Guys, guys!

@Jolenealaska yes?

It's 4am here!

Helpme!!

and in one hour, you will be sure that there won't be any judge duty?

What do I do next with this computer??

@Jolenealaska Oh. Still not going online after malware cleaning?

They announce that at 5pm.

nope

What is the symptom? Still complaining of a bad proxy?

It just says that it can't connect. Is there a place in particular that I should look?

what says that it can't connect? The browser?

yes...both firefox and chrome

hold on...WEIRDNESS!

And the Internet connection icon says that it is connected or disconnected?

OK, this is messed up.

now I can't get it to boot.

I never turned it off

now it won't turn on

Are you trying just to jiggle the mouse to wake it up? If this doesn't work, hit the reset button

no

or, if there is no reset button on the case, hold the normal power button pressed for at least 15 seconds (use a timer)

then press it once as normal

i have held the power button for several seconds more than once

It has to be 15. There is a counter programmed in it, it's not just a matter of hoping that some capacitor is discharged already.

If this doesn't work, the next suspect is a dislodged cable.

i'm back up (sort of)

yes.

@Jolenealaska does this mean something is starting?

well, just the 'puter start up.

hold on, I'll try to get on line.

"the computer start up", does it mean that it boots completely into Windows, or are we still dealing with a failure somewhere on the way to the desktop?

I get all the way to Google (his home page). It looks normal until I search for something.

What happens if you enter something in the address bar?

Then it says "Unable to connect to the internet"

a real address, not a search term

http://cooking.stackexchange.com for example

same

Does it use Wifi or a cable?

wifi

as a matter of fact, it poaches mine

there should be an icon in the tray in the lower right corner, for the wifi connection. Does it say there is a connection?

(or it should)

when you open it, it should show you details about the current connection.

hold on...

It tends to look differently depending on the manufacturer of the network card. But it doesn't matter. It will generally show that it is either connected or disconnected.

And when you look into the details, it tells you to which network it is connected, and sometimes also how much data is moving, and so on.

this is confusing

screenshots

screenshots are the answer

that would be easy if it had a damn internet connection!

@ElendilTheTall yes, these would be very good. Of course, they are time consuming when the computer of interest is not online. Snapping the screen with another camera is also OK as long as we can read it, or you can transfer it via USB stick to your computer and online from there. Whatever works better for you.

If it is both hard, we can try it without the screenshots for some time.

hold on

<dangles by fingertips>

windows troubleshooting...this never works.

@Jolenealaska well, I've seen windowses recover from problems. It can be done.

The Diagnostics Policy is not running

I don't know what a Diagnostics policy is.

either do I

I just typed what it said

pff, ignore that

do you have an icon in the bottom right that looks like cellphone reception bars?

can you left click the wifi icon in the tray?

no

Elendil said it better. "The tray" is that part in the bottom right where you usually see the date and time.

it'sgone

yeah...I get it

is there a little arrow in the tray that opens up further icons?

there is nothing there

In the Control panel, there is an option called Network and sharing.

only one

It should be able to show you active connections too.

"customize"

No, "customize" is not interesting right now.

ooh

hold on!

ah, maybe you can re-activate the network icon through customize after all

if it's not in the tray anyway, it's probably because there are no connections

it sees it

@ElendilTheTall but in a standard windows setup, it is also shown when the card is installed but has not connected to anything. If there was (or still was) malware, it might have hidden the icon.

cause it knows its name

You found a list of available networks, and the name of your network is on this list?

it only asks for the one network name. The right one.

OK. And when you try to connect to it, what happens?

what happens if you double click it?

I only get there by clicking on "Solve PC Issues" in the tray

holcd on...

I went to control panel

"Windows did not detect any networking hardware"

does he use a wifi dongle or is it built in?

This is strange. Maybe the drivers are damaged.

Hmmm...what is a dongle??

a "dongle" looks like a USB stick, but contains a functional component

like a usb stick

it's like a plug-in wifi aerial

OK, I'm going to show just how ignorant I am.....

He's got a card

this "card" is inside the computer case, or outside, plugged in a USB port?

is this a laptop, by the way, or a desktop?

it has an antennae that sticks out the back

it's a desktop

a tower

ok, so it's a wifi card

try this

he poaches my wifi

hold the windows key, and press the Pause/Break key

k

can you see 'Device Manager'?

@ElendilTheTall cool, I didn't know this combination. I was going to send her to the device manager through the control panel.

hold on

dammit

i just dropped the keyboard on my foot....

ouch

ok yes

are there yellow triangles anywhere in the device manager?

nope

it shows a tree of all computer components. And some of them can have a warning sign.

Can you open the "network adaptors" node?

none have a warning sign

not called that

I'm on a computer without a wifi interface, so maybe it has another name

file action view help

there should be a list in the main window

if not, there will be a single entry with an arrow next to it - click that arrow

Somewhere in the list might be another name hiding the card. Maybe "wireless devices" or similar.

got it\

is there a device listed under the relevant heading? (I assume "got it" means you found the right heading)

yes, 2 options. They both say "this device is working correctly"

I think this may be the point where a screenshot becomes important. Showing both options - not their detail window, but the names. You can do it with the external camrea again.

I'm not sure what you mean, but I can do this:

I mean like the guy did in this picture

sevenforums.com/network-sharing/…

on the top of page 2

Yes, this is what I mean.

hmm

The first one is the wifi card. The second one is for a cabled connection.

the broadcom is the card in question

so

it's installed and windows thinks it's working, but at the same time does not know it

But at least we have established that the device manager does indeed recognize a real wifi card, and is not listing two cabled cards or something.

What happens when you list them in the console?

In the start menu, type cmd

???

ok

it should open a dos-style window where you can type commands

and there, type ipconfig

there may be many entries, but we are interested to see if there is one called Broadcom

so far everything says media disconnected

ok

hold on

But it lists one called Broadcom? Then it knows the device exists.

nope

double click the Broadcom in the Device Manager

click the Driver tab

click Update Driver and have windows search for an updated driver

@ElendilTheTall can't, she has no Internet

oh christ yes

fool

and on Windows, I don't even remember how to find the model number, for direct driver download on the other computer.

but I can give you details!

download.cnet.com/Broadcom-802-11g-Network-Adapter/…

download that onto a stick, transfer it to the other PC, and come back to us

Ok!

@ElendilTheTall are you sure? Normally a driver will cover many models, but if the PC is very, very old, the most current one might not work.

But I hope it simply won't install, as opposed to installing and then doing something wrong.

it's like 5 or 6 years old

It's bizarrely confusing to remember which computer is doing what...

Man Oh Man... I completely forgot that my drive is messed up............

@rumtscho this driver is from 2005

Sometimes one can look at one's self and wonder if their parents had any children that lived.....

@ElendilTheTall it's not what I'd have done as the next step, given that Windows shows no warnings. But I have nothing better than shots in the dark, so why not try it.

I feel like such an idiot...

@Jolenealaska oh, don't be so harsh on yourself. You're in the middle of a stressful task, for which you have not been trained, and it's 5 AM. Of course you'll make some mistakes.

why is this giving me crap??

Troubleshooting computers is so frustrating, I tend to get all cranky and distracted too, and do dumb stuff, even though I consider myself knowledgeable around computers.

@rumtscho reinstalling drivers is always a good idea.

By the way, I just decided that having more heads working on it might be better.

My computer was hung up. Did I miss something?

Aarrgghh

I am a bit annoyed

@Jolenealaska understandable.

damn download sites

i hate them

oh, yes. I hate them too. Did it try to install a toolbar in your browser or something like that?

yes...and more

and totally disingenuous about it....

click yes if think you might not want it today but maybe might not want it tomorrow.

Dear Ask.com... I have to wonder, if you didn't suck, would you feel the need to stoop to this level??

The problem is that these strategies work

Facebook is not so popular because it's great, it's so popular because it used virus-like tactics to spread.

I hate that I can't go some places that I want to go without a facebook account. I have no friends and no charming history.

but I have an account

it annoys me to death

I have an aunt that thinks I should share everything on Facebook...

I don't have an account. I manage to live my life without it.

It is indeed inconvenient, my training group shares stuff over facebook.

After all, I live so far away....

I am left out of the cammeraderie this way. And also, if there is something important like the training not happening, or a special event being planned, I don't learn about it.

But I still prefer it over legally becoming a Facebook user.

surely I need to share intimate details of every aspect of my life with people I don't care to...

I am likewise Facebookless

if the product is free, you are the product

@Jolenealaska I find this attitude unpleasant. It shows that your life is not important enough to her for her to call and ask how you're going, but she just has a craving for gossip and hearing of interesting life events from somebody else's life, and thinks you are obliged to fill it for her.

Why else would I be Alaska??

also I have no friends

And this happens under the smug guise of "but I want to know more about you, dear"

EXACTLY!!!

that's what phones are for

She has my phone number (reluctantly)

Damn it!!!!!!!!

@Jolenealaska ?

fuck!!!!!

can we help?

I've got that stupid thing that underlines seemingly random words...

Oh. I hope it wasn't packaged in the broadcom driver.

so if you accidentally click, it brings you to an ad...

yep

Probably Malwarebytes can get rid of it. I think it's not as tenacious as the average malware.

I was so careful

These people's job is to trick users like you. Being careful is important, but they are good enough at their sleazy stuff to get you nevertheless.

right now ...rooms...problems...bacon and doctor (see starred) are hyperlinked

ok...last time the easiest way to get rid of it was to restore firefox (and chrome) defaults. I think...

it's probably installed as an extension, just delete the extension

or go to Add/Remove Programs and uninstall it

AARRGGHH

Ok, I can make my home page not be Yahoo...BUT...Is Yahoo really that lame??

yes

Google is the only search engine worth using

But is Yahoo is so lame that they're going to try to trick me into using them??

if they're being paid to...

Aarggh

I have to go to sleep

You guys have a great rest of your day.

sleep tight