You've got two basic issues here. The first is you want to understand better how your computer works. The second is getting rid of a virus. Although knowing how the computer works can help, the knowledge won't necessarily get rid of the virus for you.
For understanding the basic concepts of XP, I would seriously recommend something like Windows for Dummies. (Please understand this is not an insult. Many of these books are very good.) It will take you through the basic concepts. You won't be an expert by any measure, but if you follow it along slowly, you will pick up quite a lot that will demystify a great deal about that hunk of wires and chips that runs on Microsoft.
The problem a lot of people like myself have with an OS like Windoze is exemplified by what you describe. The OS is designed to be so-called user-friendly. What that really means is that it is designed so that you don't understand anything about how it works; you have to trust it to work, and if it breaks, you have to pay someone else to fix it. I sometimes cannot believe the things people pay me to fix. It takes me 10 minutes, and I feel guilty for the fee I charge, but then I realize the individual paying me could have banged away at it for weeks and accomplished nothing, all because of the way the OS is designed. By contrast, an OS like Linux has a learning curve associated with using it, but the learning isn't too painful considering the size of the community and all the help that is available. And, when you "fix" something the way you like it, you know how to do it again, and it gives you huge hints about how to "fix" other things.
Anyway -- sorry for the soapbox -- about the virus. First, dump Norton and don't even try to understand anything about it or what it tells you. It is crap. Un-install it and forget you ever heard the name "Norton."
Next, find something else. I use
AVG Anti-Virus on my Windoze machine. The free version is just as powerful as the paid version; it just doesn't have some of the more advanced options for system administration. It will do pretty much everything the home user needs, and it updates itself daily. Others in the forum might suggest a few other good anti-virus programs. McAfee is a good popular alternative, but for a home user I don't see that the cost is justified by what it gives you.
AVG can probably kill the virus for you unless it is a particularly stubborn variant or something very new. Do you happen to know the name of it? You can often find detailed instructions on getting rid of these.
About the registry specifically, it is, in a nutshell, a complicated beast the average user was never intended to manipulate in any way. It's a very basic concept and is really nothing more than a text file or collection of them. The registry "registers" your software and hold details about your system that are used to keep it working the way you want it to work. Of course it also serves as a tremendous security risk because any change to the registry can affect the entire system. But, basically, don't mess around with it until you are quite comfortable with how it works unless you want to get practice in reinstalling your operating system.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
