We have had a couple problems recently and would like to get some opinions. Our systems are virus free. We both bought Asus notebooks and had the following happen to both of our computers.
netscape 7.0 d-loaded from Netscape site, mail and browser - After using for about one week, upon starting machine and opening Netscape in morning, I found that mail was unconfigured and they asked me to assign a new account with server addy, user name…etc. The same info you give it the first time you use it. Also the homepage setting was back to Netscape homepage. All previous email history is gone as if it was just newly installed software. The same thing happened to my wife. So now I am fooling around with outlook express as an email client. Wife has gone back to Netscape 4.05 which was reliable.
Recently, when we turn off the computer from the start bar, the computer turns off then immediately restarts and then does a hard drive scan. After this finishes we turn off a second time and this time it stays off. Wifes computer has same problem but this only happens a couple times a week.
Question 1: How old are the computers? And do you mind sharing the model numbers and their configurations?
Question 2: What operating systems are you running on them? Performed any updateds/patches recently? Chinese or English OS?
Question 3: How do you know, really know, the computers are virus free?
Without knowing all of the above, to answer your first problem, the only thing I can think of is that your Netscape profile must have been corrupted (or something like that), thus making it think that you were a new user. If that’s indeed the case, the old mail would still all be there. Netscape isn’t best known for its mail client anyway. I strongly recommend using Outlook Express which is shipped free with all Windows OS. I can share with you some of tips on backing up, optimize… etc.
THey are both new notebooks about one month old. Mine is ASUS L4417, 1.7GHZ 384DDRAM, 20GIG. Wifes is ASUS L4415 1.5GHZ 256DDRAM 20GIG
Mine is ENglish XP, hers is Chinese XP - we have not d-loaded any patches.
We use PC-Cillin and zone alarm firewall and my XP was installed only one week ago.
Further to our 2 problems - It seems that they are related as when the computer turns on again and scans, it shows alot of problems with the Netscape files and says they are being truncated??? I enjoyed using Netscape as a browser cos it could make the text larger when I wanted and IE does not have this function. This is important when using notebook computers as the text is supersmall on alot of sites. What is the best way to uninstall Netscape if I have to do it?
I have had similar experiences on my Dell workstation at home as well as the Dimension at work. As it turns out, this is a well-known issue among xp users. You can check out this information link for more educational info. But since the Asus models you have are so new, it’s unlikely there’d be any solutions to that for now (who knows, Asus may release a firmware update to fix it, or MS might release a hotfix). However, the site does offer some simple things you can check to see if you fit any of the items they say would cause the shutdown issue. Just in case you don’t trust that particular source, here’s something official straight from Microsoft.
Now back to the Netcape thing… I don’t know what else to say. Never had to use it often enough to experience those problems. The best way to uninstall it is through the “Control Panel”. It will insure that when you remove Netscape, it gets rid of all the garbage that came with the installer (but even it doesn’t always get rid of everything… it’s frustrating… but that’s for another thread).
Speaking of making text larger, IE does have this feature. Right click on the toolbar (where all the icons are below the menu). Select “Customize”… In the new window, you should see a list of optional tools you can add to the toolbar, and one of them is, of course, size tool. Add that to your text bar and you will have full control of text sizes from now on.
If you feel like venturing out to try new browsers, I recommand Chimera from Mozilla.org (basically, Chimera is a form of Mozilla, which all official Netscape browsers are based on). What’s cool about them is you can do “ctrl + t” and get a new tab within the same browser window instead of opening a new window for to surf another site/page. For a laptop user like you, it’s such a space saver and reduces unnecessary screen clutter!