Okay, I downloaded FireFox. Anywho, is there any reason why BitTorrent won't work now? Is this a normal problem? Help!
Okay, another problem - my computer (whether I use Internet Explorer or FireFox) keeps dumping my favorites! Example - I will save several sites as favorites. When I turn the computer back on.....favorites are gone! WTF?
Sounds like adware/malware. run spybot in safe mode. Rinse and repeat. If this doesn't work, run system restore to take your pc back to a time when all was well. If this doesn't work, time to format (wipe) the hard drive and reload everything. Your system may have a restore partition (Dells and HP's typically do) to do this for you. Spybot. To start your computer in safe mode, hit F8 while booting. It'll give you a menu. Pick safe mode. This will start the PC with the minimal software to make it run (hopefully without any malware). Windows system restore (XP) is under Start... Help and Support... Pick a task... undo changes with System Restore. You'll have to tell us what kind of PC or look for the manufacturers restore utility (it's usually under a program group labeled with the computer name).
I think I have a "restore" partition - I have a C Drive saying HP and a D Drive saying Recovery. But I don't really know what this means! I other words, I also have two disks that came with the computer saying "Restore." I tried choosinf a date prior to when I started having problems, but when I do this, I can only choose today's date. Damn this is complicated. With my last computer (with Windows XP instead of Vista) it was easy. Pop in the CD and a message says "reinstalling Windows will erase all data" and you put Windws back on, starting from scratch.
I believe if you pop in the HP restore disk it'll bring up a menu with restore options. (I think this can be done from a menu selection as well). I think this will give you the option to "repair" or do a "complete restore". The latter will erase any data you have on the machine. This may be necessary to get rid of whatever foul software is messing with you. It was probably some toolbar or other that you may have downloaded intentionally or otherwise. You're on vista? With these problems I'd say you've got some malicious software installed. I'd do a restore. Back up any files you think you need (docs, taxes, music, etc). Edit: it's a fairly new machine. If you're not sure how to initiate a complete restore I'd nose around HP's site for instructions. It should be fairly intuitive, but I don't have an HP machine on Vista so I can't say...
