Ok, so this is my parent's friend's PC.
So at first they just had a problem with their PC acting slower. (Spyware I reckon and what not) So they had this guy who likes to think of himself as a PC guru come over and work on their PC. After about 3-4 times of him going over there and drinking all their beer, there's another problem...
When they go to connect to Netzero, a message pops up saying something along these lines..
"Your modem is being used by another program"
Something along those lines of the modem is already in use. So they called me up because I'm by no means a "PC guru" but I am getting my bachelor's degree in Information Technology, granted I'm only in my first year, but I've built and trouble shooter more then my share fair of PCs.
The first thing I do is put Adware on their PC and boot up into safe mode and run it. There's something like 1200 things that adware picks up. (guess I right about why thier PC was slowing down!) But still the same problem with the modem. Not thinking I didn't bring my spare modem when I went over there (went over there right after a 12 hour shift so don't feel too bad for forgetting it).
Ok, so same issue, it's not an IRQ conflict, all drivers are up to date and it is reading the modem correctly and all that jive. The guy that worked on their PC before put a bunch of crap on it...and I mean a bunch. It's an HP PC so it already comes with a bunch of stuff on it but this guy put a lot of crap on there that I didn't want to touch because first of all, I didn't know what it was and secondly, I didn't know what he did to it and how it interacts with Windows.
Because it's an HP they don't have an OS disc but have the product key for Windows XP Home. I started the recovery process because my reasoning was if the PC could go back to how it was when they took it out of the box they would be able to get back on the internet. They haven't contacted me to let me know if that worked or not, but if it doesn't, what do you all think? I only have two ideas...swapping out their modem for the extra one I have on hand or trying to get my hands on a Windows XP Home CD and doing a clean swipe of the hard drive and do a fresh install of Win XP. If that's what it comes down to, where might I be able to get a Win XP Home CD?
Thanks!
So at first they just had a problem with their PC acting slower. (Spyware I reckon and what not) So they had this guy who likes to think of himself as a PC guru come over and work on their PC. After about 3-4 times of him going over there and drinking all their beer, there's another problem...
When they go to connect to Netzero, a message pops up saying something along these lines..
"Your modem is being used by another program"
Something along those lines of the modem is already in use. So they called me up because I'm by no means a "PC guru" but I am getting my bachelor's degree in Information Technology, granted I'm only in my first year, but I've built and trouble shooter more then my share fair of PCs.
The first thing I do is put Adware on their PC and boot up into safe mode and run it. There's something like 1200 things that adware picks up. (guess I right about why thier PC was slowing down!) But still the same problem with the modem. Not thinking I didn't bring my spare modem when I went over there (went over there right after a 12 hour shift so don't feel too bad for forgetting it).
Ok, so same issue, it's not an IRQ conflict, all drivers are up to date and it is reading the modem correctly and all that jive. The guy that worked on their PC before put a bunch of crap on it...and I mean a bunch. It's an HP PC so it already comes with a bunch of stuff on it but this guy put a lot of crap on there that I didn't want to touch because first of all, I didn't know what it was and secondly, I didn't know what he did to it and how it interacts with Windows.
Because it's an HP they don't have an OS disc but have the product key for Windows XP Home. I started the recovery process because my reasoning was if the PC could go back to how it was when they took it out of the box they would be able to get back on the internet. They haven't contacted me to let me know if that worked or not, but if it doesn't, what do you all think? I only have two ideas...swapping out their modem for the extra one I have on hand or trying to get my hands on a Windows XP Home CD and doing a clean swipe of the hard drive and do a fresh install of Win XP. If that's what it comes down to, where might I be able to get a Win XP Home CD?
Thanks!