SOLVED - maybe!

[Lt. Killer M]

My windows explorer stated to act strange this morning. It kept crashing (means no Alt-Tab, no start-bar, then total system lockdown.
I treid Windows updates, no help. Online Virus check (www.symantec.com) pronounces me clean, as does Anti-Vir. I updated Anti-Vir - no I got a complete explorer crash when trying to run it (the loading screen shows, then the system locks down).

Any ideas?

[Lt. Killer M]

btw, this alos locks down the Task Manager - I cna start it (Crtl-Shift-Del), but it doesn#t show but as a system tray icon

[smalltalk]

have you tried starting in save mode?

[Lt. Killer M]

I tried, but save mode without network doesn't allow me to do anything and with network I don't have network either due to our wonderful university

[Lt. Killer M]

btw, I treid installing XP SP2, whcih had to fail (cough cough) due to license number troubles, and since then the system is stable but for AntiVir which still crashes

[Lt. Killer M]

UPDATE: all has been acting fine since removing AntiVir and the stopped install of SP2. I have no idea what it was though

[Socrates]

If SP2 is the 2nd pack for Windows XP, I must say I'm quite pleased with it, as it removes every popup. Now I don't need the CDZ PM popup anymore.

As for the Unis network, I can concur with Killer, as there usually are a lot of outdated machines. But, but... even in Germany ? I thought that France was the only country where updates in technologies, laws, etc... took decades ?

[digger760]

quote:Originally posted by kryszcztov
I thought that France was the only country where updates in technologies, laws, etc... took decades ?

Well if implemenation of Broadband is an example then only now is it affordable (starting from 35Euro/mpnth) in Ireland and only as slowish rates of 512/128 kbps download/upload speeds.

As I understand it most of mainland Europe now consider 1Mbps the basic Broadband start up and over here that would cost over 100 Euro/month.

[digger760]

Further to that...divorce was not legal in Ireland until the mid 90's, condoms were not availible for sale until the 90's either....and many farmers in the midlands areas still consider the tractor as the primary means of transport even in major towns and roadways.

Only last year did we get a motorway that exceeded 12 miles in length (after that we are stuck in traffic jams..tractors included at most towns in ireland)

[akots]

I've had a similar problem when connected DSL 3 weeks ago at home. It tok me 8 hours to find solutions. First, I had to deinstall all DSL software which came from Yahoo (it was required for initiation of DSL and did not install untill I have turned off antivirus and Spybot). Second, I had to switch antivirus software from "budget" variant to "decent" variant since some free antivirus I was using from Computer Ass. was letting all the bad guys in without any attmept to intercept them. So, I downloaded and am happily using Dr.Web which is about $40/year btw. Third, I tried SP2 but it did not work and I had to uninstall it since PC actually stopped normally working. Fourth, checked and doublechecked everything with Spybot and immunized the system. There were some entires which could not be cleaned by Spybot so I had to go to google and clean the parasite manually by Regedit. Fifth, update Zone Alarm firewall and turned all acess off for everything but essential components. Then, I made registry backup, shut down all not-essential components, turned off system restore, and restarted with cleaned registry. It took a few restart attempts but in the end everything works just fine. These things take time and if you catch some flu from some bad site, there is no guarantee Symantec can clean it. Besides it can be just some trojan or other spyware messing the registry like infamous "tvm" parasite.