tschrock

The people behind MoviePass have bottled up their software under a new name - popcorn.net. Popcorn.net is just as hard to remove as moviepass, but luckily all of the file names are almost identical. They dropped the mediaPipe name and replaced it with the more generic Download Manager.

I was researching the latest variant to remove MoviePass for one of my customers. I went to their website and read the terms of service (I had looked at them a few months ago) and they changed! They took down their toll-free number and created a subscription cancellation page. They didn't even make it a link, so you have to copy and paste it into your browser window. Then if you have a clean system it tells you access is denied, and asks you to reinstall MoviePass! If you have an infected system, it lets you in. Whatever you do, do not reinstall MoviePass. You don't have to pay these people a dime. Remove Moviepass and then report these jerks to the FTC!!! This is such a SCAM!

I found some posts online about a new spyware threat called spywarebot. It looks like it could be a spy falcon / spy sheriff / spyware quake variant - I think. I have not had the chance to infect our test system with it yet, so I thought I would ask if any of you have been hit with this or know someone who has been.

NAV and NIS both dig deep into your system's registry and hidden system files when they are installed. To see what I mean, click on start and then type regedit and press enter. click on My Computer and then click on edit and search. Search for syman and look at the HUNDREDS of keys that come up. (If you decide to try to delete them, be sure you back up your registry first) Rather than just ripping the guts out, Symantec provides a few tools that can completely remove Symantec Norton Antivirus and Symantec Norton Personal Firewall (NIS). You can search the Symantec website for the SYMNRT tool, or you can read our free online tutorial. Either way, I like Symantec products, but I have to disagree with their "award winning support". Its kind of like Iran giving you a human rights award.

Good question. From what I can tell, the Movie Pass people just intimidate you into paying. Some people have told me they called and gave their personal information. WHATEVER you do, if you have this on your computer, DO NOT give them any additional personal information!!! It seems like a big DUH, but I had a customer do that very thing yesterday.

What file is missing? If it is the same file every time your could copy that one file to a floppy or the laptop's hard drove and then point it there when it pops up the error message.

Does the camera not install in 2000/XP, or does it just not work with the software that came with it? If it will install but the software will not work, you could try Windows XP compatibility mode.

From what I can tell, it seems to look good. Are you sure that is a 56x DVD-ROM and not a CD-ROM? Also, what motherboard and processor are your using? I would recommend AMD's 64-bit processors. They are very flexible and powerful.

I have seen over 30 people in the past 3 days that have had this problem. Their entire system32/config folder is missing and they can't log into their profiles via the XP recovery console to attempt to fix it. We have no idea what is causing this, but we have developed a backup batch file that will backup your config folder so *if* you ever get hit (or hit again) with this problem, you can easily have a full recovery. Read the tutorial that explains how to use the backup utilityand how to restore your backup in the event of a crash. Good luck!

;( There is a nifty little scam going on where unsuspecting consumers install MediaPass software on their computer hoping to download music and video files. Except when they agree to install the software, they are also agreeing to allow MoviePass to use their computer's hard drive and internet connection bandwidth for their purposes. Oh, and they also make you agree that they can sell your personal information to their affiliates - of course. With that aside, when you install the MoviePass software, you are installing a free trial. Again, in that nasty little terms of service agreement you agree that if you do not cancel your trial BEFORE it expires, that you will pay them $29.99 a month for their service. Once the trial expires, a box will start popping up on your screen, increasing in frequency over time, asking you for your billing information. If you remove the software and just forget about it, you are caught in yet another clause in their TOS that states that if you do not immediately provide your billing information, they will bill you for an entire year of service (a $359.88 tab) and then turn you over to a collection agency. The only way to stop this cycle (easily) is to cancel your subscription immediately unless you intent to subscribe to their services. To do this you MUST call their toll-free number. After all of that I have to say it is pretty crappy that this scam is actually working on people. If you have any influence over the general public (or at least your local LAN), let people know about this shady operation. Most importantly, DO NOT remove the MoviePass software before you call to cancel the account they have open for you (yes, if you have the MoviePass pop-ups, they have an account for you). They will require a number from their software to deactivate your account. Once you have killed your account, you can remove their software to stop those annoying pop-ups. We have sent a press release to our local media outlets and made it available on our homepage. If you want more info on MoviePass or the MediaPipe software, visit www.moviepass.tv.

From my experience, you may not have a large enough power supply to power your computer. You have at least 4 drives (3 DVDs and a Hard Drive) plus USB devices. You should use an online power supply calculator to determine the amount of wattage your system will require to power all of your devices. Based on the information you gave provided above, I was able to determine that you would need at least a 338 Watt power supply, and that does not include any USB devices. There is no program that will tell you how many watts your power supply kicks out. You have to open your computer and look at the output on the sticker on the side of the power supply. Most big box computers only come with a 250 Watt supply. If this is the case, and you have added drives and cards over time, it would explain your problem. Your computer is "freezing" sometimes randomly, but most of the time when the hard drive is being used in conjunction with your network connection. I honestly think if you check, you will find your power supply is not sufficient. I would recommend that you upgrade to at least a 400 Watt power supply. If you add RAM memory without increasing the wattage of the power supply, you will only make matters worse.

http://www.ntcompatible.com/thread9295-1.html Check out this previous post. It may be helpful.

I found these pictures on my hard drive and I thought you all might enjoy taking a look at them. This hard drive died, and one of my customers asked me what we did with the dead drives. I told him target practice, and he laughed. But I was serious! See for yourself! http://www.thorschrock.com/deaddrive.php

Make sure you are installing the V4 drivers for your Linksys card. Using the wrong version number will allow limited functionality, but can cause unpredictable problems. Also, when you do what Relic said make sure you go to the linksys website and get the most recent LINKSYS driver. If you are relying on Windows Update for the updated driver, don't. They are especially troublesome when it comes to NVIDIA video drivers.

Glad to see you have it working! Before you use the old drive again, make sure you run a chkdsk /r on it to make sure it doesn't have any bad sectors.