Computer taking too long to connect to the Internet:

Since I already have malwarebytes and it didn't
catch anything I suppose I have to try Kaspersky
boot CD.

Robert

Hi Paul,

Since I already have malwarbytes installed
and hasn't detected anything I elected to run
the bootable Kaspersky CD but when I attempted
to shutdown there were 12 downloads waiting.

Then once it came back up I initiated Kaspersky but
there were so many choices I didn't know what to do.
I selected a couple of options and they ran but it
didn't generate a report but I honestly didn't know
what I was doing and you didn't mention anything to
select. So I then selected to boot normally because
I didn't know what else to do.

It came back online after updating all the downloads
and logged right on.

Maybe the updates were what was needed? I'm willing
to try Kaspersky again but I need step by step directions
on what to select.

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Since I already have malwarebytes and it didn't
catch anything I suppose I have to try Kaspersky
boot CD.

Robert


You could look for a web-based scanner,
but I've never had much luck or confidence
in them.

I guess this one isn't web based any more,
as it has a 2MB download file. The download
is the red button labeled Download, after
ticking the bit size (64 bit to match
your Win7?). The program runs from a
currently running OS.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

At one time, I seem to remember it used an
ActiveX plugin, and it would sit there and
chug (waste CPU cycles), and I could never
figure out whether it was actually scanning
something or not. At least the current version
is an EXE. And malware can always stop a thing
like that anyway. You've seen how easy it is
to prevent MBAM from running.

*******

Even the scanning CDs aren't all that
wonderful. They are able to find things
like a virus test file, and they can spot
things like OpenCandy, I don't know if
they're much good for anything else. And it's
only signature based scanning.

I don't have a large collection of virus
"samples" here, to test these things, which is
why I don't know how good they are.

At the rate you're going, maybe you'll end up
on Linux :-)

*******

You have the option of testing your backup
drive (the one with the copy of the OS on it).
But it should be booted by itself the first
time, so that the old disk cannot interfere
with proper testing.

You could also do a clean install. It's possible
to get ISO files now from Microsoft. But this is a lot
of work, to get everything back the way it used to be.
And without losing any user files. I used a retail
Win7 Sp1 to reinstall my laptop, and thereby remove
the Acer-specific addons, but I had to use phone
activation when I was done with the installation
step.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softw...nload/windows7

I wouldn't send you on an AV goose chase, if I thought
for one moment there was a single failure of some sort,
that could give all your symptoms. But a messed up
System Restore - while it could get broken if
there are corrupted files on the computer, then
if that was happening, why is the computer
running at all ? Seems a little too "convenient"
that repair tools are broken and yet the OS is
still running.

Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
Hi Paul,

Since I already have malwarbytes installed
and hasn't detected anything I elected to run
the bootable Kaspersky CD but when I attempted
to shutdown there were 12 downloads waiting.

Then once it came back up I initiated Kaspersky but
there were so many choices I didn't know what to do.
I selected a couple of options and they ran but it
didn't generate a report but I honestly didn't know
what I was doing and you didn't mention anything to
select. So I then selected to boot normally because
I didn't know what else to do.

It came back online after updating all the downloads
and logged right on.

Maybe the updates were what was needed? I'm willing
to try Kaspersky again but I need step by step directions
on what to select.

Robert


I hope the root cause isn't the "Upgrade to Win10" stuff...

One of the things that might have come into the
computer as an update, would be the monthly malware
scanner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malici...e_Removal_Tool

The log file, if that had run, is "mrt.log".

And it's a wonder those updates would run, if
your System Restore is busted. Normally, if Windows Update
wanted to do a batch, first it should be setting
a Restore Point. And your System Restore was whining,
as if that was broken.

Paul

I ran Trend Micro but it found nothing:

http://i60.tinypic.com/20i6urk.jpg

Since you help so many people I don't
expect you to remember but you don't
leave much guesswork you already
had me boot the External HD for the
first time so that its ready.

You also had me do the same thing for
the 320GB HD for the 8200 after we set
it up.

I haven't done anything with Win 10 but
from what your saying Windows update could
have been meant for Win 10 and is making my
computer incompatible?

I was hoping that the 12 updates resolved
whatever may have been wrong but I won't
know that until I logoff and back on.

As for a clean install isn't that why we bought
the external backup for just such an emergency
so that I can put in a mirror image of my OS?

I actually did a clean install on the 8200 to
get it running and downloaded over 300 files.
It was a nightmare and took forever. That why
I bought the external HD so that I wouldn't
have to do that again.

Thoughts/suggestions
Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I ran Trend Micro but it found nothing:

http://i60.tinypic.com/20i6urk.jpg

Since you help so many people I don't
expect you to remember but you don't
leave much guesswork you already
had me boot the External HD for the
first time so that its ready.

You also had me do the same thing for
the 320GB HD for the 8200 after we set
it up.

I haven't done anything with Win 10 but
from what your saying Windows update could
have been meant for Win 10 and is making my
computer incompatible?

I was hoping that the 12 updates resolved
whatever may have been wrong but I won't
know that until I logoff and back on.

As for a clean install isn't that why we bought
the external backup for just such an emergency
so that I can put in a mirror image of my OS?

I actually did a clean install on the 8200 to
get it running and downloaded over 300 files.
It was a nightmare and took forever. That why
I bought the external HD so that I wouldn't
have to do that again.

Thoughts/suggestions
Robert

No, my reference to Windows 10, was the placement
by Microsoft of a "update your PC" nag screen on
your Windows 7 PC, asking if you'd like to update
to Windows 10. If you're not careful, you could
end up getting the update to Windows 10. The updates
listed in Windows Update would be for Windows 7,
except for perhaps one giant update which would
make your machine go to Windows 10. (It could be
in the Optional updates of Windows update, and the
update to Windows 10 can already be ticked, so you
have to untick it.) I just thought maybe the problem
was remotely related to the Microsoft attempts to
take you to Windows 10.

Yes, you should be able to take that external
drive, and use it as the boot drive. Because you
worked on setting it up that way.

So what you'd do, is take the side off the
8500, pull the current boot drive, install
the external drive, and boot off it. And see
whether the machine behaves normally. On the
bad-drive, you want to make sure there is no
autorun.inf at the root level (C:\autorun.inf),
so nothing is accidentally executed off it.

*******

The question would be, whether you want to go
with that version of the operating system permanently
or not. Perhaps you have a more recent .mrimg in
the backup folder, you could restore instead ?

To "move house" like that (use the couple month old
System Reserved and C: on the backup drive), and make
it permanent, that's still going to involve some work.

For example, here, if I wanted to do something
like that, I would need to:

1) Keep the Firefox and Seamonkey browser folders.
Possibly a couple of folders for each browser.
That keeps my bookmarks.
2) Keep the Thunderbird folder (500MB) with the USENET
stuff in it.
3) Keep my email tool folder (a separate tool from
Thunderbird).
4) Check how many programs were added since the
clone was made, as those programs would need to be
added. I bought two commercial programs since my
last backup.
5) Move my download folder over (delta could be a
fair number of files).

Those are the things you'd have to consider, as well
as the logistics of getting the clone back on the
original drive.

1) Backup original drive in a way that will make it
convenient to scavenge later.
2) Clone back the working-well drive, to the original
drive.
3) Do the five steps in the previous list, bringing
the new image of the OS up to date from an application
and user data perspective.

I don't know how many spare disks you've got,
but it's going to take some data movement to
do all of that.

On the bad drive, you can convert the C: and System Reserved
into a Macrium Reflect .mrimg backup file. And that
can be "mounted", by right-clicking the file and
looking for a Macrium entry in the menu, and then
the contents of the .mrimg file can be treated as
a separate drive letter. The Macrium software will list
the backed up partitions, and you can use the tick
boxes in there to just select the C: from the bad drive
and it will appear as a new drive letter (like F: or G.
And then you can copy the five steps items from F:
or G: to the working C: you've got going. Such a method
would be used, because you'd otherwise probably run
out of partitions on the working drive for all this
stuff.

Once the working drive is brought up to date, you clone
it back to the original drive, blowing away the bad C:
and System Reserved. (You blow away the System Reserved
too, since the BCD information must be kept consistent,
and that's a "just in case". It's because I don't know
if any drive identifiers are going to be changed by
Macrium or not.)

*******

If you had a more recent backup of the operating system
C: and System Reserved, you could boot the Macrium Reflect
CD you burned, and use that to restore a more recent
..mrimg and fix the C: on the original drive that way.

If you want to "be lazy" and just run off the backup drive
permanently, keeping the original drive as a "data" drive,
you can do that, but you're then exposed to the next "event"
that happens on the machine in terms of malware. In the long
term, you really want to rebuild the 1TB (original) drive and
be putting the power-on-hours on that drive, rather than the
backup drive from the USB housing.

I won't go into any more detail than that, until you
indicate what resources are in the best shape. The
backup drive C: partition is a couple months old. You could
have several .mrimg files in the backup partition
on that drive too.

Booting the backup drive now, as a first step, is to
verify the hardware on the 8500 is sound, and you
still have a working machine. But other steps will be
needed, so you don't lose any personal data. You will
need a pencil and paper, Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc)
screen so you can figure out a plan on what to do next
after that. Because there aren't enough primary partitions
to make this slam-dunk-easy.

Storing the bad-drive C: and System Reserved in an .mrimg
(Macrium) is one way to take a snapshot of it, and copy the
files off later. As the .mrimg can be mounted and random
accessed as needed.

Paul

I was hoping you wouldn't tell me
that I have to open up the 8500. I
hate doing that because once I do
I loose the integrity and it'll never
work the same afterwards.

I actually don't understand some of
the things your talking about such as
the Mrimg files. I have no idea what
those are .

I don't understand this at all:

On the bad-drive, you want to make sure there is no
autorun.inf at the root level (C:\autorun.inf),
so nothing is accidentally executed off it.

How do I make sure? and if I'm replacing the bad
drive with the external HD what does it matter?

To tell the truth I'm not up for this...
but I guess I have no choice. I'll have
do this a bit later though as I've been
up all night.


I'll let you know how it goes,,..

Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
I was hoping you wouldn't tell me
that I have to open up the 8500. I
hate doing that because once I do
I loose the integrity and it'll never
work the same afterwards.

I actually don't understand some of
the things your talking about such as
the Mrimg files. I have no idea what
those are .

I don't understand this at all:

On the bad-drive, you want to make sure there is no
autorun.inf at the root level (C:\autorun.inf),
so nothing is accidentally executed off it.

How do I make sure? and if I'm replacing the bad
drive with the external HD what does it matter?

To tell the truth I'm not up for this...
but I guess I have no choice. I'll have
do this a bit later though as I've been
up all night.


I'll let you know how it goes,,..

Robert


If you want to run the computer using the
good (backup) drive, it would have to be placed
inside the computer. Unless you have an ESATAp
port or something, and the appropriate converter
cable.

Windows generally does not boot via USB, not without
a "hack".

You must have had the backup drive inside the 8500
at some point, to test that it boots. It would be
the same procedure now.

I presume you've been doing backups with Macrium Reflect Free.

I presume you cloned the internal drive to the backup
drive, so you could have an emergency "System Reserved"
and "C:" partitions.

Some of the things I discuss, are for the sake of
completeness, such as moving say a Bookmarks file
from the bad-drive to the drive you will be moving to.

If you had made backups on the backup drive, they're
stored as .mrimg files. That's the Macrium storage format.
You could, if you wanted, restore one of those. You
would boot the emergency Macrium CD you burned, then
select the desired .mrimg from the external backup
drive, and restore to the internal drive (wiping
out the equivalent partitions on that drive). But,
if you wipe out C: and System Reserved on the bad-drive,
then you lose whatever downloads or Bookmark changes
that were made since the backup image was made. If
you made a Macrium backup yesterday, you might only
lose a day's worth of changes.

So some of the things I mentioned, are to remember
to bring any data items from the bad-drive that you
might need.

Here's an example of a sequence

Step 1: (booted from Macrium CD)

8500
External 2TB
1TB internal == "bad.mrimg"
backup bad C: and
bad System Reserved
for safe keeping

Step 2: (still booted from Macrium CD)

8500
External 2TB
1TB internal == "good.mrimg"
Replace the bad C:
and bad System Reserved
with a good copy made a
week ago, say.

Step 3: (Reboot the new fresh OS)

8500
External 2TB
1TB internal ---- "bad.mrimg"

Right-click the bad.mrimg
and select the Macrium mount
option. Set the drive letter
to a convenient value like
F: or G: or anything that
doesn't conflict. Copy Bookmarks
file off F: or G:, over to the
restored C: partition on the 1TB internal.

So you don't have to open up the 8500 at all. It's a matter
of making sure you keep a copy of the bad-drive C: somewhere,
until you've got all the items of interest off it. In my case
that might be some browser folders, email folders. In your case,
you use Hotmail, so there probably isn't a local folder as your
email is web based (and stored on the web).

HTH,
Paul

Hello Paul,

I was wrong, I didn't not install the
backup drive in the 8500 to have it
boot first. I did that with the 8200
So that is something I need to do.

To do so, I assume I simply change the
boot order in the BIOS, however today
after the 12 updates and had another
one last night the computer logged on
to the Ethernet much faster like it use
to and same with the programs.

Maybe the updates were what the computer
needed? In any case its performing much
much better. So maybe its a good thing I
didn't open it up.

In passing I can't see how it opens. It looks
like I would have to take the entire case off
and I'm not sure how to go about that because
it looks like they used rivets. To be honest,
I never have liked Dell cases.

So at this point I'm not sure if I want to
swamp HD's since the problems 'seem' to have
disappeared.

Thoughts/suggestions
Robert

As far as making backups you told me I
could only put (2) backups on the external
HD. SO no I haven't been making backups.


Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
As far as making backups you told me I
could only put (2) backups on the external
HD. SO no I haven't been making backups.


Robert

Do the math.

Using disk management or File Explorer properties
on a partition, you can see the quantity of file
space used. Take the total space needed to backup
the things you want, and divide that into the
remaining space on the backup drive, to figure out
how many backups you can make.

So if a 500GB partition has 80GB of files, you'll
be generating at most an 80GB .mrimg file. With
compression enabled, this could drop to 60GB of
space needed for the .mrimg file. The entire partition
is not captured, just the "used" space with actual
files in it.

Macrium supports "compression", and in the Options
section after you set up a backup, you can
enable low, medium, or high compression. The
more compression, the more work the CPU has to do, but
the 8500 has a strong processor. If you use high
compression, you will be able to fit more backup
images. It's not possible to predict with any accuracy,
how much space the compression will save.

Paul

Mark Twain wrote:
Hello Paul,

I was wrong, I didn't not install the
backup drive in the 8500 to have it
boot first. I did that with the 8200
So that is something I need to do.

To do so, I assume I simply change the
boot order in the BIOS, however today
after the 12 updates and had another
one last night the computer logged on
to the Ethernet much faster like it use
to and same with the programs.

Maybe the updates were what the computer
needed? In any case its performing much
much better. So maybe its a good thing I
didn't open it up.

In passing I can't see how it opens. It looks
like I would have to take the entire case off
and I'm not sure how to go about that because
it looks like they used rivets. To be honest,
I never have liked Dell cases.

So at this point I'm not sure if I want to
swamp HD's since the problems 'seem' to have
disappeared.

Thoughts/suggestions
Robert

Try PDF page 24 here.

(Page 24 - removing the cover)
http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/al...nual_en-us.pdf

The side panel consists of:

1) Thumbscrew. This secures the cover and prevents
the side from falling off.
2) Remove thumbscrew.
3) Grab cover by the "lip" in the center
of the panel. The panel should "pull" to the
back.
4) The panel should have tabs that function as rails,
and hold the panel securely when it's homed with
the thumbscrew.

I have a Mac with that style of panel, and it's
a bit hard on the fingers. I prefer the panels
with a latch that causes them to release. That's
my favorite kind.

Now your 8200 with the "scissor" case, I hate those.
Again, I have a Mac with the scissor case design,
and you have to be really careful to support the case
while opening it up. So nothing inside the computer
gets tugged on by accident.

This is my favorite design. I have maybe four cases
with this design.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages...0_sidecase.jpg

You pull the latch outward with your fingers, and it
releases the left end of the panel and it rotates out
towards you. The panel pivots via the right hand end.
The not-so-fun part, is getting the pivot back into
place, when putting the panel back on. But overall,
i like that the best.

*******

In summary, the XPS 8500 side panel is the thumbscrew type.
It takes a little extra effort to get it to slide backwards,
after the thumbscrew is removed. Try to resist the urge
to use violence to remove it :-) The Mac one was the tightest
of the lot, and actually used two thumbscrews. It took my
big-blade flat screwdriver, to "urge" the panel to slide
backwards. There are lots of little clips n' junk along
the edges that account for the friction. The clips n' junk
provide mechanical and/or electrical contact, with the
intention to help contain (partially) EMI emissions.
A PC case really isn't all that RF tight, so stuff like
that isn't helping all that much. But the clips help
damp vibration, so the case doesn't rattle due to fan
vibrations.

*******

I hope your luck on the networking issue, holds out.

For the System Restore, you might consider turning it
off and turning it on again. That flushes the existing
restore points (like, the one that is broken and isn't
working for you).

This is a general article on System Restore.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...ix-issues.html

But for now, do this.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...-turn-off.html

In particular, you want this panel, turn off C:, then turn C: on
again. C: is the only partition that really benefits from
System Restore. Using it for your data partitions is a mistake
(because it can delete files!). Notice how the author of
this article, only has System Restore enabled on C:. Turning
C: off, then turn C: on again, is for the purpose of clearing
the existing restore points. The data partitions don't
need system restore (like your backup partition is a
data partition).

http://www.sevenforums.com/attachmen...properties.jpg

I don't recommend testing the System Restore at this point,
due to your shattered nerves :-) I don't want to tempt fate.
If it wasn't for the flaky behavior, I would "set" a restore
point, then "restore" the same restore point, to verify the
subsystems are working. But at this point, on this particular
day, I'd leave well enough alone. Flushing the restore points
in this way, is so you don't attempt to restore the
flaky one at some point in the future. Flushing one
should not hurt anything. If a malware removal guy was
helping you, turning off System Restore and flushing,
is one of the first steps (since restore points are
useless when any sort of decent quality malware is present).

Paul

Hello Paul,

I did as you suggested and reset my
System Restore.

Reading through your instructions sure
is confusing to me.

Since the OS seems OK I expect I should
concentrate like you said in making backups,
etc. I had no idea it would be this involved.

I always heard stories of guys computers
crashing or whatever and they were back up
within minutes but that doesn't seem to be
the case at least with me. I thought I
had prepared for this eventuality but I guess
not.

So aside from turning System Restore on/off
what else would you like me to do?

Many Thanks,
Robert

Mark Twain wrote:
Hello Paul,

I did as you suggested and reset my
System Restore.

Reading through your instructions sure
is confusing to me.

Since the OS seems OK I expect I should
concentrate like you said in making backups,
etc. I had no idea it would be this involved.

I always heard stories of guys computers
crashing or whatever and they were back up
within minutes but that doesn't seem to be
the case at least with me. I thought I
had prepared for this eventuality but I guess
not.

So aside from turning System Restore on/off
what else would you like me to do?

Many Thanks,
Robert



If you could separate all user data from C:,
that allows being back up and running in minutes.

For example, some people move their home directory
to the D: partition.

The problem is, that not all Microsoft installers
tolerate such separations (moving the home directory)
all that well. Service Packs and OS upgrade installs,
don't like it.

Another way to set up a system, is with Steady State
or an Internet Cafe equivalent. That's also the type
of software that the Public Library uses. It gives a
"fresh" C: system disk, each time someone uses the
machine. But that also causes problems, like if you wanted
to put an Adobe Flash update on the machine, you want
to "keep" that. Any time you "keep" a session, you
could be "keeping" malware as well.

I haven't done anything very fancy here, as it's
too much work :-) I have a rough idea what folders
need to be rescued, but I would probably
follow one of the procedures I laid out for
you today. Namely, saving the existing bad-drive,
so no download files get deleted. Restoring a good
image, then adding back the download files, email
folder, browser bookmarks or whatever. It would take
me a while to do that, and I would not be "up and
running in a couple minutes". Probably three or four
hours before things are looking good.

Paul

I remember we created a separate
drive/partition just for this
on the external HD but the Dell
came as is.

So how do I rectify the problem?

The only thing I need to save
really are my bookmarks and Dell
image files and Word documents.

Other than that I don't think I
need to save anything else.

Robert