HELP!!cCalling all computer geeks

[moon river]

My computer has been freezing up lately and they want to erase everything on the hard drive. I am completely computer stupid so please help. The don''t recomend backing up everything cause they think a virus could be causing it. If they do this will I still be able to log into PS(this is the only thing I''m worried about

)using my current screen name. Will it take my ''cookies'' away. I don''t even know what they are but I know I need them. When I first found PS I was on my former jobs computer and all of a sudden one day after we''d had trouble with it the cookies weren''t enabled or something and I could never get back in. When I got my PC I rejoined. I don''t want to lose all my PS info and not be able to log in. A couple of weeks ago my screen shifted upside down. My daughter fixed it but it freaked me out. Now I don''t see the ads in the upper right corner. PriceScope explained that one. Somebody, Anybody, HELP!!!!!!!!!!!What can I do?

 

[moon river]

Oh geez, I can''t spell check worth a crap. Two c''s

 

[Kaleigh]

Storm should be able to help you out. I am clueless with computers. Good luck!!!

 

[moon river]

I thought of him immediately! My BF was trying to think of who to ask and I said ''I know, I''ll ask Storm!! He know''s everything!!'' I know there are several computer pros on here so I hoping for an answer. So if ya''ll don''t here from me for awhile I promise I will reincarnate myself and return!!

 

[Kaleigh]

He will help you tomorrow. He has a killer tooth ache and is going to bed. Maybe someone else can help in the mean time??

 

[qtiekiki]

You shouldn''t have any problems logging in if you know your user name and password for PS. The cookies just keep internet pages in temporary files, so you can view them quicker later. PS does require the cookies are enabled to login though. If for some reasons, they disabled your cookies when they reinstall the softwares, then you can always enable cookies again.

For internet explorer,
1. You just click on "Tools".
2. Then click on "Internet Options".
3. Click on "Privacy".
4. Move the slider to select a privacy setting (Medium setting should be good enough to allow you access to PS).

That''s all I know.

 

[moon river]

When it happened before I did all those things and NADA. I don''t know what happened. And YES I called Dell Support in the middle of the night because I lost PS

. That guy walked me through all that(I took notes) and I never could log in until I created a new name. I had only posted a few times so I shouldn''t have worried so much but now I feel I''ve got such a support group of friends here I don''t want to lose that. I realize the Dell guy was probably just reading to me from a manual or something so I''m hoping for an ''expert'' opinion from my PS pals.

 

[qtiekiki]

I don''t know what it is then. I had problems logging in once before, and I did all those things I said and I still couldn''t log in for a couple of days. And then I was able to log in again after that. So maybe it could be a glitch???

DH is a computer guy and he was the one who told me everything that was in the last post. Anyways, Storm will just have to help you tomorrow. Hopefully you won''t even encounter the problem, but it''s good to know what to do if you do.

 

[moon river]

Ask your DH why my screen went upside down by itself. That blew my mind. I was on it at the time and all of a sudden BAM!!Flip flopped. I shut the computer down(try moving a mouse around upside down

) and my daughter fixed when she got home from school. Man, outsmarted by a 14 year old is so uncool.

 

[Waited2Long]

Whoa, I'm still stuck on your first post. You want to erase your hard drive? That's a BIG one. Forget cookies. You will have to reinstall your operating system (Windows I assume, since it's a Dell) and every single other program that is on there now, including your browser. You will lose every file you've created (daughter's schoolwork?). It would take hours. For some folks who have a lot of stuff, it would take days. Slow performance could be a number of things and is most likely fixable with less drastic measures.

 

[strmrdr]

ok first things first....
What anti-virus program are your running and is it up to date?

Go here:
housecall.antivirus.com and run the free scan.

What does it show?

You had a currupted cookie which is why you couldnt log in.
With a fresh install you should be able to log in with your current username and password.
before doing it look around and save anything you think you might want to floppy or burn a cd if you have one.
who ever is telling you to save nothing is a moron.
Who is telling you this?
It might be worth the $50-$100 to have a pro look at it.
Dell support for software issues is useless.

 

[strmrdr]

some things that need to be checked before reinstalling:
read event long on 2000 or xp for clues on what is locking up
overheating/fan check
clean out dust
memery test
hard drive tests
windows update

 

[moon river]

Waited2long, they want me to erase it not me. I am horrified. They think a virus could be in one of our files, thus not wanting to put them back on the hardrive.
Storm, a corrupted cookie? I learn more and more each day. Will try the anitvirus. I''ll wait and let BF do it.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Do you back up your harddrive on a regular basis? If so, then you''ll have all your documents, preferences, libraries, etc. saved on a separate media and it shouldn''t take hours to back it up a final time to ensure you have everything.

I also recent had to reformat my hard drive after a bad software issue occurred and I could no longer print or use my DVD-drive. After the reformat and reinstall of my OS, I was able to proceed without any problems...

Here''s a question for strm and others (I own a MAC so I don''t know if Windows does this), can Windows operate an archive and install option for the OS? MAC does this where it will archive everything on my computer, reinstall the OS and then put everything back, so I don''t have to reinstall all my software. If Windows has this option, then that''s great news for you Moon as you won''t have to reinstall all your software!!!

 

[strmrdr]

nope winblows dont have anything like that....

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Date: 4/2/2006 6:34:12 PM
Author: strmrdr
nope winblows dont have anything like that....

Hmmmm.....that''s too bad....that makes a software reinstall so much easier!!!