Problems with home computer
- Thread starter Bronte
- Start date
Yes agreed we haven't a clue. I hold my hands up and agree that I'm an idiot in relation to the laptop.
I'm going to call out the TV guy as he was well impressed when he saw our new laptop. I couldn't figure out why he liked it so much, but I know I hate it. So probably he loved it as it's so complicated.
My problem is compunded by the fact that I hardly understand computers in English never mind doing it in my second language. And those guys in the shop are very confusing.
I've lots of relations who are tech savvy but they're in Ireland. My OH is working on his friends, my friends don't know anything about this kind of thing, plus it's compunded by RTE etc.
If my telly guy doesn't work my OH is going to bring it to Ireland in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile he's determined today to sort out some of it.
Jazz, I did do the 'uninstall' button yesterday. And no worries 123 the PC is still working. Paul I think your idea of the tablet might be a good idea if it's simple. Good idea for an xmas present. I can live without word and excel as I can work on those on my husband's laptop or on my work PC. Can the tablet also connect to the TV, I guess yes. And I think I could then bring that with me when I go to the kids swimming classes etc instead of bringing a newspaper.
I'm not that old mind, just can do without this added complication in my life. Before we bought it we researched it with top IT guy in my husband's company who is also his cousin, after him I was more confused than ever and when we went to the shop, we managed to buy great laptop but it had not word/excel - the basics. Am I the only person who can not buy a PC bring it home and it works.
When we were going to bed last night I was talking about managing to get rid of McAfee and my other half said he's a real person and had some mad story about a murder in Belize (where is that?) so I was dreaming about burning the thing like Cruggers suggested with this mad devil of a McAfree dancing around it last night !
It will take me another couple of days to act on the advice you guys have posted, I've to print this out now again and will have another go. I had to make notes so I could do the first post today on this. I really appreciate your help, if any of you want financial/childcare/cooking advice don't hesitate.
I'm going to call out the TV guy as he was well impressed when he saw our new laptop. I couldn't figure out why he liked it so much, but I know I hate it. So probably he loved it as it's so complicated.
My problem is compunded by the fact that I hardly understand computers in English never mind doing it in my second language. And those guys in the shop are very confusing.
I've lots of relations who are tech savvy but they're in Ireland. My OH is working on his friends, my friends don't know anything about this kind of thing, plus it's compunded by RTE etc.
If my telly guy doesn't work my OH is going to bring it to Ireland in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile he's determined today to sort out some of it.
Jazz, I did do the 'uninstall' button yesterday. And no worries 123 the PC is still working. Paul I think your idea of the tablet might be a good idea if it's simple. Good idea for an xmas present. I can live without word and excel as I can work on those on my husband's laptop or on my work PC. Can the tablet also connect to the TV, I guess yes. And I think I could then bring that with me when I go to the kids swimming classes etc instead of bringing a newspaper.
I'm not that old mind, just can do without this added complication in my life. Before we bought it we researched it with top IT guy in my husband's company who is also his cousin, after him I was more confused than ever and when we went to the shop, we managed to buy great laptop but it had not word/excel - the basics. Am I the only person who can not buy a PC bring it home and it works.
When we were going to bed last night I was talking about managing to get rid of McAfee and my other half said he's a real person and had some mad story about a murder in Belize (where is that?) so I was dreaming about burning the thing like Cruggers suggested with this mad devil of a McAfree dancing around it last night !
It will take me another couple of days to act on the advice you guys have posted, I've to print this out now again and will have another go. I had to make notes so I could do the first post today on this. I really appreciate your help, if any of you want financial/childcare/cooking advice don't hesitate.
I wouldn’t be too harsh on yourself. Anti-virus stuff is designed to be really hard to remove and to encourage (trick?) you into paying an annual subscription. Removing it generally requires much poking around the internet, and maybe installing a special removal tool.
It seems much of the problems here has been a direct consequence of the uselessness of the AV tool and the deliberate difficulty in removing/disabling it. I’d be more critical of McAfee than the predictable results when a naïve user tries to remove it.
As a side note – the colourful founder of McAfee is currently on the run in Belize due to suspicion of murder.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/14/john-mcafee-hiding-businessman-murder
It seems much of the problems here has been a direct consequence of the uselessness of the AV tool and the deliberate difficulty in removing/disabling it. I’d be more critical of McAfee than the predictable results when a naïve user tries to remove it.
As a side note – the colourful founder of McAfee is currently on the run in Belize due to suspicion of murder.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/14/john-mcafee-hiding-businessman-murder
DrMoriarty
Moderator
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I see McAfee's personal fortune is reported to have declined to $4 million from a peak of $100 million, back when he sold to Intel. Maybe we should invite him to come on for a money makeover? 
LOL, dunno where to start with that!! BTW Belize is in South America, used to be called British Honduras. Very nice islands called Caye Caulker few miles off Belize City if you fancy a nice holiday!
They gave up on the idea of me being webmaster. No way was that ever going to work.
But thanks to you guys I've made some more progress. But it is very much a stage of two steps forward, one step back.
Firefox
I managed with the links provided above to upload firefox as a browser. Very easy to do, the link to it even had very simple instructions. And then I went into hotmail and my emails came in. Happy days, I was so happy you wouldn't believe it - short lived I hasten to add. But I was there thinking you guys are geniuses and all sorts of wonderful other things about you including the fact that if one were getting married nowadays it might be an idea to check out a man's computer skills. In the old days it was only one's skills with rabbits ears and ability to go on the roof and turn the aerial that was important but we have progressed from that.
Rte Player
Fired up with enthusasim on my success I decided I'd tackle the RTE player (that I'd previously deleted). I think this is where I came undone. Not only had I deleted the player from my programs, I'd also deleted 3 different versions of adobe, I had no idea this adobe programe was linked to RTE. So obvious solution was to get it back. But then something bad happened.
Babylon
At some stage, only a couple of minutes after I'd got firefox I noticed it had changed to babylon, the browser that is. This is something called a malware, - see I'm progressing, all I know is that means Babylon is like a parasite and is very difficult to get rid of. And how do I know this, well I googled it to try and get rid of it, and you'll all be impressed I actually managed to do it. Mind you I was exhausted and megga p---ed off with all this knowledge that I do not need to have in my brain, that will be of no use to me subsequently. I had to get rid of it in two places, including deleting firefox and starting again. Even though I was making notes along the way, I have no idea where now to go back and delete such a maleware if it creeps in again. Question 1 - is a malware a virus and if yes why didn't my anti virus stop it. The only thing I remember is that I had to go into programes and delete Babylon but it's not called Babylon because there are evil people on there who create these things to drive people like me nuts. Question 2 - why do people create such things, for fun, for money what? But I did suceed in getting rid of it. Then I thought I'll give RTE player another go.
Adobe
This seems to be the problem as to why we cannot see RTE anymore (live or programs). I uploaded the adobe from the RTE site, that didn't work. Then I uploaded adobe for firefox and that didn't work. Temporary techi that I am I even uploaded adobe for windows 7. Meanwhile OH who was watching a man movie (brain dead/Tommy Lee Jones/Volcano) and is mightly sick of the PC and me, but he really really wants RTE even tried to help. He's now at the point that if nothing else, not even my email or anything else works he will be happy. He's even now offered me his laptop such is his upset. Another mega discussion, not quite an argument, but he is upset about because he consider that I can do the emails somewhere else and pointed out to me that I won't be able to get Frontline or the news or really upsetting this, Brendan O' Connor so can you guys help on this. My husbands theory is that because we live abroad that now we've firefox, RTE know we're not in Ireland and will not let us see them anymore. Is this possible that he is correct?
Hotmail icon
As outlined I can go into hotmail via firefox and that works brillant. I also a few minutes after opening the PC get an icon for the mail (outline of man and woman symbol), this is the 'old' hotmail that doesn't work and is locked on incoming mail to a few weeks ago. Am I correct in thinking this is the hotmail coming in via the Microsoft browser and can I get rid of it? the icon that is and replace it with a direct icon but via the firefox? This though is not a priority.
The help of AAM
Before I did all of the above I printed out all your instructions from here and while the kids were doing their swimming class I went though the whole thing line by line studying your responses, and making notes, it made me notice that I'd missed certain things and I had to write in what you meant when you used abbreviations but I've learnt a lot. I think that's why I made as much progress as I did. The only real priority I have now is the RTE player. To give some feed back, I do know what the recycle bin is, I'm such a dab hand at that I knew to delete what I'd deleted from there too, so that wasn't a solution for me on RTE.
But thanks to you guys I've made some more progress. But it is very much a stage of two steps forward, one step back.
Firefox
I managed with the links provided above to upload firefox as a browser. Very easy to do, the link to it even had very simple instructions. And then I went into hotmail and my emails came in. Happy days, I was so happy you wouldn't believe it - short lived I hasten to add. But I was there thinking you guys are geniuses and all sorts of wonderful other things about you including the fact that if one were getting married nowadays it might be an idea to check out a man's computer skills. In the old days it was only one's skills with rabbits ears and ability to go on the roof and turn the aerial that was important but we have progressed from that.
Rte Player
Fired up with enthusasim on my success I decided I'd tackle the RTE player (that I'd previously deleted). I think this is where I came undone. Not only had I deleted the player from my programs, I'd also deleted 3 different versions of adobe, I had no idea this adobe programe was linked to RTE. So obvious solution was to get it back. But then something bad happened.
Babylon
At some stage, only a couple of minutes after I'd got firefox I noticed it had changed to babylon, the browser that is. This is something called a malware, - see I'm progressing, all I know is that means Babylon is like a parasite and is very difficult to get rid of. And how do I know this, well I googled it to try and get rid of it, and you'll all be impressed I actually managed to do it. Mind you I was exhausted and megga p---ed off with all this knowledge that I do not need to have in my brain, that will be of no use to me subsequently. I had to get rid of it in two places, including deleting firefox and starting again. Even though I was making notes along the way, I have no idea where now to go back and delete such a maleware if it creeps in again. Question 1 - is a malware a virus and if yes why didn't my anti virus stop it. The only thing I remember is that I had to go into programes and delete Babylon but it's not called Babylon because there are evil people on there who create these things to drive people like me nuts. Question 2 - why do people create such things, for fun, for money what? But I did suceed in getting rid of it. Then I thought I'll give RTE player another go.
Adobe
This seems to be the problem as to why we cannot see RTE anymore (live or programs). I uploaded the adobe from the RTE site, that didn't work. Then I uploaded adobe for firefox and that didn't work. Temporary techi that I am I even uploaded adobe for windows 7. Meanwhile OH who was watching a man movie (brain dead/Tommy Lee Jones/Volcano) and is mightly sick of the PC and me, but he really really wants RTE even tried to help. He's now at the point that if nothing else, not even my email or anything else works he will be happy. He's even now offered me his laptop such is his upset. Another mega discussion, not quite an argument, but he is upset about because he consider that I can do the emails somewhere else and pointed out to me that I won't be able to get Frontline or the news or really upsetting this, Brendan O' Connor so can you guys help on this. My husbands theory is that because we live abroad that now we've firefox, RTE know we're not in Ireland and will not let us see them anymore. Is this possible that he is correct?
Hotmail icon
As outlined I can go into hotmail via firefox and that works brillant. I also a few minutes after opening the PC get an icon for the mail (outline of man and woman symbol), this is the 'old' hotmail that doesn't work and is locked on incoming mail to a few weeks ago. Am I correct in thinking this is the hotmail coming in via the Microsoft browser and can I get rid of it? the icon that is and replace it with a direct icon but via the firefox? This though is not a priority.
The help of AAM
Before I did all of the above I printed out all your instructions from here and while the kids were doing their swimming class I went though the whole thing line by line studying your responses, and making notes, it made me notice that I'd missed certain things and I had to write in what you meant when you used abbreviations but I've learnt a lot. I think that's why I made as much progress as I did. The only real priority I have now is the RTE player. To give some feed back, I do know what the recycle bin is, I'm such a dab hand at that I knew to delete what I'd deleted from there too, so that wasn't a solution for me on RTE.
First point, uploading vs downloading!
Uploading is putting something from your PC onto the web, like sharing a photo on facebook. Downloading is getting something from the web and storing it on your PC, such as flash, adobe, firefox etc. So everytime you mention you uploaded firefox etc. from the web, you actually downloaded it!! Small point but it bugged the crap outta me reading that post ;-)
More to follow.......
Uploading is putting something from your PC onto the web, like sharing a photo on facebook. Downloading is getting something from the web and storing it on your PC, such as flash, adobe, firefox etc. So everytime you mention you uploaded firefox etc. from the web, you actually downloaded it!! Small point but it bugged the crap outta me reading that post ;-)
More to follow.......
Bronte next steps before you start from scratch regarding Firefox. Have you tried these steps to stop it. I have added some explanation to some nerd words so sorry if it sounds like I'm a wee bit condescending.
1. click into the address bar (where askaboutmoney.com is) in Firefox.......Type "about:config"
2. You will get a warning about your warranty .....bypass this.(Click I'll be careful I promise)
3. In the next screen....type......"Babylon" in the Filter window (a search in the config just below the address bar)
4. You are now in the guts of Firefox.....and where Babylon did it's dirty work. You will find about 5 or six places where Babylon shows up.
5. Highlight each of these entries one at a time, right click and pick "reset".
6. When all have been reset.....close the file.
Now test:
Open firefox....type something weird into the address bar.as a test...and your browser should start acting normally and faster.....and BABYLON is GONE
And for WIndows 7
THINK I have solved it via Win7!! Did a search and found a ref: to BABYLON @ c:\programfiles/mozilla/SEARCHPLUGINS/.... LOOK for baylon entry and DELETE!!!
1. click into the address bar (where askaboutmoney.com is) in Firefox.......Type "about:config"
2. You will get a warning about your warranty .....bypass this.(Click I'll be careful I promise)
3. In the next screen....type......"Babylon" in the Filter window (a search in the config just below the address bar)
4. You are now in the guts of Firefox.....and where Babylon did it's dirty work. You will find about 5 or six places where Babylon shows up.
5. Highlight each of these entries one at a time, right click and pick "reset".
6. When all have been reset.....close the file.
Now test:
Open firefox....type something weird into the address bar.as a test...and your browser should start acting normally and faster.....and BABYLON is GONE
And for WIndows 7
THINK I have solved it via Win7!! Did a search and found a ref: to BABYLON @ c:\programfiles/mozilla/SEARCHPLUGINS/.... LOOK for baylon entry and DELETE!!!
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My dear darling other half worked from home today to let the plumber in and he sorted out RTE, something about windows 9. Apparently it was easy for him in the end as he just needed to concentrate on it and didn't want to look at the PC yesterday as he'd had a long day working on it yesterday so happy days. Thanks once again to everyone. My mind is elsewhere today so I cannot think anymore about computers.
OK you know how to install this now, thats good.
Yes you need Adobe (specifically Adobe Flash Player) for this to work. Flash is the player of RTE Player. See here for info on RTE player, including watching abroad: http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/help/faq/
Isnt your anti-virus (McAfee) out of date? Also as said McAfee is rubbish. Sometimes Babylon installs itself by tricking you into installing it when you download something else. If what youre downloading comes bundled with Babylon for some reason, it pre-ticks "install babylon" checkboxes (much like Ryanair's website, where you have to untick stuff in order not to get insurance/car hire etc.)
Both i'd say, Google ads on Babylon maybe.
Now fixed by the plumber
Just use hotmail via Firefox, thats the simplest way to do it. Ignore/delete/uninstall the windows live desktop.
You'll all be glad to know that everything is good with my home PC now.
But I think your advice on a tablet is a good idea.
Could you guys tell me which one you think would suit me? I'll then give it as a hint for my OH for Christmas. He happens to be going to Ireland next week so the name of a good shop with excellent customer service in any city other than Dublin. Cork, Limerick, Galway or Waterford.
And my plumbing problem looks like it's going to cost a lot more than a tablet, a quote of 500 Euro to replace one toilet as it's unfixable due to it's age.
But I think your advice on a tablet is a good idea.
Could you guys tell me which one you think would suit me? I'll then give it as a hint for my OH for Christmas. He happens to be going to Ireland next week so the name of a good shop with excellent customer service in any city other than Dublin. Cork, Limerick, Galway or Waterford.
And my plumbing problem looks like it's going to cost a lot more than a tablet, a quote of 500 Euro to replace one toilet as it's unfixable due to it's age.