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Oh, Help.
Topic Started: Sep 18 2016, 06:11 AM (752 Views)
Catseye
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I just got a message on my screen, "An unauthorized change was made to Windows. You must reinstall or restore Windows system files to activate."

:'(

From the chatter, there seem to be a million meanings of this, and a million solutions. And of course, all expressed in Geekspeak, which I'm not fluent in. But one solution that appears often is, "Run Systems Restore". I actually know about this, so my question is, can I run System Restore without doing anything dire? My system tells me I will lose Adobe Some-Number, and Chrome Some-Number, which I assume are updates and no big deal if lost.

Can I punch the System Restore button?

I ran my AVG Whole Computer Scan just now. It tells me no problems and my protection is up to date. It had run on its own about an hour before this Windows-Change thing appeared. I do know that antivirus programs can have badstuff slip past them, but AVG has always seemed to be good about catching stuff.

I don't know what to do-o-o-o. :weeping:


(I know this is aggravating, me constantly asking about these things. I have tried to learn. I need a human, and I can't find one willing to sit down with me and talk, in English, and point to things. Online instruction just doesn't work, because it is always a step ahead, no matter how much I have progressed on my own. I'm like the mule chasing the carrot that's dangling in front of his nose cuz it's tied to a stick just out of reach.)
"How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Invest the fifty bucks in PCMatic.

Now go make me a sammich......
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Catseye
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Larry
Sep 18 2016, 06:18 AM
Invest the fifty bucks in PCMatic.

Now go make me a sammich......
And would you also like a stick to poke at it with? :D
"How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
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Catseye
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Update: My desktop is black, except for the shortcuts. It used to have photos on it.


It's 10:38A. I'm going to do Systems Restore.


Goodbye, Cruel World. :heart:
Edited by Catseye, Sep 18 2016, 06:39 AM.
"How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
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John Galt
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Before you consider PCMatic, you might want to review their Web of Trust score and the reviews:

https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/pcmatic.com?utm_source=addon&utm_content=contextmenu

I run AVG as my real-time virus protection and have good luck with it but no program catches everything.

I also run two free malware programs once a week or so to double check stuff.

Malwarebytes Anti-spyware: https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Super Anti-Spyware: http://www.superantispyware.com/

If you can, I would install both of those and see if they find anything.

ETA: Ah, I see you have decided to take action.
Edited by John Galt, Sep 18 2016, 06:44 AM.
Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Hmm...when I see messages that I don't trust I will usually just power off immediately. Hit the button. Then I restart and they have gone away. There are some settings I googled that might help you avoid it, but it looks like a control setting in Service Profiles. I would just restart and not worry about it.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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John Galt
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And what Mik said.
Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
PCMatic is excellent. I never have to "run" anything. It does it all, and sends me a comprehensive, detailed report on everything going on.
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
John Galt
Sep 18 2016, 06:45 AM
And what Mik said.
Go make me a sammich.
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Catseye
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Systems Restore brung me back, after much whirring and messagings to do things.

The computer is aware that something is wrong. When I was brought back to my (still black) desktop, there was a message in the lower right-hand corner, "Application version changed."

Everything else is working normally. If all that happens is that I lose those stupid lamestream desktop pix that came with the computer, I'm good with that. It's what may have happened in the background that I can't see that is worrying.

Thank you, JG. You've been my angel lately, and I so appeciate it. :hug:

Gonna go do as Mik advises, and shut it down without using Systems Restore.

Goodbye, Cruel World. :heart:
"How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Right click on your desktop, go to personalize and Desktop Background. You can put it back in.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Catseye
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Thanks again, Mik.

I'd just as soon not have those pix back -- good riddance.

Here's the one I had, and would like to have again:

Posted Image


I have found a clue. Some of my graphics have changed a bit -- as if somebody got the idea to improve things. I think maybe Chrome. Then when it slugged in these changes, my computer went blooey.

"How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Quote:
 
Before you consider PCMatic, you might want to review their Web of Trust score and the reviews:


I decided to check into this, rather than take the word of the site above, which seems to have all of 3 subscribers....

PCMagazine rates it high. They received VB100 Anti-Virus Certification in 2013, are a highly respected company (instead of all the hand wringing about how it installs malware onto your computer by the mywot crowd) and is the ONLY software on the market that stops ransomware in its tracks.

PCNET rates it high.

It's worth 50 bucks a year to be safe from ransomware. If you feel it's not strong enough in dealing with viruses and malware, run one of the many free ones that are available. You might have to let PCMatic fix it enough to get the computer running again first, though..
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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John Galt
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Web of Trust has been downloaded by 140,000,000 people.. Of course only a tiny subset rates any given website. But there were more than three reviews out there. And there were both negative and positive reviews, though the overall score was quite low.

I've never heard of PCNET.

PC Magazine gives it three stars out of five, with the following conclusion:

Quote:
 
At $50 for five licenses, PC Matic is inexpensive, and it optimizes your system performance. However, it lacks the Web-level protection that allows many products to steer your browser away from malicious and fraudulent URLs, and it didn't detect any of my hand-modified malware samples in testing. You'll do better spending your money on one of our Editors' Choice antivirus products, Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus, McAfee AntiVirus Plus, Kaspersky Anti-Virus, or Bitdefender Antivirus Plus.


Complaints: http://www.complaintslist.com/computer-software/pc-matic/

38 percent of users on Amazon rate it one star, 41 percent rated it five stars. Apparently people either love it or hate it, with the primary complaint being the customer service and the large number of false positives. The IT guys in particular seem to have issues with it.

https://www.amazon.com/PC-Pitstop-PCM-102-Matic/product-reviews/B0046ZLW1G

Glad you've had good luck with the software. I just think there are better choices out there, free or otherwise.
Edited by John Galt, Sep 18 2016, 12:28 PM.
Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Any of those better choices protect you from ransomware?
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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John Galt
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PC Magazine's top rated anti-virus programs. The top ten list does not include PC Matic:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372364,00.asp

Quote:
 
Malware these days is about making money, and there's no easy way to cash in on spreading a virus. Ransomware and data-stealing Trojans are much more common, as are bots that let the bot-herder rent out your computer for nefarious purposes. Modern antivirus utilities handle Trojans, rootkits, spyware, adware, ransomware, and more. PCMag has reviewed 42 different commercial antivirus utilities, and that's not even counting the many free antivirus tools. Out of that extensive field we've named four Editors' Choice products.
Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.
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John Galt
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And here are the top-rated free anti-virus programs:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp

There are a lot of choices out there. The guy I use when my I need professional computer geekiness recommended a suite of free products that he feels are extremely robust. I've been using them for a long time and they work for me.

If you're happy with what you're running, Larry, that's great. Stick with it.
Edited by John Galt, Sep 18 2016, 12:46 PM.
Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
McAfee for years now. Never an issue.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Quote:
 
If you're happy with what you're running, Larry, that's great. Stick with it.


I never said my choice was the only one out there. You're the one who claimed it wasn't any good, and supported your claim with a link to some off the wall website full of conspiracy theorists making false claims against it. All I've been doing is showing that when you ask the respected sources for info out there, you get a more fair picture of the product.

If you want to use free stuff that requires you to manually run several different programs yourself, that's fine. Maybe they do a better job. All I'm saying is that since Cats seems to not know that much about her computer (and who does), perhaps she should pay a measly 50 bucks for a single program that takes care of everything automatically so she won't have to do it herself.

Then, both of you would have more time for making sammiches....
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Catseye
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JG, all of this info is invaluable. I've saved it. Thank you very much. :)
"How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
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John Galt
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I'm not running anything manually.

Web of Trust is hardly off-the-wall.

Reviews always need to be read with a grain of salt.

I never said that your choice is the only one out there. I never said it wasn't any good, I merely suggested that Cats do some research about it before buying it. And I expressed an opinion that I thought there were better and cheaper products out there for less money, and I backed up my opinion with lots of data, including PC Magazine, which you referenced.



Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Ooooh... an "I am woman hear me roar" moment.......










(wondering how much longer it's going to take before one or the other of them finally blows up at me.. :D )
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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John Galt
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Not me. Not worth the effort.

Hope there's a Subway near your house, otherwise you're going hungry....

:thumb:
Edited by John Galt, Sep 18 2016, 01:00 PM.
Let us begin anew, remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness.
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
Posted ImageHere's a Sense of Humor seed..













Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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Catseye
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Quote:
 
(wondering how much longer it's going to take before one or the other of them finally blows up at me.. :D )


Already moved on, pal.
"How awful a knowledge of the truth can be." -- Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
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