Programs will not open


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Old 06-23-03, 09:38 AM
R
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Programs will not open

Hello all,
I have a friend with an older Gateway computer running win98. The problem she is having is when she tries to open a program it will start to open then minimizes its self "to the bottom" She tells me all the programs on her computer do the same thing. She has no anti virus software installed and has NOT backed up any files or folders. This is also her small business computer. Any help appreciated
Thanks
Mike
 
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Old 06-23-03, 02:47 PM
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When she right clicks on the minimized icon and selects maximize, does it open onto the screen?
 
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Old 06-23-03, 04:16 PM
mudder
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Programs will not open

In win 98
right click the start button and choose open
doble click the programs icon
right click all shown program icons individually and choose their properties.
there is a 'RUN' drop down window where open minimized or open maximized can be chosen.

* Edited - 6/23/2003 - TOTALLY off topic - Please try not to offend other members and keep threads on topic *

hope this helps
 

Last edited by SafeWatch; 06-23-03 at 05:04 PM.
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Old 06-23-03, 07:32 PM
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really, really. really high odds she has a virus.Get her a virus scanner asap. Even if she isn't infected, she needs antivirus. Has the name of her hard drive changed? does it do this in safemode? could she make it online to do a free online virus check?
 
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Old 06-23-03, 10:52 PM
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Thank you all for your input.
I stopped by my friends computer this evening, downloaded AVG free download, Installed it, rebooted and AVG detected the "Trojan Horse" virus. She tells me she rarely uses Email and cant understand how she got this. She now realises the importance of anti virus software. The old close the barn door after the horse has bolted syndrome. I called another friend who has win98 and he is going to make a clean boot disc as she does not have the win98 CD or a boot disc. Hopefully the AVG program can take care of the virus.
I really appreciate all your help
Thanks ...Mike
PS: She has Earthlink dial up internet service. It kicked us off 3 times during the download....20 minutes total download time. After that experience I sure do appreciate my DSL a lot more
I'll give an update later on the virus clean up.
 
  #6  
Old 06-24-03, 01:51 AM
mudder
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Programs will not open

If she cant make a boot disc go to bootdisc.com and download one I've used one from there for my other 98 machine and they are good. Sorry if i sounded offensive but its very important to have an antivirus program and seeing as there was a trojan and you got avg i guess i wasnt off topic after it all. You may still have to do the fixes I posted. When everythings clean you should impress her the importance of full backups as she can lose all her business files.
 
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Old 06-25-03, 06:25 PM
las
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Trouble free computers?

All I want to say is they got to try and make these computers easy and user friendly...cause I figure more and more people will go on-line...I believe it's inevitable...so make them easy to use and get them there bugs ironed out?
 
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Old 06-25-03, 08:09 PM
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I don't think trouble-free and easy can ever be used in the same sentence with computers LOL! They are onery cusses and want to go down when we need them the most, or simply 'pull' little stunts to keep us on the edge of our seats.

Learning as much as you about computers and their problems is a good way to keep your machine running as smoothly as possible. After hearing a ton of preaching, and it running in one ear and out the other (mine) I finally grasped what these guys were telling me. Reading software manuals and install instructions are also a key to a well running system.

I wish Repairman and his friend luck in that no real harm has been done. No important records lost. Surfing the net, even briefly, wasn't always this devastating.

Kay
 
 

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