Have I screwed up this computer?

[Stat Brother]

I'm not going to understand what I'm writing so remember that when answering.

My computer kept shutting down.
I thought I'll give it a spring clean, but it wouldn't defrag as there was no free space in the 'D' thingy.
It told me to sort out 'D'.
So I blindly removed everything I hadn't heard of.
That got to 6%
I have now removed every photo and I'm up to a whooping 19%, so am currently defragging

The thing is, even though I kept Google Chrome, it won't come back and I'm left with 'Whitesmoke Web Search'.

Did I bin off something important?

 

[7:18]

try turning it off, then on again

 

[MORTY]

Switch it off. Then switch it on again.

 

[Fef]

Have a rummage around here: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Windows Update
Useful site for Windows knowledge.

 

[Sussex]

Is it plugged in ...?

 

[tedebear]

Our computer kept shutting down - turns out the video card was overheating as it gets covered in dust. A simple hoover and it rarely does it any more. Just needed to keep the air circulating!

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

I'm not going to understand what I'm writing so remember that when answering.

My computer kept shutting down.
I thought I'll give it a spring clean, but it wouldn't defrag as there was no free space in the 'D' thingy.
It told me to sort out 'D'.
So I blindly removed everything I hadn't heard of.
That got to 6%
I have now removed every photo and I'm up to a whooping 19%, so am currently defragging

The thing is, even though I kept Google Chrome, it won't come back and I'm left with 'Whitesmoke Web Search'.

Did I bin off something important?

Remember: Just because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it isn't important!

 

[GingerBeerMan]

C is usually your hard disk. It's odd it wants you to clean out your D drive (which is usually what you insert in the PC via the disk tray).
Go to Add/Remove programs and uninstall anything you don't need.
Download AVG Antivirus free, if you haven't got an antivirus already, and do a full computer scan and delete anything it finds.
Download an anti-spyware program such as "AdAware Free" by Lavasoft. Do a full computer scan and delete anything it finds.
To uninstall your WhiteSmoke application try this:
ht*p://w*w.helpmyos.com/t2433-how-to-remove-or-uninstall-whitesmoke-translator-other-products

Also when it crashes does it have a message, or just go to a blue screen then turn off?

Also try CTRL + ALT + DELETE, go to Processes on the top tab, order by Memory and see whats taking up most of your memory. Post the applications in here, or Google them, to see if they are harmful, neccessary or just unused.

 

[Cian]

C is usually your hard disk. It's odd it wants you to clean out your D drive (which is usually what you insert in the PC via the disk tray).

Probably half the laptops sold these days have a partitioned hard drive, C: and D:.

 

[Stat Brother]

Remember: Just because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it isn't important!

Well that's just crazy talk.
But I do have a gut feeling I have done something silly, hence the thread.

 

[Stat Brother]

C is usually your hard disk. It's odd it wants you to clean out your D drive (which is usually what you insert in the PC via the disk tray).
Go to Add/Remove programs and uninstall anything you don't need.
Download AVG Antivirus free, if you haven't got an antivirus already, and do a full computer scan and delete anything it finds.
Download an anti-spyware program such as "AdAware Free" by Lavasoft. Do a full computer scan and delete anything it finds.
To uninstall your WhiteSmoke application try this:
ht*p://w*w.helpmyos.com/t2433-how-to-remove-or-uninstall-whitesmoke-translator-other-products

Also when it crashes does it have a message, or just go to a blue screen then turn off?

Also try CTRL + ALT + DELETE, go to Processes on the top tab, order by Memory and see whats taking up most of your memory. Post the applications in here, or Google them, to see if they are harmful, neccessary or just unused.

Is that the same as kicking it?

 

[TotallyFreaked]

Whitesmoke is just a search engine not an internet web browser so it might be just a case of changing your homepage back to your search engine or preferred home page. It's a bit difficult to say what has happened but as long as you can get on the internet you can reinstall Google Chrome. Another option is to use system restore and restore your computer to a date before you started removing files then start again. In XP you can access this through typing it into help and in Windows 7 in the search box

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Probably half the laptops sold these days have a partitioned hard drive, C: and D:.

Ah didn't know that. My new Vaio (5 months old) doesn't. If OPs laptop is less than 6 month old and he's already f***ed it, then maybe computers are not for him

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I wouldn't delete something if you don't know what it is, that's a dangerous thing to do.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Having read many threads on here about similar issue-specific topics, I would advise you to go to a repair shop. You'll get a lot of well meaning but potentially (wrong and) conflicting advice on NSC.

 

[narly101]

buy a mac

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Our computer kept shutting down - turns out the video card was overheating as it gets covered in dust. A simple hoover and it rarely does it any more. Just needed to keep the air circulating!

Indeed. Lightly hoovering the PC fan worked for me, when even turning it off and on again had failed.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Having read many threads on here about similar issue-specific topics, I would advise you to go to a repair shop. You'll get a lot of well meaning but potentially (wrong and) conflicting advice on NSC.

If you don't know what you're doing, I would say ... this

 

[TotallyFreaked]

Having read many threads on here about similar issue-specific topics, I would advise you to go to a repair shop. You'll get a lot of well meaning but potentially (wrong and) conflicting advice on NSC.

While I agree that I would advise someone to use a repair shop for a hardware related issues as long as the user have all their important documents backed up there is little harm in them trying to resolve software issues. Most laptops also come with restore disks nowadays that will allow the user to restore their computer to factory default through simple instructions. As I have already wrote 'system restore' is an excellent windows utility that restores system files without affecting personal documents.

Re C and D drive some manufactures partition the hard drives this way so that the user can keep all their documents on the D drive, separate from system and program files allowing easy restore of operating systems. Unless explicitly stated most programs will default to being installed on the C drive

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

While I agree that I would advise someone to use a repair shop for a hardware related issues as long as the user have all their important documents backed up there is little harm in them trying to resolve software issues. Most laptops also come with restore disks nowadays that will allow the user to restore their computer to factory default through simple instructions. As I have already wrote 'system restore' is an excellent windows utility that restores system files without affecting personal documents.

Re C and D drive some manufactures partition the hard drives this way so that the user can keep all their documents on the D drive, separate from system and program files allowing easy restore of operating systems. Unless explicitly stated most programs will default to being installed on the C drive

You may well be right in your advice Totally Freaked but firstly, you don't know what this guy's issue is and secondly he may do more harm than good by runmaging around. Lastly, I was reading your ords above and they soon looked like this "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum" - as it would to many of the uninitiated.

Of course have a go and get advice, but was just flagging that as with all subjects on NSC, people are kind enough to share their honest opinions even if they are based on very little actual knowledge (of the issue or the answer!!).

not being negative - just being cautious. Happy New Year everyone.