Laptop issues

[BJoe]

Haven't used my laptop in about 3 weeks and for some reason tonight it kept locking up if it picked up our wifi. Now if I turn off the wifi reciever before the Java updater pops up, it works fine, shortly after the WiFi gets turned on, it locks up.

Any ideas why guys?

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by BJoe

Haven't used my laptop in about 3 weeks and for some reason tonight it kept locking up if it picked up our wifi. Now if I turn off the wifi reciever before the Java updater pops up, it works fine, shortly after the WiFi gets turned on, it locks up.

Any ideas why guys?

Need more info, describe "locked up" or preferable attach a screenshot. Does it lock up when plugged into internet connection or just on wifi? If wifi only, maybe wireless driver conflict and/or bad wireless card. If locks up either way it connects to the internet then it sounds like you may have malware and or viruses that call home and do nasty chit as soon as they see your'e connected to the outside world.

EDIT: Clicking on a little too much pron? LOL

[BJoe]

I turn it on, go to start doing things (on or off line), the Java updater pops up and within a minute or do, the computer freezes up, same if I jyst power it up and let it sit until the Java updater pops up and I try to update Java. It even did it while trying to update Windows (it's a Vista machine.) Haven't tried it hooked directly to the modem yet, but I was going to take it to work and see if our WiFi there, or at the nearby Wendy's makes a difference.


Porn wise, not a problem, don't look at it on this machine and even though it's a hand me down, I know that hasn't been an issue before. Last thing I did on it was pay down on my credit card bill a few weeks back and Dad used it about a month ago for either looking for old financial info or doing stuff with old family photos. In all honesty, I'd probably would have had a better chance catching something here than anywhere else I've been on it, with those damned Google pop ups at the bottom of the screen.

[Natedog]

OK, so eliminate one thing at a time, turn off wifi and plug it to network cable and see waht happens. You don't KNOW that somebody else hasn't surfed to any bad sites or clicked on email link. I know that I NEVER surf porn. ;) LOL.

After eliminating that first step, start it up, then immediately go to control panel and uninstall all versions of Java (there maybe more then one version, and that is not good but shouldn't cause this problem). Once that is done, post back here. BTW, if still having problems, boot to safe mode and check it out from there.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by BJoe

,.... Last thing I did on it was pay down on my credit card bill a few weeks back and Dad used it about a month ago for either looking for old financial info or doing stuff with old family photos. In all honesty, I'd probably would have had a better chance catching something here than anywhere else I've been on it, with those damned Google pop ups at the bottom of the screen.

Yes forgot to say that photo hosting sites, facbook and all that bs sites can be worse source of bad chit than porn. If you're using IE, stop! Download and use Firefox or Chrome (I prefer Firefox open source and no ad bs like Google chrome and IE), get adblock plus, java script block etc. (please give them a donation, they do a lot of work to make their stuff) will help protect you better. What antivirus are you using and when was it last updated?

[cody426]

I would start by going into safe mode with networking and see if it still locks up. If not, go into msconfig, disable all startup items, reboot in to regular windows. If it still doesn't lock up, go back into msconfig and enable startup items one at a time until you find the one that is causing the problem. Then you can move forward with fixing it, if it's a startup item anyways. You could also do the same with all non-Microsoft services.

It could also be a bunch of stuff is just trying to update all at once and letting it sit for a while may allow it to come back to life, if that's the case the mouse would still be responsive while everything else says "Not Responding"

[BJoe]

This is begining to look like something I need to work on at home tomorrow, although maybe I'll fire it up to try and let it update while at work, since I won't likely have time to screw with it on the clock.

[BJoe]

BTW, thanks guys, it's appreciated

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by BJoe

I turn it on, go to start doing things (on or off line), the Java updater pops up and within a minute or do, the computer freezes up, same if I jyst power it up and let it sit until the Java updater pops up and I try to update Java. It even did it while trying to update Windows (it's a Vista machine.) Haven't tried it hooked directly to the modem yet, but I was going to take it to work and see if our WiFi there, or at the nearby Wendy's makes a difference.


Porn wise, not a problem, don't look at it on this machine and even though it's a hand me down, I know that hasn't been an issue before. Last thing I did on it was pay down on my credit card bill a few weeks back and Dad used it about a month ago for either looking for old financial info or doing stuff with old family photos. In all honesty, I'd probably would have had a better chance catching something here than anywhere else I've been on it, with those damned Google pop ups at the bottom of the screen.

Originally Posted by cody426

I would start by going into safe mode with networking and see if it still locks up. If not, go into msconfig, disable all startup items, reboot in to regular windows. If it still doesn't lock up, go back into msconfig and enable startup items one at a time until you find the one that is causing the problem. Then you can move forward with fixing it, if it's a startup item anyways. You could also do the same with all non-Microsoft services.

It could also be a bunch of stuff is just trying to update all at once and letting it sit for a while may allow it to come back to life, if that's the case the mouse would still be responsive while everything else says "Not Responding"

Yes, this too.

[BJoe]

If it is Java, what can I screw up by removing it?

[vinnyphx]

no remove and reinstall java. sounds like an update conflict

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by BJoe

If it is Java, what can I screw up by removing it?

Nothing. Just websites that use java, won't display all content properly...most sites will be fine.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by vinnyphx

no remove and reinstall java. sounds like an update conflict

Maybe, need to also look at the updates successfully installed starting the day and time the problems started.

[cody426]

Uninstalling Java won't hurt a thing, remove it from the control panel. To re-install just go to java.com it's easy and quick. Just make sure to uncheck all the extra crap it wants to install (ask toolbar, ask.com helper) at the first Java setup screen. Don't need that stuff.