Geek assistance part deux

[taimatsu]

I have got the laptop to start up properly, by booting in safe mode and following instructions for finding out which drivers were not M$-verified, and then disabling the obvious recent bunch. Unfortunately this has involved disabling my virus protection software, AVG Free 7.5. Is re-downloading and reinstalling it likely to fix the problem, or should I do something else?

Comments

[mattbridger.livejournal.com]

AVG is due to bring out their latest version which everyone has to re-register for anyways, so you may as well wait until, I think, the 15th of this month and redownload it then. Just a suggestion... being a Web "professional" and user of AVG and all...

[taimatsu]

Nono, the deadline for *stopping* using the *old* version is the 15th. The new version of the free thing is 7.5 which is out already. That's my understanding anyway.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Before installing anti-virus software at all you should stop and ask yourself two things:

1) What do you think it does ?
2) Do you need it ?

If your answer to question 1) is "protect you from viruses", I suggest you might have an excessively optimistic perspective !

(I don't run virus protection of any kind on any of my pooters - but then nor do I run software I don't trust.)

[taimatsu]

Well, I do not do a lot of 'dangerous' things on my computer, but I have had a couple of Trojans caught by the scanner bit of the software - about three/four in six months. I do not know how exactly these arrived on my machine, and I do not know any other way of identifying and removing them, so for that reason I prefer to use some sort of virus software.

[oneplusme.livejournal.com]

Whilst I run without any AV software as well, I've not found AVG to cause any BSOD issues on any of the PCs I maintain for the various parts of my family. If you reenable just the AVG services, do your BSODs return? If so, clearly uninstalling it would be the way to go. If not, then you get to play the driver update dance, I'm afraid...

It's also very helpful to install the Recovery Console from the Windows CD, since that gives you a text-mode way to recover from various of Windows' more hideous failure modes. (To install it, insert your Windows CD into the drive and run X:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where X is the appropriate drive letter.)

[taimatsu]

Ahahahaha, this assumes I have a Windows CD. This laptop is ex-Robert. I have no software disks for it at all.

[thinkstoomuch.livejournal.com]

Hello! Not seen you for ages - feel free to combine a social visit with free tech support if you want :)

I seem to recall you have some pre-XP version of windows on there... If that's true, and it was installed more than 6 months ago, I'd recommend just reinstall Windows - it will likely save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

XP rots much more slowly than earlier versions, so worth having a go at fixing it. But I gave up on windows before then, so I can only recommend the obvious "uninstall things one thing at a time" technique.

[taimatsu]

Nooo, it's XP. I think I will fiddle the drivers one by one until I work out which exact one it is.

I am up north and may remain here almost till my term starts on 15th, but I will let you know when I'm back. It would be great to see you and the others :) How has your holiday been?

[gopher-that.livejournal.com]

As long as AVG does not think its already installed it should work fine. It could be tricky if it thinks some parts of the programme are there already though.