F.A.O. PC Gurus

[sahib]

About two years ago my office PC got slower and slower. Started not finding certain drivers and eventually one day did not start at all. It was running on XP.

I brought in my home PC which run on XP too and it also started to do the same and a couple of months ago,  one morning I had a black screen saying can't find such and such drivers. And RIP.

I had bought a second hand Dell from e-bay which run on XP and worked like a bullet. I ignored the software update (XP) message for a while but then last week I clicked on to update. It did. It is not only as slow as the others now but also playing strange games. For example I backed up the folders from the dead PC's hard drive into one folder and called it BACKUP. Now when I open that folder it gives me a message saying "To help protect your computer windows is closing this program" and closes it down. Whereas I open the same folder on the new PC that I bought without any problem. The new PC is Windows 8 and I hate it but that is a different story.

To me it sounds like updating the operating system did something to the machine,  but what do you think?

 

[rob_gould]

Hi Cemal,

You need to turn off data execution prevention.

Here's how : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875351

Cheers

Rob

 

[sahib]

Thank you Rob.

I'll look into it now.

 

[PRR]

> updating the operating system did something to the machine

It does; but what you describe sounds like an infection.

> I ignored the software update (XP) message for a while

That's one way to invite infection. Windows (everything) has bugs which hackers can use to infect your PC. Shortly after the hackers find a crack, MS may issue a patch. Similar for Java, Adobe, Flash. Not installing patches extends the time the hackers have to break into your machine.

Another possibility is strangers getting into your Wi-Fi.

Rob's DEP theory may be valid because it uses that exact wording. However it seems strange for this to happen recently.

 

[sahib]

PRR,

Two previous machines had McAfee on them. Particularly the last one was on max because of the parental control to stop my son wandering into wrong places.

 

[gemini86]

ick...

get rid of mcaffee. Nothing lags a computer faster. Grab windows 7 and microsoft security essentials and you'll be golden. I used to be an XP nut as well. One day I decided it was time to up to a 64bit OS and went win7, haven't missed XP one bit.

 

[sahib]

Home pc has Windows7 and is use friendly.  The new machine I bought has Windows 8 but I hate it. Changes are too traumatic for me. Same for Office 356. The trial period has expired and  it turns out it is £79.00 per year subscription.

 

[ruffrecords]

Home pc has Windows7 and is use friendly.  The new machine I bought has Windows 8 but I hate it. Changes are too traumatic for me. Same for Office 356. The trial period has expired and  it turns out it is £79.00 per year subscription.

I don't understand why anyone would want to pay Micro$oft for an office suite when there are plenty of free alternatives available that do everything and more that the average user needs. Check out LibreOffice:

http://www.libreoffice.org/

Cheers

Ian

 

[rob_gould]

So anyway, did turning off DAP work?