HELP !!

Post by **Tracey** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 7:10 pm

The short of it is...........
My pc is having a minor crisis and has been in recovery since last Wednesday. Anyway, as that is not usable i decided to install aol on the laptop, silly me. Firstly this laptop has Windows Professional 2000 on it and hasnt really been touched in years and aol were telling me that WP2000 was too old basically and that i had to get a router in order to install AOL. Fine. Got the router, no thanks to a major department store selling me the wrong one. AOL finally working. Now i need to install virus protector. AVG free wont install it is also basically telling WP2000 is too old. I then remembered i can install McAffee as i pay monthy for it - only i cant i need to install updates. Fine. Find the relevant Microsoft page and scan for updates and it tells me i need to install four. I follow all instructions and everything is failing to install and i dont find the Microsoft web site at all easy to navigate so am livid after going round in circles on that .

Anyone have any suggestions ?
The only protection at the moment is a McAfee fire wall that did install.

The time is rapidly approaching when this thing may become a very expensive frizby

Tracey

Moray_Lass · Post by **Moray_Lass** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:17 pm

Hi Tracey

If you do a Windows Update it should tell you all the patches available to run, and SP4 should be there. I am sure MS make it hard to find because they want you to upgrade, and W2K is no longer supported. My computer is still W2K.

Here is the direct link you might have tried.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

I would download the file and install it from your hard disk, same with any of these.

I have had to help two people get rid of macafee in the last couple of weeks, and they discovered a whole pile of spyware and a Trojan had got past it slowing down their computers (AOL was also loading so much on start up on one you could make a cup of teas before it started up). I'd install the Free AVG or Avast antivirus, Free ZoneAlarm, Free Windows Defender (Microsoft website), which covers AV, Firewall and Spyware. Mailwasher now has a free version for spam too.

Free AVG that includes W2k
http://www.grisoft.com/us.product-avg-a ... ition#tba1

I can't vouch for any of that working with AOL, as I would never use AOL. So good luck with that.

Post by **Tracey** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:27 pm

Hi Maggie

My probblem is none of them will install. Service pack 4 and the three others that needed installing. The AVG is telling me that !Unknown Extraction Error (probably out of memory)"

Hence my plea above

Just found some more freelinks on a web page belonging to a certain money saving expert that is on tv ( and i am impressed at whats on it !) and he has links to two other free anti virus software so one is downloading as we speak - fingers crossed i caninstall that one !

Thanks

Post by **Tracey** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:28 pm

Spoke too soon

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:30 am

Hello Tracey,

I agree with everything Maggie said.

There’s a simple program called Belarc Advisor that will tell you the current state of your operating system and the computers specifications. It will also list all missing security updates and all installed security updates. It’s very useful for giving you an easy to understand report on the current status of your computer. It may be worth running that and see how it compares with the information you’re getting from Windows Update. http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Belarc ... elarc.html

If you’re using automatic updates to get the service pack and it isn’t working, and the express install thing doesn’t help, you could try downloading SP4 and install it later. Service Pack 4 includes all the updates from previous service packs.

The Microsoft site is as clear as mud, it’s been a while since I updated a Windows 2000 computer, but this is probably the one you need.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

Maybe followed by update rollup 1.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... layLang=en

Windows 2000 is a bit of a drab old clunker of an operating system and isn’t much fun at all. Some programs will refuse to install unless the operating system has been updated. If it’s on an old computer you could also check that it meets the system requirements of any new programs being installed. If current versions of programs don’t work an older version, may be more suitable http://www.oldversion.com/

If the worst comes to the worst and there’s nothing important on your computer worth saving, and if you have the Windows 2000 installation disc, you could consider reinstalling Windows followed by the updates. The current installation may be a bit sick.

But if you want an up to date operating system that isn’t subject to viruses or spyware, that costs nothing and is updated frequently, is absolutely free and for which all the programs are free, which is more stable and reliable than XP and you are prepared for the possibility of a small amount of initial tweaking and are happy to accept the fact that a number of the larger software companies don’t make suitable versions of their product, you could consider installing Ubuntu or one of the many other delicious flavours of Linux in lieu of Windows 2000.

Hope this helps,
Alan

Moray_Lass · Post by **Moray_Lass** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 1:40 pm

Hi Tracey

Like Alan says it does sound like you have a sick W2K or are running out of hard disk space (the AVG error). Depending on the size of your Hard disk I'd aim for as near 1Gb free as you can get. Failing that try extracting AVG (or anything else) on a USB stick and see if that works - then you know it is not the downloaded file but the hard disk space.

If you have the disks and nothing to backup, a reinstall could solved all your problems, but how long term is your Computer going to be out of action - is it worth reinstalling the Laptop? The snag with Linux or Ubunto is making sure you can get drivers for the laptop before you take the plunge

I hope something there helps.

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:33 pm

Tracey,

I should have said not to consider going down the Linux road unless you have a Windows 2000 installation CD so that you have something to fall back on if any problems such as Maggie mentioned do arise.

Alan

Post by **Tracey** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:07 pm

All done !

Not being techi but do defrag my discs occassionally i did take a look at the available space on C drive

22mb and 0%

Then i took a look at how many games this laptop has installed on it

and uninstalled the lot. I dont need to tell you how much space was freed up and it did enable me to do all that needed doing - SP4 and the Roll Up pack.

The installation of AVG said there was a anti virus on the pc and it would need removing before it could install. There was PC Cillin on it which is out of date and wont uninstall. I also disabled McAfee firewall as i didnt know which one maybe interfering with the installation.

AVG is succesfully installed now. Doyou know where i find the Windows Firewall on this as i cant find it yet and the less i have to do with McAfee the better.

It was always an intention to make this laptop a usable "back up" incase anything happened to my pc, just thought it would be a piece of cake doing so

.

Big thank you to both of you for your advice

Tracey

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:22 am

Tracey,

It’s good to see you’re out of trouble, Maggie had the right idea. But keep the Belarc program I mentioned in mind as it can be very useful from time to time and only uses up about 3MB on your drive.

As far as I can remember Windows 2000 didn’t have a built-in firewall. One was introduced in a very rudimentary way with XP and improved with XPSP2.

Zone Alarm is an excellent free firewall suitable for windows 2000 and probably better even for XP users than the standard XP firewall. http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/ZoneAl ... alarm.html

It’s possible your new router has a built-in hardware firewall. In combination with something like Zone Alarm you would have about the ideal setup.

Alan,

Post by **Tracey** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:50 pm

After i replied yesterday i double checked AVG to see if it had installed properly and it hadnt. Apparently the Anti Virus and Anti Spyware database is outdated. It scans and prepares to install udates but i could be sitting here till Doomsday and still it wouldnt install so in the end i installed my McAfee and that is telling me that Firewall hasnt installed even though it pops up a few times a day asking me to "allow or block" certain programmes

Well thats my weekend gone !

Tracey