computer wizards

[D]

My aol 9.0 won't dial-up at all, but my 8.0 will...

Also, my computer/windows is starting to lock-up on me consistantly. And It has alot of trouble starting up, sometimes it takes me about 20minutes to get it to start up properly- and it takes alot of shutting it down and turning it back on.

I'm thinking it may be a virus but I don't have any anti-virii, unless you consider ad-aware anti-virus material.

Suggestions pleeeeeaseee

[Dan Michler]

if it is a worm virus, then go to the microsoft site and there are instructions that tell u exactly what to do.  i'm not a computer wiz, but i had that big worm virus last month and I had to open up the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Processes tab, then click End Process after selecting a file named "avserve.exe"     My comp was also running very slowly and locking up, but after i did that i was fine.  at any rate u should be constantly downloading the security updates from the microsoft site.

[Jon Brakel]

You didn't say what OS you are running, but here is a link to a scan tool to use to find the latest viruses. It's not as good as having anti-virus software, but if you don't it will help you out.

stinger virus detection and removal tool

Make sure you are keeping up with your windows updates.

Windows Updates

You can set your computer to get windows updates automatically.

For configuring windows to get updates for XP automatically.

Buy anti-virus software, install it and keep it up to date.

Make sure you keep your ad-aware up to date as well.

[Jon Brakel]

As for the aol 9.0. My Mom had trouble for awhile with 9.0 and I had to reinstall it. AOL has a procedure to follow to reinstall but keep your data files. Search AOL help for details on that.