Aunty Virus 15th March 2010
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Gwyn from Calpe asks:
Hi Aunty. I recently bought a new laptop from England and the salesman was persistent that I should buy the Norton 360 version 3.0 all in one security compatible with Windows 7. When I try to install it I am told that there is a trial version of McAfee pre installed which Norton will automatically uninstall. Everything goes well up to here with Norton installed and everything working keeping my computer protected. The problem is once I have switched the laptop off and switch it back on again a blue screen appears. It tells me that a new programme that has been installed isn't working. I then have to start it in safe mode then roll back to a previous date when it was working properly. Is this a cookie that has been embedded by McAfee that is stopping me loading Norton?
Aunty Says:
Its not a cookie as such Gwyn but two similar programs conflicting with Windows and causing serious problems. This is a really bad problem with new laptops these days as most of them come bundled with so much junk they can quite easily become unusable in a very short space of time. What I would do is go through ‘Control Panel’ ‘Programs and Features’ and uninstall everything McAfee and Norton/Symantec related. Then get yourself AVG9 free, Malwarebytes (free) and Superantispyware (free) and you should be fine.
Ian from Villa Martin asks:
Dear Aunty, you recently gave advice to a reader who wanted to record cassette tapes onto PC using Windows Sound Recorder, and the blue input on the PC. I have a laptop and have tried this using the microphone input on the computer (I have no blue input socket) and am receiving error messages "an audio recording device cannot be found" followed by "No audio devices are installed." The program does not appear to offer the option of selecting an input source. Do you have any suggestions?
Aunty Says:
Hello Ian. It sounds like either your sound card’s software drivers are missing or the device is disabled or faulty. Right click on ‘My Computer’ (or Computer in Vista and 7) and choose ‘properties’ and go to ‘Hardware’ ‘Device Manager’. If you see your sound device with a yellow exclamation mark you can right click and choose ‘update driver’. If your sound device is not listed you may have a more serious problem. Keep me posted.
Margery via email asks:
I do hope you can help. For some time now when I type anything on my laptop, which is here in Spain with me, everything I type becomes a jumble of words which I have to sort out as I go along. It is so frustrating and I don't know what to do as I use it every day.
Aunty Says:
It sounds like you may have a faulty keyboard Margery. Is there any pattern to the jumbled words and how they appear? Just one sticky key can cause all sorts of strange problems. Open a Word document and type each key and make a note of which ones work and don’t work and let me know.
June via email asks:
Dear Aunty, my problem is my security updates won't download, and each week I have more and more of them (up to 10 as I write).When I switch off the computer at night it is taking longer and longer to finish downloading them. It can be anything up to 30 minutes. I hope you can help me with this I have searched with my limited knowledge and have got nowhere.
Aunty Says:
Hi June. There are a lot of updates for XP, Vista and 7, and they can take a long time to download and install. If you are on ADSL it is just about bearable, but on a dialup connection it can be intolerably slow. You may find going to the www.microsoft.com/security/updates/ website and doing a manual update will give you a more accurate error message as to which particular update is causing a problem. You can view your Windows update history from Control Panel which may also give you a clue as to which ones are playing up.
Janet via email asks:
Hello Aunty, I read your article in the paper every week. I quite often get a DVD stuck in my CD drive and sometimes even if I restart windows I cannot get it out. It’s not always the same disc and the little light flashes when I press the eject button.
Aunty Virus Says:
Hello Janet. You can try and eject a stuck CD or DVD by either right clicking on the CD drive icon in ‘my computer’ and selecting ‘eject’ or you will find a very small hole on the front panel of the drive and by firmly pushing in a straightened out paper clip you can manually force open the door.
Hi Aunty. I recently bought a new laptop from England and the salesman was persistent that I should buy the Norton 360 version 3.0 all in one security compatible with Windows 7. When I try to install it I am told that there is a trial version of McAfee pre installed which Norton will automatically uninstall. Everything goes well up to here with Norton installed and everything working keeping my computer protected. The problem is once I have switched the laptop off and switch it back on again a blue screen appears. It tells me that a new programme that has been installed isn't working. I then have to start it in safe mode then roll back to a previous date when it was working properly. Is this a cookie that has been embedded by McAfee that is stopping me loading Norton?
Aunty Says:
Its not a cookie as such Gwyn but two similar programs conflicting with Windows and causing serious problems. This is a really bad problem with new laptops these days as most of them come bundled with so much junk they can quite easily become unusable in a very short space of time. What I would do is go through ‘Control Panel’ ‘Programs and Features’ and uninstall everything McAfee and Norton/Symantec related. Then get yourself AVG9 free, Malwarebytes (free) and Superantispyware (free) and you should be fine.
Ian from Villa Martin asks:
Dear Aunty, you recently gave advice to a reader who wanted to record cassette tapes onto PC using Windows Sound Recorder, and the blue input on the PC. I have a laptop and have tried this using the microphone input on the computer (I have no blue input socket) and am receiving error messages "an audio recording device cannot be found" followed by "No audio devices are installed." The program does not appear to offer the option of selecting an input source. Do you have any suggestions?
Aunty Says:
Hello Ian. It sounds like either your sound card’s software drivers are missing or the device is disabled or faulty. Right click on ‘My Computer’ (or Computer in Vista and 7) and choose ‘properties’ and go to ‘Hardware’ ‘Device Manager’. If you see your sound device with a yellow exclamation mark you can right click and choose ‘update driver’. If your sound device is not listed you may have a more serious problem. Keep me posted.
Margery via email asks:
I do hope you can help. For some time now when I type anything on my laptop, which is here in Spain with me, everything I type becomes a jumble of words which I have to sort out as I go along. It is so frustrating and I don't know what to do as I use it every day.
Aunty Says:
It sounds like you may have a faulty keyboard Margery. Is there any pattern to the jumbled words and how they appear? Just one sticky key can cause all sorts of strange problems. Open a Word document and type each key and make a note of which ones work and don’t work and let me know.
June via email asks:
Dear Aunty, my problem is my security updates won't download, and each week I have more and more of them (up to 10 as I write).When I switch off the computer at night it is taking longer and longer to finish downloading them. It can be anything up to 30 minutes. I hope you can help me with this I have searched with my limited knowledge and have got nowhere.
Aunty Says:
Hi June. There are a lot of updates for XP, Vista and 7, and they can take a long time to download and install. If you are on ADSL it is just about bearable, but on a dialup connection it can be intolerably slow. You may find going to the www.microsoft.com/security/updates/ website and doing a manual update will give you a more accurate error message as to which particular update is causing a problem. You can view your Windows update history from Control Panel which may also give you a clue as to which ones are playing up.
Janet via email asks:
Hello Aunty, I read your article in the paper every week. I quite often get a DVD stuck in my CD drive and sometimes even if I restart windows I cannot get it out. It’s not always the same disc and the little light flashes when I press the eject button.
Aunty Virus Says:
Hello Janet. You can try and eject a stuck CD or DVD by either right clicking on the CD drive icon in ‘my computer’ and selecting ‘eject’ or you will find a very small hole on the front panel of the drive and by firmly pushing in a straightened out paper clip you can manually force open the door.