Where to Start

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum. As you can see by my user name (home user) I do not have an office tech support team to solve what are probably simple problems. In most cases it will be necessary to walk me through. I have a number of problems. Some may be related and some may not. First, is there a patch to make the current Outlook Express reconize my spell checker in Office 97 suite products? As you will see I need this badly. Now to problems. I may have received a virus from an attachment. Symptoms: Computer does not reconize MS Word, when I try to open word either from an email attachment or the desktop shortcut the computer opens Excel, after reinstalling Office 97 I get into word for a few seconds and then it shuts down. Attempted remidies: I bought the most recent version of Norton. while installing the instructions told me not to install if I thought I had a virus but not how to check, So, of course I did a full installation (dumb but consistant), well norton did not run (surprise) so I uninstalled it, (bigger mistake). Along with the norton components the uninstaller got windows version of go back (bad) and access to menia player and whatever else that I haven't found yet. Does anyone have ideas on how to deal with this?

 

We need to know what version of Windows and Internet Explorer you are using. Fixes vary accordingly.
However one of the first things you might want to do is settle the issue of whether you have a virus. I assume you still can access the Internet, so go to http://housecall.antivirus.com/ and run the scan. Tell us what happened.
How long have you had your PC? If not too long, a reformat and reinstallation of everything might be a good way to wipe the slate completely clean. However, you will have to reinstall all programs and hardware. That take time, but so will diagnosis and fixes for your problems. But you can cross that bridge when you come to it.

P.S. I am going to mention one fix now since it is time dependent. If you are running WIN98 and have had ScanRegistry running at Startup you can try Start|Shut down|check Restart in MS-Dos Mode|click OK. When you get to a DOS prompt type scanreg /restore, click Enter. You will be offered a choice of five dates to restore your PC (more or less) to the shape it was in just prior to the last five times or days (which ever is longer in time) you booted up. Chose one date you think predated all the problems. If the five days have passed, if you do not have Win98, or if you do not run ScanRegistry, it won't work. (But it won't hurt to try, either.)

 

Thanks Jim,

Sorry about not including the necessary items. I am running a p4 1.6 processer, 256 ram, Wondows XP Professional and Outlook Express 6. My computer is about 6 months old. On my way to housecall right now.

Thanks,
Charles

 

home user--Look forward to hearing what your virus scan shows. However, my expertise is zero concerning Win XP. I believe you have something similar to scanreg /restore, but do not know what it is or how you use it. (I think it is called "something" Restore.)
If you have a Help button look into it. And if your PC is still under free tech service, phone them. (I suspect they will tell you to reformat!!!)
I know someone expert in WinXP will respond with your additional input!!
Good luck!!

 

I'll tell you where to start! The best way to start with XP is to format you disk and start over with win2K, and less expensive and more efficient OS. win2K is just plain better than XP.

 

Why not try System Restore in XP. Go to your start menu, help and support and choose system restore. You'll be prompted on exactly what to do. If this doesn't work for you and your computer is only 6 months new you might want to reinstall XP. tw

 

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the help. "house call" was the answer. It found the KLEZH Worm which I deleted and another file that it cleaned. After that I reloaded Office 97 and Word works fine. I reloaded Norton 2002 and not only does it work fine it also brought back the missing files for Media player and system restore. My system is fine now.

Thanks for the help

Charles

 

home user--Thanks for posting back. It is always good to learn that a suggestion worked! Glad you did not have to reformat!!
Be sure you have your Norton Anti-virus set to run at start-up (Auto-protect). (It should show a little icon in your System Tray next to the clock.) Also, do not open email from people you do not know, and do not run attachments unless you have scanned with Norton!!

 

I only just saw this one. I recently installed Norton Anti Virus 2003. In the installation instructions, it recommended going to a web site, and downloading software to check for worms before installing.

I have been on XP for about 3 months after a reformat, and very careful with downloads, but I still had a virus. (Kids?)

Did you not have this instruction in your NAV installation instructions.

I also support the principle of a reformat when there is a significant hiccup. It's a pain, but often the performance is much better after lots of junk is cleared out. I learnt this after spending days trying to recover, a reformat is overall faster and more productive.

RJ