Computer Registry Problem

[Russell Cissell 65]

I have been having spyware issues on one of the PC's that I use to access the Internet. One of the pop ups that I get warns of possible computer registry problems and asks if I would like to run a free scan of the computers hard drive.

I always ignore this pop up and click the X to close the window.

Today I was going through my e-mail from this same computer. I opened an e-mail that I thought was from a contractor. The e-mail did not open and my computer began emiting a steady tone from the CPU (not the speakers). The computer appeared to be locked up. I hit Esc several times and then CTL, ALT, Delete and noting happened. The tone continued.

I did a hard boot to force the computer to re start. When it restarted the desktop was different. When it tried to load the office suite it gave an error saying this program may not be compatible with this version of windows. I clicked OK, next error was that the registry for this program may have been corrupted. It says to reinstall the program.

Looking around, there are some other things that look a little funny. I am not computer Guru so anything else I say would just be guessing.

My question is this:

If I reinstall a data base program because the registry was corrupted will I be able to recover the data that was in the data base?

[Dave O 15]

Will it let you back up your system? This has happened here also on certain notebooks.

[Russell Cissell 65]

Dave-

This is going to sound bad, feel free to have yourself a good laugh.

I have little notes with step by step instructions on how I am supposed to back up each program that I use. I wouldn't know how to do a system back up.

This is not exactly a work computer so if everything is lost it is not the end of the world. The information is still on the main system. I will just have them come in and reinstall and restore the information. The problem is that well. . .this is not exactly a work computer! I hate to pay someone come fix it if I don't have to.

Thanks

[Dave O 15]

What program are you running? Something like Windows Xp or something different?

XP has a system restore that will restore your sytem back to a certain day. Or do you have your own databases? Beth seems very smart on this issue from what I have read, may ask her when she not so busy LOL

[Russell Cissell 65]

Dave

Thank you for your help. I would give Beth a call but I think she is taking a family day at the beach.

Please forgive me, there was a time when I could fix my own computer. Do you remember DOS?

Next stupid question. How do I determine which version of windows I am running?

Thanks!

[RyanH 14]

This is like closing the barn door after the horse has wandered off, but this sounds like a good time to push a program like Norton Ghost or similar drive imaging software. Ghost saved my butt last week and saved me about 20 hours of wasted time. It makes an exact copy of your hard drive and compresses it to a file. You can back up from it in events such as this.

Most likely, even restoring your system by reinstalling Windows or your peripheral software will not eradicate the cause of your problems. The buggier these new viruses and spyware get, the more often I am willing to just reformat and start all over. Having to do that several times has made me pursue the imaging and backup options I mentioned above.

[PLD 14]

What type of database?

[seymore 90]

This is like closing the barn door after the horse has wandered off, but this sounds like a good time to push a program like Norton Ghost or similar drive imaging software.

I use Ghost also and it's a great program :cool:

I've tried using Windows XP rollback feature and it never wants to work damm Bill Gates.

If you uninstall the program and then reinstall it that should fix your registry problem

[seymore 90]

Next stupid question. How do I determine which version of windows I am running?

Thanks!

If you right click on the my computer icon > properties and you'll see the general tab that shows your operating windows you are running.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Hey Tony,

Got any ideas on this?

Rod~

[mikew 14]

Hey Russell,

I had major virus/spyware problems earlier this year on my PC. I found this site and followed their recommendations and my PC is now clean and locked down from future attacks.

Here is the site: www.help2go.com

Before posting questions they want you to read this: http://www.help2go.com/postt9709.html&sid=b2f331af133a619dd5d1c9185824e386

The link above refers you to do these steps. I followed the steps here and it cleaned my PC: http://www.help2go.com/article217.html

I'm not an expert on this by any means. Use this suggestion at your own risk!

Hope this helps.

Mike