h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've got a whole bunch of problems and have no idea what to do....

1) Winsock - I'm connected to the internet and everything works fine for between 45 and 75 minutes, then I get page could not be found on my browser (wether I use IE, netscape, opera, mozilla, firefox, just about anything else) and 'could not retrieve mails, server may be closed down' on my email client. If I'm downloading anything though, or it chat, then nothing happens - the browser and emails cut off, but chat and downloads continue.

I *think* I'm having winsock problems. I've tried re-installing but to no avail. Any ideas on how to fix it? If not, I'm switching to cable in 9 days...will I still get winsock problems or will that use something else?

2) Instant access dialer - somehow, I've got a porn dialer on my PC - I dont even know how it got there (and before you start with the nudging, theres kids use this computer, its porn free ). I cant uninstall it. Theres a box in the add/remove programs bit but try uninstalling it and it tells you it has done, but restart your computer and guess what? It's still there. Merely annoying you may say but worse than that, its splattered with scumware giving me porno-pop-ups every two minutes. Neither lavasoft ad-aware or spybot (both latest version and build) can get it. Any ideas how to kill it - I cant even find the files on my hard drive, I've deleted all cookies, etc.

3) Java plug in for netscape/opera/mozilla - I've tried the normal download but my virus checker is picking it up as a virus. Being such a popular plug in, I'd guess my virus checker is in the wrong...is it worth risking installing it?

4) Sound Card - I've got a bog standard Sound blaster 16 (I think, but definately sound blaster) but its being auto-detected as an ESS Audio Drive. It works fine as an ESS, but its not. If I install it with the disk that came with it, the next time I boot windoze, it tells me its found new hardware and makes me change the driver . does it matter or do I just let windoze do what it wants and pull faces behind its back?

None of these are problems if I'm running linux, so its not a hardware problem. I've done virus/scumware checks. I done defrags and scan disks and that system files repair thingy as well as a norton registry tidy up thing....I'm stumped. The main problem is that with winsock, but they all need sorting if anybody can help

Thanks in advance.

Switch to cable and re-format your 'puter.




pedboy®

1) The symptoms sound like you're losing your connection to your DNS server, as the things that carry on working are the ones that don't rely on domain lookups. If you're switching ISPs in 9 days you'll have a new DNS setup anyway, and that may fix it.

2) This may be connected with point (3)

3) It's possible that your Java installer is what's infected with the Porn dialler; it may have been both infected and made read-only so further download attempts aren't overwriting it...? Let the virus scanner kill it. You can always get the next version in a few days; they seem to have a point release every week or two...

4) You almost certainly have a Sound Blaster PCI, which is a branded version of the ESS Audio Drive chipset. It's behaving sensibly; let it get on with it...

Use something like CodeForge TweakAll to examine all the programs that are loaded up at start up - of I was writing a nasty dialer I'd add a re-install routine to the starup programs in win.ini or in the registry which detects if the previous install has been removed and reinstalls it if it has.

Just a thought.

CHawke

use linux and dump windows

In the words of Brownie McGhee, 'Thank you very much wonderful ones and I when I say that I mean it from the bottom of my heart 'cos I'm not the lying kind'

I normally come to you lot first because, well, you dont spam me links to your website and talk out of your rear ends to make yourselves look smart like other places do....but I had a look elsewhere anyway...

Other people with problems similar to mine (the DNS error bit) have been advised its a winsock problem that can be cured by uninstalling winsock (including from the registry - apparently, that's where it's corrupting) and then reinstalling...I can do the uninstall/install bit, but how do I get it out of the registry? Or are they just talking fermented dingos droppings like they normally do?

My sound card is Sound Blaster PCI and it was rather dumb of me not to work that bit out - though I find it hard to believe windoze managed to do something right for a change

As for the porn, I've killed the java and we'll see what happens - I've been given a download site for a scumware killer thats specifically built for porn scumware so one of the two should get it

And I do run linux when I can but sadly, there's too many applications that are windoze only and I still have to use it quite a lot

And thanks to everyone who gave suggestions

dingo's kidneys sounds about right. the winsock (which I have programed with in the past) does have registry keys but if it was to go wrong it would go wrong strait away and would come up with either a BSOD or an Exception error, it just dosn't sound like thats the problem.

although if I were you I'd reinstall windows.

-- DoctorMO --

Thought as much - thanks.

A few years ago there was talk - or at least rumours of a version of Linux that was allegidly in development that was going to be Windoze compatible...I don't know if they were going to run an emulator or just, well, rip the code or what....it was going to be called something like 'lindows'. You dont happen to know if anything came of it do you?

Frankly, I can't see the point of running Linux if its just a windoze clone - wouldn't you be better off with windoze itself? But if its around it might be worth a look.

I first read about it on linux.org, two, maybe three years ago but cant find anything now ...I would have thought if it was in development micro$oft would have sued and in honesty, I might have even read the story on April 1st...

But, just incase, anybody know more?

HI-ya

Instant access dialer…..
Open IE go to / tools / internet options/General/Settings/Temporary Internet Files/Settings/View Objects…
Right click each item /Properties/ Versions tab/, see company name,

Also

Clicking Start then Run. In the Open box, type msconfig.exe followed by enter. Once displayed, click on the "Startup" tab. You will see a list of items and the 2 columns that we're interested in are "Name" (WinME) or "Startup Item" (WinXP) and "Command". For Win98 the columns aren't named but the one on the left is the equivalent of "Name" and the one on the right is the equivalent of "Command":
Or
MSinfo.exe, see Software Environment/Startup Programs


Uninstalling Winsock, including registry entries.

First try WinsockXPFix.exe (goggle/yahoo)
Or
Backup you dialup details twice
Remove all network components except the modem, restart the computer three times, and install dial up and TCP again don’t forget to disable the auto repair in XP,
Then reset your dialup details


Windows compatible Linux (Lindows 4.5) www.lindows.com

ED

...except they made a deal, so it's now called "Linspire" and no longer makes a pretence at running Windows apps...

I thought it was Lin---s or lindash. hmmm

but yes they got sued in some obscure country in the EU and Microsoft turns round and claims victory around the world, those bastards.

be warned Microsoft's business model is following IBMs in the 80s and were almost onto the stage where they use there patents as a way to generate money to continue the level of growth the investors expect, we should see EVERYONE that is able to open Word Document and maybe even RTF being sued or pressed for licenses, Samba being sued, Linux being attacked for using the windows disk formats (FAT32, NTFS ect) so many things to come.

-- DoctorMO --

If you find you have to tinker in the registry by hand (e.g. if you're running Windows 2000 which doesn't install msconfig by default), you'll have to use the registry editor. You can do serious damage to the operating system with regedit so make sure you have some idea what you're doing first! To start the registry editor hit Start => Run and type in "regedit".

You can find the entries for applications that should be run during system startup at:

HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunServices
HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run
HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/RunServices

(Where HKLM is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, etc.)

Not all of those keys will necessarily be there since there's some differences from Windows version to Windows version.

As far as LinWhatever, it was Lindows before the lawsuit, Lin---s during the lawsuit (there was an injunction if I recall correctly) and Linspire after the lawsuit.

Linspire seems to be a distribution bent on dumbing Linux down to the point that security is no better than on Windows. There's a reason one should not be logged in with administrative powers all the time. With Linspire you're automatically logged in as root so any nasty code you happen across can go about its business unhindered.

Lindoze is beyond my minimum spec and you're all right - it looks pretty poo too

As for my other problems, I found the cause....it seems I had installed a warez firewall...I got a CD with various shareware utilities on it it (winzip and norton and all that kind of stuff) from somewhere...seeing as everything else was fine, I installed and ran the firewall.

Once I realised it was warez, I took it off and guess what? Everything is working fine - I reckon it had a trojan with it

Thanks for all your help anyway

Ah I see, good luck with your computer, may it live in interesting times.