Using XP home

First time poster.
Hi,
I bought a New computer which didn't have An XP disk or recovery disk because the recovery software is accessed by pressing f10.The recovery software is on a hidden EISA partion about 3gig with about 1,5 gig of data on it. When i first bought the computer i installed my old Hard drive from my last computer in it and have partitioned my new hd as well. But i have since found that the f10 key doesnt respond so i cannot use the recovery method. Therefore i cannot reinstall windows and sp2 etc from the EISA partition. Can anyone tell me why it's behaving in this way. Would it be a HD jumper setting issue? master/slave etc?. I don't know a great deal about those things. any help appreciated.
Thanks.

My Pc's details:

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OS Information:
PropertyValue
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk0\Partition2
Service Pack 2.0
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS


Processor:
PropertyValue
Current Clock Speed 2800
Description x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1
Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz

Current Clock Speed 2800
Description x86 Family 15 Model 4 Stepping 1
Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz


Memory (RAM):
PropertyValue
Bank Label Bank0/1
Capacity 536870912

Total Memory Deteced in Hardware: ~512 MB
Memory Reported to Operating System: 446MB

Disk Drives:
PropertyValue
Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model WDC WD400EB-00CPF0
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Size 40015987200 (~37 GB)
Number of Partitions 2

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model WDC WD800BB-00JHC0
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Size 80023749120 (~75 GB)
Number of Partitions 3

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model Generic USB Storage-CFC USB Device
Media Type
Number of Partitions

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model Generic USB Storage-MMC USB Device
Media Type
Number of Partitions

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model Generic USB Storage-MSC USB Device
Media Type
Number of Partitions

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model Generic USB Storage-SMC USB Device
Media Type
Number of Partitions


Installed Printers:
PropertyValue

Motherboard:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
Model
Name Base Board
Part Number
Product MS-7071
Serial Number
Version 1.00


BIOS:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Name Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Release Date 20051005000000.000000+000
Version P4M800 - 42302e31


Monitor:
PropertyValue
Description Plug and Play Monitor
Name Plug and Play Monitor
Screen Height 600
Screen Width 800


Keyboard:
PropertyValue
Description Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard


Pointing Device:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Microsoft
Name PS/2 Compatible Mouse


Sound Card:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Microsoft
Description Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device
Device ID MODEMWAVE\0\{4B807787-EEF1-421A-8DCE-E81FE1AAA2C6}

Manufacturer Realtek
Description Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller
Device ID PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_B0121462&REV_60\3&13C 0B0C5&0&8D


Video Card:
PropertyValue
Adapter Compatibility NVIDIA
Adapter RAM 67108864
Description NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X
Installed Display Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.9371
Driver Date 22/10/2006 12:22:00
Video Mode Description 800 x 600 x 4294967296 colors


DirectX Installation:
PropertyValue


Modem:
PropertyValue
Model Smart Link 56K Voice Modem
Name Smart Link 56K Voice Modem


Network Adapters:
PropertyValue
Description USB Cable Modem 351000 - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport

External Ports:
PropertyValue
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator USB0
External Reference Designator AUDIO

Expansion Slots:
PropertyValue
Slot Designation PCI0
Slot Designation PCI1
Slot Designation AGP
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Do you just have one copy of Windows Xp home on your machine. I noticed
you have partition 2.

Windows Xp home, boot.ini file.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Go To Start > Run box type: sysdm.cpl
Click advanced tab > In Startup & recovery > Settings >
Click tab > To edit the startup options file manually, click edit
This will show you your boot file in notepad.

I would make sure I saved the file before making any changes to it.

Another way to view boot.ini, Run box type: msconfig > click boot.ini

Why do you have the second partition, did you do that?

Windows XP Home Edition|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk0\Partition2

If one' s operating system is up to date, and has an anti virus program running, is it still possible for this virus to get in? if so, what do you need to do to keep a watchfull eye on stuff like this?

Viruses are sneaky little devils, but if you keep your anti-virus up to date and don't open any e-mail attachments unless you know who they are from, you should be alright.

If you are worried you might have a virus, DAL, has an excellent spyware form where you can post a hijack log and one of the moderators will tell you, if you have a virus, they will walk you through the process and give you the tools you need to get rid of it.

They have an excellent post on protecting your computer from spyware, I'm told and any questions about viruses or spyware they could answer.

Hope this helps

Well, when computer is not working fine, then you start looking for problems. But, I am not sure all ill intended viruses are going to make your computer show major sign of problems. I am worried about the cases that no sign of problem exist, but the virus is there. I have heard it takes anywhere from 12 hours to more than 24 hours for virus protection companies to respond and come up with a patch for new viruses (I heard Norton is one of the worst in responding fast).

Let me give you an example. I have seen these pop ops that show up in the middle of the screen. The pop of wants you to answer a realy dum question like "which one of these 3 is George W Bush". Then there is a picture of Bill Gate, Blair, and Bush to chose from and vote. I am always thinking there is something behind that pop op, such that when you click on a circle next to a picture to vote, it start installing something bad in your computer. As a matter of fact, sometimes I am even afraid of clicking on the pop up window's "X": to close the pop up, because I am not sure if underneath, the X is tied to a download that I do not want on my computer.

Hi joeofeg,

Anybody can get a virus, even the fortune 500 companies get viruses and your just a home user, these guys have a whole IT department working for them. It depends when the virus comes out and the virus community knows about it and the updates for that virus are sent out.

I see that you have Xp_Sp2, do you have IE. 6 or 7, if you have 7, when you enter a site IE. will alert you if it is a reported phishing site or you can check the website and report the site as a phishing site.

When you say, you get pop-up's in the middle of the screen, do you mean when your at a website they just pop-up or do you mean when you are working with one of your programs ie, office, notepad, explorer and you get pop-ups. It all depends on what kind of pop-up blocker you are using and how you set it up, I don't get pop-ups because IE. blocks them it does such a good job every time I went to submit or reply to a post I would have to log back in. We all thought it was a cookie problem, but it was the pop-up blocker I had to add DAL to the allow list.

I guess the best advice I could give you, make sure your security settings are good, don't open e-mail attachments, don't give anyone permission to download files to your computer(unless you trust them) don't use any P2P file sharing programs, use a good firewall that checks inbound and outbound traffic(Windows XP only checks inbound) keep your OS up to date, anti-virus, spyware, use spam and phishing filters, run online scans(becareful here most want you to download active X control) I could list a lot more, but doing these things should keep you pretty safe.

The " Internet " is a swamp you have to becareful of where you go and what you do, think of the Internet as a road that goes on forever, but on this road their are side roads and every one of those side roads is a way to your computer some you want to turn on to others you stop and put up a fence.

Go here and scan your machine - https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Scroll down and click the proceed button that should open the port scanner and you do not have to download active x control, I just ran it and here are my results.

GRC Port Authority Report created on UTC: 2007-03-05 at 21:27:33 Results from scan of ports: 0-1055 0 Ports Open 0 Ports Closed 1056 Ports Stealth --------------------- 1056 Ports Tested ALL PORTS tested were found to be: STEALTH. TruStealth: PASSED - ALL tested ports were STEALTH, - NO unsolicited packets were received, - NO Ping reply (ICMP Echo) was received.

Your system has achieved a perfect "TruStealth" rating. Not a single packet — solicited or otherwise — was received from your system as a result of our security probing tests. Your system ignored and refused to reply to repeated Pings (ICMP Echo Requests). From the standpoint of the passing probes of any hacker, this machine does not exist on the Internet. Some questionable personal security systems expose their users by attempting to "counter-probe the prober", thus revealing themselves. But your system wisely remained silent in every way. Very nice.

Does this mean I can't get a virus, spam, phishing or someone can't attack my system.....NO..... no computer is safe, but the more you do to protect your system chances are your machine won't be compromised.

do you have IE. 6 or 7, if you have 7, when you enter a site IE. will alert you if it is a reported phishing site or you can check the website and report the site as a phishing site.

I have 7 in my layptop running on Vista and 6 on 3 other computers. I downloaded 7 on one desktop a few months ago, everything frooze. I remove it and have not messed with it again.

When you say, you get pop-up's in the middle of the screen, do you mean when your at a website they just pop-up or do you mean when you are working with one of your programs ie, office, notepad, explorer and you get pop-ups. It all depends on what kind of pop-up blocker you are using and how you set it

No, I am not talking about pop up from Office, I am talking about pop up from Internet. I have blocker activated, but once in a while some pop ups get through. Haven't you seen those pop ups that want to vote on something real obvious and stupid? Is there anything behind that pop up such that if you click it will do somethng to your computer.

Go here and scan your machine - https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
Scroll down and click the proceed button that should open the port scanner and you do not have to download active x control, I just ran it and here are my results.

Thanks for the advise. I will try it.

I use AVS (active virus shield) which is free and is offered by AOL. I am assuming that since AOL is behind it, it must be good. Yesterday, I ran the anti spyware offered by AVG, it found a whole bunch of stuff. Some key loggers and stuff like that. I do not know how serious those key logger are. When I enter credit card number, it is supposed to be secure and encripted. In that case, I am not sure if the key loggers can still find out what the information is.