I need computer help, Please

Al Braun · Post by **Al Braun** » 12 Oct 2004 8:50 am

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I need help. I installed SP2in my computer about 6 weeks ago. When I first loaded SP2, I couldn't even get my ISP, AT&T, (Cannot display this page"). I fiddled (no offense to...) with the security settings, got Google, ATT, and a few others. I still couldn't get Symantec nor Microsoft, no big deal. I lost my Norton AV because I couldn't get on the net to re-activate NAV after the 55 hour power loss with Frances or Ivan, also Jeanne. When I do get something on the net it takes several minutes to load. I just asked Google for 'motel is Madison Georgia' and it took 4 (four) minutes to tell me it had 2.5 million answers in .29 seconds. I scanned the first ten and asked for page 2, forget it. After waiting 4 minutes the progress bar was less than half way. I have installed McAfee AV and antiSpyWare, both running and tell me the machine is clean. It was not for awhile, over 800 spams, over 250 worms and virus' later, also as many adware and spyware infections, almost all .exe files, I had to reload XP.
I have: MS XP Pro, ver. 5.1.2600, Via Technologies Sys Model VT8363
Processor X86 family 6 Mod Stepping 1 Authentic AMD 1302 Mhz
Bios Award 6.00 PG, 4-25-2002 SMBIOS ver. 2.2 Total Phys Mem: 512 MB
c:\ 60 GB, d:\21 GB backup HD
I put SP2 in my wife's laptop a day or two later and STILL can't get anything on the net with hers and Norton keeps asking her to update every time she calls up a file, Symantec will eventually write her off like they did our desktop. Believe me, I need help.
Thanks in advance, Al

Chuck Halcomb · Post by **Chuck Halcomb** » 12 Oct 2004 1:22 pm

Check the settings on the firewall. If it is on, try turning it off and see if that helps the situation.

With SP2, the firewall might be on by default. If it turns out that is it, then later you may want to set some exceptions so it will work, but be on to give you protection from bad guys like the "Blaster" worm that was around a few months ago.

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Les Pierce · Post by **Les Pierce** » 14 Oct 2004 7:20 pm

Try turning "Windows Update" off. Maybe it's hogging your Internet connection? It appears to be a major part of the SP2 upgrade.

I liked the old "Windows Update" better, myself.

Les

Bill Bosler · Post by **Bill Bosler** » 15 Oct 2004 4:02 pm

Al - Go to your control panel and you'll see a "Security Settings" icon. Click on that and turn OFF all the crap you see listed there, especially the firewall. I suspect you're using a router with a built-in firmware firewall. Two firewalls in series will really screw up your system. Let the router do the firewall work.

Dave Potter · Post by **Dave Potter** » 23 Oct 2004 6:51 am

WinXP SP2 installed seamlessly and flawlessly on my system. It's not your problem.

Need specifics to be more helpful.

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 23 Oct 2004 8:02 am

Winsp2 installs on my computer , then hangs up half way and says "not responding". So I just gave up trying to install it. I Sent the Error report to Microsoft, nothing is changed yet.
You would think that with all Bill's Billions, and technology, they would have this all fixed......al

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Ron Page · Post by **Ron Page** » 25 Oct 2004 6:26 am

I've had no problem with SP2. I also run the built-in XP firewall with a router. To do that you may need to run the network connections wizard and let it know how things are setup. Disabling the firewall might be easier but you won't want to run without the router and without a firewall.

I've had good luck cleaning spyware using the latest downloads of the Ad-Aware and Spybot programs discussed here in an earlier thread.

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Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 25 Oct 2004 6:49 am

Al,

How long do you wait before you hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to see if it is "not responding". I installed SP2 on my brother-in-laws machine over the weekend and it was over 3 hours to install SP2. Just be patient and let it run. It is a HUGE package to download and install. On a lucky day I have seen the install take 1.5 hours. Also...one thing I don't like about the Microsoft task manager is that even though the task says "Not Responding", it still may actually be working on stuff. For example, I do a lot of database work in SQL Server. Some tasks take a LONG time to run on the Windows OS. If I hit the task manager the task actually says "not responding" but it is working just fine. Happens in MS Office applications a lot also.

Cheers!
Mark

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