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08 Sep 01 - 10:35 PM (#545439) Subject: Evil Computer From: GUEST My computer has been acting strangely lately and I was wondering if any of the fine folks here be able to help me. A couple weeks ago I started receiving lots of "this program has performed and illegal action and has been shut down" messages that, upon clicking "ok" will reset my desktop, removing several icons from my start-up tray. Recently it has been getting worse, where two of these messages will pop up simultaneosly. When I click "ok" on both of them, it obviously closes down Explorer, since it will neither show it as running in my program manager, or allow me to click on anything. It's not locked up, since certain windows will pop up if you use the proper keyboard shortcuts. I use the combination of Ctrl-Alt-Delete to close out annoying pop-ups, and it seems that the double illegal function windows always follow this. I have been using this particular keyboard shortcut for a while now, and has cause me not problems till now. Another problem that has reared it's ugly head of late has to do with my internet connection itself. At times I will be surfing (often on Mudcar) and when I refresh, none of the pictures on the site show up, only empty boxes with little red x's in the corner. If you hit refresh again, it tells me that the page cannot be connected to. I try connecting to other sites but I get error messages on those to. My connection info says I'm connected, but is not sending or receiving any information. If I disconnect and try to reconnect, it does it fine, but once connected, it will refuse to open any webpage. I have tried sometimes as long as 2 hours to get ANY page to open, all in vain. YET, when I shut down the computer and restart, and connect, pages open fine. But I always have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that it will stop receiving again. And I am usually right. The fact that upon restarting the computer, everything works as it should again leads me to believe it is not a problem with my ISP's server, since, when hooked up to my ISP's other server in a different town (with different dial-up numbers), it happened there too. Is this just too mysterious? Can anyone help? Or am I doomed to be a prisoner of my evil computer?
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08 Sep 01 - 10:36 PM (#545440) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST I guess it might have been helpful to note I am using Windows 98, with IE 4.0. |
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08 Sep 01 - 10:43 PM (#545441) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: wysiwyg See Sir Cam thread... is that it? ~S~ |
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08 Sep 01 - 10:56 PM (#545446) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST I'm pretty sure it's not...the files that the site says indicate you have that virus are not on my system. Plus, my email works fine, no thousand of messages. Also, I run my virus scanner (Norton's 2001) twice a week and have not picked up anything. |
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08 Sep 01 - 10:59 PM (#545450) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: wysiwyg Have you downloaded Norton's updates regularly as well? You may get better advice over in the Mudcat Help Forum-- link in the banner, top of page. ~Susan |
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08 Sep 01 - 11:03 PM (#545452) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST Do you dump your temporary Internet files? (you should, they can build up a suck up lots of memory) And your temp program files in your Windows Temp folder on C drive ?? If you find any files that say the size is 0k get rid of them. I work on a PC at work, have a Mac at home. Nick |
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08 Sep 01 - 11:14 PM (#545456) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Justa Picker What new programs have you possibly either downloaded and installed in the past week? Have you attempted to update any drivers (either video or sound card ones?) Think about this. (Also, anyone else been messing with your computer in the last little while other than you?) If everything was working fine before, then suddenly you're getting blue screens of death, or the type of problems you've described, could be because of something that's overwritten a DLL file, or a bad driver. You could also try going into System Tools, and seeing if you can restore your registry (registry must have become corrupted), or have Windows check for corrupted files and replace those as required. (You'll need your Windows CD for this.) Sadly, if all else fails, try and back up what you can, and reforat the h.d. and reinstall clean, from scratch. Pain in the ass, but sometimes the only way to restore things to a clean bill of health. |
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08 Sep 01 - 11:14 PM (#545457) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST I get notices for my Nortons updates every 14 days, and I always download them that day. I empty my Internet Temp files a couple times a week. I dumped the 0k files in my Windows Temp folder, but there only about 10 or 12 files in there in the first place. |
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08 Sep 01 - 11:40 PM (#545466) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: wysiwyg Guest/Nick, thank you for signing your post. Guest/Who originally posted, this conversation will be increasingly difficult if you don't pick some posting- name by which we can address you in this thread. Better yet, if you join Mudcat, you will be able to message in Personal Messages (not an e-mail) about this and other things. Did you find Mudcat because of the music or through a search on viruses, BTW? ~Susan |
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09 Sep 01 - 12:02 AM (#545473) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Amergin It does not sound like that much of a virus...the latter issue sounds a bit like corrupted winsocks...i would just go ahead and reformat your whole computer....or maybe go to the control panel and then double click on add/remove programs.....and then look for Microsoft Internet Explorer....and double click on that and then select the repair option....in the off chance that it is not in the add/remove programs box...type in the following in the run box...(click on start and then run) exactly as it is shown: rundll32 setupwbv.dll,IE5Maintenance "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Setup\SETUP.EXE" /g "C:\WINDOWS\IE Uninstall Log.Txt" just for future reference it is very helpful to let us know the details of the errors you are getting...just illegal operations and such do not help that much.... hope it gets squared away soon. |
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09 Sep 01 - 12:02 AM (#545474) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST,just call me Al I found it for music. I enjoy the site, but am a bit of a lurker, to use that particular phrase. I know others have posted some computer-related questions...I hope it wasn't to brusque of me to post one this complicated... |
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09 Sep 01 - 12:03 AM (#545475) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST,Nick You are welcome for me sigining. I dont quite get the problem with the anonymus posters but it often seems a big deal to message board regulars. Not just in mud cat. That I say my name is Nick seems to placate people, is it less anonymus than guest? I know this has been hashed & rehashed. And let me tell you more than you want to know Nick Edmondson 40 yr old M Graphic Designer New Milford Ct NicksterNM@AOL.com DO you beleive me?, I could be a 80 yr old, 400 Lb Hawiian, trolling for 14 yr old female New Jersey banjo playing females. ( NOw that would be a great song) And I guess I will register because I do like the forum Cheers Nick (as far as you know) |
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09 Sep 01 - 12:22 AM (#545484) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: wysiwyg To both guests-- never mind the whole Guest debate-- I'm sure not going there! Just that when one guest is having the problem and the other is helping advise, it gets pretty mixed up when folks try to address either one of you as the conversation goes on. Guest Al, no, it was not a bad thing to ask. As you can see, people are making an effort to be helpful. And to you both-- welcome to Mudcat, if you have nver heard THAT before! (Nick, we WILL find out-- when you start posting really obscure Hawaiian folk tunes! Kidding! Just kidding! *G* And yes, DO write that song! *G*) ~Susan |
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09 Sep 01 - 12:25 AM (#545486) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Guest, Mission control has the basic data on registered members. Wysiwyg gives good advice. I assume you have emptied your cache, performed disk cleanup and defrag. Do as Amergin says. Then follow up on Just a picker and hope you don't have to redo. There are a couple of seller sites that I can't complete the purchase from because the illegal operation message comes up. Apparently it is because my server (a Netscape pusher) doesn't provide the latest Netscape program, but I am computer-illiterate so my guess doesn't count for much.. |
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09 Sep 01 - 12:33 AM (#545488) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: wysiwyg Dicho, that reads SO FUNNY. It's a recipe for... something illegal.... "Take a bit of WYSIWYG and then Dicho the mixture. Toss in a splash of Amergin and then put it in a jug, Justa Picker at a time. If the recipe fails, get some from the local Netscape pusher on the corner." The Folk Medicine Process. ~Susan |
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09 Sep 01 - 01:07 AM (#545494) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST,Al Amergin, I tried that and got an error message window reading "RUNDLL" in the title bar. The message said :
Error in setupwbv.dll |
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09 Sep 01 - 08:33 AM (#545579) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Amos Hope you have back ups, Nick. It may be time to run Disk Doctor and if that doesn't help, save what you can and reinstall Windoize. |
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09 Sep 01 - 09:04 AM (#545591) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Mike Byers Every now and then--and this depends to some degree upon the quantity and types of software you've installed--it's a very good idea to re-format and reinstall things. Sort of a pain, I know. But think of Windows as a great big sofa. After a while, loose change, cat hairs and dead spiders accumulate under the cushions and you need to clean things out. Also, I believe it would be worth getting the most current version of IE: it seems to be a little more stable than earlier versions. |
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09 Sep 01 - 10:09 AM (#545619) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Amos I have had good luck wiuth Windows 2000 in case you're in a position to upgrade. 98 is a bear compared. |
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09 Sep 01 - 11:02 AM (#545644) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bill D wait!...before doing anything drastic....you said "lots of "this program has performed and illegal action and has been shut down" messages" ...I have had those problems, and have NOT had to re-format or reinstall Windows...and since you ARE here and still able to connect, etc....to report this, Windows is still functioning... is it the same programs each time? The problem 'could' lie in certain programs....it could be memory management (too many programs open at once)...It 'could' be those 'annoying popups'!! Do you mean advertising popups while surfing? If so, there is a better way to handle those. There are 'firewall' programs which protect you while surfing and do that job FOR you...I can recommend a couple if you'd like. (Sometimes those popups (including Java consoles and Javascripts) demand certain things of your system, and if they are not handled right, can cause errors).....rebooting clears a lot of this, though it IS a hassle. (If you surf a LOT and do a lot of stuff, Windoze simply gets overburdened and out of one kind of memory) Also, Internet Explorer is tied into Windows so closely that IT will sometimes force settings that conflict with basic processes. (I use Agent, a commercial newsreader...and IE actually changes setting in my Agent.ini file!..causing me to have to edit it manually!)...so I use Netscape-and recently, Opera...a newish browser, which does NOT mess with me. So...I do urge you to explore a bit before doing the most drastic 'cures'...which usually require a lot of re-installing and such...(BTW...you DO do backups of important data & files??...*grin*) finally, Norton does more than scan for viruses...it has diagnostic programs that can find all sorts of problems...have you run that?...(do you get a box of Norton utilities when you boot up? especially one with a 'traffic light' icon? If you do, and if the light is red, click on it and follow directions).. hope you can work it out without major surgery! |
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09 Sep 01 - 11:05 AM (#545646) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: wysiwyg Oh yes, the Windoze reboot. I restart every time I get up to go do something else for awhile, so the reboot occurs when I am not sitting there waiting. ~S~ |
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09 Sep 01 - 11:37 AM (#545664) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bernard Maybe... this is a 'mechanical' problem. The system could simply be overheating due to a dodgy fan! The most likely one is the CPU fan, or case fan (if fitted). Oh, and clean out the airways, too! Poor thing might be suffocating! This would certainly cause many of the problems, which, in turn, could easily cause file corruption.
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09 Sep 01 - 11:55 AM (#545675) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bill D an example...just this week, some Explorer setting got mangled, and on reboot, the PC went into 'safe mode' and refused to display anything except 16 colors and a 640x480 window...but it would still work, so I went to Google newsgroups search and found several suggestions that I **DELETE** the display driver, and reboot...when Windows did not find the driver installed, it went and found it automatically and REinstalled it! Presto! So, there are real experts out there, if you are willing to ask the right questions and do the searches..VERY few question have not already been asked and documented in technical newsgroups...**IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME TO LEARN HOW TO LOCATE, SEARCH AND/OR POST TO NEWSGROUPS** if you do not already have this bookmarked, do yourself a favor! |
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09 Sep 01 - 02:13 PM (#545754) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST,Al Thanks for all the suggestions. Actually I downloaded IE 6 on Thursday, thinking it might help. It wouldn't let me open anything whatsoever. It would connect for 2 seconds, then disconnect itself, so I uninstalled it and went back to 4.0. At least now it will connect. |
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09 Sep 01 - 03:12 PM (#545786) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: GUEST The 2 "illegal function" messages that pop up and close down Explorer say this:
XPLORER caused an invalid page fault in
ECX=011100dc DS=017f ESI=816213ac FS=38f7
Stack dump: |
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09 Sep 01 - 05:40 PM (#545820) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bernard Sadly, those error reports are pretty useless! All you can really learn from them is that something has gone wrong - which you already knew. Basically it tells you that two (or more) programs wanted to use the same chunk of memory at the same time, which isn't possible. I've seen this happen after a change of video card, sound card, or other hardware change or addition - IRQ or DMA conflicts can cause this, and sometimes the hardware just isn't compatible with your chipset. Go into 'Start', 'Settings', 'Control Panel' and 'System'. Select the 'Device Manager' tab, and look down the list to see if there are any little yellow triangles (with exclamation marks) against any devices. If there are, we can progress from there... |
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09 Sep 01 - 08:09 PM (#545890) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: wysiwyg Is this a buffers thing? Do we still have buffers???! ~S~ |
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09 Sep 01 - 08:32 PM (#545901) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Jon Freeman Did you get no module name or even "in module Jon |
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09 Sep 01 - 08:38 PM (#545902) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Jon Freeman OK, I see what happened now, you made the same mistake as I just did, using angle brackets in here... It should read "in module <unknown>"
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09 Sep 01 - 10:04 PM (#545922) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bill D take a look here |
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09 Sep 01 - 10:06 PM (#545923) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bill D then try clicking this Google groups search |
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09 Sep 01 - 10:20 PM (#545925) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Jon Freeman I must admit I tried searching a little but gave up. Seemed like looking for a needle in a haystack though. I struck lucky with that type of error in Outlook Express about 3 or 4 days ago - apparently a corrupt "folders.dbx" file is all that is needed to crash OE on startup - fix is brilliant, you just delete the file, load OE again and a new one is created. I'm not even sure what it does - I thought deleteing the file would have lost me some folders and probably files but all was OK. The worst part for me was that I had just re-installed Borland JBuilder and something else and recieved a message that an older file had been copied or something like that and assumed that was the problem and I decided to upgrade to IE6 thinking that would have any newer files needed but it still crashed. As for JBuilder - looks like I needn't have re-installed that in the first place - seems it plays up if my latest AV software is running... Isn't computing fun? Jon |
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10 Sep 01 - 12:12 AM (#545961) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bill D the thing is, with Windows error messages, the 'basic' part of the message is hardcoded and usually looks the same, so a search on the exact phrase will get you many similar requests by other unfortunate folks...*grin*..and very often, an answer. (Or 47 answers to sort thru)..That's how I solved MY problem the other day... I leave it to guest(Al?) to finish the sorting and decide what fits.... |
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10 Sep 01 - 10:57 AM (#546250) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: MMario try getting a registry cleaner program - such as 'Easy Cleaner" or 'Reg-clean' - running them will frequently stop this kind of behavior.
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10 Sep 01 - 02:07 PM (#546438) Subject: RE: Help: Evil Computer From: Bill D nice free registry cleaner here these really DO help clear up some problems... |