Aftermath of XP upgrade from 98SE

Okay the house didn't burn down. Most things seem to be working but I do need some help on a couple of items. When I go to shut down, my computer used to power off by itself, now I have to hit the power button or it just sits there saying ready to turn off.

Also I had a heck of a time with NAV 2003. Wish I would have uninstalled it and then reinstalled. Had to muck around with editing registry and using their removal tool 3 times! How do you know if it's scanning the system in background? I know it's checking email. The 3 components listed in live update window are
liveupdate,rescuedisk,symevent.

I am also getting messages when I go to websites that my settings prohibit running Active X controls and the page may not be displayed properly. I do dexter/host files. I didn't change any of my settings when I upgraded.

Sorry, one last question, how do you stop XP from hiding things.
It's hiding my NAV. Does that mean it's not running in the background?

Thanks,

Alicia

 

The first issue should be fixable from control panel~power options and a place where you can tell the PC what to do when you do shutdown.

NAV - if it's scanning email you are probably OK but if no one else knows, I'll check when I get home and see what should be running.

Active X - go into the browser and if IE, tools~internet options~advanced and look around. Also make sure you didn't somehow get some sites into the restricted sites section that shouldn't be there.

Hiding things - with the classic desktop (and maybe with the fancy new one as well) if you are talking about things in the system tray hiding from you, right-click on a blank space in that section then make sure the taskbar is not locked and click on the customize button. You should have options for each system tray item to always hide, hide when inactive, never hide.

 

In I.E. I have Download signed Active X as prompt. Even if I enable it still gives me the message. Do I have to do it as an administrater? There is a section for Administrater in this option.
I have run Active X controls and plug ins enabled.

I went into the power options. Do I do something with APM or UPS? I don't have power management turned on should I?

Thanks,
Alicia

 

Definitely enable power management. That may solve the shutdown problem.

If you are referring to "hidden" processes running on the computer, most services are subsumed under the svchost.exe process. Looking at both the Task Manager and the running services will show you what is running ( You'll find NAV running as a service. Its activities are reported in the Event logs.). Exceptions would include software such as keyloggers that show in neither place.

 

Can you tell me what settings to use once power management is on? I had my computer previously set to never turn off monitor or hard drive. I thought perhaps the XP install messed something up in setup, because with these two things set this way when I hit shut down in win98se the monitor and tower turned off.

Where do I find running services. Task manager shows tons of stuff in it! I never had this much stuff running in the background!

I fixed the 'hidden' problem with a right click on task bar etc.

Thanks.

Alicia

 

If you want to know if your antivirus program is scanning things in the background you can download the Eicar antivirus test file. There's four different ones available (different formats) but they all contain the same test string. You can use them to test the various functions of your antivirus. What I mean by this is you can use the zipped one to see if your antivirus detects it within the zip file when you right click on it and choose scan with Norton Antivirus or you can unzip it and try to run the file etc. If I extract the file, I don't even get a chance to run it. My antivirus program complains as soon as it's unzipped. The text one just opens in my brower. I use Etrust and as soon as the text one opens in my browser, Etrust complains about the Eicar test virus being in my temporary internet files. Anyway, when you open them or try to run the file you downloaded, Norton should catch it and give you a warning. It may automatically quarantine the file (depending on how you have things set). It's not a real virus, only a test string. It was created for just this type of thing and I believe that all antivirus programs should detect it. I know Norton does for sure.

 

I forgot about that test thanks. Now if I could sort out my reboot and shut down, and active x issues... You guys have all been so helpful.

 

Try PC Pitstop to resolve the Active X settings. Lots of helpful info there.

Johanna

 

I do fine with their test thanks.

Alicia