DavidR:
Your reply has me in tears.
It is a very long story, but I have a Dell Pentium III that I bought from a company four years ago that was selling their older pcs. The Win2K CD that was in the CD-ROM (I don’t have the ability to write to CDs) seems to be a mystery to the two people who have looked at it, meaning that they are not sure if or how to use it for reinstalling Windows 2000. I sure don’t know how to use it for that.
I have a dial-up connection—anything I do takes a looonnnggg time. (I am giving this background info to explain that in addition to having limited computer expertise, I have a “limited” system.)
I could probably call up a command window (I’m thinking that this is the same as the Run box, but instead it comes up as a black-background popup window, so to speak??, but wouldn’t that just give a list of all the files (I’m just guessing that from the name of the command), which is what is wanted, right? Why would a Windows 2K CD be needed for that?
But what I am most in tears over is that there’s another avast update, and the only way to obtain it is to go through the time-consuming trauma of uninstalling and reinstalling, . . .
I have spent the entire year trying to recover and protect from malware. I have spent an inordinate amount of time learning what I could about each virus and spyware program to be able to use them. Everyone of them has had some kind of problem that has extended my effort into weeks. In addition, many of the Microsoft and Windows updates are not installing, I have issues with my Office program, I need to uninstall and install AdAware, which I will only be able to do after slogging through their forum and getting the specifics, I have printer issues, . . . These are only the highlights.
I spent weeks dealing with avast and Spybot, etc. And now avast has to be uninstalled and reinstalled!!!!!!!!!
I am in desperate need of a job, and that needs to be my priority. But to handle that, I need the computer to be working relatively problem-free, not only because I need it to aid in the finding of a job, but once I get a job, I will not have much time at all to deal with unending pc issues that entail constant uninstalling and reinstalling and seeking answers. I explain again that I am just a person trying to have a computer that works well and is safe. I don’t have the time or wherewithal for the computer to be the top priority of my life.
Did I mention that I don’t have flashdrives because I can’t afford them, and thus, I don’t have a viable means of doing backups? I haven’t even had a chance to use floppies to back up my document files.
Can you tell me if it is really necessary to have the avast update? And why isn’t it possible to run an update without uninstalling the current version? And how often will updates be arriving?
As you say, the VRDB iball icon not always appearing in the system tray and necessitating a copying of it’s file path’s name into the Run box and a restart is relatively minor (I guess, . . but what if it were needed on the spot, and it could only be gotten at by a restart if it were one of those “not there” times?).
I have at most one more week to finish all that I must do on the computer. I was already pressured and panicked. Now I find out that I also have to deal with avast again or I won’t have a safe antivirus program?
I despair.
Please know that I realize you are only trying to help—I greatly appreciate it—and that you’re giving me good advice. But the things that have to be done to get a “credible, working pc” are beyond the pale for a non-computer wiz. How are people who don’t have the proficiency or time able to keep up?
Thank you.
P.S. Will this post/thread be here indefinitely? I ask because of the links you’ve supplied that could be needed eventually.
