downloading from the internet
 

So I got a new computer yesterday. It came pre-installed with mcafee security center, or something, along with mcafee's firewall and virus scanner. Almost immediately, mcafee firewall mentioned that some program was trying to access the internet. I believe the exe file said something about ati command line, I'm fairly certain at least that "command" was part of the file name. Anyway, I told it no.

Then I tried connecting to the internet. I failed. I decided the firewall had something to do with that. I tried uninstalling mcafee, and couldn't, because it said a virus scanner was running. Ultimately, what I wound up doing was restarting in safe mode in order to completely uninstall it. After that, I was able to at least install things like trillian, skype, and winrar.

Today, I get home, turn on the computer, and try to read gmail. I get as far as logging in, then my inbox refuses to load. I seem to be permanently stuck at the loading screen. I sign onto trillian, I discover that my connection is terribly unstable, and I'm bouncing on and offline like crazy. I try to get to gamingforce; I get as far logging, and get stuck at the redirect screen. I continue trying to get to gmail through all of this. Eventually I succeed, the inbox loads, and I am able to access the particular email I wanted, ie. a yousendit link. I discover that in attempting to download the file through yousendit, that I can't.

What happens is the download window opens, I get maybe 100-200 kb. Then nothing changes after that. These are the symptoms.

I've turned off the windows firewall. I've gone into the properties for the wireless and set them to match the properties on THIS computer, which has successfully done all of the things that failed above. I'm not sure what do to do about this. Apparently Dell technical support won't cover this issue without me first paying 99 dollars for it.

I imagine that there is a common thread between all of these issues, as I can otherwise use google to search up sites and look at them. Does anyone have any ideas? Any help would be appreciated. Also, what other information might you need in order to resolve this issue? Thank you.

If you can reinstall the firewall program, I'd make that my first step.

Have you downloaded all of the security patches from Microsoft? There's a possibility you got hit by some old worm or something that's screwing around with your computer. If you can get ahold of some spyware scanner that might be a good thing to do, too.

He runs Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 btw.

Getting rid of mcafee and XP's firewall were the first good steps, now though you should get free programs like AVG and Zone Alarm to protect yourself.

Once both are installed, and Zone Alarm is configured so you access the internet with the programs you like, maybe you can do a common port scan at Shieldsup:

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

You can try to scan your PC for viruses with AVG now. Also scan for spywares with Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware.

Once you're secured, run a windows update. Make sure you get all the critical ones.

Re-run all security tests, just in case.

Hope all goes well ~

I suggest backing up your stuff and software, formatting and reinstalling the OS from scratch. Most preinstalled environments on new computers are messed up in one way or another.

That's what I would have said too, but I thought she could try to fix things a bit first, if she's not familiar with reinstalling from scratch.=/

Dell doesn't give clients the Windows XP CD, so while he has a key for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, he doesn't have a disc with which to install it. Lame.

It's not like a copy of Windows XP is hard to come by these days ...

Right, because he'll be able to download it how? He's having problems getting his internet to work.

I agree. That is pretty lame. But can you call Dell and ask for a CD?

I wouldn't be suprised if Dell charged up the ass for a CD that should've came with the computer. AT LEAST a Ghost of the OS should've came with it.

They sent a piece of cardboard shaped like a disc on which was written something along the lines of "you don't need a disc for this computer, please use system restore if there are any problems"

However, the IT guys at work kind of like me because I pay their wages on time, and they offered to take a look at it tomorrow. Hopefully they can tell me what to do.

As it is now, I can't actually get anything on the computer, like AVG or a spyware program, because I can't actually download anything. I even went back to mcafee's website to try and reinstall their stuff, but it was a total failure, absolutely nothing happened when I clicked the download links.

Wow. Looks like you have a really big software issue.

Yep, I would suggest reinstalling the OS if you get the chance to.

Would this also occur because of a conflict error? Because that just happened today while I was playing a dvd. I looked away for a minute, and when I came back, it was like this. =( Should I still go through with a format/reinstall or is this now a hardware issue?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../ickystuff.jpg

Hmmm...couple of links on your stop error there:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/kbestop.php
Explains the stop error itself. From what I can tell, there's an update to fix that. Might wanna start searching M$'s website about that. You can open Event Viewer (start>right click on My Computer>Manage>Event Viewer>System tab) and see if it comes up there.

http://www.file.net/process/tfsnifs.sys.html
explains the system driver that's in the stop error. Apparently it happens in Dell systems pertaining to the DVD drive. Scroll down and see user comments. You're in a heep of trouble. =/

haha, I like how this thread destroys basically all the Dell adverts I've seen on TV in the last 6 months. ^_^

*out of the box ~> BLUESCREEN ~> cant reinstall*

So yeah, get a XP install CD from a friend, format your HD and do a clean install. It's no help struggling to the point it is now.

So I really don't do this kind of shit a lot, but Radez, I can tell you that if you call Dell with your SN on your tower, they WILL send you a CD with everything that came on your computer - including drivers and shit. (And all the other shit that came on it too. "Recovery CD" I think its called)

I've had to to that before few a laptop or two here (assholes NEVER send a disc), and I can sympathize.

And Dell loads their new PCs with a bunch of bullshit. It'd probably best best to do a clean install, but without a disc, unless you want to pull some illegal shit, it won't be easy.

I am sorry for posting in here - I am not a computing expert, but I figured I should let him know that he CAN get the disc from Dell. (They may charge you $12 or so for shipping, max)

That's very true. However, I'm under the impression that all it can do is to restore the system to the state in which it was shipped. It can't perform a clean installation of Windows, as far as I know.

You're dead right, but I certainly didn't think these recovery CDs were capable of a clean install. Are you sure that they are?

I'm not criticizing your advice, but I thought you needed an original Windows CD to do a clean install, whereas the recovey CD was some crap cooked up by Dell, with all their shitty pre-installed bullshit on it.

I've had a Dell in the past, and the "Recovery CD" is nothing more than a Ghost image of XP preloaded with LOTS of shit you don't need/want, including, but not limited to AOL "trial" (:tpg: ), Norton (SOOPER :tpg: ). Inevitably, the Ghost'll land you in the same position you are. If your key is XP Pro SP2, grab a copy from your friend, put in your key when prompted--BAM!!! XP Pro sans bullshit.

anybody want to send me a copy of xp 2005 media? <.<;

This sounds like a nasty situation you've stepped into and it sounds like it'll only lead to worse...

Companies like Dell, HP, and others purchase special OEM licenses from Microsoft so that they can distribute more easily. While these particular licenses are cost effective for the larger companies, they make it rough for the consumer who often only gets a crappy restore CD loaded with junkware.

Getting a copy of Win XP Media Center can lead to potential license issues unfortunately.

See here for more details: http://www.aviransplace.com/index.ph...ct-activation/


In a nutshell, using your COA key with a generic OEM or Retail copy of XP Media Center potentially could lead to you making a phone call come authentication time.

Personally I think you are suffering from a hardware issue if this system totally wasn't working even somewhat correctly right out of box. If I were in your situation, I'd see about returning the machine to Dell and talk to some of your IT people about getting you something built by one of them instead... or get a custom built machine from a company who backs the whole box with a one-year warranty and get an OEM license of XP for it.

Either way, if the machine is still under warranty, I'd still pursue the RMA route which often you'll find the vendor will troubleshoot because the last thing they want is for you to return the machine.

It's a restore to factory defaults, I believe. Its as clean as it was when it came, yes. Which isn't CLEAN per my standards, but it'll get you back to default factory setting, I assume.

Of course, I'm not an expert. So theres that.

Maybe I'm not using the term "clean install" phrase properly. If he wants to wipe it without having to purchase a new license, then this is probably a good place to start, no? I mean, hell. I would want to just get a "clean" OS going without the Norton/McAfee, AOL Trial, pre-loaded CRAP, but hey.

The only benefit I really see with a recovery set is, you know, having everything suited to the SN of the tower and it's components and it's drivers matching up.

I guess it really depends. Again, "clean install" was likely misused in terminology. APOLOGIES.

If he is timid about doing a "clean install" (which some people are, GFFers included) and wants to just restore to factory defaults, its worth a shot. It's nearly free.

But yea - it's likely hardware.

Speaking of hardware failure - Radez, we just got a new Dell in our office and a stick of RAM went in less than 20 operating hours of use. So yea. DELL. ;_;

Ok, so a clean install to an old version of winxp home didn't work. I've noticed that when viewing the actual wireless connection, packets received is much higher than packets sent. In this case they stand around 22000 sent and 44000 received. What does it mean when packets sent is so much lower. That means I'm not talking to the internet right? What can I do to increase packets sent? Perhaps the problem is that my computer is not providing the appropriate responses to gmail and other places.

Almost always, providers will have slower upload speeds compared to downloads. The reason for this is because most people don't really need to host anything with their internet connection.

HP and Dell partition the hard drive and put the copy of the OS in the smaller drive. All either will tell you is use system restore, which is actually great because you don't need to be wondering where the bloody disk is and it keeps the cd key on file so you don't need to re-enter it.