computer help

[lenric]

I am not very computer saavy and have been having some pc problems lately and everything is running all sluggish. All I really have on my pc is DDO, some old college papers, and a few other games...and I don't know why(although its probably a virus or something) that is making everything so slow and lame...My question is...is there a way to restart my computer back to factory settings without the start-up disk that came with the computer? I can't really afford, hell I can barely afford to keep playing ddo, to get a firewall or virus scan or the such and am wondering if it is a virus or something of the sort, will this type of restart even help? If it will can someone tell me how to do this? As a culinary major, I haven't the slightest clue about how to handle a computer...

[flatlyne2001]

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download.../frt/0?prd=aff

And download their free antivirus(yes it's good even yahoo uses it to scan their email).

They also have a spyware system that is free for a bit that I would run.

[Dariuss]

There is also a free program called Ad-Aware that is pretty good.

As Flatlyne suggested - grab a free antivirus scanner and run it so you can at least get rid of anything that's on there.

I would also suggest doing a disk cleanup and disk defragmentation (both should be under accessories > system tools in your start menu)

[Razar]

Something you did not mention, but I will.

Make sure you are booting clean with no other programs running in the background. You do not need Window's Update set on Auto-Update to play this game. You don't need Windows Defender or any AV running while playing this game. You don't need any Auto-update program running from any application while running this game.

You do need a Firewall of some kind running. I currently have two hardware firewalls and a software firewall running while playing. If they are configured correctly, they are virtually transparent to have a fun time while playing.

You need to remember to start your AV before opening Internet explorer.

Some people mentioned to install a AV and scanning your system. Some viruses are AV aware and will prevent AV's from properly installing while the virus is active. Therefore, I would suggest going to McAfee or Norton websites and running their free online scans prior to installing any AV software.

Also, try deleting your temporary Internet files before trying to play the game.

Hope this little bit helps. Some of this may not apply to you because you already did it. But I'm just trying to help. Good Luck!

----------------------------
I just learned how to play horseshoes, but unfortunately the horse keeps whining when I throw him.
(PETA disclaimer: NO real horse has been harmed in this manner, It's fantasy!)

[lenric]

Ok 2 questions...where are the temperary internet files and how do I clean them up. Also where can I set auto-update to "off". I found the defragment thing and will use mcafee's free online scan. I figured I should clean up the internet files prior to running them and defragmenting.

[Dariuss]

Ok 2 questions...where are the temperary internet files and how do I clean them up. Also where can I set auto-update to "off". I found the defragment thing and will use mcafee's free online scan. I figured I should clean up the internet files prior to running them and defragmenting.

I don't remmeber the auto-update thing off the top of my head - although it's probably in the Control Panel...

Yeah there it is... there's an icon in the Control Panel called Auto Update - it wil llet you determine when and how often Updates are checked for (you may need to switch to 'classic view' to easily find it)

Now, for the internet files - go to the Tools menu of your Internet Explorer and Click on Internet options. The General tab has buttons to erase cookies and delete the temp. files.

Hope that helps!

[lenric]

Thank you very much, just cleaned up my files, used mcafees online program and am about to defragment my drive.