computer's gone wrong and dh is not here...what do I do?

[pinkdolly]

Ok here is the problem.

Last night I was talking to dh on msn, everything was fine. Turned the computer off and went to bed.

This mornng turned on the computer and noticed the clock had set itself to 00:00. I could not get onto msn and cannot log on to other things such as facebook.

I am a technophob, usually ina situation like this I would just get dh to fix it, but he wont be home untill Jan, so what do I do?

Is there any significance with the clock having reset itself?

Thanx

Wild guess, but is it possibly something with the internal power source?

I would try reinstalling Windows from your recovery disc. If that doesn't help then it might be good to get the hardware looked at.

You could completely reformat the hard disc and then reinstall everything as a second step, but this is tricky so it might be worth getting that done at PCWorld or something if you are not used to tinkering with your machine.

Assuming we are talking PCs here... It's probably the BIOS settings resetting themselves when the PC is turned off - there is a lithium battery inside the central processing unit (your "tower"), which ensures that this doesn't happen. If it's dud, it'll be happening. If you feel brave open it up and have a look. It's a flat, coin-shaped battery - looks like this. About the size of an old 5p. You should be able to get a new one from any computer shop.

Ah yes, UnquietDad, that makes sense. Good advice.

Second UQD as the cause being the back-up battery having run out. It is designed to be replaced so shouldn't be too hard to access and replace.

Unplug from the mains before opening the case.

good god!

don't follow virginboffins advice! your dh will be home before you get your machine back up and running :-)

BIOS / battery option sounds far more like it.

Are you getting any error messages? if so please post them

Yes, don't follow my advice. I was too extreme! Battery/BIOS is likely.

Thank you for your replies. Have been hugely busy hence not being able to get back online.

Anyway, I think it may be more to do with a virus.

My mum reset the clock on my computer and now I can get back onto msn.

However heres the thing, if I click on something in my favourites it goes to what I want. If I try to search for anything it redirects me to a different page, can be anything. Bu just now I got redirected to a porn site! I never access porn sites so my friend thinks it is a virus.

I have ran the AVG virus checker and it says I have no virus.

I have tried to do a system restore and a message comes up saying that it will not protect my computer and I need to restart and click system restore again. But everytime I do this I keep getting exactly the same message.

Is this really bad?

When it redirects you to another page, what does that start with? I had this once with some sort of shopping site - had to delete something

www.searchfeed.com/

Here is one from when I tried to access you tube via the google search engine.

But I get a different site up each time. Just not the one I want.

here
Might this help to get rid of some / most of them?

www.blinkx.com/category/entertainment?adid=02-100-202-300-404&p=1

This one came from when I tried to access mumsnet through the search engine (obviously I have it saved in my favourites which is how I am here now)

Thanx will take a look a minute.

Definitely run Spybot Search and Destroy.

www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

I'm not sure about Spybot - I've heard it can introduce as many nasties as it zaps.

The best security I've ever had on my PC has all been installed by a "computer guy" in the last year and comprises a combination of ZoneAlarm for firewall, Avira for anti-virus and SuperAntiSpyware (crap name, great product).

I've also got CleanUp! and Advanced Windows Care V2 personal which I run every so often.

Spybot is one of the most recommended tools. It has a really good reputation, so I'd need some convincing that there are any real problems with Spybot.

SuperAntiSpyware is probably the only other product that has as good a reputation (maybe AdAware?)

Can you back up your concerns about Spybot?

Just what the two guys who have serviced my PC have said - I don't claim any expert knowledge.