Is it just me or is Bill Gates at it again?

I just reformatted my CF-30 MK1 again. My drivers kept dropping, I ws finding weird files on it as well as dupes with weird names. I don't think it was a virus... More likely something I did as I was trying something out. But the final straw was that I couldn't get Photoshop to open....

Anyway... I load up the Recivery Disk and then load up Zone Alarm Extreme to make sure I'm covered. When you try to go to the windoze website it will tell you that it cannot be opened within ZoneAlarm Forcefield... ZAs newest protection... It asks if you want to open a new window without ZA... Sure I say... I start my updates... SP3 has a few errors upon installation (No I didn't write them down.) but it was 2 small things. So I download SP3 and it starts my laptop all over again like I just reformatted it... I have to put in my name again... The name of the laptop, etc. Then is tells me that it cannot update any further that I MUST BUY WINDOWS XP PRO! Either that or I need to activate what I have... It also asked that I install my key... I do all this and go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools.... But there is no activation key!

So now I have a laptop that I will obviously have to reformat yet again. This time I will update it BEFORE I install Zone Alarm.... (Maybe that screwed something up.)

But I swear I am switching to an Apple the next time I need a desktop unit... Maybe even a laptop... Windoze has lost me this time as a fan...

Has anyone else had this issue? Is this something new from the destroyers of the world, MS?

 

Zonealarm has given me problems in the past when installing and updating. I usually just disable it from starting up and do my updating. Since you did it with SP3 you might be able to search the MS site and just find the exe file to overwrite what upgrades you have already done so you don't have to recovery your laptop again.

As far as going with Apple, I would wait for Win7 to get a full release because I have it running on one my frankenstein labtop and so far it's a great system but that's only because Billy bascially hijacked OS X.

 

TB, many of the AVs/Firewalls cause more problems than they prevent or just plain mess up...

The ONLY one I will use now is ESET NOD32. It's tiny, fast and only brings attention to itself when there is a real problem.
Windows XP built-in firewall is fine, no need for an additional one.

For a bit of extra safety, you can use Spybot Search & Destroy, make sure you update & use the Immunise option. This blocks access to many malware sites by putting dummy entries in the Hosts file.

As a general tip: Do not EVER install more than one anti-virus...
The 32 Bit Windows kernel does not have all the required 'hooks' and the AV installers patch the kernel to tie in to it for all the required monitoring.
Install a second one and it's trying to patch over a patch - resulting in an unstable system or possibly a dead Windows installation. If it does still work, it can slow down rediculously as the two AVs continuously try to scan each other's active files.

 

My preference for antivirus would be avast!, its never screwed me over before, nor has it sacrificed any of my speed or protection for my ML850, and with a CF30 Mk1 it should nonetheless be more than a mere background process. But on the other hand I think your hd maybe scragged, run some diskchecks and findout what happens. And also when you installed windows last what did you use? floppy set w/ setup files on drive(that can screw you over quick) internal dvd/cd drive, external cd/dvd drive what what WHAT???

oh, and its seems moar like Al Gore than anybody else, Bill Gates just bought his first products from people in their garages.

 

Rick, the only logical reason I can think of is to get rid of your Toughbook and get a mac

 

I find this very funny,why .Well we betch about windows all day and all night and when its comes time to buy another computer do we buy an Apple ,nope we buy a windoz machine.
Blair

 

That's cuz it's much easier to mod a windoze machine rather than an apple. well at least it is to me. not sure how ya'll feel about that though but that would be for another thread I think

 

Well... I will get a Mac when it comes time for a new desktop unit... But then I rarely use that. I am almost always hammering away on my CF-30.

FWIW... I installed the Restore Disks using my internal DVD. Everything seems okay now. I'm thinking my Express Card may have had something to do with it.

 

Looks like Bill & Co are at it again . . . If anyone has a spare PC to test these updates out please let me know the results . . I really cannot afford to screw my PC up this week with faulty patches!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8302286.stm

More info from Microsoft . . Get ready for website surge @ 10:00 a.m. PDT!

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2009/10/08/october-2009-bulletin-release.aspx

 

Thank god its not just me. I though I was going mad.

I vista on a hp laptop that I upgraded to winodws 7 and it go funny every so often ie it go slow or some programs will not open. I have to restart to get speed back also the programs will open after I restart.

When I max out my CF-18 with a big hard disk I will be going back to xp

 

They certainly closing all the loopholes... I have heard from several people that their copies of certain MS software has suddenly been found "Unauthorized" and they only have 30 days of life left!

Yes there is a new update out there for that.

BTW... I narrowed down my original issue. I have my express card in the side of my laptop all the time. If it is plugged in during boot-up.... I have no sound and some of the Fn keys do not work. However... If I boot first and THEN install the card... Everything works great. I can only imagine that since I have a ton of various drivers on the card for easy access... XP must scan it when booting and it interferes with the drivers that are installed. So... I just keep it a little lose until I need it. The cool thing is that I can leave it unplugged but still have room to close the port cover.

 

OK . . so I ran the 13 new MS security updates on a Win XP machine - Comodo internet security kept flagging up all kinda worries during the update / installation! - Anyway upshot of it is that after half hour or so of intensive background patching PC rebooted just fine . . . I'll let you guys know if I run into any problems or speed issues now.

Well done Rick . . persistence pays off again

I wonder if some kind of scripting could be employed for different boot scenarios ? - way beyond me though!

 

Yes... Please let us know... I'm not downloading them today..

 

Ok guess im pretty late to the discussion here, Rick, ZA Is a monumental pain in the for causing problems, I second the member who mentioned NOD 32

peewee, Install 7 cleanly DONT upgrade over vista as alot of registry crap migrates along and causes alot of problems especially in graphics software

as for OSX .... I have enough problems with it as well, its just another OS, no better no worse

 

I agree that the full blown version of ZA can be problematic... But the firewall application only is fairly easy and has never caused me any issues.

 

I stopped using zone alarm and the other firewalls a while ago because they just because too buggy. I have a hardware firewall instead now. I have been fine since.

 

How do you haul that around with your laptop for wireless use? What type is that?