I love those old spyware programs that you'd use the trial of and it'd detect like 3000 spyware and then be like YOU MUST PAY TO DELETE THEM etc.

_________________
Twitter | Transistor Glamor | Tumblr | MAL

Hostageware I think the term is these days. Often times paying the company doesn't even delete the program either.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

The 'scareware' fake-antivirus viruses that try to get people to pay for a piece of software to 'clean' their PC usually just take your credit card info, and run off with it. These can normally be removed with the aid of a boot cd (to disable the virus' startup entries) and a combo of MalwareBytes / Autoruns / Combofix / SuperAntispyware / whateverishotrightnow. My personal favorite boot cd at the moment is Windows Ultimate Boot CD - http://www.ubcd4win.com/ - I just use the 'EZPCFix' applet to load user hives and then delete suspicious start-up registry entries, and also delete all of the user's temp files which can slow down the scanners I'll use later. Recently I've seen a new flavor of FakeAV that doesn't show any registry entries that look off, but there will be a suspicious exe file in the primary user's "app data" folder... twice it's been "gir.exe" for example.

The worse kind are the viruses that encrypt your entire hard drive and boot up to a screen that says "Pay us or you'll never see your data again!" or something similar. From what I've read you can actually pay the ransom and get your data back sometimes, but I would be skeptical. The only thing you can safely do in those situations is restore from a previous backup.

Yeah the viruses that encrypt your hard drives are probably the second worst I've ever heard of. The worst being ones that actually thrash your hardware. In 97 I got a virus called CIH that flashed my bios with junk and rendered my computer unusable. No keyboard or mouse and I couldn't use my cdrom. Luckily my mobo was under warranty.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

my laptop's being very difficult to charge. lately it's nearly impossible. I'm sure it's not the charger because I've used two with the same result. it's not the battery either. so it must be the connecty bit inside where you plug the cord. is this fixable or do I have to bite the bullet and get a new laptop? if it can be fixed, any idea about how much it'll cost?

_________________

I'm still the Queen of Dicks

Well if your sure it is not the battery or charger because that is the most likely scenario There could be a loose connection on the inside, but generally it is not removable and unless you have a soldering iron and know how to soldier the internal power jack back in your screwed. Is your problem that you have to jiggle the cord to get a charge?

Is it just intermittently charging?
Is it say it is charging but not doing it?
Is the battery constantly at a low charge.

You can try and clean the connection points on the battery and the place where the laptop connects to the battery itself. If those are dirty it can cause charging problems,

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

once I get it to charge it seems to stay charging. it's just when I move the plug a little that it stops and it takes a long time to get it to charge again. someone told me that from what I say it sounds like a weakness in the inlet and probably fixable. knowing that, I'll take it to a computer repair place and just find out how much it'll cost.

_________________

I'm still the Queen of Dicks

Depends, use some feminine charm, wear something busty and flirt a bit with the nerd you can probably get it done for 50 bucks.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

Zeph, please. Think of the children.

Good tip. If the nerd is a teenage boy, then flirt extra hard and he'll do anything you want, and as a bonus he'll be too awkward to ask you for anything in return.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

gah. it was an old man and either my tits aren't big enough or he was gay. it could cost 185 if he has to replace the whole jack and it'll take a few days. dammit. gonna have to put off buying a new laptop even longer. :|

_________________

I'm still the Queen of Dicks

Nooooo old guy in a committed relationship. Those guys aren't very common as low level techs. Sad zepherin is sad.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

decided against getting it fixed at the moment. if I'm gonna put money in a laptop, might as well be for a new one.

how does this sound for the price:

Sony Vaio
Intel core i7 740QM quad core processor (1.73 GHz w/ turbo boos u to 2.93)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
320 GB harddrive
4 GB memory
16.4" display (1600 x 900)
NVIDIA GeForce 310M ( 512MB VRAM)
Microsoft Office Home and Student: Word, Powerpoint, Excel, One Note (119 bucks)
high capacity battery (whatever that is actually supposed to mean)
LED backlit keyboard (25 bucks)

grand total: $944.98

or, any recommendations for a good laptop? I'd really like to stick with 4 giggities of ram and the screen size I have up there, but I'd also be happy with an HP if you know of a good one about the same price or less.

_________________

I'm still the Queen of Dicks

That's a pretty decent price, and Sonys are usually decent laptops. The Quad Core laptops are just expensive. although I'd wait for a sale on new egg or amazon see if you can knock off a 100 bucks.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

okay I want a second opinion on this before I go ahead cuz mom is no help at all:

it's an HP

Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor: AMD Phenom(TM) II Quad-Core Mobile Processor P960 (1.8GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)
Graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 4250 Graphics with 128MB Display Cache Memory [HDMI, VGA]
Memory: 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) (was a free upgrade from 4GB)
Hard drive: 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Microstof Office Home and Student (80 bucks, that's $40 off :o
Security software: Norton Internet Security(TM) 2011 - 15 Month Subscription (they're offering it for free, might as well)
Primary battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 4.5 hours of battery life
Display 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Display (1366x768)
Primary optical drive SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Networking 802.11b/g/n WLAN
Keyboard Backlit Keyboard with HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader

with instant rebate, this is $713.99

I'm thinking I should do it. sound good?

_________________

I'm still the Queen of Dicks

That's not a bad deal, but 2 things you should be aware of HP support is absolutely dreadful, especially if the product is out of warranty so be prepared if something goes wrong. HP has a lot of crapware installed so you might want to grab the pc decrapifier and run it right off the bat. On the plus side HPs generally don't break. They are solidly built.

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

haha, I'm used to no support. I have a Gateway. thanks for the advice and the link though. might as well run that on my laptop right now.

_________________

I'm still the Queen of Dicks

It really is specially geared to new laptops, and removes all the worthless starter programs.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

Does anyone know how to successfully root a smartphone?

_________________
"Small muscles, big brain, the heart of a lion."
—Anthony DiNozzo on Timothy McGee

what kind? different smart phones have different security percautions and different Operating systems. But the term your looking for is jailbreak.

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

I have Android my good sir.

_________________
"Small muscles, big brain, the heart of a lion."
—Anthony DiNozzo on Timothy McGee

which version of android and which phone?

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

LG Optimus V
Droid 2.2.1

_________________
"Small muscles, big brain, the heart of a lion."
—Anthony DiNozzo on Timothy McGee

Here you go.

Disclaimer: I haven't done this for this phone so I don't know if this will brick it or if the files will do anything to your computer.

Here is a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou5x0hUEx5c

Heres a link with written instructions
http://forum.androidcentral.com/optimus ... mus-v.html

_________________
Zeph do you ever tire of being perfect? ~Dave
Zeph is still awesome though. ~Rival
I love you so much right now Zeph. ~Yoshi
I love you Zeph. You and your simple yet humorous topic-breakers. ~Coos
Zeph has left me inspired. ~Mathias
Zeph is so awesome even soulless bits of binary worship him. ~Wizard
Curse YOU ZEPH! CURSE YOU! ~JesusChrist
WE ARE SORRY THAT WE ARE NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU, ZEPH! ~Stufflikehearts
Zepherin for forum queen and writer of the best seller "how to screw your brethen up for dummies". ~ The Mirak

Computer help...

Okay, I'm having trouble with this terabyte I have here... Here's what happened:

I was torrenting something to my terabyte hard drive. The next thing I knew was what that the downloading went wonky. Suddenly, my harddrive just disappeared. I rebooted my computer and there it was. I continued my downloading, but then the hard drives disconnects again. I restart the computer then it went bonkers. I finally gave up and just unplug the terabyte hard drive from the computer. It started working normally again.

How do I fix this?

_________________