I think I just got the BLACK screen of death...

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Well, obviously in anticipation of my MacBook later this month, my Windows PC is dropping some pretty big hints that its ready for me to put it to rest.
I rebooted my 2002 HP Pavilion desktop after uninstalling some programs trying to clear some hard drive space. When it booted back up, it gave me a large screen-of-death type notice saying that Hard Drive failure is imminent, and that I must back up all my data and remove my hard disk drive immediately. Obviously, I'm not going to do that, but I will be pretty angry if this thing honestly decides to poop out on me. Ever since the first day I got it (2005, it was originally my brother's) it's given me nothing but trouble. Every time I boot, weatherbug pops up to give me a forecast alert. But, instead of showing me the forecast, the window goes white and stops responding. I get at least 15 "program not responding"s a day. It's absolutely ludacris. Not even MS Office 2003 will work without suddenly ending responsiveness. The only thing I can really do now is surf the web. I don't know if all my programs are corrupt, or if my computer just plain sucks. When my brother bought it a few years ago it was a pretty high-end comp. 80g HDD with 512 RAM. Well, right now I feel like its starting to dig a grave for itself, and I really don't care.
 
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Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz, 160 GB at 7200rpms 4GB ram...iPhone 3G
I know how you feel man. My comp i'm on now is P4 2.4 Ghz 2 GB of ram 60 GB HD ( i have external HD 320Gb and other stuff)... It's about 4 years old now, and I can barely launch 2 apps at the same time without noticing lag. Like I open Photoshop, or Premiere Pro 2.0 or somin like that while my limewire plays, and the song skips beyond belief, I'm pretty sure I have plenty viruses, as currently there is no active anti-virus software on my computer ( haha) BUT ....... My MBP 15" 2.4Ghz, 160GB HD at 7200rpms, which will be attached to a 19" widescreen for dual monitors and so on is being ordered 7 days from now, so I don't really care right now either.
 
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I know how you feel man. My comp i'm on now is P4 2.4 Ghz 2 GB of ram 60 GB HD ( i have external HD 320Gb and other stuff)... It's about 4 years old now, and I can barely launch 2 apps at the same time without noticing lag. Like I open Photoshop, or Premiere Pro 2.0 or somin like that while my limewire plays, and the song skips beyond belief, I'm pretty sure I have plenty viruses, as currently there is no active anti-virus software on my computer ( haha) BUT ....... My MBP 15" 2.4Ghz, 160GB HD at 7200rpms, which will be attached to a 19" widescreen for dual monitors and so on is being ordered 7 days from now, so I don't really care right now either.

Your PC has much better specs than mine. Mine just plain doesn't respond. I'm getting my MacBook a little later on this month but that's not the reason I don't care. I don't care because the computer has given me so many problems that I really don't worry about its well being anymore.
 
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It sounds like you have crazy amounts of spyware on your PCs rather than viruses. I don't really understand how people collect all these weird spyware and viruses on their Windows machines, and then complain about how crappy Microsoft is. Just do what I do. Practice smart browsing, don't install random software from the internet, and use a decent security system (ZoneAlarm and Avast in my case).

I've been doing this for a while now and have been virus and spyware free for over 5 years.
 
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well, in my opinion, it is Microsoft's fault. Even if I do safe-browse, it STILL manages to get into my computer. No matter what I do, it's there! Even when I run a spyware scan and delete all the traces of spyware, there's still more spyware when I scan again! And besides, shouldn't we have the right to be able to go on any site we want? M$oft should have built in security like Mac cocaine!
 
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It sounds like you have crazy amounts of spyware on your PCs rather than viruses. I don't really understand how people collect all these weird spyware and viruses on their Windows machines, and then complain about how crappy Microsoft is. Just do what I do. Practice smart browsing, don't install random software from the internet, and use a decent security system (ZoneAlarm and Avast in my case).

I've been doing this for a while now and have been virus and spyware free for over 5 years.

You're right, but I never blamed it on Microsoft. I do daily spyware/virus scans, and they never find anything. I just don't understand why the Microsoft OSes have not become more secure.
 
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You're right, but I never blamed it on Microsoft. I do daily spyware/virus scans, and they never find anything. I just don't understand why the Microsoft OSes have not become more secure.

I believe Microsoft have to battle between compatibility versus security.
 
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I believe Microsoft have to battle between compatibility versus security.

That's absolutely true.
They can't radically change the framework of the OS just to heighten security.
 
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You're right, but I never blamed it on Microsoft. I do daily spyware/virus scans, and they never find anything. I just don't understand why the Microsoft OSes have not become more secure.
I never said you did blame it on Microsoft :). That was more of a general statement of many of the Mac converts I know (sadly a few of my friends) who switch to Mac based on stupid reasons such as that. I blame Myspace ;D. It's not that Microsoft OSes aren't secure, but that the overwhelming majority of these hackers and virus creators choose to take advantage of the more enticing market, ergo Microsoft. For example, if you had a small town bank and Fort Knox right next to each other, both unguarded free for your perusal, which one would you steal from?

I love both Mac and Windows but each has its own special qualities and I wish more people would recognize that.

I believe Microsoft have to battle between compatibility versus security.
Basically that sums it up. If they totally changed their OSes, Microsoft would ultimately fail.
 
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hey softtack that smart browsing stuff doens't work well at all !!! the average rate of getting a virus on a pc is like 12 seconds, it changes i have heard from person to person.... you can go on the internet and receive a virus WITH NORTON !!! just by being on the internet. sooo the smart browsing thing doesn't work that well. And for the record, it is not a stupid reason because windows is ripe with security issus and possess numerous problems with its software, personally i understand the perspective. I personally have been using macs for maybe 8 years or so.. and i have seen these problems with windows when i have used the software.

-Yankees baby !!!
 
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hey softtack that smart browsing stuff doens't work well at all !!! the average rate of getting a virus on a pc is like 12 seconds, it changes i have heard from person to person.... you can go on the internet and receive a virus WITH NORTON !!! just by being on the internet. sooo the smart browsing thing doesn't work that well. And for the record, it is not a stupid reason because windows is ripe with security issus and possess numerous problems with its software, personally i understand the perspective. I personally have been using macs for maybe 8 years or so.. and i have seen these problems with windows when i have used the software.

-Yankees baby !!!
Umm... okay?

First off, Norton and McAfee are not effective security programs. In fact, they often do more harm than they do good. I really don't see how smart browsing couldn't work. Don't click on ads, be wary of suspicious sites and don't fall for phishing emails, just to scratch the surface. If you don't go to sites with these viruses and spyware, you don't get infected. It's as simple as that.

And a person gets infected with a virus every 12 seconds? I'd really like to see that person using a computer.
 
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imac G3 450MHZ 512 RAM DVD
12 seconds is insane - I haven't had a single problem with spyware or/and viruses for many, many years.. Its all about keeping safe. You wouldn't leave your car door unlocked because it is a statment of all you hard work and savings; its also how you conduct your business.

Its a sad thing when anything is left to die, if that were happening to me and I didn't have anything important on the hardrive, i'd replace the drive then look for hardware faults. If nothing is found I would then start a fresh.

For me there always needs to be a backup system - you never know if you'll need it for 1 hour or 1 month! This is my backup system, away from my main build whichh is having some generic hardware faults. It is from about 2004 and with an AMD 2200+ AthlonXP and 512RAM and runs fine despite a few years ago having some PSU and heat issues.

On the otherhand, I understand if you just want to move on - if its more of a tool to you and you hadn't anything important on there you may feel its time for something brand new.
 
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12 seconds is insane - I haven't had a single problem with spyware or/and viruses for many, many years.. Its all about keeping safe. You wouldn't leave your car door unlocked because it is a statment of all you hard work and savings; its also how you conduct your business.

Its a sad thing when anything is left to die, if that were happening to me and I didn't have anything important on the hardrive, i'd replace the drive then look for hardware faults. If nothing is found I would then start a fresh.

For me there always needs to be a backup system - you never know if you'll need it for 1 hour or 1 month! This is my backup system, away from my main build whichh is having some generic hardware faults. It is from about 2004 and with an AMD 2200+ AthlonXP and 512RAM and runs fine despite a few years ago having some PSU and heat issues.

On the otherhand, I understand if you just want to move on - if its more of a tool to you and you hadn't anything important on there you may feel its time for something brand new.
That's exactly how I feel. Plus if you really hate your old Windows system, buy a new hard drive, throw on a Linux distro and turn it into a file server. That's usually the fate of my old unusable computers.
 
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Recent switcher here- went from a 15-inch dell inspiron 1100 lappie to the 17 iMac- I'm a pro photographer, and the switch has been incredible so far.

The laptop was on death's door just before the mac arrived. I cranked out my last instillation on it, and how I can't see how I operated before. I'll get to the point, though-

You might want to install linux on the old machine before officially laying it to rest. Well, if the hdd is borked, then the hdd is borked- but as miffle said, there's always use to having a backup system. Sure, it's not what you're used to- but it's something, and there are definitely times when something is better than nothing.

I've got all of my old data off of the laptop, and will be installing Ubuntu as soon as I have the time. Actually, I'll be doing that, in addition to installing a linux distro on my iPaq- I'm holding off at the moment so I don't have to learn three new OS's at the same time. The mac interface is so fluid and natural, though, that it's been quite easy.
 
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Have you tried Windows Defender? I can tell you that I used to run AdAware and Spybot scans twice weekly and even though they found and eliminated problems, the damage was never repaired, and spyware always managed to continue infiltrating my system (even with TeaTimer running).

Defender runs nicely in the background, and since installing it, I haven't had any spyware related problems. It also fixed much of the damage done by previous "infections."

I don't even have Adaware or Spybot installed anymore. Defender is that good. Whoever MS bought the tech from really knew what they were doing.

J
 
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Recent switcher here- went from a 15-inch dell inspiron 1100 lappie to the 17 iMac- I'm a pro photographer, and the switch has been incredible so far.

The laptop was on death's door just before the mac arrived. I cranked out my last instillation on it, and how I can't see how I operated before. I'll get to the point, though-

You might want to install linux on the old machine before officially laying it to rest. Well, if the hdd is borked, then the hdd is borked- but as miffle said, there's always use to having a backup system. Sure, it's not what you're used to- but it's something, and there are definitely times when something is better than nothing.

I've got all of my old data off of the laptop, and will be installing Ubuntu as soon as I have the time. Actually, I'll be doing that, in addition to installing a linux distro on my iPaq- I'm holding off at the moment so I don't have to learn three new OS's at the same time. The mac interface is so fluid and natural, though, that it's been quite easy.

I'm in the same situations as you and I WOULD take your advice but I'm just not that kind of user.


UPDATE: Said computer is now refusing to open any program except AIM and FireFox.
 
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I fail to see why that wouldn't be believable... :Confused:

It's pretty hard to know if you entire computer is free of malicious files. One of the most annoying thing about Windows is that when you download or install something it sprays hundreds of random files all over your computer, another reason its so easy to get infected.
 
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I just feel ashamed that I am near 500posts and didn't know the Black screen of Death Existed! :(
 

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