UGH!! RR, why did my computer do this??????

[Aspigander]

A very annoying thing just happened. I was on the computer, and suddenly, my computer, of its own volition, rebooted itself, with no warning. Sometimes Windows does updates that require a restart, and I always get a warning. This time, it just decided to do a reboot.

What happened?

[Aspigander]

Oh, and another thing...

Remember how you told me to get an antivirus program with a firewall? Well, I just found out that Comcast actually provides McAfee Security Suite for those with Comcast internet. Well, I didn't *just* find out, I knew that a two or three years ago, but somehow it wouldn't let me sign into my Comcast account. Well, just for the heck of it, I tried again and it let me in. Since it provides virus protection at no additional charge, I downloaded and started the install.

It told me to uninstall SpyBot (really?) and something called webroot Spy Sweeper with Antivirus, as those are incompatible programs. And AVG free edition. Uninstalled AVG, and SpyBot. But Spy Sweeper is nowhere to be found in Add or Remove Programs.

So now, I pretty much have no virus protection (since AVG was uninstalled, and also without SpyBot S&D. And unable to complete installation of McAfee. I'm guessing that's not a good situation for my computer to be in.

What should I do?

[roadracer]

Your first problem, with the reboots, it could be a hundred different things, and I cant know unless you have more info, like other problems that are going on, any windows that might pop up before it restarts, etc. I can have you look at something that might tell you what is going on,
go to control panel and click on "administrative tools", then go to "event viewer", then on the left click on "windows" (or "windwos log" or something like that), then click on system.
Now in the list in the middle, scroll threw and look for the ones that have a red mark that say "error", click on each one and look at the box that shows what caused the error. Take note of what is causing errors, and notice the date that it happend, if you think that is a date/time when the computer rebooted by itself.
The list will probably be veeeeery long, but you only need to look at the first dozen errors or so to see if there is something common that is causing a problem
Let me know what you see

For the second problem, with the McAfee, you need to first uninstall the spybot and any other spyware scaners and old virus scaners, uninstal all of it. After you uninstal it all, run ccleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/
In ccleaner, run the program to delete all temp. files, then run the registry cleaner, then use the programs uninstall menu to see if there is still any of those programs on your computer. If everything worked okay, reboot your computer then McAfee should install okay with no problems. After you install McAfee, you can reinstall Spybot, but when installing it again, make sure that the box for "teatimer" is NOT checked, and everything should work fine. Not sure if you can use "webroot Spy Sweeper" anymore, as I have never used that program and dont know if it is compatible with McAfee, but the good thing is that with the Mcafee suite, you probably only need one other program, I would just use Spybot and Mcafee, thats all you really need.

[Aspigander]

Okay, for the first problem: I have two errors that occurred around the time of the reboot. These were:

The Spyware Terminator Clam Service serviced failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

and

The mrtRate serviced failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the file specified.

These two errors occurred several times in the list prior to me getting to the date/time in question, but it's the only time I'm aware that a reboot occurred.

About the McAfee, I followed all of your instructions for uninstalling virus/spyware programs (I did this via the Add or Remove Programs), then followed your instructions for ccleaner, rebooted, and McAfee installation still says I need to uninstall webroot Spyware Sweeper. This does not show up in add/remove programs or the ccleaner's uninstall menu, so I'm not sure where on my computer it is that McAfee installer is finding.

[roadracer]

For the first error, uninstall "spyware terminator" program
For the second error the "mrtrate" error, that has to do with QuickBook or Quicken software, so just uninstall that if you dont use it.
Those problems most likely wont cause a reboot, so you will still have the problem though.

About the McAfee, this is a problem with the webroot sweeper, as my understanding is that people have a heck of a time trying to uninstall that program (has nothing to do with McAfee). That is a sign of a poorly made program, so I would never install that program again, or any program from webroot.
Luckily someone made a program to uninstall it, you can try using this program to uninstall it, but I have never used or downloaded it, so I cant say that it will work or is even ligit, but it still might be worth trying. You can download it here, follow the instructions under "remove webroot"
http://resnet.bridgew.edu/sophostrouble.htm

[Aspigander]

Thanks RR! That program evidently did remove webroot, as I was able to finally install McAfee. :)

[MomOTwins]

I understood all of RR's instructions, so I'm guessing we now have a computer guru attached to the Braintalk Board for all of our glitch questions! :D:D

Thank you for making your instructions understandable, as I'm constantly working with IT guys (usually on the phone from Bangalore :rolleyes:) to fix my remote corporate laptop issues that are WAYYY less understandable when it comes to questions and instructions.

Way to go, dude!!!

[Aspigander]

RR is our resident techie. I've already solved a few problems, thanks to RR's knowledge and instructions, that I would otherwise have to a) live with, or b) call my brother and wait until he has some spare time to come fix it.

[Aspigander]

Oh, and I almost forgot: RR also saved Mili from totally rendering Vincent's computer unusable.

[MomOTwins]

Have a happy TURKEY DAY, Lauren! Are you and the folks doing anything fun for all the dogs and cats for the holiday? I'm envisioning lots of plates of turkey and stuffing in the kennel!!!

By the way, when do you expect the results from the sleep study?