[A_erised]

My sons friend ' worked' on his computer in the past. He did things like dump all the bookmarks, deleted microsoft office, power point works word, money etc.

He also had removed all firewalls, spyware, firewalls, etc.

compaq presario
AMD semipron 3000+
2.00 GHz 704 MB RAM

704???? mismatched sticks?

yahoo was updated by the friend, but it tells us all the time encountered problems and must close,and is unable to debug without shutting yahoo down.

Our area fnally got dsl option available so we now connect faster than the 49.2 we had been at for the last two years, prior to that was 26.4 or 24.6 can't recll.

I added zone alarm free firewall.,
Avira Antivirus Personal
SuperAntispyware 4.26.1006

pdffiles do not open but hang... adobe version is I believe 6.0

I would like to fix this so my daughter who will be a high schoool freshman can use this one for herself.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and help you can offer.

I will check back in a bit.

[TOGG]

Adobe 6.0 is hopelessly out of date and insecure (the latest version is 9.01). If you need a pdf reader, have a look at Foxit, it seems to do everything Adobe does without the bloat; http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/ Look out for the toolbar that will be offerred during installation and refuse it if you don't want it.

It seems likely that there are other out of date programs so, if you have Sun Java installed, you could run the Secunia Online Inspector; http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online/ To check if you have Sun Java, go here; http://www.javatester.org/ and click on the box at the top centre of the page. If it is installed and your version is older than Version 6 Update 14, you should uninstall the old versions and get the latest one from here; http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

If you don't have any version of Sun Java, but want to run the Online Inspector (it also tells you if you are missing any Windows Updates), install the latest version from the link above, (the 15.5MB offline version).

I don't know how you can restore the things that have been removed, except that Open Office seems to be a reasonable substitiute for MS Office; http://www.openoffice.org/

[E-7]

To replace the missing software there is a link below to information from Microsoft about ordering service packs, how to locate service packs and telephone numbers for contacting Microsoft about the missing software and how to replace it.

How to replace Microsoft software or hardware, order service packs and product upgrades, and replace product manuals
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246/en-gb

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by A_erised

2.00 GHz 704 MB RAM

704???? mismatched sticks?

64 MB of RAM being used by integrated graphics.

[A_erised]

Thank you all. TOGG I am doing the upgrading.

I had already found open office, and installed it. Not MS but may do.

E-7, I didn't think about that, but I may if my daughter is not happy with Open Office.

Not sure what intergrated graphics are ,RootbeaR, but now at least I know what to look up.

Will check back in tomorrow after done upgrading. It is 11:29pm my time and I am soon off to bed.
..

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by A_erised

Not sure what intergrated graphics are ,RootbeaR, but now at least I know what to look up.

"A graphics processing unit or GPU (also occasionally called visual processing unit or VPU) is a specialized processor that offloads 3D graphics rendering from the microprocessor. It is used in embedded systems, mobile phones, personal computers, workstations, and game consoles. Modern GPUs are very efficient at manipulating computer graphics, and their highly parallel structure makes them more effective than general-purpose CPUs for a range of complex algorithms. In a personal computer, a GPU can be present on a video card, or it can be on the motherboard. More than 90% of new desktop and notebook computers have integrated GPUs, which are usually far less powerful than those on a video card."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_graphics

[A_erised]

RootbeaR, thanks. I had not gotten to there yet. Also explains why graphics vary between our three computers at the same sites.

TOGG, did those in order, then laughed one ofthe thingsthe secunia scan found was a need to update adobe, and did so. I now have two pdf readers. LOL

It also found AIM, which we don't use, A Mozilla concern, which confused me I upgraded that late May. I had bought a newer digital camera to use at my son't wedding. Of course it is concerned about MS... but uploaded what they suggested, and it still has concerns. I believe they come from the MS files not there.

Once I get this ready for my high school bound daughter I will then make a decision about the open office or ordering the missing microsoft.

Will use this as is for a couple of days and see what else I may need to do to it. If anyone has more suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks for everyone's help.
Linda

[TOGG]

You could have problems with two pdf readers if they both think they are the default one because both may try opening each pdf document you access and a conflict may occur which prevents them working properly, or at all! You can only see what happens the next time you reach a site that hosts pdf documents or you could try checking the settings of each program to make sure only one of them is the default one..

If the 'Mozilla concern' refers to the Firefox browser, that was updated in the last few days so, if you last updated it in May, you need to get the latest version, (3.5.1). I'm still grappling with getting my own digital camera pictures onto the computer so I couldn't help with that (luckily my son does know how it works!). Will you be uninstalling the AIM program that Secunia suggested was insecure? If you don't want to upgrade it because you don't use it, getting rid of it should settle its security problems for good!.

Some Microsoft patches have been to fix quite serious exploits so, if you are lacking any 'Critical' patches, you need to collect them as soon as possible. How is the computer normally updated? Does it have Automatic updates enabled or do you go and get the patches every month like I do? If you go to the Windows Updates site and select the 'Custom' option, the site will scan your computer and offer any missing updates.

Personally, I usually only bother with the 'Critical' and some of the 'Important' ones, but you can see for yourself what is on offer, assuming you are still missing some patches.