Webcam not working (and other issues)

[Ree]

Before I went on vacation, my laptop was working perfectly.
(I only got it in November as a birthday gift. My friend got it from a "rent-to-own" place, and I was under the impression that it was new, but now I'm wondering if they gave him the store demo.)

I have had absolutely no problems with it prior to my vacation.

I came back home to find that my friend, who was using it while I was away, had it directly connected to my modem because "something happened" to the computer, and the network encryption key was erased.

The wireless network wouldn't work.

I have repeatedly asked what he means by "something happened," and he says "the internet just stopped working."

I have pushed to get more details, but he says "it just suddenly happened."

Personally, I think he's not telling me everything, but that's all I can get from him.

I entered the key and got connected to the wireless network again, but in the 2 weeks since I have been home, I have also noticed other problems.

I could no longer open my "OpenOffice" program, which came already installed on this laptop. I had files stored from when I was able to use the program, and I could no longer open them.
It was also listed as a startup program, so every time I started my computer, I got an error message telling me that the file could not be found.
I fixed that by going to the site and downloading the program and selecting "Repair".

I appear to have also lost my ability to use Microsoft Office 2010. Again, I was under the impression that this was also installed when I got the laptop, but it asks me for the product key, and I don't see that I have it anywhere.

It's a HP laptop, and it had a toolbar with all kinds of diagnostics and help features, and now all the shortcuts to it seem to have gone missing.

Finally, I have been unable to open my webcam for the past week.
I don't use it all that often, but my granddaughter likes to play with all the warping/morphing software when she's here.
I tried to open the program last week from the shortcut on the dekstop as well as from the program listing, and it will not open at all.

I checked Device Manager, and it says the webcam is installed and working properly, and that all the drivers are up to date.

I have Windows 7 SP1 installed.
I don't know if any of thes pictures are of any help to give more details about my system, but I added them anyway.
As you can see from one of them, it looks like Microsoft Office is on a part of my drive, but I have no idea how to access it.

Any ideas?

I only know enough about computers to totally screw one up.

[Ree]

Something else I just noticed was that my spell check in Firefox wasn't working.
I downloaded my dictionary again, and it fixed the problem.

Also, Google used to be my default search in Firefox, and now there is no specified search engine.

Somebody had to have been messing with my settings.

That is just way too many things to suddenly change or go wrong.

I still haven't figured out the webcam thing.

[ArcticChicken]

Have you run your antivirus?

Also, corner your friend and make him tell you what he did, 'cause something happened.

[dougall]

Has something happened that called for the hard drive to be replaced? This is not very likely but it would explain file corruption and stuff reset to defaults.

[Ree]

I was only gone for 2 weeks.
All the other files were still there.

The only thing I can think of is that I believe there was a Windows update at some point during those 2 weeks.

I noticed the HP support assistant is also coming up with an error and won't connect to the internet.
Clicking "Recovery Manager" does nothing either.

I went to the Cyberlink site and downloaded what I thought was the same youcam program, but it was only version 2 and I had 3.5 installed.

Some of the cool templates that my granddaughter had so much fun with do not work with version 2.

If I want to download 3.5 I will have to pay.

I tried doing system restore to take it back to before I changed it tonight, but it didn't work.

What a mess.

I guess I will have to find someone who knows about these things and ask them to have a look and see if they can see anything, or if they can find any of the original installation software anywhere on the computer.

[It's me]

Have you checked HP's website? They will have all the drivers and software patches for your machine, including the webcam.

You can try this:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html
to see if you can recover the MS Office product key... Edit: Note that the download is at the very bottom of the page.

[MiloMorai]

Some of HP's software starts out working then basically blows up. When I got my laptop I used the sidebar with widgets and suddenly it doesn't work. Same with the popup for the volume when i slide a finger to change it, it would show what level.

No help here but LOT's of sympathy/empathy.

[barcode]

I'm with Arctic Chicken on this one - something happened!

My little voice in the back of my head says "your (ex?) friend got nailed by one of those drive-by virus infections, got rid of the virus, and didn't fix the problems the virus left behind (deleted files, non-running exe and com files, etc.)".

Before doing anything, backup any/all data that you can!

Note: The following is NOT the "Recovery Manager" or "System Restore" functions available to you from Windows - these are BIOS-level options after POST (the "beep" you hear after turning on the laptop)!

Now, when you first startup the laptop, you should have the option of getting into a "Boot/Recovery" menu (F10/F11/F12 key). If you notice the "My Computer" shots you provided, you have a small drive "D". This is your restore/recovery partition, and is the equivalent of the install CDs. By launching the recovery mode, you're actually booting from this other partition (not the Windows on the C drive), and running the recovery program, which will probably erase all data and restore to factory level.

Sometimes, HP will give you an option of "Repairing" the volume/startup, which usually does not destroy data (it should warn you one way or the other).

Now, as for that pesky MSO 2010 program... Notice that it is listed as a complete drive -"Q"-, which has me wondering if it's some kind of flash drive or cloud-based mounting scheme. I haven't seen drives labelled "Q" since the Compaq Pentium-I days, and those were CD-ROMs. Other than that, I got nuthin' (I use Open/Libre Office).

I've posted in another thread about how it took me four freakin' days to undo the damage that one of those fake security/rootkit infections did to a drive. One of the symptoms was that the network card was being seen, the driver loaded, but "no worky". Sounds like your webcam, huh? It could be that everything is there, but an exe or com file isn't running that allows it to be used by other programs. I'm sure that a non-destructive recovery will fix this, or a trip to HP for the updated drivers will re-install the correct files to get it back to running.

I'd also go so far as to head over to bleepingcomputer and run some rootkit checkers, just to be safe. Some virus checkers won't find rootkits. They also have a neat registry "exe fixer" that cures most of the damage that keeps programs from running.

barcode

"You don't tug on Superman's cape,
You don't spit into the wind,
You don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger,
and you don't loan your computer to anybody!"

[barcode]

Oops!

I took another look at your D drive, and it's far too small to be a recovery partition (most are about 9-12GB, yours is only 99MB, and labelled "HP_Tools"). This is probably the diagnostic utilities section of the BIOS, which means you should have some CDs/DVDs lying around. If not, you may have to pay for HP to send you a set, or check with the rent-to-own folks.

Also, the Q drive is listed as "Protected", whatever that means.

barcode
Lining up to kiss Linus Torvalds'... hand.

[Ree]

Well, for some reason, that "Q" drive is not showing up now.
I have no idea where it came from at the time of my screen shot.

Very odd.

I tried to pin my friend down to what happened, and once we were speaking the same language, I'm still not all that clear.

He just kept saying, "The internet shut down." or "It just lost the internet."
Then he said he "brought the internet back up and it didn't have the code in there any more. I didn't know the code so I connected the laptop to the modem and I was able to get back on the internet."

Once I was able to determine if he was talking about the actual network connection, and not the browser as well, what he says happened is that he was on the internet and suddenly lost his connection. The browser, IE, was not affected, and stayed open, but it was no longer connected to the internet. (I never use IE.)
I suspect he did go in and play with things to try and reconnect, and somehow removed my key.

He says he is going to take my laptop to the store where he got it and tell them what happened to all the programs.

I am definitely going to back up everything first.

If I am able to actually concentrate later, I will look at what you have instructed, barcode, and see if I think that's something I can do without screwing it up.

[Der Cute]

Rollback! System restore!!! Try that first, before anything else.
You might be able to find the key for Office 2010 with Magical Jellybean. Maybe.
But when it comes home, you had better have installation disks for all that software. Even if you have a partition in the hard drive that says Install or Original or OEM or something like that- if THAT gets lost, you are toast.
I believe in hard copy of stuff. Get the disks.
Try the system restore
Get the disks
Strangle him
And you take it in, why does he have any contact with it, if he screwed it up??

[Ree]

And you take it in, why does he have any contact with it, if he screwed it up??

He has the contract with the store, so it's actually in his name, even though it's my computer.
He drives. I don't.
The store is in the next town.
He works hours that makes it possible for him to get there during regular store hours. I work retail so...

[barcode]

Well, for some reason, that "Q" drive is not showing up now.
I have no idea where it came from at the time of my screen shot.
Very odd.

Actually, I was kinda right about this. According to MSO's answer-base:

Microsoft Office Starter 2010 uses the Application Virtualization (App-V) technology. This, therefore, requires the creation of a Virtual Drive. By default the drive letter for this virtual drive is Q:. Some systems may use the letter R: instead of Q: without any difference in features or performance.

After the Microsoft Office Starter 2010 is installed and the machine is rebooted, this virtual drive may appear in My Computer. However, in some cases after the reboot, the virtual drive does not appear or may appear intermittently. When the drive does not appear, connecting a USB drive or memory stick that causes the list of drives under My Computer to refresh, may cause the virtual drive to appear. The virtual drive may again disappear after a subsequent reboot.

This virtual drive is intentionally not accessible by end users in order to prevent accidental damage to Microsoft Office Starter's file structure. Therefore, a message saying that the drive is not accessible appears if a user tries to open it. This is normal behavior.

This is only a visual issue and does not impact the functionality of the Microsoft Office Starter 2010 product. This behavior is related with the start order of the Application Virtualization components and services that initialize the virtual drive.

So, my guess as to it being some sort of cloud (virtual) device was pretty close.

Then he said he "brought the internet back up and it didn't have the code in there any more. I didn't know the code so I connected the laptop to the modem and I was able to get back on the internet."

Translation: "The wireless went down, and when I tried to punch in the key for the new connection, I didn't have it, so I plugged directly into the modem, bypassing the safety (NAT, firewall) of the router. I'm an idiot, as I could've just plugged into one of the router's wired ports."

The browser, IE, was not affected, and stayed open, but it was no longer connected to the internet. (I never use IE.)

Even being as anti-Microsoft as I am, let me say this: IE is actually not that bad, security-wise, anymore. It's not so much the browsers being targeted, but the plugins (Javascript, Java, Flash, PDF readers, ActiveX, etc.) that run with them. Although MS has "hardened" IE over the years, they still have quite a way to go to get to the locked-down point that Mac and Linux users have been enjoying. So, running Windows (or Microsoft) Update isn't enough - you must keep up with every other program and plugin, too.
So, jacking into the modem bypassed any security the router provided, and subjected your computer, and every unpatched program, to every bit of virus and malware the web has to offer.

Der Cute:
Rollback! System restore!!! Try that first, before anything else.

In all my years of... "playing"... with Windows, I've only had System Restore work once.

ONCE!

This is because most virus/malware writers know to hose the restore points, too. It won't be long before they get around to screwing up the recovery partition, either. Some manufacturers will actually take the precaution of "hiding" their recovery partitions, only activating them when a certain sequence is set in the BIOS - just because you don't see one doesn't mean it's not there! As stated before, a recovery partition will take up about two DVDs worth (9-10GB) of space.

I believe in hard copy of stuff. Get the disks.

As do I. Although, the only extra programs for Windows I use, aside from the install/drivers, happen to be free/open-source. Why bother with MSO when there's OpenOffice or Libre Office? GIMP or Irfanview for graphics to replace Photoshop {whatever}. So, for me, there are no install disks, I just re-download them.

And Ree, take your time and give us a shout when you're ready to go. I sporadically login, but, as you know, there are many others who can jump in.

barcode
My last name's an adverb...