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  • #1

    Various Laptop Adventures

    I have a toddler. As we all know (or can safely assume), toddlers and laptops are not a healthy mix. However, I take online classes, so I'm forced to make it work.

    My laptop took a recent crash to the floor that seemed to finish it off, as it wouldn't turn on anymore. But! When we bought it on February 15 of last year (I kept the receipt), we paid an extra $80 for the "oops I dropped it" warranty that we never expected to use. We dropped it off last night to be repaired, had the hard drive swapped out for a blank one, and should get it back in 1-2 weeks if they don't outright replace it (which is what I'm expecting, but oh well, I have the hard drive).

    In the meantime, I'm borrowing my in-laws' laptop. It's currently running Windows 7 and doesn't have Microsoft Office (I get Office free through my school so NBD, just a lengthy download). I ran Malwarebytes through it- 44 detected objects. Adobe Reader, Chrome, and half a dozen other programs all needed updates. And it smells like someone rubbed lotion into the keyboard.

    I hate people who don't take care of their computers. I was hoping to be able to get on, do a quick scan for Bad Stuff(tm), bookmark a few pages I'll need to use a lot, and go. I'm expecting a late night tonight. Urf.
    The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

    You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.
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  • #2
    I would also recommend SpyBot: Search & Destroy (anti-spyware); have it fully Update (may take a few passes) and then run Immunize. It'll set up a blacklist and apply further blacklisting to IE and FF (not for chrome specifically yet, tho) -- any affected sites will simply never load. Also, ADWCleaner is a godsend. ADW is one of the few progs I've seen that can remove Conduit reliably (a REALLY persistent BHO/Trojan downloader). In both cases, make sure to tell them to NOT remove cookies, lest your in-law get mad at you for mucking up their sites
    Last edited by EricKei; 01-20-2016, 07:45 PM.
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    • #3
      I'm just now getting back to this. I'll explain why in a moment.

      My in-laws' laptop was equipped with such an obsolete version of Office that my online learning program wouldn't recognize my assignments. My grandpa got back from vacation on the 24th and I begged him to let me borrow his laptop with Office 2016 because he's the greatest grandpa ever and I love him very very much. So I get that working (and he's very computer proficient, so it has Norton and everything ) but alas, the laptop itself is even older, running Windows 7 as well since it really can't run much else, and I'm not allowed to download any other browsers so I'm stuck with IE (I'm used to Chrome and my learning program works better on it). It also needs a battery replacement, as my grandpa failed to tell me, so you can imagine the freakout I had when I unplugged it on the first day and it promptly died on me. But with a little extra work and some help from my handy-dandy external hard drive, I managed to get everything done except my Photoshop work, because nobody has a laptop with Photoshop. Oh well, that's what the school library is for, I just have to coordinate Hubs's days off.

      No news on what was wrong with my laptop but Geek Squad's tracking says it's on its way back from the service center in Kentucky. It should arrive Tuesday, and they had whatever part they needed in stock, so it appears I'll be getting my laptop back after all.

      EDIT: Durr, I never explained why I'm only now getting back here.

      For whatever reason (probably because it's ancient), my grandpa's laptop doesn't like to run two sites at once and it slows it WAAAAY down, so I had to limit my internet excursions to school only.
      Last edited by Aragarthiel; 02-01-2016, 08:53 AM.
      The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

      You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.

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