# how to safequard computer??



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

My 88 year old father has messed up his computer again. LAst month he deleted part of the operating system. Today he calls and asks what to do 'the computer is downloading a lot of stuff and it won't stop" Told him to turn it off, disconnect internet.
I got there and restarted computer. It says I was locked out as the network administrator has done so. No idea what this means-- I shut down and then turned computer on and got a second message. `do I want to log on with a different account`Yup
So then I get a page that says that it is preparing to set up the program on the computer for the first time!! This meant 2 plus hours of letting it go thru the program plus setting up access to internet, reloading kaspersky and so on.
I phoned the techs at future shop who says it sounded like he had maybe hit the f10 key which would bring the computer back to factory installation .
All I see is that there is nothing in his pic program. It also took out his office program even though I put the registration numbers in as it requested.
When I go to close the computer down i am still getting a message that others are still using the computer!! And do i really want to shut down. 

Does anyone have a clue here? Has he been hijacked or do the f 10 keys do that?

How can i block him from screwing up the computer? The techs say they can fix it for him so he doesn't muck it up but they supposedly did that before so i pretty much think it is a scam. How can i do it?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

XP right? XP can set up multiple identities aka user names. You can password protect identities and you can give some identities lesser privileges. An identity with administrator privileges can install and remove programs, etc. Files like "my documents' and 'my pictures" are visible only to the user in a directory ....\username\My documents\.. something like that. To see them you typically need to log in as that user to see those files. Some programs install for all users, others only for one. So you see different programs depending in the identities you see.

The theory was you'd set up one administrator identity and make a bunch of wimpy users that could do only limited damage for your kids and idiots. In practice, it pretty much sucks. If you lock down the users, they can't even update already installed programs and they get all sorts of error messages. And they can still do stuff nasty like create new user identities and even delete the one they are using. 

It is likely that you have two identities open if you see the "other people.." message. I suspect the old man's main identity got a virus (thus the constant downloads) and may have been corrupted, so you have to go carefully trying to get the files off. Make sure you run anti-virus on everything that touches this machine (flash drives, etc.). You can try logging off the new one you've made and switching to the other one or you can try to get to his important files from the new identity. I don't think he managed the factory reset if you have 2 users set up.

Show hidden and system files and go C:\(or D or whatever the window's drive is) Documents and Settings\ Here you should see folders for All users, default users and any user's you have created. Go to the folder which probably has his name and open it. Look for Name's Documents. In there should be the folder of pics and his other stuff. 

Don't open any files until you have run an anti-virus or two on the whole system. Most big anti-virus companies will let you run a scan from their site free or get the malwarebytes free version and run it.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

sounds like he may have deleted summin important, if not got a virus, not so sure about the factory restore as it wouldnt have other accounts except main user and administrator, to be fair i wouldnt waste your time trying to fix as it will be lots fster to do the factory restore if he hasnt destroyed the restore partition,pc's dont come with discs no more, they expect you to create one when you start using it pretty much straight away, there will be a pop up to tell you but most people deselect the reminder and close and forget about it so no restore dvd is ever made,can provide you with links for vista32/64 universal and a windows 7 32/64 universal discs i made from original disc, if you want the links to whatever version let me know as i host them on dropbox.
if you can still create a restore dvd i suggest you create one and restore from that as it contains all the drivers for your system and probably has an update feature built in so it will save you downloading manually.
the techs will probably do a repair and see if that fixes or a full reinstall anyway and create your dad a limited access account so he cant do it again, if your unsure how to and the techs are donig it under warranty free then why not, if they charging you then do it yourself, its easy to click next anf yes and finish lol, just read whats in front of you as it comes up and take your time to understand what it says, remember these things for prebuilt systems have been made as idiot proof as possible, they use it as a selling point


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

I have a feeling that a complete wipe/reinstall of windows will ultimately be your best bet. You can try a "repair" install, which just reinstalls it over your current copy, fixing any problems, but that also saves any viruses or messed up configuration settings. Honestly, I think your best bet is to just save all of his pictures, documents, ( onto thumbdrives or an external harrdrive ) and such and just wipe it clean.

Keeping your dad from doing dumb stuff to it later, though.. I can't help you on that one. You must impress upon him that the world is full of scumbags who get a kick out of ruining everyone ele's fun.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I find the pre-built systems less idiot-proof. They load up the machine with 30 day "free trials" and icons that take you to sites that try to sell you stuff and install ad toolbars and other crap. If you do the factory re-install, spend a few hours cleaning up the spam-ware.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

emc7 said:


> I find the pre-built systems less idiot-proof. They load up the machine with 30 day "free trials" and icons that take you to sites that try to sell you stuff and install ad toolbars and other crap. If you do the factory re-install, spend a few hours cleaning up the spam-ware.


yup true... hence the discs i can give as a download, have got versions of xp but they are more picky about the type of key you may have, oem/retail blah blah..
the discs i have will work with any version/key of vista/w7 and know are virus free as i made them from originals rather than download from the web.
the free trials are not that much of a problem as you can just remove them but it takes a little time and patience, the same time and patience to download the latest drivers and utilities for the hardware from the relevent websites which can be confusing.
If you do go for the option of my discs i still recommend creating your reinstall disc from your machine if possible as a backup in case of anything unseen and the possibility your key dont work with my disc (unlikely but who knows, better to be safe than sorry)
as was said previous, you are probably better doing a full wipe reinstall, with viruses and if you have one it sounds a nasty, you can never be fully sure if you have removed every trace and many have the capability of replicating themselves as a different name, in a different place, some times its just a quick to reinstall if not quicker as it is to remove them.
word to the wise... always back anything important to an external hard drive as you go along as then you are not faced with the position of trying to recover important pictures/files from a broken hard drive or a external hosting site where they have multiple backups like where i host mine on dropbox.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

Hi All.
It is windows 7 and bought just in August!!
This will be the 3rd time he has messed it up since purchase and the 2nd time he has managed to delete major stuff on it.
There is absolutely nothing left on the computer except what it came with. All his word documents and pictures have disappeared. The preinstalled games don`t work-- say now there is no graphics card which is obviously a lie as IE works fine as well as the computer loads ok.
I had to reset up connection to the internet also. I am wondering if the drivers for the graphics cards are associated with the programs-- have done a ton of reading on the net about computer stuff! Most goes over my head 
He generally likes to read his mail and then play some form of solitaire all day.oh and read the news.
Problem now when you buy microsoft office you don`t get a disc so when it gets uninstalled you have to go back to the tore to have it reloaded. The program just does not recognize the registration number I found out.

We* did *make a back up disc for him on an external hard- drive when he got it and we do have 5 backup discs that the store made off the original install. Do you just re install from them or do we have to wipe the harddrive first?


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

they should wipe the drive as you do it, select the restore to the day you purchased or similar, would suggest creating him a guest account and you hold the administrator account


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

It might be worth it to get one of these (monthly fee) automatic backup services that uploads all the changes every night, so you can quickly restore lost files. Or do something similar yourself with an external hard drive and an imaging backup like the Acronis makes. To restore from image takes a long time, but you don't have to set everything up again. 

Wiping the drive will definitely cost you any surviving files, but will also safeguard from any viruses he may have picked up. 

Or even go as far as a chromebook with you having access to his files in the "cloud" so you can back them up and scan them for trouble.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

w7 has a backup utility built in, does take time though, cant beat backing up all important files to another source ....
i always install a 2nd hard drive into any computers i build for friends or anyone else if they are into photography and if its a business pc, not just creating a 2nd partition cos if the main drive fails you will still lose everything, like i mentioned... you cant beat an external source backup like cloud or dropbox as they have backups of your backups of your backups... its in their interests to have many because you should never rely on technology, it will always eventually let you down.... or if you dont want to pay for an external service always have 2 external hard drives with the same backups in case 1 fails and replace the failure as it happens.. same as external source then 
too many trust their pc's to never let them down and unfortunatly ive got news for you... it will and when you least expect it.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

we did a backup on the external hard drive when he got the computer but 
1. i can't figure out how to get the info back onto the computer. There seems to be something missing. 2. The instructions on how to do the above show pics of what boxes should come up and they don't.
3.I phoned a tech and he tried to walk me thru installing the 5 backup discs that are made before you bring home the computer and the dvd part will not show up on the computer so there is no way to get the info from the dvd to the harddrive. So I guess we will be taking it in.
4. I tried to use the dvd drive to install his printer software and it says a part is missing from the program. Yet 2 days ago I was able to install the anti-virus program from it.
Go figure!!
This is a real nice toshiba satellite gaming computer-- $1800 and now it is junk- again.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

if it is the w7 backup/restore function then do it within windows,that will restore it to the image of what it was when you made the discs,
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-restore-files-from-a-backup-in-windows-7.html
if that is not working then you need to do a resore from the restore dvd for your machine that will restore it back to the day you got it.
to be fair the latter is probably the best option as anyting that is broke when making the backups will be restored too.
If you do decide to try the backups that was made from the 5 discs if you want to be around 'UK' time and make use of the forums chat feature i can access your machine with some software called Teamviewer to start the balls rolling for you, the rest is a case of swap the disc when it asks for it and common sense.


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