I know about 2 % of the functions of my computer. Anyways, anybody know anything about the KAK worm virus ? I had to switch to Norton's (don't like McAfee)to get rid of it. It's gone, but as Norton's was cleaning my other files, the computer froze. I couldn't reboot, so I had no choice but to turn it off. Long story short, I had to reinstall windows 98 and my computer works when it wants to. A few questions : My computer went into "Safe" mode, why ? Why does my computer freeze so often ? I use roadrunner Does your computer screen sometimes turn blue and say "a fatal exception error has occured ?" What does "low resources" mean ? I'm thinking of calling a computernerd (expensive), but I figured maybe you guys could give me advice. Thanks in advance ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
I'm no computer expert but it sounds like the virus may have damaged your hard drive or something. Fatal exceptions have to do with your operating system. Some files may be damaged or you might be using a program that conflicts with your Win98. Safe mode is just a way to start your computer to change different settings and you can also delete virus files that you otherwise could not delete. Low resources pertains to your RAM. RAM is basically memory which allows you to run programs. You need a certain amount of RAM to run multiple programs. If you have low RAM (32/64) then you may have trouble running more than a few programs at a time and your computer can also freeze up because of this. Maybe some others can go more in depth with your questions. Good luck! ------------------ Why is Gonzaga always given a double digit seed? Just move them to the Sweet 16 where they belong and let them play from there.
I'm no expert... but here's my take on your situation. Safe mode - Your computer can go into safe mode when your system crashes,t it loads up with minimal drivers, etc so you can shut it down correctly. Low resources - How much stuff do you have running "behind the scenes" how many icons are in your toolbar? How much stuff is on your desktop? all this can lead to low resources. Timing mentioned RAM, it takes RAM to run all those icons/programs at once. 64 megs these days is really the minimun. I'm running 192 megs and could use some more. Have you ever de-fragged your hard drive? Norton's Speed Disk works great. By cleaning up your hard drive you may get things to run better. I've used Norton Utilities which has a good de-fragger and also has a program that fixes Windows problems. Good Luck. I would definately wait to see if you get more responses before calling a tech. Like you said, it could cost quite a bit. rH ------------------ Homecourt will always be 'The Summit' to me!! Until we move downtown!! The Psychedelic Groove House of Rockets Basketball Love! Come and chat with us on game nights in CC.net chat! Danny: "I don't wanna end up working in a lumber yard" Tye: "What's wrong with lumber yards, I own three" Danny: "I notice you don't spend too much time there" Tye: "I don't know where they are!"
Your computer goes into safe mode because the last time it tried to boot up an error prevented it from loading completly and safe mode is made so you can go in and fix the problem that kept it from booting. My recomendation to you would be to completely reformat (delete) your hard drive and then reinstall all of your software. Note: by reformatting your hard drive all of your data would be lost. ------------------ ~John~ If you make it idiot proof, they will make a better idiot.
Note that "low resources" cannot be fixed by adding more RAM. Windows has a certain amount of memory packets that are reserved and doesn't change with the addition of more memory. Some programs do not release resources and over a period of time the resources get too low. A restart will generally resolve this issue (until you run low again). If you are running windows 98 or ME go to start->run and enter msconfig. You will see a tab titled "Startup". You can disable/enable programs that run at startup time in this screen. You can safely disable (note that this does not delete anything) everything except systray and scanreg. Anything that you are counting on to run, you will then need to start yourself (e.g. fax program). ------------------
I've got 8 things on my toolbar. I have this tendency of opening two windows on the internet and checking my email, all while on icq. so, thats 4 applications at once. johnny, if I reinstall everything, I would have to save everything to a hard disk, right ? How long would that take ? Also, would the damaged files be there when I reinstall ? Is there an alternative ? I assume that the virus scan can't fix already damaged files ? I really appreciate your responses. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
What kind of system do you have? OS? (Win 95/98) MHZ? Amount of Ram? Name brand? ------------------ Nice guys finish last ... and im surely not going to finish last!
Norten Utilities is amazing. I'd highly reccomend it -- it can fix about anything. I had a few problems with it sticking occasionally -- Norton fixed hundreds of problems I didn't know I had, and cleaned up my hard drive. If nothing else, it should help you get your system working again, so you can save any personal files and reformat your hard drive. You might go to their website and see if they have any other info on the virus. DEFFINITELY pull that Roadrunner cable loose or shut off the modem when you are doing any of that. The problem with a cable modem or DSL is that people are constantly pinging your computer -- trying to find systems to get into. Any pinging while your computer is in the middle of something else (like repairing your registry) could cause your system to freeze. How did you get the virus? You should look at installing a firewall. (You can download a free one, or use a commercial product). I am amazed at how often I am "pinged" over the DSL line -- and cable modems are supposed to be worse. No firewall or virus software is perfect -- but it helps. Also, make sure you update your virus files frequently to protect against newer viruses. ------------------ Stay Cool...
Dell 433 MHZ maybe 32 RAM ? Not sure. What kind of person sends out viruses ? It's ridiculous. I really don't want to reinstall everything. My computer is doing ok right now, so maybe Norton did clean things up. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
Knowing Norton Utilities, it probably fixed a lot of problems you didn't have, too. lol! ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
The original KAK was a worm that propogated via Microsoft Outlook. There have since been several variants of it. If you want to learn more : http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/wscript.kakworm.html Your computer went into Safe mode because you rebooted the machine in a baaaaaad way -- by turning it off and then on again. When you reboot, you are given the choice of booting normally into Winblowz or into Safe Mode after a "crash" and reboot like you did. Safe Mode reduces the # of drivers loaded and loads the bare minimum to start your Windows session. It's used for troubleshooting purposes. Don't worry about it, but don't work in Safe Mode. Without looking at your pc, there's no telling why your pc freezes so often. Anything posted here would be a guess. You may be running something in memory when you start your pc that's causing it. The fatal exception error is bad. And no mine never says that. hehe. Without looking at your pc, who knows what's causing it. When you run low on resources, it means that you're running low on a specific type of memory the computer needs. If you're on Winblowz 98 for example, you can right click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop, select "Properties" from the popup menu, then select the "Performance" tab. See what it says for the value of "System Resources" on that page. Anytime that value gets under 60%, you should reboot. Oh, and good job getting rid of Crapafee AntiVirus. It's junk and hogs up even more resources. Don't buy anything sold by Network Associates. They make and propogate JUNK!!!! (ok, just a personal opinion) ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, System to find out your exact amount of RAM if that's necessary for other's to answer your question. ------------------
To see how much RAM you have, right-click on "My Computer" on the desktop, and select "Properties" in the pop-up menu. On the "General" tab, it should say the amount of memory on your machine. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
I don't recommend Norton. It loads up more crap and makes your computer run slower. Go to Start-->Run--> and type in MSCONFIG then ENTER. Click on the STARTUP tab. I don't recommend messing with anything else. You can pretty much unclick anything there and it wont' harm your computer, but certain things might not load afterwards. You can always go back and reclick them to load back up. Experiment at your own risk. And if you have 32 megs of memory, you most likely need more. Memory is dirt cheap and you can't go wrong with at least 128. ------------------ Nice guys finish last ... and im surely not going to finish last!
63 rams. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
See? That's your problem... you've got a pc that's being run by sheep. Where'd you buy it from? Macedonia? No... uh, you more than likely have 64 megabytes of RAM (it says 63, ignore it). You've got a decent machine there. Your resource problem is probably caused by something you're loading when you boot up or a program you run with a serious memory leak in it. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents.
You guys are great. Well, the two viruses were Kak and Ecair or something like that. the second one is rare. I had them quarantined last night, and I thought that was it. Silly me. I had to DELETE the files. Knock on wood, things are looking up. ------------------ "norm, would you like to buy an indian scalp ? This deal isn't gonna make or break me Norm, so don't jerk me around." Harry Carey "Norm, if I had a mohawk scalp, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you."
FYI, "EICAR" is not a virus to my knowledge. It is a standard virus test file (eicar.com) that several companies use to see if their virus scanners can actually be triggered. Any virus scanner should be able to spot the EICAR file as a virus. You can download it from various anti-virus sites. It's not dangerous. Deleting it won't harm you either. Just did some browsing around the 'Net and noticed there is a virus in the SARC database called "trivial.eicar.122". That may be a legit virus. ------------------ "It doesn't matter. If it's the Lakers or the Spurs, I'm going to kill them." -- Cuttino "Jack" Mobley on possible playoff opponents. [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited March 22, 2001).]
gr8-1, Listen I know you have been getting advise here, but most of it hasn't addressed the issue. It sounds to me like you did a "dirty" installation of windows 98. What I mean by dirty installation is you installed windows 98 over your previous installation. If that is the case, then you corrupted all of your drivers, thus your computer locks up and gives you fatal exception errors. Once you get a fatal exception error, you have to reboot by shutting your system down improperly i.e. pushing the power button or ctl + alt + del twice in a row. This causes your system to go into safe mode. Here is what you need to do. Call Dell tech support. Tell them you did a dirty install and also you have a virus on your system (you really didn't get rid of it totally). Next tell them you what to reformat your harddrive by using a debug script. This will remove everything on your harddrive including the virus. You reall have no choice here. Then they will help you reload windows 98 and your drivers. I hope this helps. KBM ------------------ I am an invisible man.
rH wrote: "Good Luck. I would definately wait to see if you get more responses before calling a tech." gr8-1... told ya. just wait and these BBS'ers will respond! If you post it, they will answer. We have a really good crew on this BBS and you can get an answer to almost any question on this BBS... That's just the caliber these hardcore Rocket fans are!! YOU BBS'ers RAWK!!!! rH
