Madmanmcp

Ouch, sounds like the new virus that enters thru port 4000 on PC's running BlackIce products. It sends out 20000 emails and then turns its attention to the hard drive, overwriting random files. In time after it corrupts enough of the operating system the computer crashes and is unbootable and useless. Good luck with this one.

Hi Neighbor, before setting up a network there are lots of questions to be asked and answered. The place I send for who what to read about it is here. www.practicallynetworked.com/networking/ Some of the main issues you need to think about are cost, security, operating systems. I would like to steer you toward a wireless network but am afraid to because of the possible security issues involved. You said an "Embassy" and I have a pretty good idea security WILL be a driving force. And being in the middle of the Spy Capital of the world, wireless would be too easy to tap into...unless you really know what you are doing. So I would say go with a wired Network. Cost is hard to figure without knowing other pieces to the network puzzle, one of those would be the number of PC's, whether you will expand later and the distances between these PC's. The longer the distance the longer the cable and the higher the price. Sharing the internet and printer and files is simple and sharing programs is the difficult and expensive part. You either buy stand alone software packages for each PC or buy a Lan version or site license which is more expensive. I would suggest separate packages. With the Lan version you install on the "server" and each PC on the network can have access to it, bad point about this is the speed is a little slower loading. Operating System, I would recommend Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro or a combination of these. These will give you all the networking cababilities you need plus all the security.

Thanks Bruce, I was just thinking about adding that and found you had beat me too it.

The days of getting a virus from floppy disks is long gone and is probably a wild goose chase. Most all the virus's now are delivered by email or the internet. I would not totally forget about the disks for they could be a suspect, but I would not fly off and accuse someone until you had concrete proof. Well I personally use McAfee, I was a beta tester back in the early 90's when it was free and have just stayed with them. But any one of the major ones will do, some folks here have recommended the free AVG program. Well this will limit your options if you do not already have these programs. You may have to purchase one at a store. Do you have another computer or a friend or relative that can help? You need to have the computer scanned and cleaned.

Beth, not sure what you are seeing or what you can or cannot do, or what you have to help here. But here is a list of what you need and what you need to do. You need: Virus Scanning software Adaware SpyBot Now disconnect your computer from the Internet, this prevents anything from coming to you while you are trying to fix things. Reboot your computer into Safemode. This prevents anything but the basic operating system from loading. Run the above three programs to get rid of anything that maybe infecting your computer. Reconnect the internet connection and reboot the computer. Your first stop should be the Windows Update web site and begin downloading and installing the updates (if there are any). See how this works and let us know.

I would suspect a virus/trojan/malware type program. With the "VB" in the beginning of the filename I would say its a Visual Basic program and the "system35" is very close to system32. This type of naming is used to make it appear that it is a valid Operating system file. My suggestion (what I usually do) is to rename the file and reboot. I will rename a file and put and underbar in the extention, vbsystem35.ex_. If you reboot and have problems you can always rename it back and reboot and be back where you started. If things go well and you determine the file is not needed you can come back and delete it later. This may not clear the error message. You will probably need to remove it from the registry or from startup.

Well knowing computers I know you'll be back There are probably two ways to fix this: Easy way...fix/replace the boot.ini Hard way...fix/replace the boot.ini

welllll, yes simple things "can" cause complex problems What it sounds like here is that you have a corrupted file, the "boot.ini" which is used to tell the computer what drive or partition to use as the boot drive. This file is a very simple text file (haha, I use simple loosly here since it is not easy to understand if read) and is read first by the computer to tell it where to go.

If they cannot boot from the recovery CD and continue to get this error, they will probably have to change the "boot order". You need to enter system setup and make sure it boots to the CD first and the hard drive second. Usually when the system is starting up it tells you what key to hit to get into this area.

Hey mike, good job and glad you got it up. Microsoft is a bear sometimes (well most of the time) and no matter what you do it just won't seem to work. I've gone as far as formating the hard drive to get it to work only to fail...then one minor change like manually entering the IP and bingo, it starts working. Go figure. Next time it will be different

well we are running out of things here. Is this "onboard" network connection or a separate nic card. If separate do you have a replacement you could try?

Ok, can you access the router? depening on the router you can access its setup program by entering the IP in a web browser. 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1 for instance.

Other things to check Check your Workgroup name: Control Panel and doubleclick on System Click on the Computer Name tab make sure your correct Workgroup is listed in there. If not click the change button to correct it. Check the network card: aslo under System above: click on the Hardware tab click on th Device Manager button click the "+" next to Network adapters and expand the list right click on your network cardand select properties make sure it says "This device is working properly."

Lets check a few things first, maybe the firewall turned on the XP firewall and that whats blocking everything. Start Control Panel and Doubleclick on Network Connections, in here highlight your Local Area Connection, right click and select Properties. click on the Advanced tab and see if the checkbox for Internet Connection Firewall is checked. If it is remove it and OK out. Then reboot and see if you can access the internet or see your network. Now while in the Network Connection area what was listed in there? Is there more than one connection listed?

Any progress over there mike?

I am a bit confused on how you have your network setup to work. Normally everything in your network will be connected to the Router and the router will be the one controlling the DHCP. The cable modem is connected to the WAN port of the router and all PC's connected to the router will then have internet access. If you have your "main" PC as you call it configured to be the DHCP this maybe one of your problems. The router should do this and you have a conflict.

Try this if all other suggestions fail... Sounds like you are getting help from different places and trying several different things. Getting the network up correctly is one of the most frustrating experiences at times and sometimes it best to step aside and take a break and come back with a fresh look. In the course of troubleshooting things get way out of sync and you get confused on where you are and what you did to get there and where you were when you first started. After getting into these "rock and a hard place" positions what I do is start from a clean slate. I take a look at the other working computers and make notes on the way the working computers are set up. I note the workgroup name, the IP's and the protocols being used. The DNS's and gateways, sub-net masks and computer name. I then remove it from the network. I'll uninstall the network card and remove the networking software and be sure to reboot to a stand alone PC. Then I start adding back the network from the beginning. I'll put the card back in and install the software. Once its started you should get to the Networking Wizard which will ask a series of questions. With a simple home network this is usually all thats needed. Windows XP is very good at detecting an setting up home networks and if you're lucky this will be all thats needed. This is just a suggestion and something I've done thats worked (sometimes). But I am a certified Network Admin, I went to school and passed exams and have done this many times so it does bother me and I can do it in my sleep. If you don't feel comfortable don't try it .

Memory is sometimes shared with the video. I wouldn't worry about it.

Norton Ghost: http://www.atomicpark.com/productDetail.as...=17328&refId=12 http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/

I'm not putting blame on one program or the other Mike, just explaining why I was restoring the system instead of configuring the router or the firewall. If any program is at fault its Microsoft . Based on the info supplied "I" thought it best to go back to the starting point because of the new errors encountered and then go forward. There were probably some conflicts between the two antivirus programs and they possibly had a shared .dll. When the new one was removed it took away that shared .dll causing the error. A restore would correct this. A restore would also correct the connection problem more than likely. At this point I don't know why he could not connect since the firewall was removed, blockage should have been removed and access to the internet and the network should have been restored. Guess I'll wait to see what the other Mike has for us later.

Yes, at first I was going to suggest he configure it to allow access but he said he had uninstalled the program and was coming up with another error. Without the program running he couldn't configure it. I took the easier route and was going to get the system back to where he was before the install. Then we could suggest he start over and this time configue it correctly

Mike, XP comes with a System Restore that you can use to restore your computer back to a point before the install. Click on START Click on PROGRAMS Click on ACCESSORIES Click on SYSTEM TOOLS Click on SYSTEM RESTORE select the restore to a previous point from the calander select a day or restore point that was before you installed See if that gets you back up on the Internet

There is probably an Option that TCH can set which will reorder the notes and display the most current note on the top and work backwards down the list. Now most folks don't like this since you will have to read backwards in the "thread" to find the note you left off on and then read UPwards. The current format is easier IMHO.

Recommending computer equipment is always a difficult task, especially when its long distance and is based on a couple lines of text. Something is always lost in the discription or interpretation. What I usually ask folks is what is their price range since this will usually limit what and how much you will be able to get. There are inexpensive laptops out there that may suffice, or there are high end high price systems which may do more than you need. I tend to recommend systems just a little over what the user wants cause thats what they usually want anyway . Most Laptops out there are going to be able to do what you want, with few modifications. I agree with schussat that you need a lot of memory and 512MB will probably not come unless you request it. Get the highest Processor speed you can find, it will be needed for photo editing. Now one of my questions will be about the use of a printer and a scanner...what exactly are your plans for their use? The reason I ask is because I have a feeling you are asking for them because thats what you had used previously to do your "job" and its very possible that they are no longer necessary. If the scanner is to be used to scan in the photos you take so you can edit them, then this is no longer needed. You can purchase a Digital camera and download the photos straight the Laptop and and get pefect images. If the printer was to print these pictures to be scanned than its purpose is also negated. You mention Internet access...thats a tough one and something you will need to decide. To make sure you can at least connect the Laptop will already be setup with a modem and an Ethernet connector (maybe wireless), your job will be to have an ISP that will allow you to connect from multiple places, dialup for example.

How about adding helpserv so the old folks like me with poor memory can pull up the commands while online.