It's been a week and I can't fix this.

[Janna]

*huge sigh*

I have tried everything I could think of. I've searched the forums, too, cuz I know someone must have had this issue before - but I can't find anything that matches my problem.

Last week, I installed Windows XP - Home Edition. Immediately, I had viruses. I think there's probably at least one left that I haven't been able to locate/kill/whatever; after however many issues, I finally downloaded the AVG Pro trial and it actually found 14 viruses.

I can't get any updates or patches from the Windows site; I can't even activate my version of Windows! I did finally manage to download SP2 using a link I found here, and that reactivated my Task Manager, which is great...

But I still can't VIEW my Task Manager, nor can I get into the command prompt. I tell it to open, and it either doesn't open at all or it comes on and then disappears - or, more rarely, it opens and lets me type in a command, and then it hangs.

Um, specs...? Meh. I'm running on a refurbished Dell Optiplex GX1, Pentium II chip. Maxtor 6GB HD with a slaved Maxtor 358MB HD. Motorola CyberSurf Wave cable modem. The main HD has nearly 2GB free space on it right now; I started keeping my files on a flash drive last week - now I just have to figure out a way to keep my e-mail safe from... well... myself, I guess (I lost all of my e-mail when I reinstalled XP a couple of days ago.)

I use IE only when necessary; running Mozilla Firefox Beta 2 most of the time for internet surfing. I use Thunderbird (most current version) for my e-mail.

Any thoughts, information requests, etc. etc.?

-Janna

[Panama Red]

A fresh install on a clean hard drive should not allow any viruses unless this was an XP upgrade from a previous OS. Was yours an upgrade? For as many issues as you've described, I would save any files to the small hdd and do another fresh install. Delete the existing partition containing XP and start over with a reformat and install. Immediately install SP2 from the previously mentioned download site and don't go anywhere else on the web until a good antivirus like AVG is installed.

Best advice I can offer really is buy a larger hard drive than that 6Gb. You're asking an awful lot of that list of hardware and I wouldn't install XP on anything less that a 10Gb hdd.

[Janna]

It was an upgrade from Windows 98.

As for the HD... Dells SUCK. It took me forever to get it to read the slave drive properly, I don't trust this machine to read anything else. I'm convinced that the only reason it's reading the slave is that it's the same brand as the main drive, since I've got a number of hard drives without homes that *didn't* work in the Dell as slaves. I don't even know how big some of them actually are, because they don't all list their specs on the case (no documentation; they're all used - got 'em free).

I have a PC tower that runs Windows 98 and works pretty well, but definitely needs some work to be able to handle networking and cable internet. I also have a PowerMac tower that needs an OS installed, and a PowerMac desktop that needs an OS as well. I also have enough of those extra hard drives to build two more double-drive computers, if I get a couple of cases, motherboards, etc. Oh, and two internal Zip drives and an external one. Plus an internal dialup modem and a sweet sound card. I don't have monitors and keyboards/mice for everything I could potentially build, but I think I've got a good start. (I actually have more computers than rooms in my house.)

Regardless, I need to get this thing working properly so I can post another thread about setting up a wireless network... I will go crazy if I have to share my computer much longer. (Roommate has a computer but the cable in our place is *only* in the living room, so that's where my computer is... and guess how likely it is that I'll be able to use it right away when I get home after work?)

-Janna

[glc]

I would recommend a total wipe and clean install - and do NOT connect the Ethernet cable till you have the firewall turned on.

Your hard drive issues may just be jumper related. Dells use cable select cables.

A 6gb hard drive is not big enough for XP and any semblance of applications.

[Corky]

One other thing, get rid of the Firefox BETA. The latest version is 1.0.7