Sequestor

Make sure that you have at least the XP firewall enabled and prefferably something better. Run programs like Adaware and SpyHunter to make sure you don't have any trojans and set your internet security to max (if you can live with that). If you have a fixed IP address a web site will always be able to look up your IP address so make sure that your logon details are meaningless. If you want to access a particular suspicious site, log on to your computer as a guest. This will hide your normal details and cookies, and reduce access to sensitive parts of your system.

As regards your boot problem, you probrably have a corrupt system file. You can probrably fix it from the recovery console which you can start from the installation CD but this is not intuitive. If you have access to another XP machine then the best way is to mount your hard drive on that machine and run "CHKDSK /f" from the command prompt. Assuming you are running NTFS file system this will likely sort it.

Edit

Resist the temptation to reinstall or repair Windows except as a very last resort. It may not work and in any case you will have to reload all service packs and updates.

cheers optimist as ever you are star

thanks,

ps the ` intruder` poster I am hoping to lose, got some personal details from another bb site you use, you know the one, I have heard that some of their staff at times have been known to stir things up on the bb, be warned, the animal must have had access to their files to know what he said re. my latest dealings with the co.

Edited

I keep getting E-mails with Blank "From" Fields.They appear to contain nothing except the time sent.Also they contain no attachments

Im using Norton Firewall 2003.Is it this removing parts of the E Mails or some new virus E-Mail

Iain, they are probably spammers trying to see if your email address exists, not much you can do.

Cheers Spaceman

Iain

You could set Outlook to never respond to requests for receive/read receipt.

Yes that would help but a lot of them dont have read reciepts they just see if the mail bounces, some have a hidden link which will check against the spammers site to show that the mail has been opened. There is a product called pocketknofe peek which I use which opens mail as bare information and allows you to look at it in several forms. I use it for this sort of mail.

Spaceman

That sounds interesting, where do you get it?

O, its from here http://www.xintercept.com/

You can look at emails safely from within Outlook Express. Properties, Details tab, Message Source. Do turn off the Preview Pane feature though (View/Layout) since that will open messages if they are highlighted.

Thanks Spaceman I'll check it out.

Have made a hash of installing a 3Com Wireless PC card in my laptop - 'cause I couldn't find my Win 98 CD (now found).

When I boot up now I get messages saying the following files couldn't be found:

vredir.vxd
dfs.vxd
msnp32.dll

and then it says Windows networking couldn't be established. Have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the PC card software but just the same messages. Does anyone know how I can get these back without a complete reinstallation of W98. TIA.

Seymor

First go into network properties and delete any network connection that is trying to use it. Then goto device manager and uninstall the card. Shut down the computer and remove the card then reboot. For good luck do a search for new hardware. Shut down the computer, reinstall the card which with luck will be detected on startup and ask you for the CD's

A tip for anyone with plenty of disk space.

Create a directory called Setup on your C drive and a sub dir called windows XP. Copy your installation CD here and it is always availible when needed.

You can also copy any program CD's to a separate directory under Setup. Most times you can install the program from here which is also far faster.

I want to create a boot up disk.
Im using XP PRO.
So far I have put a Floppy disk in. chosen Format: create a startup disk and done that.
I then changed my bios to boot from A first. It does this then I get a Command prompt (Hope thats the right word) what do I type to see if my Bootup disk is working?
Also can I create a startup on a CD.?
If the above is the totally wrong way of doing it. HELP Please!:-)

Iain

You can't create a boot disk for Win XP. If you are using a FAT32 file system you can create an MSDOS boot disk that will access the hard drive but it will not load XP. You can also find some Lynux based boot disks that will read an NTFS disk.

You can use the recovery console, which is availible at boot or on the installation CD, to fix any Win XP boot problems. This has some powerful utilities but you need to know what you are doing.

If you are using FAT32 file system you would do well to convert to NTFS. Sooner or later it will save your data.

When I have Formatted drive previously It has copied in NTFS.
So if i have probs I use recovery console?
I Have a bit of Knowledge.Dangerous?:-)

You can only format a hard drive in NTFS not floppeis or CD.

Recovery console is a way of accessing XP from a command line when it won't boot. The most used command is probrably "CHKDSK" which is OK. Use caution with any others.

Iain, why do you think you need a boot disk? its not normally needed or advised with w2k onwards?