IT Guys....the batlight is shining
 

I'm in a bit of a pickle and I'm not sure whats happening or what to do next.


Long story short, I've been downloading a lot of files for a project, most of which are made of 5 file types, one being at html file.

Somewhere along the line last week, I ended up with a virus mutant.exploit.html something or other. Between that, and my antivirus, every html file on my pc, and since I did a morning backup, backup hd were nuked.

I ended up re-installing xp pro.

Now....I'm trying to do my updates, and fix explorer(I use mozilla, but have to use explorer for a couple of web applications).

The updates are downloading(both automatically, and I've manually grabbed them from microsuck) but they're not installing.

I have 111Gig of space available on the C drive.

Any ideas?

All good help appreciated.

I've been having the same problem w/ autoupdate lately.

Best bet is to download SP3 and apply it before anything else. If autoupdate still flakes after that, screw it... proceed with your work until they(M$) gets it resolved.

I've downloaded it manually from the microsoft site, non of the updates will install.


Actually, the virus came in the same day I had previously installed sp3. I spent an hour blaming it before the antiV finally went off.

I'm not a big fan of pc tools any longer.

Its AVG and zone alarm for me now...

For some reason auto-update has a harder time working with IE 6 than it does IE 7. I'm just assuming you're using IE 6. Try downloading 7 and see if it responds better

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...e/default.mspx

I prefer Avast to AVG... give it a try http://avast.com

You can also download them in Firefox by using http://www.windizupdate.com

I've still got the downloads showing up, though I'm not sure the file sizes aren't zero....and nothing as far as updates will install.

I'm still in need of some assistance on that and would appreciate it.


If the initial downloads of the updates are "bad"...is there a way to clear them and re-download the updates and try that?

In Control Panel\Add Remove Programs there is a check box to show updates. Select those for removal then go to http://www.windowsupdate.com to reinstall.

Still nothing.


In other good news, the family PC went blue screen yesterday. I can't get it to boot, even in safe mode. Hopefully we won't lose the photos, but I did at least back them up a month ago.

Oh man. Thanks for the reminder. I need to backup my photos tonight.

Mozy.com is your friend.

Been looking over their site. Do you use that for home or for business or both? We currently back up everything in our office to 2 removable hard drives - but have been considering something like mozy.com for awhile.

What's your experience with them?

I just use it for home. I basically have it set to back up everything in my "My Documents" folder, which includes all of my pictures. You can set it to backup based on file types and a bunch of other things, but I find it easier to just know everything in that folder is saved.

It takes FOREVER to back up the first time if you've got a lot of stuff (I'm at around 8 gigs right now), but the major advantage is that it automatically uploads anything new daily, so I never have to worry about backing anything else up. It also waits until you haven't used your computer for a while to upload anything, so it usually does it while you're not using your PC anyway.

I pay $5/month for the service. I haven't had to use their restore services, but I like the fact that you can have them send you a DVD of everything if you have to.

Overall, I've been very happy with it. Carbonite is also a good option, though it was a bit limited (i.e. overly user friendly) for my taste. I like a little more control over what's going on.

If you're interested, both Carbonite and mozy have free trials of sorts (Carbonite - 14 day, mozy = 2 gig limit), so you can try either out before you buy. Overall, I think either are strong alternatives to having hard-copy backups.

Thanks for the advice. I might give it try on my laptop and see what I think.

I'm still fighitng computers....

Home PC HD died yesterday....hopefully I can get the pics recovered. lost 3 months of a 4 month old's life history.

Laptop....finally got sp 3 installed and my work software, and have a new issue an IT guy will probably laugh at me for questioning.

I have an error telling me to upgrade .net framework v2.0.50727

How do I do that? Is it a simple download and install?

I've lost 3 days of work with this crap.....all help appreciated.