Help! I am feeling like I am having a blonde moment.... Ca

Ok, I am working on my mom's computer which is a relatively new dell desktop touch screen, unfortunately I haven't spent much time with it b/c she had our local computer guy "set it up" which meant that I didn't do my normal setup of boot discs, security software with automatic updates and cleaning (something beyond her "norton") which she and I will agree to disagree on. Personally I hate Norton bc it slows down the system and notoriously does not protect your computer as well as people think.... Anyhow, I noticed about a week ago when I was using her computer that her browser was acting like nothing I had ever experienced before... I couldn't even type a website in without it redirecting me, What?!? That was simple enough to diagnosis with a little googling on a different device... So I downloaded my favorite computer clean up freeware tools on my internet, put them on a thumb drive (bc she lives in a more rural area and has really slow internet... ) I was kinda busy so I handed the thumb drive to my mom and told her to install the programs, make sure they were up to date and run scans... And poof problem fixed, or so we thought... Less than a day later when the computer booted up, it seemed normal... But after typing in the password the little dots that spin in a circle on the password page just keep spinning and it never truly boots.. and here is where I feel really dumb, I didn't double check her boot disc that she had... I also am not familiar with windows 8 bc I confess that I got a MacBook Pro in 2011 and haven't looked back... I hated Mac users and all there hoopla about there computers but I owned a small business and was exhausted with running all the security software and still always having a computer meltdown almost weekly ( or so it seemed) I will admit that probably 90% of my computer issues were probably user related bc the computers my employees used crashed quite a bit more than mine bit still... Anyhow, my point is although I was quite versed at computer how tos I am feeling a little lost now, bc I was having problems even getting this machine to the boot in safe mode screen... Seriously? So my guess is that one of the cleaning programs like CCleaner may have accidentally deleted an important registry boot file but I am really not sure... Suggestions? If you need more information I will do my best gathering what I can, but I am grateful to anyone who has some suggestions that can point my in a place to at least start... Thank you in advance

Try running sfc /scannow & Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth in administrator command prompts.

Not at the same time.

I usually run sfc then dism then sfc again.

Hope this helps.

Seriously, it's not worth the time. Get a linux live cd to boot the pc and backup the important data and then perform a clean install of windows. My experience with that kind of troubles is that you spend much more time trying to fix a messed up Windows (with no guarantee of success) than you spend reinstalling everything. Plus even if you get it running again you cannot be sure whether your mom is running an infected system or not.

You're on the right track, from what you said. Norton is worthless as teets on a boar hog. And CCleaner has the ability to completely trash your OS. I tried it twice over a several year period and both times it left me with a PC that would not even boot up.
Thank Goodness I had a Ghost Backup image file on a second HD, that I could call on for a Restore.

I'll never understand, people with NO computer expertise at all, insisting on holding on to absolutely worthless programs. ???
That does not compute!

I'm a professional Computer Tech, but when a customer comes off as knowing more than I do, I just very politely pack up my Service Kit and walk out. It's definitely not worth fighting over.

I just wish I had that computer here. I'm quite sure I could fix it.....it's what I do.

But once things have gone so far as to corrupt the OS and registry, it's just as well to do a Clean Install of the OS and be done with it.

Good Luck!

TechnoMage said:

You're on the right track, from what you said. Norton is worthless as teets on a boar hog. And CCleaner has the ability to completely trash your OS. I tried it twice over a several year period and both times it left me with a PC that would not even boot up.
Thank Goodness I had a Ghost Backup image file on a second HD, that I could call on for a Restore.

I'll never understand, people with NO computer expertise at all, insisting on holding on to absolutely worthless programs. ???
That does not compute!

I'm a professional Computer Tech, but when a customer comes off as knowing more than I do, I just very politely pack up my Service Kit and walk out. It's definitely not worth fighting over.

I just wish I had that computer here. I'm quite sure I could fix it.....it's what I do.

But once things have gone so far as to corrupt the OS and registry, it's just as well to do a Clean Install of the OS and be done with it.

Good Luck!

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Well it's like that with any servicing profession, you should see what happens to plumbers, electricians etc: !!!!!
At young age I used to work as wandering car mechanic and had customers demand "just you change sparkplugs young man, those filters for fuel do nothing anyway" and stuff like that. Everybody "knew" what's wrong but didn't know which end of a socket goes where.

Norton is the first thing I remove on any new machine I hate it, too user heavy and reduces speeds. I use AVG Internet Suite 2014 and it actually BOASTS that the pc is faster than .....

I have used CCleaner a few times with no apparent problem. But to keep my pc running cleaner, I have been using Toolwiz; seems ok. I was a fan of Advanced System Care but became suspicious of too many false positives, and I told them. They failed to provide me with an adequate reply, so I binned it, I had the paid version too!!

I've never had any issues with CCleaner or MalwareBytes. I always install Microsoft Security Essentials on a user's PC when I'm done cleaning up the viruses and malware their AV didn't catch...

I have Ccleaner, sometimes use it, but Malwarebytes is on all the time, I have the pro version. It runs without interference from me, in the background, and never ever has caused a problem. In fact it has spotted quite a few 'bugs' trying to get in and eradicated them effectively. I also have spycatcher, which I run manually about every fortnight.

Have used CCleaner for years across XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Has never caused a problem for me, has helped clear a problem on numerous occasions.

popeye said:

Have used CCleaner for years across XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Has never caused a problem for me, has helped clear a problem on numerous occasions.

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same here for me .

cCleaner is one of the very first ever home pc user utilities back in the day when a 108mb HDD cost a couple of hundred!! I have used it, off and on, since them, without a hitch.

Hi there

Why on earth do people ever use these types of programs --just before making changes simply backup your system (you should do this regularly anyway) then if the change doesn't work then simply restore your image (about 30 mins on a typical system). Always keep the OS and pgms separate from the data so if you restore / re-install Windows then you don't lose your data.

Forget ccleaner, Revo uninstaller or all this other junk that messes around with the registry.

(There's a good set of FREE programs for being able to take backups such as Free Macrium etc).

Cheers
jimbo

to each there own i guess jimbo ,ccleaner has removed registry entries and fixed the issues on computers i work on for family and friends ,many times over the years i have been using it

There are some uses for Ccleaner, for people that do not know too much but it's not to be left to it's own devices, no automatic cleaning, just some targeted cleaning. Advanced System Care and AVG PC Tuneup can be outright dangerous. Those "Miracle Speed-em-uppers" I'm not even going to consider.

Regarding backups, I have never, ever, successfully made a backup and then used it to return a pc to the state at the time of the backup. There is always windows reporting something wrong with it. I have not done one for years, so cant give you an example. BUT, what I do do is that I have a 500GB HDD in a dock by the pc, linked by usb. If I am doing something 'dodgy' or likely to cause a reinstall (whatever reason), I put my images, web stuff, documents etc onto the drive. And my wifes too. My daughter, also on this pc, has her own external drives and keeps all her stuff in those. I just say to her, back it all up, in case.

elbmek said:

Regarding backups, I have never, ever, successfully made a backup and then used it to return a pc to the state at the time of the backup. There is always windows reporting something wrong with it. I have not done one for years, so cant give you an example. BUT, what I do do is that I have a 500GB HDD in a dock by the pc, linked by usb. If I am doing something 'dodgy' or likely to cause a reinstall (whatever reason), I put my images, web stuff, documents etc onto the drive. And my wifes too. My daughter, also on this pc, has her own external drives and keeps all her stuff in those. I just say to her, back it all up, in case.

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Hi there

To make a decent Windows backup do the following :

1) Ensure Windows OS and applications is on it's OWN partition - Shouldn't need to be more than around 60 GB even for a lot of applications installed. Keep your USER DATA (Music, photos, videos, documents, etc) in a DIFFERENT partition or HDD.

2) Whatever backup program you have create a BOOTABLE version and write it to a bootable device (USB stick is the easiest).

3) BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE test the bootable USB you made actually boots and starts your program (Don't do anything else at this stage).


4) Boot Windows back again - This simply checks that the backup program hasn't hosed your system boot.

If step 3 fails you probably have PROTECTED BOOT enabled -- simply disable protected boot (NOT UEFI) and allow Legacy OS's to boot. The backup program will probably ask you if you want to run a UEFI or a standard version - doesn't really matter so long as the thing boots !!!.

5) OK the program is working -- so now boot it up and backup BOTH the "C" drive and the SYSTEM PARTITION (if it exists). Many RESTORES fail because people have forgotten the small system partition as well.

6) Ideally if you have a swappable HDD you could test the RESTORE to this HDD and boot from that. In general though modern versions of Acronis, Macrium etc all work just fine and if they fail to restore there's more likely a basic problem with your set up.

7) After restoring your OS - RE-ENABLE PROTECTED BOOT if you disabled it originally. Remember also that the System partition must be set to ACTIVE (if you only have a C partition then that must be the ACTIVE one). Some of these recovery programs request you to specify partition type - if there's no ACTIVE partition you can't Boot --simple as that. !!!!

8) DO NOT have the OS on a LOGICAL partition (MBR type - older "classic" systems). This will cause NO END OF GRIEF later.

If your OS is on a Logical partition - Back it up as above - but then re-partition the HDD (saving your USER DATA too - simply copy via this File explorer to another HDD) and create a PRIMARY partition for the OS. Restore as before - but it WILL fail initially. Use the Windows recovery media / create a Windows recovery disk - tutorial in the Forum) to REPAIR system. This will fix the boot problem.

Backup is incredibly important so spend time on this until you are happy you can backup and restore your system without any problems. IT IS WORTH THE EFFORT.

For re-partitioning etc - a very useful tool is GPARTED - either download any old Linux Live cd or download the stand alone version.

Cheers
jimbo

thanks for the info jimbo, sounds complicated.

elbmek said:

thanks for the info jimbo, sounds complicated.

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It really does,but after of reading a couple of times through Image your system with free Macrium Solved - Windows 7 Help Forums,it has become my most trusted backup solution.I has indeed worked more than two or three times,with a SSD,it doesnt take more than 10 minutes,it simply works.Done it with Seven,still using it with Eight and while i still tinker with 8.1,i keep an image of it,before any major change.