Let's do the install dance again...

[katrisims]

*peeks in* So yeah, I've been slightly absent lately. Nothing too much up with that, just real life interfering a bit. And there was Easter, and with that, my only chance to keep a bit of vacation this Spring, so I did, and went to visit my parents. After that, I of course needed to catch up with work and stuff again. Right about now I think I'm starting to be somewhat back on schedule again. I've even been able to sim a bit, and I've gotten to the point where Dirk is a child. So that's all good.


But what's not so good is my computer. It's been behaving odd, bluescreening out of nowhere with cryptic error messages that change with every reboot, and then magically fixing itself and starting normally. It first happened a few weeks ago, then all went fine again, and yesterday it did it again. Shortly after the computer again agreed to start, Windows reported to me that I have a known virus. Interestingly, neither my anti-virus software (F-Secure, which I hold to be fairly trustworthy in general) nor the Microsoft tool the computer directed me to was able to find anything.

So just in case Windows was right and I did indeed have a virus, I decided to re-install Windows to be sure I get rid of whatever might lurk there. And even if it wasn't after all a virus, *something* was definitely off, so I'm hoping re-installation will fix it, whatever it is. The other option is, I suppose, that there's a hardware problem, but I hope that doesn't turn out to be the case.

So that's what I'm doing right now, re-installing Windows. And that's fine too, I was hoping to spend the weekend doing something else than re-installing everything and anything, but I'm actually only mildly annoyed. The one thing that I'm worried about here that if I indeed had a virus, it's possible that my external hard drive, which holds my backups, is infected, and the virus will pop back on my computer the minute I plug it in to get my files.

If that's the case, then I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but then I suppose I'll have to try and figure out a way to get my files on the computer without getting any unwanted guests in the process; thank goodness for having computer-savvy friends who'll probably be able to help if needed. At the moment I'm still hoping that maybe my backup drive is in fact clean.


Well, I suppose I can't but fiddle around and hope I can get things fixed. Fingers crossed.

Comments

[esmeiolanthe.livejournal.com]

I suppose you could try scanning each new thing before you reinstall it, but if your virus scans didn't pick up anything the first time around, that might not help. :(


Good luck, Katri! *big hug*

[katrisims.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the problem, though if Windows Defender could pick it up once, I suppose it should pick it up again. I'm planning to scan the external hard drive as the first thing when I plug it in. And it might be that my anti-virus software was a bit out of date (not the virus descriptions but the program itself), we'll see, at least now I'm getting the up-to-date version for sure. And if I don't get things right myself, the next thing will be to ask my computer-savvy friends for help. So at least there are things I can do about this, and I'm hopeful.

Thank you, good luck is much needed and appreciated! *hugs Esme back*

[docnerd.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Hope nothing's wrong and it all goes smoothly!

[katrisims.livejournal.com]

Somewhat ouchy indeed. But thanks! I'm sure this'll get settled one way or another.

As of right now, it seems that the re-install didn't help; the real problem is probably somewhere in the hardware. Well, on the plus side, I now have a fully up-to-date backup, so data loss is unlikely even if the machine fails completely. And also, once again thank goodness for buddies who understand these things. I'll need to ask someone to take a look at it, one way or another this will get fixed.

[biglenny.livejournal.com]

Yikes! Computer viruses are nasty! I hope you'll get your computer fixed soon.

[katrisims.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I hope so too! It's starting to look like whether or not I had a virus, that was not the real issue, since re-installing Windows didn't solve it. My best bet at the moment is that there's a hardware problem somewhere. Luckily I now have a completely up-to-date full backup, so data loss is unlikely even if the machine completely fails. Gotta ask a friend to have a look at it, thank goodness for computer-knowledgeable buddies!