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tweezy29

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My windows vista is giving me enough grief that I only use it in safe mode. I was going to try re-installing Vista with my original cd. But I have read suggestions of many things to save to prepare for doing so. I thought a solution might be to leave the battered Vista in place and install linux, try to see if things work correctly using Linux -- because I wonder if I may also have some hardware problem like a battery wearing down.
Now on this site I see all kinds of other vocabulary like ubuntu.... and don't know if they're still talking about Linux.
Any suggestions on if I might install Linux from my safemode condition, what breed of Linux to use, and how to do it?
My safe mode won't let me print, or hear, or get to some links; that is, I think it's because of safe mode.
 


It's a little bit confusing what you want to do and how you want to do it.

If you leave your broken Vista and add Linux somehow you will still have broken Vista on your computer. If there is anything on Vista worth keeping copy your Home file off, onto an external Hard Drive.

From there you can install Vista if you want too and recopy your Home file.

You should always install Windows first because it wants to take over the whole Hard Drive.

There are several ways to try Linux without messing up Windows:
1) LiveCDs/DVDs (No Windows needed)
2) Live USB with persistence (No Windows needed)
3) Distros which load into memory e.g. Puppy and the Puppy derivations (No Windows needed)
4) WUBI from Ubuntu ---which is on its way out (obviously from working Windows)
5)Dual booting
6) Virtualisation (obviously from working Windows)

Ubuntu is a variety of Linux. Canonical bring it out in different forms with different Desktop Environments -- Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Edbuntu etc.

...Although many newbies use Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu and which is thought to be easier.

Dual booting? Look at e.g. http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/how-to-dual-boot-linux-and-windows-699513
 
I would fix Vista or get rid of it first. Just place any necessary files on a USB stick, secondary disk or to a Cloud.
You might just be able to use a restore point on the Vista to go back prior to your problems.

What exactly is wrong?

No point in installing anything if you are having hardware problems, of course there are several distros that run from CD/DVD or USB that can aid in diagnosis.

Parted Magic might be useful for most of this.

Also, System Rescue CD and many others.
 
I would fix Vista or get rid of it first. Just place any necessary files on a USB stick, secondary disk or to a Cloud.
You might just be able to use a restore point on the Vista to go back prior to your problems.

What exactly is wrong?

No point in installing anything if you are having hardware problems, of course there are several distros that run from CD/DVD or USB that can aid in diagnosis.

Parted Magic might be useful for most of this.

Also, System Rescue CD and many others.
 
Thanks for the replies. I tried the earliest restore point still on my computer and got no improvement. I wanted to use the disk that came with the computer, but first found some advice listing 10 steps to take before re-installing the original Vista. I was hoping that if I just added Linux I could get my computer back to functioning correctly without the risk of losing any of what was on it and without the hassle of protecting everything I could think of.
I don't have a USB port that I can find.
At first my problems showed up as a warning that I was dangerously low on memory. In real life that is so. But with task manager I couldn't see the memory shortage. I could see that Firefox was using about 300 mb; once saw it using about 600 mb and it only dropped to 300 mb when I shut it down. I found I had 55 processes going but saw a list of only 16; in safemode it showed over 20 System 32 functions loading but none showed up on the task manager.
Outside of safe mode, I'd tell it to shut down and it wouldn't until I turned the power off. Then finally the control-alternate-delete keys would just get me to a black screen and "Logon process has failed to create the security options dialog".
However, in safe mode I could get to my documents, get to websites; couldn't get any sound or printing, and it wouldn't go to some links from some sites.
 
Sounds like you might have ADware/Malware/Spyware. Several programs to clean that up.

Have you cleared your temp folders lately?

Honestly, I would dump Vista.

I have 15+ year old computers with USB, anything newer than 2000 should have a 2+ USB ports.

Can you burn CD/DVD's?
 
Sounds like you might have ADware/Malware/Spyware. Several programs to clean that up.

Have you cleared your temp folders lately?

Honestly, I would dump Vista.

I have 15+ year old computers with USB, anything newer than 2000 should have a 2+ USB ports.

Can you burn CD/DVD's?
I had gotten a lengthy description of things to do from a savvy = young relative. So I've run my avast on boot up, found nothing; defragmented; disk cleaned and eliminated temporary files. He also suggested that I might find Linux too different; though agreed it was better.
My Dell Inspiron must be from end of 2008 and shows no USB port in any easily accessible area, can't see the back too well.
I would dump Vista if I could be sure what things I should protect and how. That's why I'm looking for someone knowledgeable to support my thought to go ahead and add Linux before risking losing what I won't miss until it's gone. I have documents and pictures backed up to a browser program.
I can burn CDs, though the rubber band I've used to run the drive keeps breaking.
 
Does your computer have a MAKE and MODEL?

It can be dodgy connecting a Windows computer to the internet when it might have malware. Sophisticated malware can create a partition. A copy of all of your data is collected in that partition. When you connect to the internet it is sent to a remote recipient.

Linux can help. Look at this: http://foss-boss.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/killing-virii-with-gentoo-and-kaspersky.html ...A bit old, but I have successfully used Kaspersky ...although I have had one situation where the OS was so wrecked NOTHING would work.

Then make sure you have adequate security.
 
Does your computer have a MAKE and MODEL?

It can be dodgy connecting a Windows computer to the internet when it might have malware. Sophisticated malware can create a partition. A copy of all of your data is collected in that partition. When you connect to the internet it is sent to a remote recipient.

Linux can help. Look at this: http://foss-boss.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/killing-virii-with-gentoo-and-kaspersky.html ...A bit old, but I have successfully used Kaspersky ...although I have had one situation where the OS was so wrecked NOTHING would work.

Then make sure you have adequate security.

For the past several hours I've tried to download the various rescue programs recommended here plus some that I got from an evaluation of rescue programs. In wading through the extra programs in each download, I've not been able to find the rescue programs. Some give me a zip opener program but this doesn't seem to get me to the rescue program. My downloads window has a burn function, but this doesn't show up in safe mode, and now it seems that safe mode is all I can get. I understand that some of these recovery programs come to my computer as iso images that are easy to burn to a cd, if only I could find the iso image and the burner.
 
Sounds like you have Malware of some kind. I use ESET anti-virus for my Windows PC's. I like it. To load Linux, I bought a new 500 GB hard drive and downloaded openSUSE Linux from the openSUSE.org website. I then burned a DVD with the ISO file. Works great on my PC. I also bought a good openSUSE Linux operating system tech book called LPIC-1 / CompTIA Linux+ Cert. by Robb Tracy. A real must have for a new Linux user like myself.​
 
Sounds like you have installed way to many miscellaneous applications, along with all the 'recommended' stuff that comes with them. As people have said adware, malware etc. it seems to me you know just enough about computers to get yourself in trouble, but not enough to get back out. Saying your computer doesn't have USB ports is a good indication of this. You have a few choices to make.

If you have saved your documents, and photos to a location that is not physically on your computer, then you can safely get rid of everything on your vista drive. You can then either install a fresh copy of whatever operating system you like. That said, I would not recommend vista, it's well regarded as the worst operating system to ever have been released. Either install Linux (probably Ubuntu) or buy a copy of windows 7. If your computer is too old to run windows 7, I would suggest it might be time to upgrade you machine.

To be honest, and I don't say this very often, I would probably suggest taking your computer to your local pc tech, explain to them that you want to make sure your personal data is backed up, and that you would like either windows 7 or Ubuntu installed nice and fresh. They will tell you then if you need to buy an extra drive to ensure a safe backup, and whether your hardware needs updating.
 
Thousand apologies for misleading statements. Just on long distance to grand nephew telling him I had no flash drive ports and of three bays on front of computer tower, only one drops out to let cd in. The second has a button that does nothing. The third door won't open out...but wait, it drops down and reveals a gang of ports. For the longest I had been trying to pull it open; luckily I didn't use pliers for a better grip. So grand nephew will send flash drive loaded with Linux and I'll run Linux from this and worry about Vista later. Case closed.
 
To rescue your Vista install, you need to run this program - run the free version, full scan.
It will do a deep scan and show you the results. Delete them and reboot.
Click "Download@Majorgeeks" and wait for to box to ask where to download file.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/malwarebytes_anti_malware.html

Ran this on my uncles lappie - took over 2 hours to scan over 80GB of data / system files to find over 20 infected files.
 
To rescue your Vista install, you need to run this program - run the free version, full scan.
It will do a deep scan and show you the results. Delete them and reboot.
Click "Download@Majorgeeks" and wait for to box to ask where to download file.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/malwarebytes_anti_malware.html

Ran this on my uncles lappie - took over 2 hours to scan over 80GB of data / system files to find over 20 infected files.
Thanks for the suggestion.
 
I would also run SpyBot S&D and CCleaner on the Vista to clean up.
Thanks for these suggestions and to others for their suggestions. At present I would be able to use programs only from a cd. My situation doesn't let me download and access a download. My present plan is that a young relative is mailing me a flash drive loaded with Linux so I can operate my computer from the flash drive. From this step I may be able to clean up the rest.
Thanks to all.
 
I only read half the responses here, so I apologize if this is repeated advice, but it sounds like your page file could be to small. Right click on my computer, properties, advanced system settings, advanced, advanced TAB, click change. It is self evident what to do from there.
 
Never start with should I when referring to Linux. Always assume you should :p

But hopefully you get everything sorted out. If you run into any problems. Post here and someone is bound to help you :) Good luck.
 

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