Help! Internet problems...

[ina]

Of course, it was on Friday night that my internet passed out - can somebody here perhaps help me find out what's wrong with it (except that it doesn't work, which I have found out myself )?

When I try to open firefox, the following message pops up:

Mozilla Crash Report
Firefox had a problem and crashed. We'll try to restore your tabs and windows when it restarts. Unfortunately, the crash reporter is unable to submit a crash report.
Details: The application did not leave a crash dump file.


After a few seconds, a second message comes up:

Program Error
avgnsx.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program.
An error log is being created.


The second message also appears when I try to open IE (which I never used on that computer, but it still seems to be on it - at least the shortcut to it).

I tried again on Saturday and Sunday, but no change. And nothing crashed when I closed down on Thursday, so no idea what could have happened!


Any ideas anybody?

[MKG]

This is a known problem with AVG anti-virus, Ina. You need to uninstall it and then re-install in Custom mode, not allowing any toolbar additions (it's those which cause problems with Firefox and IE).

See here, if you can ...

http://www.avgforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=67

Mike

EDIT: Better still, but only in my own opinion, would be to uninstall AVG and dump it, and then download Avast - it's what I run with not a peep of a problem, it's free, updated regularly and in the background, and it works without interfering with anything else. On the other hand, I read somewhere about difficulties in getting rid of AVG??? Just food for thought, then.

[Millymollymandy]

Silly question probably, but if she can't get her computer to DO anything other than show her error messages when she turns it on, how can she use it to do things like install or uninstall software?

[MKG]

No, it's only when she tries to connect to the net and has to use a browser, MMM. But then the question arises - how did she post on here? One of life's little mysteries, I feel.

Mike

[Millymollymandy]

Oh I see, duh..... right.

I expect she went to the public library to post her query though.

[Odsox]

Silly question probably, but if she can't get her computer to DO anything other than show her error messages when she turns it on, how can she use it to do things like install or uninstall software?

If that does indeed happen then you need to start the computer in "safe mode", that allows you to uninstall programs with the minimum of other programs running.
Edit to say .... safe mode in Windows, hold down F8 when starting up.

[John Headstrong]

from what I can tell, the problem happens when firefox is runing, so you can uninstall AVG from the control panel before a web browser is started.

I find that having a spare "browser" (safari or opera) installed can sometimes get around and fix small problem like this.

[ina]

Silly question probably, but if she can't get her computer to DO anything other than show her error messages when she turns it on, how can she use it to do things like install or uninstall software?

Not a silly question - I'm at work (yes, I have a job at the moment!) - and am now rushing off to another job (voluntary that one). Will look into this with more peace and quiet tomorrow - thanks a million so far for all your tips!

[MKG]

So, as you're obviously back (welcome back ) what did you decide to do in the end? Or did the problem just go away?

Mike

[Silver Ether]

All computers should come with a tiny person in a box that you let out when there is a problem. One that doesn't cost £30.00 to turn up and tell you your an idiot. ooh I forgot I got one ... he does charge but only when its fixed.

[ina]

So, as you're obviously back (welcome back ) what did you decide to do in the end? Or did the problem just go away?

Mike

Haven't had time yet to fix it - not even enough time to look at it again - I'm getting online for a few minutes every day at work... Outwith paid working hours, of course. Another week (a bit more) of this doing three jobs at once, and then I should be getting more time.