I’ve been inundated with spyware, malware, Trojans, viruses and other unpleasant programs. I’ve been able to remove most of these programs but I still have a few Windows issues (I have XP Professional, sp3, build 2600) that are causing annoying minor problems. I’ve searched the registry and can’t find the culprits, so I’ve decided to format the drive and start from scratch. This machine isn’t that old and I have all of the program disks so it should go smoothly. I can also backup information to external hard drives so I’ll be able to save information. If I need help over the weekend can I get a little telephone support from someone who’s good with computers? (My dime of course.)
Before someone admonishes me I do run a firewall (Comodo) and virus programs ( AVG and Malwarebytes) plus I’m careful. I, uh, also ran Index.dat and printed out where this computer has been on the internet.
Surprise, surprise, some very interesting history! :icon_wink I now have enough information to blackmail a friend’s teenage son (14) or at least get my lawn mowed for a few summers. 
Don’t worry I’m not going to ‘rat out’ the kid to his parents, but we did have a very long chat. I’m going to add him as a user and give him his own profile, restricting his use. Poor kid, his parents are a bit archaic and won’t allow the Internet in their house for fear it’ll corrupt this young man and his younger sister, so I allow the young man to use my computer. His parents knew of course, it’s for school work. Or so I/we thought! Maybe his parents are right the Internet could be a bad influence. After all the Internet is how I found you bunch of derelicts!
Anyway… any volunteers? (Pleeeeease.)
Steve
Before someone admonishes me I do run a firewall (Comodo) and virus programs ( AVG and Malwarebytes) plus I’m careful. I, uh, also ran Index.dat and printed out where this computer has been on the internet.
Surprise, surprise, some very interesting history! :icon_wink I now have enough information to blackmail a friend’s teenage son (14) or at least get my lawn mowed for a few summers. Don’t worry I’m not going to ‘rat out’ the kid to his parents, but we did have a very long chat. I’m going to add him as a user and give him his own profile, restricting his use. Poor kid, his parents are a bit archaic and won’t allow the Internet in their house for fear it’ll corrupt this young man and his younger sister, so I allow the young man to use my computer. His parents knew of course, it’s for school work. Or so I/we thought! Maybe his parents are right the Internet could be a bad influence. After all the Internet is how I found you bunch of derelicts! Anyway… any volunteers? (Pleeeeease.)
Steve
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