Advice from Newt please

[Ian FG]

Newt, you seem a pretty knowledgeable guy, computer-wise, probably otherwise also. I loved your advice about ad aware and now all my friends have it. I think you are totally right about XP SP2. I have passed on your advice on AVG to others. A couple of questions for you if you have time: One friend of mine has a *cough* copied copy of XP installed, can he install SP2 from Microshaft? Or will they XP police catch him out and torture him to death or something? Another friend has XP installed but it keeps trying to boot then fails then tries again and fails ad infinitum, any ideas?

[Newt]

Friend #1 can try using SP2 on CD to update. The worst it can do is fail to work and M$ will send the EA to get him.

 

Friend #2 needs to post directly since there are so many possibilities that trying an 'internet fix' and filtering the questions & answers thru another person would just add all sorts of delays and chances for errors that I won't even attempt it. www.windowsbbs.com would be better for that than here.

[Ian FG]

Thanks Newt.

Friend #1 is pleased with that advice and I am sorry that I did not read all the threads here or I could have figured it out for myself.

Friend #2 has no chance of reading the excellent forum you posted and I am not going to do it for him, I think he had better take his box into his local computer store for repair. I am getting weary of "having a look" at people's computers only to end up having them on my desk for two weeks and doing a complete re-install because they have been too cheap or too lazy to secure their systems. I now tell everyone at work: Keep Winblows patched, use a spyware killer, BUY (a weird concept to wost people) a decent firewall/AV and update it every time you switch your computer on and you might just be OK. Because I say this I am considered an "expert"...if only they knew how little I know

.end rant