Cycling UK Forum

My computer is playing up , it takes 25 minutes from switching on before it will allow me do anything

It made me realise if it suddenly dies completely I will be in serious s***.

I do all my banking , correspondence , pay all my bills , video , photo , games , music , movies etc etc .

But what would be worse, loosing computer and internet access , or loosing your bike

Which loss would devastate you most .

I've been a geek practically all my life. I only started cycling seriously last year. Sorry - I would always choose my compy.

If your computer is suddenly taking far longer than usual to boot you may have some kind of virus/spyware. Are you using Windows? Do you have any antivirus/anti-spyware programs? Do you get any error messages when you turn your computer on?

matt_twam_asi wrote:I've been a geek practically all my life. I only started cycling seriously last year. Sorry - I would always choose my compy.

If your computer is suddenly taking far longer than usual to boot you may have some kind of virus/spyware. Are you using Windows? Do you have any antivirus/anti-spyware programs? Do you get any error messages when you turn your computer on?

No error messages ,Windows Vista with all the latest updates , I'm using BullGuard anti-virus, scans don't find any problems. Once the first 25 minutes are up, my comp works perfectly, it's a strange one

"I could not live without my bike"

So very true for me. Even if I was too old or even physically unable to ride, I would still never part with my bike. I want to be buried with it!

I dont own a computer. i use one 8 hours a day at work and thats too much. If i was faced with no work, then I'd be computerless and that would be ok. Ok, i wouldnt be forum contributor, but I can live with that. If I want to do a websearch or research prices etc, then I'd go the library and use theirs FOC. Whilst out of work, i tend to do physical things - walking, cycling, DIY etc. I have a real job sitting for any length of time, so TV, books, PC's etc all play a small part.
On the other side, whilst i have a history in cycling, its not the be al and end all. I'd join a walking club or possibly athletics club or sommat. Family commitments and continually crappy weather means I'm not the cyclist I once was. So I didnt vote, as both alternatives were a bit extreme for me.

Bike def gets my vote, though internet access a close second.
Got a virus that prevented me accessing internet a couple of years back, made me realise how vulnerable I would be if I did everything inc banking via the internet, so I don't do it.

UrbanManc wrote:

matt_twam_asi wrote:I've been a geek practically all my life. I only started cycling seriously last year. Sorry - I would always choose my compy.

If your computer is suddenly taking far longer than usual to boot you may have some kind of virus/spyware. Are you using Windows? Do you have any antivirus/anti-spyware programs? Do you get any error messages when you turn your computer on?

No error messages ,Windows Vista with all the latest updates , I'm using BullGuard anti-virus, scans don't find any problems. Once the first 25 minutes are up, my comp works perfectly, it's a strange one

Hardware fault - usually a faulty cache or iffy disk (can you hear it thrashing the disk?). Is it on a network? (could be hanging around trying to map drives etc). Faulty RAM? (does it report the amount of memory you expect it to have - could be swapping stuff in and out of the disk cache).

Failing that I usually re-install windows, eventually you get loads of little useless tasks hanging around that insist on loading stubs and whatnots - although if you're running Vista I wouldn't have thought you'd had the computer long enough...

kwackers wrote:

UrbanManc wrote:

matt_twam_asi wrote:I've been a geek practically all my life. I only started cycling seriously last year. Sorry - I would always choose my compy.

If your computer is suddenly taking far longer than usual to boot you may have some kind of virus/spyware. Are you using Windows? Do you have any antivirus/anti-spyware programs? Do you get any error messages when you turn your computer on?

No error messages ,Windows Vista with all the latest updates , I'm using BullGuard anti-virus, scans don't find any problems. Once the first 25 minutes are up, my comp works perfectly, it's a strange one

Hardware fault - usually a faulty cache or iffy disk (can you hear it thrashing the disk?). Is it on a network? (could be hanging around trying to map drives etc). Faulty RAM? (does it report the amount of memory you expect it to have - could be swapping stuff in and out of the disk cache).

Failing that I usually re-install windows, eventually you get loads of little useless tasks hanging around that insist on loading stubs and whatnots - although if you're running Vista I wouldn't have thought you'd had the computer long enough...

Yeah I suspect a hardware fault, had the computer 18 months, I can hear the drive ticking slowly as if it's trying to access data, and I'm not on a network.

Having said that the 'ethernet' light on my modem flashes away like mad when the PC is frozen.

I might go to PC world and get a refurb laptop as an emergency back-up and hope my desktop lasts a bit longer at least recouping some of the cost.

UrbanManc wrote:Yeah I suspect a hardware fault, had the computer 18 months, I can hear the drive ticking slowly as if it's trying to access data, and I'm not on a network.

Having said that the 'ethernet' light on my modem flashes away like mad when the PC is frozen.

I might go to PC world and get a refurb laptop as an emergency back-up and hope my desktop lasts a bit longer at least recouping some of the cost.

Ticking usually isn't an issue - if it's the drive you'll hear it constantly recalibrating. The noise depends on the manufacturer - the only thing I can say is it's not a tick, more of a buzz or low frequency noise that lasts half a second or so and repeats.

Yeah, it could possibly be something like dodgy RAM. You could run Ultimate Boot CD to check.

If not that, then it may be something you've installed recently conflicting with Vista. A quick search shows that Bullguard doesn't play nice with Vista SP1, that may be another possibility.

(Or you could ditch Vista for a real Operating System )

matt_twam_asi wrote:Yeah, it could possibly be something like dodgy RAM. You could run Ultimate Boot CD to check.

If not that, then it may be something you've installed recently conflicting with Vista. A quick search shows that Bullguard doesn't play nice with Vista SP1, that may be another possibility.

(Or you could ditch Vista for a real Operating System )

I wouldn't know how to use the 'Ultimate Boot CD' , the only download I have made recently is Firefox , but the problem didn't begin happening till weeks after.

Once I log on , it's having problems booting up the desk top.

The tool bar ( at the bottom ) seems to be the main problem.

If I leave the mouse/keyboard alone it appears to rectify ( and boot up ) quicker .

I might do a de-frag and see if any corrupted sectors are found.

Why not try this forum. This link does not go straight to it,look in Helproom.

For me I need both but my bike is insured ,but then if its hard drive fails?

http://tinyurl.com/5nectj

Don't know. If I lost my bike, I'd use my other bike.

... Mind you, the same applies if I lost my computer, and it'd probably be cheaper to replace, too

If I lost my bike, I'd be heartbroken.

Me too. Computers and forums are nice, but I survived most of my life without them and could no doubt manage the rest. I even missed having a bike in my early 20s when I was still a m*t*rist.