Windows Vista is making me very upset.

My parents bought a fairly new HP not too long ago, and are running Vista. I came home and they are having a few peculiar problems.

A. When the computer is first booted up, explorer launches a single window, but no task bar. I have to load the task manager, close the first instance of explorer, and launch a new one. This happens every time we start the computer.

B. It doesn't shut down when prompted. It just hangs instead of turning the computer off. This happens 50 percent of the time.


I figure a virus or something. I use ZoneAlarm security suite on here, and adaware and spybot and all that good stuff. The RAM on this thing is abysmal, so we're buying a new stick while the prices are cheap. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

get avg free. unistall za and reinstall win. xp

get drivers from hp and everything shud be good

 

My parents want to keep Vista and I don't have a copy of XP.

 

Search here at NBR for HP BLOATWARE. There's a lot of stuff being started that does not need to be. Also, there's a number of Vista tuning possibilities open to you such as turning off recovery points, indexing, and so forth.

I always recommend as much RAM as a machine will actually use. For Vista Home Premium this is a bit over 3GB; however, 2GB is more practical.

I've been running Vista since June, and although it is certainly a bit different than XP, and perhaps a tad slower, it has advantages over XP as well.

 

I'd highly recommend wiping the HDD and reinstalling Vista if you haven't done so since purchase. Pre-loaded computers are nothing but trouble IMO.

 

I'm afraid that's not an option for us. It doesn't come with a vista install disc and we simply can't afford to buy it.

 

Oh crap I guess HP put a restore partition on your HDD but it probably comes with all the same stuff pre-loaded ... Hmm!

 

I think there was a post on how to remove most stuff like that in one of the manufacturer specific mini forum (think it was either HP or Dell).

Isn't a CD all of $5 plus shipping? Or you can borrow someone's CD since it's the key that is the important part (which you have). Clean install without reactivating key: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783

 

AVG found no errors.

 

download cCleaner, take a look at all startup processes, zap all the ones that u believe that r not relevant for day-to.day usage

clean the registry using the same tool while u r at it

do not use spybot for now, disable its startup.

try again

cheers ...

 

Does the same thing happen when you log in using safe mode?

Also, try logging in using a different user to see if its related to default user on that machine.

 

Haven't tried safe mode, but it does it on both user names.

 

I'd say create a new user with ADMIN rights, and transfer / copy / burn your files from the previous accounts over to the new ones if this fixes your issues.

 

You said Vista is making you upset then you mention a virus and needing more ram. It has nothing to do with Vista.