comp has gone haywire

[Roro1972]

My comp has been acting really strange for about a 6 weeks.
It makes no difference whether on internet or not.
I can be on this forum read and respond to some post the click to open another post and comp goes to a white screen (nothing visable )
for about 5 minutes then to a black screen the I see a popup window says No security file could be created, while looking at popup I have two choice "x" out or click "ok" in popup
both go back to white screen then black screen the act like its just starting windows and you hear the startup sound comp makes once you hear the startup sound it takes another 80 to 90 seconds to be usable.

also I can just be on desktop clicking and using comp offline and I can click several different theings the I amy click on Hearts to play a card game and the white screen shows up then black then see popup ( no security file could be created )
you must "x" out or "ok" popup then hear startup sound then a minute later comp useable

comp is about 6-7 yrs old Dell dimension e521
I have vista sp2
windows7
firefox
vipre firewall-paid
malwarebytes-paid
wisecare-paid
I have contacted this people and they have asked me to down load software to scan with
Reimage
combofix
Roguekiller and a couple others
ran manual scan (quick/deep ) no one can find any adware, malware, virus
added new stick mem cause I thought it mat be the fix but it did not help
done defrag
scan disk
hardly nothing in start menu

I am just about ready to buy a new comp but not sure which is best buy.

 

[Knotical]

How computer savvy are you, cuz you could easily build your own with the right guidance.

 

[Roro1972]

How computer savvy are you, cuz you could easily build your own with the right guidance.

Thanks, Knotical
I would say compared to some not very savvy, I have in time past added video card added audio card added mem stick
changed power supply so I have been in some machines for minor stuff . I just bought an audio card the other day to change out the one I have now not sure if this machine is worth it. . Last 40 years I have ben installing/servicing/programming telephone ( Electronic/digital )systems worked on fire alarms, burglar alarms, intercoms paging systems. I even have an A+ book and cd just never took time to go thru it. Some things I just dont know about programing a computer but with my back ground Im not to afraid to do try most things.

 

[tim-from-pa]

Yeah, this 8-year-old DELL Inspiron laptop used to have all those kinds of troubles and it was ready for the trash heap until I did something about it. I installed a real and free operating system, not a costly pretend one.

Seriously, no matter what we say to do, in a week it'll be messed up again anyway, then fixed, then messed up again, then fixed..... I don't have that sort of patience or will for that sort of abuse from a computer at my age any longer. I rather have a computer that don't get viruses, incompatibilities, errors, slow-ups and whatnot.

 

[Knotical]

Thanks, Knotical
I would say compared to some not very savvy, I have in time past added video card added audio card added mem stick
changed power supply so I have been in some machines for minor stuff . I just bought an audio card the other day to change out the one I have now not sure if this machine is worth it. . Last 40 years I have ben installing/servicing/programming telephone ( Electronic/digital )systems worked on fire alarms, burglar alarms, intercoms paging systems. I even have an A+ book and cd just never took time to go thru it. Some things I just dont know about programing a computer but with my back ground Im not to afraid to do try most things.

It sounds like you would be able to handle it without a problem. The components come with instructions that are not that hard to follow. You can literally decide, based on your budget, the kind of computer you want. From the monitor all the way to the operating system the choices are only limited by how much money you have to spend.

There are plenty of people here that would certainly be able to help with questions. I personally have built three, and upgraded one computer (one of the three I have built).

 

[th1b.taylor]

Roro,
Listen to Tim, there is nothing, other than Windoze wrong with your computer. I fried my processor by overclocking it, not real smart and my fault. I'm busy dying and bed ridden now so my wife and daughter bought me the latest and greatest with Windoze 8 and it will be another six months or so before the Linux Kernel has the correct drivers for my new A5000 quad core All-In-One processor/chipset. If you can use another unit to download Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desk top and then burn the iso file asan image, it will produce a live DVD for you to test and to install the system... all for free. I recommend v.16 because 17 is just released but it will make your computerrun faster than it did brand new.

God bless my brother.

 

[th1b.taylor]

Roro,
Listen to Tim, there is nothing, other than Windoze wrong with your computer. I fried my processor by overclocking it, not real smart and my fault. I'm busy dying and bed ridden now so my wife and daughter bought me the latest and greatest with Windoze 8 and it will be another six months or so before the Linux Kernel has the correct drivers for my new A5000 quad core All-In-One processor/chipset. If you can use another unit to download Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desk top and then burn the iso file asan image, it will produce a live DVD for you to test and to install the system... all for free. I recommend v.16 because 17 is just released but it will make your computerrun faster than it did brand new.

God bless my brother.

Oh yes, if you take Knotical's advise, all the videos, photos and instructions you need are found by searching Google.

 

[CORE]

I am just about ready to buy a new comp but not sure which is best buy.

Are you're familiar with resetting your computer back to the the original factory defaults?

http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?docid=DSN_362066

This is different from system restore and will erase everything. Only the programs that came with your computer will be reinstalled, so back up any files you want to save. You'll also have to reinstall any programs that didn't come with the computer.

 

[Roro1972]

Thanks guys for the reply, I guess I need to decide which direction I going to take first. I actually like what I have; it worked very well for a long time until recently. I may try to save it if I can.

 

[Knotical]

Yeah, if the hardware is fine then all you really need to do is reinstall your OS, or just wipe your hard drive clean and install a new OS. I don't know much beyond windows, but if you are interested in Linux or Ubuntu there are plenty here that can steer you in the right direction.

 

[Roro1972]

Yeah, if the hardware is fine then all you really need to do is reinstall your OS, or just wipe your hard drive clean and install a new OS. I don't know much beyond windows, but if you are interested in Linux or Ubuntu there are plenty here that can steer you in the right direction.

well naturally I am comfortable with windows from 3.1,xp to now vista. I do not know much about linux I did some reading last night about it. I use word, excel, a lot. So Im not sure what linux offers for replacement of these two. I bought a cheap computer from a friend who runs a small computer store here in town, just as a back up. He said it could do all that my dell can do however when I played with it I found the free programs loaded on it were junk compared to word and excel
even the games on it were no very good. So I am wary of free programs that say their as good as word or excel. I do not have a tv so I do my watching online and download videos from youtube.
If there are compatible word/excel software free I have not used it.

 

[th1b.taylor]

well naturally I am comfortable with windows from 3.1,xp to now vista. I do not know much about linux I did some reading last night about it. I use word, excel, a lot. So Im not sure what linux offers for replacement of these two. I bought a cheap computer from a friend who runs a small computer store here in town, just as a back up. He said it could do all that my dell can do however when I played with it I found the free programs loaded on it were junk compared to word and excel
even the games on it were no very good. So I am wary of free programs that say their as good as word or excel. I do not have a tv so I do my watching online and download videos from youtube.
If there are compatible word/excel software free I have not used it.

Good morning Roro,
Yes, all popular linux systems come with Libre Office, a complete office and it is compatible with MS Office but it is free with the system. I use it extensively and when I deal with somebody tht has not upgraded their MS Office recently I can save and send the file in the native format to their modle of MS Office.

 

[Roro1972]

I would like to ask a couple questions, please.
After reading a bit about Linux I found it is an OS.
Now I have vista ms office 7; Linux will replace
if I understand what I read.
I have ran about 10 test
and scans from 10 software companies none have found a problem
so I am thinking registry, start menu, or bios is what is screwed up
I think Linux will not use these three existing pieces of software
am I right.
And it says no need for firewall, virus, adware, malware is this correct or did
I misunderstand what I read.
would I need ccleaner for Linux
I read if you have usb or cd you can load linux onto the computer then
remove all micro soft and vista from my computer.
I need to buy external hard drive load my files( word, excel, photos,.Jpg's, music, videos to it
also could put Linux on external hard drive; do a clean and sweep of Vista, microsoft then load Linux does this sound right?
thanks.

 

[Lewis]

Taylor you have a quad core ?

 

[CORE]

I read if you have usb or cd you can load linux onto the computer then
remove all micro soft and vista from my computer.
I need to buy external hard drive load my files( word, excel, photos,.Jpg's, music, videos to it
also could put Linux on external hard drive; do a clean and sweep of Vista, microsoft then load Linux does this sound right?
thanks.

Did you try resetting your computer back to the original factory settings yet? Your Dell, like most Dell's should have a recovery partition that is made for these exact situations, regardless if it's Xp, Vista or Win7 It will sweep your computer clean and reinstall Microsoft. If this doesn't work, then it's most likely a hardware problem and it wouldn't matter what operating system you use, whether MS or Linux.

Also, if you do a clean sweep and start adding Linux, you could very well delete the recovery partition. In this case, if you ever wanted to go back to MS, you'd have to use the recovery disks if they came with the computer, or buy them from Dell.

Dell has made it very easy to reset their line of computers compared to other systems that can take hours...Dell's recovery process typically takes less than 15 minutes.

Now...If you want, once you have your system back to an acceptable condition, you can actually have Linux and MS installed on the same computer allowing you to switch back and forth between operating systems. You could also run Linux directly from a CD without even installing anything.(recommended) This will give you an idea if you like the system's platform or not. If you like it, then you could perform a custom install to your specifications.

 

[Lewis]

Yes factory restore is your best bet and if it is not a internal component problem this will fix it 100%.

 

[Roro1972]

Did you try resetting your computer back to the original factory settings yet? Your Dell, like most Dell's should have a recovery partition that is made for these exact situations, regardless if it's Xp, Vista or Win7 It will sweep your computer clean and reinstall Microsoft. If this doesn't work, then it's most likely a hardware problem and it wouldn't matter what operating system you use, whether MS or Linux.

Also, if you do a clean sweep and start adding Linux, you could very well delete the recovery partition. In this case, if you ever wanted to go back to MS, you'd have to use the recovery disks if they came with the computer, or buy them from Dell.

Dell has made it very easy to reset their line of computers compared to other systems that can take hours...Dell's recovery process typically takes less than 15 minutes.

Now...If you want, once you have your system back to an acceptable condition, you can actually have Linux and MS installed on the same computer allowing you to switch back and forth between operating systems. You could also run Linux directly from a CD without even installing anything.(recommended) This will give you an idea if you like the system's platform or not. If you like it, then you could perform a custom install to your specifications.

I do plan to try the reset before going to anything else. I think I need an external hard drive for that too. I have some
files I do not want to lose and I would want them off my computer before the reset, we had a big storm here
yesterday I did not go out. I called walmart they have a seagate 1 tb ex. hard drive I hope to get today. While did not want to go out I done some reading and had those questions. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[th1b.taylor]

I would like to ask a couple questions, please.
After reading a bit about Linux I found it is an OS.
Now I have vista ms office 7; Linux will replace
if I understand what I read.
I have ran about 10 test
and scans from 10 software companies none have found a problem
so I am thinking registry, start menu, or bios is what is screwed up
I think Linux will not use these three existing pieces of software
am I right.
And it says no need for firewall, virus, adware, malware is this correct or did
I misunderstand what I read.
would I need ccleaner for Linux
I read if you have usb or cd you can load linux onto the computer then
remove all micro soft and vista from my computer.
I need to buy external hard drive load my files( word, excel, photos,.Jpg's, music, videos to it
also could put Linux on external hard drive; do a clean and sweep of Vista, microsoft then load Linux does this sound right?
thanks.

If you own the MS Office all you need do is to install the free Wine program after you install Ubuntu, ??Fedora, Mint or one of the other thousand or so versions and your Office will run as if it were native to Linux. Linux does not have a registry to become cluttered, one of the reasons it loads and operates so quickly. When you load Mint or Ubuntu you will be given the option to dual boot with nothing to do but decide, all of the disk to Ubuntu or dual boot. My first two years and the last three I have not run any AV software, it ain't required if you run Linux.

Also, since I know ubuntu and mint the best, there are over 40,000 programs available free and more can be purchased.

 

[th1b.taylor]

Taylor you have a quad core ?

Yes, my old one was a hand built tri-core. Ever since my 56 Merc I've been a freak for speed.

 

[th1b.taylor]

Roro,
Lewis is also right and another thing you should think about is backing your system up on DVD or the 1 Terrabyte external. The first thing I did was to do a System Restore on my new machine. It took four DVDs and I numbered them because the correct order makes a re install much less painful. And then if you were to overwrite the Recovery Partition, no problem. When I dual booted I needed to shrink the partition windoze is on, create two new partitions, one Root and that looks like "/" in the drop down menu. the other is "Swap" and should be about twice the size of your RAM.

Gparted is resident on the Install DVD and is used automatically when you are asked to choose how to install the system. Don't be nervous, you have already backed the system up up DVD and can easily re-install windoze. And you can always choose the simple choice to use the entire disc, install Virtual Box and install your windoze inside the Linux system so that as long as it never is allowed on line, there should never be a virus because the linux becomes the impenetrable firewall. If you choose this option, let us know so we can explain how to use a folder in both systems.