No patience with computer

[Michael Beck]

Anyone recommend a good computer book for dummies. Computer kept giving blue screen errors and would not connect to internet most of the time. Searched internet at work and tried some different things and finally found out a memory card was bad.Replaced and internet worked fine but spent a hour on phone with centurylink last night trying to get email to work. Would not work so I tried again this morning and it worked fine.(Good thing I wrote down what they said to do.) Now when I log on to the forum it works fine but when I log on the emblems beside each post disappear. At the bottom it will say 116 items remaining. Then as each emblem appears by the post it will count down and say done. Is this normal. I do not remember it doing this before. Forgot to mention I restored computer to factory settings before I found out I had a memory read failure. None of what I just posted probably makes sense and I am embarrased I have so little knowledge of computers. Anyway, maybe everything will work now. My patience is getting thin and I feel better now after posting this. Thanks

[Michael Beck]

Just installed updates and it is working fine now Ihave alot to learn.

[Rudi]

Michael:

One of the most overlooked and underemployed tools for the home computer user is an antivirus/preventive maintenance suite and specific software programs to kill unwanted uninvited visitors.

I recommend System Mechanic Professional which in almost 20 years of PC repair/upgrades/custom building I have found to be about the best program available in this area. Outperforms Norton 100 to 1, McAfee 200 to 1 and everything else.. well just not worth the initial cost to purchase. I have been using Iolo for almost 5 years now and will not change. Install, configure (the how to's are really easy) and SMPro will keep an eye on your puter. No, it will not tell you that you have a bad memory chip but -- if you know how much ram you actually have, when SMPro recovers unallocated memory that Windows will not return once used, you will see how much total good ram you have available. If there is a difference simply subtract existing from known max and you can pretty well determine if you have a bad chip. Also Iolo will update regularly to keep your definitions up to date when properly configured. Iolo is one of the few who take care of existing customers and offer a reduced rate .. 20% to renew at least 31 days in advance of expiry or 10% prior to expiry. That is good in my book.

I also recommend Spy-Bot as a must have add-on. Install, run and it will detect any malware on your computer. It is about 95% effective. I use a couple others as well and will post links to them in a bit. Used on a weekly basis, Spy-Bot is really useful. Don't forget to Immunize and to check for updates on a regular -- weekly is good, bi-weekly is acceptable to keep your definitions current.

[Michael Beck]

Thanks for the info Rudi. This computer stuff is all new to me. Until the past few weeks I never realized there was so much information stored on a computer. Took my sons lg neon phone apart this morning to replace power ribbon with no problem.That is what is frustrating to me about a computer. Even if I took it apart and put it back together the problem would not have been fixed. With the wealth of information I have seen on the internet I have no excuses if I do not become more computer literate.

[danovercash]

Rudi, What's your opinion of ESET NOD32, and Webroot spyware?

[Rudi]

Eugene:

I have a few friends who use Esset NOD 32 .. however it is simply an antivirus program. It is not in the same league as Iolo's System Mechanic Pro. It would be similar to Iolo's Anti-Virus but not quite at the same level. A pretty good program though.

WebRoot - I am not that familiar with it. I will load it and give it a spin.