Please help, our pc is driving us nuts, we had a major virus on our pc, we have since bought Norton Antivirus which seems to have cured most viruses we had and the major one, however since getting back online the pc keeps disconnecting, could we have a faulty modem? Is there anything we can do to find out, we keep ringing various helplines to try and sort this problem out but nobody seems to know what to do, please please help!

Originally posted by Jillybabes
Please help, our pc is driving us nuts, we had a major virus on our pc, we have since bought Norton Antivirus which seems to have cured most viruses we had and the major one, however since getting back online the pc keeps disconnecting, could we have a faulty modem? Is there anything we can do to find out, we keep ringing various helplines to try and sort this problem out but nobody seems to know what to do, please please help!

It could be a number of problems, most likely of which, to be honest, is the phone lines themselves. A faulty modem may be to blame but it's unlikely. It may be a driver issue, but that would be more likely just to stop you being able to log on. Or it might even be another virus... but I doubt it.

I'm guessing you're using a dial-up account through a 56k Modem (or similar)? If so, you shouldn't worry too much about it ... unfortunately it just means that your phone lines are badly maintained and it's up to BT to sort it out. There's a lot of arguing going on between telecomms providers in theis country at the moment because BT still technically 'own' most of the phone lines, ADSL lines and so-on, and the other telco's have to either buy the lines or lease them (usually the latter). This is why the internet (especially dial-up) gets so expensive these days; BT still have a stranglehold to some degree.

Just to be on the safe side, you might want to download something called AVG to get a 'second opinion' on whether or not the virus is gone. It's totally free, and IMO far better than Norton, and it never hurts to have back-up virus checkers.
AVG website (http://www.grisoft.com/)

Other handy bits-and-bobs to have include a malware catcher, like Spybot and/or Ad-Aware (I run both every now and then, though SpyBot's the better of the two). They scan your computer to make sure there's no malicious software on the hard-drive talking to the internet.
SpyBot - Search & Destroy (http://www.spybot.info/)
Ad-Aware freeware version (http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button)

Finally, it's maybe also a good idea to make sure you've got a firewall running - these help to stop hackers getting into your system from the outside and help to cut down the chance of viruses, trojans and backdoor programs infecting and compromising the system. There are a lot out there, and if you've got Norton Firewall, turn it on. The free versions are not too bad but nothing beats a programmable hardware firewall (but only if you're a geek like me - it helps to know a little bit of tech-stuff to set one up properly). The only free firewall I know of at the moment is ZoneAlarm, but there are probably a few out there.
Zone Alarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/)

At the end of the day, it might be worth checking out broadband. If you're on a BT line then you should be eligible for DSL and once you take into account all the overheads with dial-up, it's generally not too difficult to get an account for the same (if not less) than your dial-up account.

Hope this helps. If you're still having problems instant message me and I'll see if I can help.

Cheers

when u put up ur window to connect to the internet check all ur settings in there , look in all tabs inc advanced there may be a "time out" box what needs either ticking or unticking , there was once on mine ..... have i spoke tou u in an msn com about dogs very recently .... u were talking about hampers there ... pm me if it is u lol

Originally posted by Jillybabes
Please help, our pc is driving us nuts, we had a major virus on our pc, we have since bought Norton Antivirus which seems to have cured most viruses we had and the major one, however since getting back online the pc keeps disconnecting, could we have a faulty modem? Is there anything we can do to find out, we keep ringing various helplines to try and sort this problem out but nobody seems to know what to do, please please help!

Out of interest, who is your ISP. The reason I am asking is because we had the same problem. The internet used to disconnect at the same time every night (8 o'clock). We could get straight back on the next morning. After numerous telephone calls to Supanet (our ISP provider who told me they weren't doing anything after 8 in the evening as I thought it strange it going off at the same time their support line closed),
Helwett Packard on the advice of Supanet, who just made things worse and PC world who were very helpful and told me I would be better off restoring the pc back to factory settings as we might have some sort of virus. I backed up onto Cd all the files I wanted to save, then the night before I rang PC world back to talk me through the procedure, as if my miracle the internet just started staying connected after 8 o'clock and its been ok since without me doing anything!
I'm just waiting for the phone bill now!

Check the settings in Outlook/Express are not set to disconnect after email retrieval (or whatever the setting is).

Originally posted by sccsux
Check the settings in Outlook/Express are not set to disconnect after email retrieval (or whatever the setting is).

Depending which browser you use, there may also be a setting to disconnect when all browser windows are closed - typically Microsoft Internet Explorer. Go to Tools > Internet Option > Advanced and un-tick the box that says something to that effect.