A Squared free killed my laptop >:(

I went to uninstall it since I was done seeing how it was and now my laptop gets a blue screen saying windows can't open and its pissing me off. I have all my college stuff on there.

 

What have you done wrong?

 

Nothing I went to add remove removed it. It said restart computer so I did and then the screen came up. I held down the power button and it keeps coming back up after it almost loads up windows. GRRRR

 

Boot into safe mode, then ensure that it definitely uninstalled. Also, make sure to write down what the BSOD actually says and type that into google. In addition, if you still cannot get it to work, and safe mode also doesn't work, use a linux-live cd (like sysrescue), and just backup all the data (hopefully you are out of school right now).

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

 

It won't even boot into safe mode.

 

Ubuntu won't even load on my laptop. Something about the GUI. I have an ATI card and I heard that Ubuntu and ATI don't get along

 

It says "A problem as been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is your first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragmentation or backup utilities. Check your hard drive configuration, and check for any updated drivers. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:
*** STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x86E0FAC0, 0xC0000102, 0x00000000

 

I didn't say ubuntu did I

Use sysrescue, it will boot up command-line, but it really isn't hard at all. It has instructions on boot on how to mount a windows partition, then just copy all of your key data to an external location, then re-install.

Cheers,

Alphalutra1

 

My dad says that my laptop came with a CD to use in case something like this happened. He'll look for it when he gets home.

 

Out of interest, did you remember to fully disable and exit from all parts of the prog before running the uninstaller?

 

Yep I did

 

I had a similar problem with KAV 6.0 - after I uninstalled it, it left the Windows firewall in a completely inoperable state. I had to reinstall Windows, but if you had XP SP2, or Media Centre, it leaves all the stuff on your PC intact if you use the following technique :-

1) Put Windows OS CD in and boot from it
2) Use the option to Install Windows (not to Repair it)
3) Another screen comes up with the previous OS on it. Select it and choose to Repair it with the 'R' option.
4) Let it chug away, re-enter your serial number etc etc
5) It goes through all the motions of a proper fresh install, but it secretly keeps all your previous settings.

That should do it. The only thing is that Windows update will now have 50 or so downloads and installs/reboots to do. Either, as I did, switch off Automatic Updates and disable the service under Right-Click My Computer, Manage, Services, or become old and grey well before your time! AU is more trouble than it's worth, if you have good security software installed, like http://www.jacobsm.com/mjsoft.htm#rgwtchr (MJ Registry Watcher). I am sure the now wholly money-orientated M$ will start pumping down unwanted "updates" to your XP OS in the next few months, and they will probably include DRM rubbish to bring it in line with Vista (which is even less secure than XP, IMO).

 

Good advice G.E.
Jacobs' site is a trip - his Eyebrow Raisers give me Rense flashbacks

 

Follow GE's suggestion with your XP install CD and you should be back in business again. I fell victim some months ago to the same type of LEGIT software problem that kept me from booting up. I tried everyway possible from all over the net to get to System Restore but with no luck. I gave up and reinstalled, "BUT" when reaching the screen that asks if you want to keep the SAME FILE SYSTEM, "that" selection was the ticket!

ALL my programs were preserved thank goodness but i had to reinstall a lot of them again, which wasn't so bad considering i finally could get back into the GUI again.

$M is cruddy in emergency preparedness where concerns potential failures from softwares on their systems. I've had more problems with so-called LEGIT programs than with any malware i ever encountered.

 

News Flash: Do regular Data Backups and/or use Acronic TrueImage

 

Or the free variant of Acronis when you own a Seagate/Maxtor hard disk (DiskWizard or MaxxBlast).

 

just make sure the image creates successfully and restores successfully before you relie on it
lodore

 

Thats why i do two back ups of my important data, first with acronis trueimage and second with paragon hard disk manager

 

clever idea but i dont have enough disc space for two backups
i have one 100gb external drive.
only have room for one image.....
i need to buy a bigger drive lol
lodore

 

Which operating system do you use?

To be honest: a-squared Free does not modify any parts of the system core which may be able to cause a bluescreen. It's a user mode program and does not edit the boot loader. I have no clue what's gone wrong on your PC, but did you check the harddisk already for sector failures?

 

Same here, a partition copy with Partition Expert (a dutch translation of I think Parttion Manager) and Maxblast free version of Acronis true image (only an inmage backup).

Reg K

 

How do I check the hard disk for sector failures? I was using Windows XP Media Center Edition.

 

Go to My Computer, select your main disk, right-click it and select Properties.

Go to the Tools tab and (where it says error-checking) click on Check Now.

Check both boxes and click on Start. It will then ask if you want to do the disk check on reboot, so select Yes.

 

It is not a question of whether the software alters the system files. It is more to do with the system routines it must hook, in order to perform its function. They must be written to be as efficient and quick as possible. If they do not return quickly enough, it can "throw" Windows into a state of confusion (messages not being processed in expected time etc...) whereby the OS itself may clobber system files and registry keys. The problem of writing efficient hook code is doing it in C or assembler and in such a way that other "repercussions" (eg. messages spawned by the hook code) do not interfere with the OS. That really is very hard to do, and I have posted another thread where KAV 6.0 caused me to have to reinstall Windows, because it clobbered the firewall so badly! Even the big players can't get it right. My own experience of writing "hooking" software, is that it works on the whole, but occasionally it slams the system so badly, a reboot is necessitated. And I was writing in C and just dumping certain messages to a file (strcmp, fwrite), so I can understand how tricky it must be!

 

a-squared Free neither uses hooks nor drivers. The described behaviour simply is not possible by removing a-squared Free. Its like "oh, i deleted notepad.exe and now my system BSOD on reboot".