New to XP - 2 small questions - Please help

[Rich]

There must be some way to get rid of how many messages
whoever signed onto AOL last has on the user screen when
you want to switch users. Can someone please let me know
how. Also, I bought this brand new computer, with next
to nothing on it, Compaq Presario, Pentium 4, 2.66 Ghz,
448 MB of Ram, and an 80GB hard drive. Im trying to say,
this should probably be very quick, and it is, I just
don't know why "SOMETIMES ONLY" it hangs up on shut
down. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
Sometimes, it shuts down fine, but other times it takes
forever to shut down, it just goes to the screen saying
Windows is shutting down and takes about seriously more
than a full minute, while other times, it shuts down in 5
seconds or so.

Thanks in advance.
Rich

 

[dana]

Sounds like an AOL problem.
They are nice; give them a call.

 

[Roger]

-----Original Message-----
There must be some way to get rid of how many messages
whoever signed onto AOL last has on the user screen when
you want to switch users. Can someone please let me know
how. Also, I bought this brand new computer, with next
to nothing on it, Compaq Presario, Pentium 4, 2.66 Ghz,
448 MB of Ram, and an 80GB hard drive. Im trying to say,
this should probably be very quick, and it is, I just
don't know why "SOMETIMES ONLY" it hangs up on shut
down. Is there anything I can do to fix this?
Sometimes, it shuts down fine, but other times it takes
forever to shut down, it just goes to the screen saying
Windows is shutting down and takes about seriously more
than a full minute, while other times, it shuts down in 5
seconds or so.

Thanks in advance.
Rich
.
Quite often when a computer hangs up on shutdown it is

a driver problem. Are all your device drivers current?
Mine had this problem running a logitec quick cam on
Windows 98. After uninstalling the camera driver the
system shut down without any troubles.
When I upgraded to XP the problem was totally resolved.
Check your drivers, Be sure they're all current fot
vid,sound,lan, and camera and whatever else you might be
running

 

[Daniel B]

I bought a Compaq Presario also (but have a lower model than yours, less ram
and only 2.5 Ghz cpu). Anyway, you might want to check for virus. Because
when I fired up my new PC, I went thru the registration "online" with
Compaq, but guess what, it caught the w32.welchia.worm virus (I didn't know
at the time).

The virus caused to PC to "slow down" at times, sporadically. The Virus was
later detected after I installed Norton AV 2003 but could not kill it
(because it was also locked in memory). Three potential locations of where
the virus may be hidden.

First, it created a sub-directory... c:\windows\system32\win (two viral
files -- DLLhost.exe and SvcHost.exe). Also, it created a couple of keys in
the Registry.

Go to Google, search for "DLLhost.exe", to download the FixTool from
Symantec site. But before you run the FixTool to kill the virus, be sure to
"turn off" the System Restore feature of XP.

To turn off the System Restore (note, you must login with Administrator
privileges, such as Owner or Administrator, or User Acct with the admin
rights). Open Control Panel, click System, at the System Restore tab,
(check) turn off System Restore, reboot.

To manually kill the virus in memory, open the Task Manager (Cntl-Alt-Del),
highlight DLLhost.exe, click End-Process. Then go to the sub-folder
"...windows\system32\wins " highlight those two files, click Delete (be sure
to empty your trash can). As for the registry keys, you can open MsConfig
to the Startup tab to uncheck the items (if they exist). If you want to
play it safe, download the FixTool and let it scan automatically. One
important note, activate the XP's firewall.

I think in the future, whether it's Compaq or other OEM makers, they should
not instruct the User to register online immediately as part of the PC
initialization phase. Or, they should put in one more step before the
online registration step by instructing the User how to "activate" the
"Firewall" that came with XP before he/she steps into the new frontier of
danger known as the world wide web (web of virus, worms, maggots).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

[Daniel B]

I bought a Compaq Presario also (but have a lower model than yours, less ram
and only 2.5 Ghz cpu). Anyway, you might want to check for virus. Because
when I fired up my new PC, I went thru the registration "online" with
Compaq, but guess what, it caught the w32.welchia.worm virus (I didn't know
at the time).

The virus caused to PC to "slow down" at times, sporadically. The Virus was
later detected after I installed Norton AV 2003 but could not kill it
(because it was also locked in memory). Three potential locations of where
the virus may be hidden.

First, it created a sub-directory... c:\windows\system32\win (two viral
files -- DLLhost.exe and SvcHost.exe). Also, it created a couple of keys in
the Registry.

Go to Google, search for "DLLhost.exe", to download the FixTool from
Symantec site. But before you run the FixTool to kill the virus, be sure to
"turn off" the System Restore feature of XP.

To turn off the System Restore (note, you must login with Administrator
privileges, such as Owner or Administrator, or User Acct with the admin
rights). Open Control Panel, click System, at the System Restore tab,
(check) turn off System Restore, reboot.

To manually kill the virus in memory, open the Task Manager (Cntl-Alt-Del),
highlight DLLhost.exe, click End-Process. Then go to the sub-folder
"...windows\system32\wins " highlight those two files, click Delete (be sure
to empty your trash can). As for the registry keys, you can open MsConfig
to the Startup tab to uncheck the items (if they exist). If you want to
play it safe, download the FixTool and let it scan automatically. One
important note, activate the XP's firewall.

I think in the future, whether it's Compaq or other OEM makers, they should
not instruct the User to register online immediately as part of the PC
initialization phase. Or, they should put in one more step before the
online registration step by instructing the User how to "activate" the
"Firewall" that came with XP before he/she steps into the new frontier of
danger known as the world wide web (web of virus, worms, maggots).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Download and install TweakUI for XP from
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp. In the Logon
section, you can disable the unread mail notification.