plumtreeblossom | URGENT: Computer Help Needed

I am praying there is somebody with some technical skill who could come over and help me reverse some critical damage from a bad download. I will repay you somehow.

First, I'm typing this from my office computer (desktop) because I think I have destroyed my online access on my home computer (desktop) and I can not fix it myself. Everything I do makes it worse.

What happened: Yesterday I turned on IM (which I haven't done since I got it) and accidentally left it on all day. Meanwhile, apparently ten million fucking spywares and malwares came flooding in. Ad-Aware and SpyBot couldn't get some of them. I then realized that my firewall was expired, and attempted to download and install a Sygate firewall. That's when the emergency problem started.

The Sygate firewall apparently didn't install properly. It is now blocking ALL online access from FireFox and IE (those are my only two browsers). I can not get online (I have Earthlink high speed).

OK, now I'm crying. This is so fucking bad.

Also the system won't let me uninstall/delete the firewall, says it's "in use" though I don't know by whom. I'm not a technical person at ALL, I don't know jack about my system but I'm online constantly. I am literally begging anyone with tech skills if you could come over tonight and help me. I will work around your schedule. I will repay you, even cash if you need it. But I can't figure this one out myself and I don't know what to do. I'm absolutely desperate right now.

I obviously won't have online access after 5:00 PM when I leave work, so my cell is six-one-seven seven-two-one one-one-seven-three if you try to reach me after that. Thank you to anyone who can help me.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What operating system are you using? If it's XP, you may be able to do a system restore, taking you back to before the firewall install. Depends on how your machine was set up, but sometimes it works. If you are using XP, System Restore can be found under Start-All Programs-Accessories-System Tools.

I'm using XP. I just don't know anything about it. I have the computer for online and MSOffice and that's it, though I use those constantly. I don't know what I'm going to do.

Well, give the System Restore a shot. Basically, you go into it, and it lets you reset the system settings to a previous period in time. If you do a restore to back before things went bad, it can clear the problem up quickly. It's a pretty easy tool to use. It doesn't get rid of user created files, so you don't have to worry about losing anything that you have written or otherwise created.

If using earlier versions of Doze I tend to boot in safe mode, and uninstall, or better still, boot to Dos, save all important files to disk, then fdisk and reload the OS.

I don't think I can do that myself. I really don't know anything about the tech end.

this sounds like your best bet. even if the system restore works, i find with windows boxes, it's really good to reinstall the OS every now and again. tends to delete some of the useless crap.

i would even be able to help you with all this.

1.) do you still have your windows disk?
1a.) even if you don't have it, don't panic. really, don't worry - everything is going to be fine.
1b.) how would you feel about converting to a user-friendly version of linux? there would still be a learning curve, but you have less to worry about regarding spyware, etc.
2.) how much stuff do you have stored on your computer that you care about?
2a.) if it's a lot, and you really don't want to lose it, think about buying a jumpdrive for the future. i have a lexar jumpdrive which i *love*.

I'd like to know about any "User friendly versions of *Nix myself, any suggestions? My (Bought *grrr) copy of Macmillan *nix came with everything needed to totaly balls up the partition on my HDD, but I found I had to put a different drive in my machine to get Doze *Bigger Grrrr, back up and running to get back online to download a *nix friendly copy of Fdisk as Mr Gates version does not play nice with Nix partitioned drives.

yeah, if you want to partition, you have to do the doze partition first. most *nixen are designed to play nicely, but you're right, trying to do it the other way is nigh impossible.

you *bought* linux? silly boy. :)

as for user-friendliness: i find it's much more a function of the window manager than the OS itself. it seems that most people get along okay with gnome and/or kde, these days, and i've heard fabulous things about ubuntu. also, now that we have apt-get, through fedora or debian, installing new packages is not the holy terror it used to be. in all honesty, i'd have to shop around some, as user-friendliness is not really an issue for me, seeing as i've been using *nix for 6 years now.

LMAO hmm, now I'm lost. My problem is I was real happy Many moons back, when my only experience of Gnome was hooking up to Loughborough University computers and "Gnome at home" This was pre-internet as we know it, and phone calls were 10p per minute, and with that little erm "indiscrepency," and a couple of others I ended up being banned from school comps.

I returned to them 15 years later, Doze practicaly installs itself, so Guess what I ended up putting on my first PC build.

you *bought* linux? silly boy.

Yeah, but look at it this way, at the time I had only 1 machine, and that only had a couple of HDD's less than one GB a piece, and I was hoping at the time to retain the info on them, (How wrong was I? lol)

Thank you so much Maitland. Here are my answers:

1.) do you still have your windows disk?

I imagine so. I haven't had call to use it since I got the computer. I can look for it.

1a.) even if you don't have it, don't panic. really, don't worry - everything is going to be fine.

Trying hard to believe you. The only message I got from my e-mail plea was "it's toast." Broke down crying again from that.

1b.) how would you feel about converting to a user-friendly version of linux? there would still be a learning curve, but you have less to worry about regarding spyware, etc.

I think I'd be more comfortable with Windows. The spyware is my fault for letting the firewall expire,

2.) how much stuff do you have stored on your computer that you care about?

Not very much. Just some word docs that can be saved to disk. Everything else I don't care about or can replace.

2a.) if it's a lot, and you really don't want to lose it, think about buying a jumpdrive for the future. i have a lexar jumpdrive which i *love*.

I'll buy anything I'm told so long as I can get it fixed (and if I can afford it). I just don't know what I need, what is wrong, or WTF un general.

well, a jumpdrive won't fix your computer, but it will ensure that you have a backup of stuff you want to keep, should you end up having to reinstall your OS again.

here's the one i have:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000117DF8/qid=1115140897/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-4718611-5996019?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846

it's a bit expensive, but, to have a backup of everything important, i find it to be totally worth it.

anyway, take a look around for that disk and give me a call. if you can't find it, i'll see if i can dig something up. 617-372-0924

Installs of Doze are generaly pretty self explanitory, the Fdisking, and formatting I'd seek some assistance on though, maybe download and print out help at work and read through. I've had to teach myself these things as I simply cannot afford to take my machine to the shop where the trainee will do the work, and the boss will charge me ?15 just to look at the damned thing, then an hourly rate for an "expert."

So long as you are sure you have all the instalation disks for all hardware drivers and all your software on disk, It's all pretty easy to follw, I'm sure you have installed software from online sources, installing the OS is pretty much the same.

I don't exactly know what I have. Once it was set up, I haven't needed to do anything to it, until now.

Well, this did get fixed, courtesy of

espressojim. News at eleven (AM). I'm toast from being in panic mode all day.

URGENT: Computer Help Needed

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