an integral part of Vista so isn't part of the add/remove programs list.
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Happiness is not having what we want but wanting what we have.
Posts: 107 | Registered: Oct 2006
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Ok
Done some googling. That looks like a net framework but it superceded and you should be able to install the new net.framework without having to bother with the original.
As the dates for queries on this software are 2002/3 era may I ask "What the heck is it doing on a 'new' Vista machine?"
Therefore I am not surprised shared .dlls are missing they probably aren't part of Vista. This is Microsoft you are dealing with. Backwards compatibility isn't exactly their strong point.
Might I suggest you follow Mr Spouses link and install a more modern version. Alternatively this may be helpful.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
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Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Forgot to add:
But the bad news seems to be you will need to uninstall before you can try that and that isn't simple so here is a page on how to. I must admit I would want to print these out and think about it before I did anything.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
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Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Curious Kitten
Shipmate
# 11953
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Posted
Thank you for the suggestion. The problem is that 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 ship as an integral part of the vista operating system. I'd already found the link to the microsoft uninstall, but on Vista it's not always sucessful, particularly on Vista and 7 where .NET frameworks are integral and I was hoping there was another option.
Posts: 107 | Registered: Oct 2006
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Are you sure about that, it is easy to find a page that says Net.framework 1.0 does not come as part of Vista or Windows 7?
Please check the post above.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
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Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Feeling guilty so I will take this more slowly.
Windows Vista does not need Net.Framework 1 to run, it really doesn't. It is only if you have software that is dependent on it that it needs it.
Microsoft are no longer selling Vista with Net.Framework 1 automatically installed.
So if you need it to run software you are going to have to install it. The good news is the faulty installation is not even of the most uptodate version of Net.Framework 1 (that is 1.1). As this is an update, hopefully you can install over the top without uninstalling. However before I go any further READ THIS THOROUGHLY.
What ever you do don't try installing Net.Framework 1.1 before you have read that as it Wont work. That gives you the work around but you will need to read to the end to get it.
If that doesn't work and you still need to remove net.framework then from my link above I have copied the instructions not using the cleaner.
quote:
The following steps remove the .NET Framework 1.0.3705 a To do this, follow these steps: a. Click Start, and then click Run.
b. Type Installer, and then click OK.
c. On the View menu select Details
d. Right-click the Date Modified column header.
e. Click Comments
f. In the Comments column, locate the cached Windows Installer file that displays Microsoft .NET Framework (English) RTL x86 enu.
g. Right-click the cached Windows Installer file, and then click Uninstall.
h. Close the window.
2. Manually remove the files and the folders from the computer. To do this, follow these steps: a. Click Start, and then click Run.
b. Type System32, and then click OK.
c. Locate and then delete the Mscoree.dll file.
Warning Do not delete the Mscoree.dll file on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
d. Close the window.
e. Click Start, and then click Run.
f. Type Microsoft.NET, and then click OK.
g. Double-click the Framework folder.
h. Delete the v1.0.3705 folder.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
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Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Jengie, we are aware of that route. There are a couple of problems with it: it does not work consistently, and secondly it will do nothing to resolve the registry errors which are causing the worst problems. If it doesn't work it could cause a lot more problems.
This laptop was a sparkling deal - sold off to make space for Windows 7 machines, I would suspect and kindly gifted to the church. It really did come with .NET framework 1.0, and we would guess that it's a few years old. One of updates that it has tried to download is Service Pack 1. The updates are not entirely successful in downloading.
The problem is, there's no way of returning this and organising something else, we've just got to make it work. We are trying to pick up the pieces from a disastrous previous attempt, so no way of returning it if it was shipped with errors. And it's the only working computer that's going to connect to the internet and so the registered e-mail account. We cannot do anything risky that might mean no machine. This office has had no working computer* for six months, and this is the first of the computer problems to get even semi-sorted. And that's because I've got so fed up that we just went in and fixed it as far as we can, so that at least there is some computer capability there.
* They were using a Windows 98 machine with 64MB RAM, and funnily enough not connected to the internet.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
We've set it up with passworded user accounts and an admin account - which was all fine and good until we went to put the admin password in properly - and have managed to scramble it so we can't get back in. Has anyone got any bright ideas?
Still thinking about the .Net problem! I've used this tool in the past to reset XP admininstrator passwords. Essentially, it creates a boot disk which grabs the encrypted password from the registry then writes back one of your choice. (As usual, your risk, etc. etc. ![[Cool]](cool.gif) )
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
CK - have you tried calling Acer and asking for a set of recovery disks? Sometimes if you sound pathetic enough they'll ship you some (possibly for a small fee).
Alternatively, if you want to send me full serial number, model number, blah blah details, I'm happy to give it a whirl (we're an Acer Silver Partner, by accident - I don't really like their laptops, but we have one client who's too mean to shell for Thinkpads for everyone).
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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