Could it be a hardware problem?

[kilin]

IE and Windows explorer randomly shut down (mostly with error message, sometimes not), computer reboots itself occasionally. I did a format and Windows Reinstall but problem remains. Is this a hardware problem?

My Avast antivirus (up-to-date) just did a thorough scan and picked up nothing.

 

Removed spam link which member added to his post days later ~ Hazelnut

[hazelnut]

Please post your operating system and service pack and what the error message says.

[nodles]

As hazelnut said. Those error messages would help alot.

If it's not a virus/infection, it could be a faulty hardware, maybe RAM in this case, or overheating.

[Super Fast]

Kilin, there are a few things to try out.

 

If your computer is running hot, it will slow down/reboot/etc. Open your case, blow the dust out, especially around the processor fan/videocard fan, intake fans, anything with a fan. Be sure to use a q-tip to hold the blade of the fan while blowing it out, so it doesn't over-rpm while your cleaning it. Do it outside on a dry day, so the dust won't accumulate back inside your house.

 

Another thing to try is Ubuntu. Ubuntu seems to have some kind of fault tolerance that will let it run when Windows doesn't. It may take 2 or 3 times to get it to install if you have faulty hardware, but Ubuntu does seem to work where Windows is unable to.

 

But try blowing out the dust first, removing your 56K modem card if you no longer use that (most people use ethernet/high speed now). In fact, remove any card you don't use, & try re-testing. The reason is, that sometimes you can suffer an electrical spike. Some people protect their power supply going into the computer & their monitor, but they fail to protect their DSL/phone like, & get their card partly/fully fried.

 

Which can cause endless reboots.

[JDPower]

Either you guys are slacking or the spammers have a new tactic - post then edit post with spam at a later date

[hazelnut]

That is exactly what has happened JD.

 

Thanks for the report. I will remove the spam link the member has sneaked in today and ban them.

 

I'll leave this thread so that members can perhaps keep an eye out for this behaviour.

[Andavari]

Time to disable editing after some 3, 5, or 10 minutes!!!!!

[Corona]

I agree with Andavari.

[Winapp2.ini]

Maybe allow editing after the first ~hour once users have attained a sizable enough amount of posts (maybe 10? Spammers rarely go past 5 here)

 

Either way, very elaborate spammer.

[kroozer]

Time to disable editing after some 3, 5, or 10 minutes!!!!!

 

Today I discovered that one of my recent imageshack-hosted images no longer opened. Without the ability to edit and move that image to a different host, that instructional post would be useless.

 

If we can't edit, we'll be forced to add another post to the thread, with the claim "Cos I can't edit (correct) my post above, here is the latest and greatest:"

 

Let's not make editing difficult for all of us cos of an occasional bad apple.

[Super Fast]

Well, guys, that is bad, I agree. What is worse, is I recently discovered that spammers can buy your numbers from the phone company, & get around the do-not call list.

 

I had 4 spam calls to my phone the other day, & even a spam voice message. UGH!!!! I want to SCREEEEEAMMMMM!!!!!

 

No way to stop cell phone spam, is there? Anyone know?

[nodles]

Spam calls? Never happened to me, not sure if I've even heard about that before. The only "spam calls" I get are from magazine sellers.

[hazelnut]

I love spam telephone calls. I can tell you that they put down the phone before I do

 

You can have so much fun when they ask things like, ''are you the homeowner?'' I make answers up on the spur of the moment from ''I can't tell you anything I have been sworn to secrecy'' or I ask '' do you own your own home, how big is it and what do you grow in the garden?''

 

The ones I get most pleasure out of are the Microsoft pretend callers. They are scamming so much money from vulnerable people, telling them that Microsoft has checked their machine and it has errors etc. While they were trying to get me to go to the Ammyy site to download the software so they could access my machine, I lead them such a merry dance that they gave up.

[Andavari]

I've gotten spam phone calls before, they really hate it when you tell them their own phone number and that you're going to give it to the Police.

[login123]

I love spam telephone calls. I can tell you that they put down the phone before I do

 

You can have so much fun

. . .

 

Same here. I ask them to explain, tell them I need to write it down, read it back, etc. They're on the clock, ya know.

 

About the spammers, though, wasn't there a spate of this a few months back? Bunch of odd, meaningless posts, then a later some editing?

 

Maybe a solution is to send up a flare (visible to moderators) if an old post is edited. For all I know such a capability might exist right now. Would make a lot of work for the moderators.

 

It would be clumsy to limit editing. I once edited a 7 month old post about some freeware because the author wanted users directed to his new website to download it. Harmless editing and preferable to bumping the old post, right?

 

Plus, it takes me 2 or 3 looks just to spell everything correctly.

[Andavari]

Maybe a solution is to send up a flare (visible to moderators) if an old post is edited.

If it were that easy I suppose such a thing would exist, and such things wouldn't slip past forum staff.

[Alan_B]

I have seen forums where there are heavy restrictions upon new members,

limiting how many posts they can make and especially how many topics they can start.

 

It may be reasonable to prevent editing and only permit corrective replies so that first time spammers can no longer sneak their payload in "under the radar" of an Edit.

[Nergal]

While in many forums a restriction for n00bs makes sense, I don't find it does for this site, as most posters (present company excluded) only will come for a single question answer (roughly 1-5 posts)