A little lost

[techgranny]

Hello youngsters!
   I have been computing for a little over a year now and have gotten my computer ( a hand me down from my kids) purring like a kitten. It was crashing at every turn when I saved it from the trash heap but with dedication and much help from many I was able to bring it back to life. It's an HP and part of that help came from their awesome website.
   Now i am trying to fix my mother's (techgrandgranny) computer. It's an Acer. The Acer and AOpen sites are lot less user friendly and I have spent weeks now on just one of my problems.
   The problem is that when I click on AOconfig I get a page fault in opencliba.dll. I don't know if this is a hardware or software problem. Software I believe but not sure so that's why I am posting in other. I don't know if it is a BIOS or driver issue, a RAM issue or malware perhaps?
I am completely lost!
   Does anyone know how I can ask Acer/Aopen this question or have the answers I need?
   In other words " Can anyone help a little old lady across the internet highway?

[patio]

Sounds like it is a .dll from the AOpen software itself...
Do a search in Windows Explorer for it's location and post back with the results so we can be sure it is not malware related.
The problem will be re-installing the AOpen software may wipe all your data on that machine and take it back to Day One status.
What is it you need to do using the AOpen utilities ? ?
Perhaps there is another way...

[techgranny]

Wow! I didn't expect such a rapid response. Thank you.
   I'm not really sure what I am supposed to be checking but Opencliba.dll is in the AOpen folder.Is that the answer you were looking for?
   I don't really need to get into the AOconfig I was just frustrated and wanted to get something on this machine fixed. Then you said the M word! I better start from the top.
   I am working on an Acer P2-300 Celeron Model AX6LC Revision 1.XX with 32MB RAM and Win98se. This is when most people say "get a new computer or OS" and they stop listening. Being on a pension, neither is an option for her and at my our ages the philosophy of getting rid of something just because it is old is not one we could support! So, if you are still with me here is what I have done.
   First I updated Windows. Then I cleaned Temp files, Outlook, Add/remove, Startup and the registry. Then I ran Scandisk and defragged. This gained a lot of speed and I was hopeful. So I downloaded Avast but when I tried to update the definitions it had to retry with every package until over two hours later (yes I have dialup) the memory was too full to execute the command. That's when I downloaded Spybot and Superantispyware but when I try to run them they just stop responding. So I tried every on and offline scanner that Major Geeks recommended. If they would run on 98 they just didn't find anything. I know I have been hijacked at least once. What popped up on my screen is not something I am likely to forget soon.
   That's when I decided to turn my attention to something else before I gave the computer flying lessons. So here I am back at the malware issue and I don't know what else to try. And by the way, I am posting from my computer which is clean and protected.
   Well, this is turning into a novel and I am so worn out on the topic that I don't even know what to ask,   except... maybe...HELP!!!
   Thank you for being there so that I could share my woes and feel that there was some Hope for this Computer.  (and me!)

[BC_Programmer]

No need to replace the PC, but adding some memory will help the PC a lot, I'm sure at your age your aware how valuable memory can get 


Most of the anti-spyware applications out today a resource hungry, using fancy graphics skins and so forth (which I don't agree with myself- the app is supposed to clean the PC of infections, not look pretty!)- which is causing issues with your limited RAM.


I ran my old AMD 350Mhz K6-2 with 98SE and 32MB of RAM, and I got by just fine, but I couldn't believe the improvement when I upgraded to 256MB, and after that when I maxed it out to 512MB.


When I had 32MB of RAM, it was at a premium, so in general it';s best ot avoid running more then one or two "heavyweight" application at a time- Word, Excel, Internet Explorer, etc (pretty much any app, really)-

Additionally at the time the PC was not connected to the internet so I was relieved of the burden of a AV solution running in the background- in this case since you are on dial-up and need to connect to access the internet it should be safe for you to disable the background scanner of your antivirus (at least until you upgrade the RAM); as long as you are understandably cautious browsing the web, you should be fine.



failing anything else- I recommend acquiring a Windows 98SE CD, so that you may perform a clean install of your OS- (if we cannot find an alternate solution)- In the extreme case, you could actually go back to windows 95; finding that will be harder then finding a 98SE CD, and both might be equal in price to a RAM upgrade, which would likely allow the PC to run the scans you are trying to run.


Trust me when I say I don't believe a computer can ever go obsolete; after all, the first IBM-PC was touted as being able to run word processors and spreadsheets; today's computers are used to run word processors and spreadsheets with fancy graphics, which is pretty much the difference- how adding a pretty menu or design to the interface makes the previous iteration obsolete seems like a specious claim

Sorry... I have a tendency to ramble about things... 

[techgranny]

   Thanks for the giggle BC_P. I will look into the cost of curing Alzheim HZ disease.
   I completely agree about utilities and feel the same about spouses. If they look pretty and speak many languages but won't work you may as well uninstall them.
   I run only Explorer and systems tray and one app. at a time. I have been trying to run the scan at fileresearchcenter.com to see if something else is running that I don't know about but it seems to be a very busy site and I have had no luck yet. Oh, and I don't have an AV yet.
   In a world where people don't have time to write a whole word, completing a thought may seem like a ramble,  but I don't think so.
   While I am here I may as well ask another question.
   When Internet Explorer is processing the indicator alternates between the globe and a yellow and purple ball. Does anyone have any idea what is going on there?

[patio]

How do you go about un-installing a spouse ? ?
Just curious....

[Broni]

It may be not that easy....

Husband 1.0

Last year a friend of mine upgraded from BoyFriend 1.0 to Husband 1.0 and found that it's a memory hog, leaving very little system resources available for other applications.

She is now noticing that Husband 1.0 is also spawning Child Processors which are further consuming valuable resources. No mention of this particular phenomena was included in the product brochure or the documentation, though other users have informed her that this is to be expected due to the nature of the application.

Not only that, Husband 1.0 installs itself such, that it is always launched at system initialization, where it can monitor all other system activity. She's finding that some applications such as SpendingSpree 2.4, GirlsNight 3.5 and CocktailNight 7.0 are no longer able to run in the system at all, crashing the system when selected (even though they always worked fine before).

During installation, Husband 1.0 provides no option as to the installation of undesired Plug-ins such as MotherInLaw 5.8 and BrotherInLaw Beta release. Also, system performance seems to diminish with each passing day.

Some features she'd like to see in the upcoming Husband 2.0 include:

1. A "Yes I'll cook, clean etc." button.
2. An install shield feature that allows Husband 2.0 be installed with the option to uninstall at anytime without the loss of cache and other system resources.

I myself decided to avoid the headache associated with Husband 1.0 by sticking with BoyFriend 2.0. Even here, however, I found many problems.

Apparently you cannot install BoyFriend 2.0 on top of BoyFriend 1.0; each program begins damaging the other. You must uninstall BoyFriend 1.0 first. Other users say this is a long standing bug that I should have known about. You'd think they would have fixed such a stupid bug by now! To make matters worse, the uninstall program for BoyFriend 1.0 doesn't work very well, leaving undesirable traces of the application in the system.

Another thing--all versions of BoyFriend 1.0 continually popup little annoying messages about the advantages of upgrading to Husband 1.0.

Bug Warning
Husband 1.0 has an undocumented bug. If you try to install Lover 1.1 before uninstalling Husband 1.0, Husband 1.0 will delete MS Clothing allowance files, before doing the uninstall himself.

More applications that won't run with Husband 1.0 include Chippendale 2.0, Netballwatching 3.5, Suremoreshoes 6.0, and Cleanup 4.3.

Applications that run very well with Husband 1.0, however, include Bummingaround 1.0, Pubnight 2.3, Golfing 2.7, Pokernight 5.3, and Wanderingeyes 4.9.

[techgranny]

I do hope the question was just due to curiosity and not a complete systems crash.
How to Uninstall Spouse
   -Before uninstalling Spouse you should check options and settings as well as looking for updates and patches that may fix known bugs.
   -If that does not help, installing Divorce Lawyer 1 is often necessary. Other than Offspring 2.5 this is probably the most resource hungry program you will ever encounter.
   -When asked if you want to remove all of  Spouse’s components  it is often best to click yes even if you lose some documents that took long hours of work to create. You can always create new  (and perhaps even better) ones.
   -Do not try to delete history, just archive it. ( This information may be useful in the future.)
   -Don’t hate the App. because this may prevent you from noticing future versions that may work for you.
   -If you are easily swayed by flashy graphics, installing a firewall may be wise.
   -Finally, always do as much research as you can before installing. Although this is not fool proof , it is often easier than having to uninstall later.

[patio]

 
Nicely Done !
And Welcome to CH !

[techgranny]

   Thank you for the warm welcome and may I say how nice it is to talk with people who understand my sillycon sense of humour.
   There is something that has been puzzling me since I started working on this darn computer and my curiosity has gotten the better of me.
   Here is a picture of the C drive;
Archive       238 MB    45 folders     481 files
My Docu.     3.14MB     5 folders     192 files
Programs   308MB   247 folders  1,612 files
Test           413MB   297 folders  4,670 files
Win98se    203MB     68 folders  1,063 files
Windows   254MB   200 folders  2,485 files
WU Temp   15.2MB      1 folder        16 files
And a couple dozen files ( some of which have 0 bytes? Can I remove these?)
   The contents of “Test” include a complete copy of “Windows” and copies of files in Archive and Program files. This, to me, seems rather redundant and space wasting.
   What is the purpose of “Test” and is it necessary? Could I remove the extra copy of windows without messing something up?
 

[Broni]

How big is your hard drive, and how much of a free space, you have left?
I have no clue what "Test" folder is for.

[techgranny]

It has 3GB hard drive and it has 50% free.

[Broni]

Download, and install PrintFolder: http://no-nonsense-software.com/freeware/
It'll install as an option under right click menu.
Right click on "Test" folder, click "Print folder".
New window will open with the content of "Test" folder.
Make sure "Subfolders" box is checked.
Go File>Save, and save the file to know location.
Attach the file to your next reply.

[techgranny]

  Thank you so much for the link Broni. It was a lot easier than typing out the short list of what is in C! Here is the content of Test.
  I delete the copies of Hearts, Solitaire, FreeCell and Mine Sweeper that were in Test and after fixing the shortcuts they are working just fine. I was just wondering how dependant they were on each other and it would appear that they aren't at all. I'm still baffled!
  I hope this attachment sheds some light on the subject.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Broni]

Hmmmm....it looks like regular Windows folder.
It looks like you have two parallel Windows installations, one in Windows folder, one in Test folder.
Did you buy the computer as a used one?