Posts by Chloe Baker2

It’s the exact same issue I ran into—take a look at the solution I posted in my thread. restlesstiger49 provided the link.

I don't typically run any antivirus software—in fact, I haven't touched one in over a year—but I found myself forced to install something this time around. I was running Linux until my last system overhaul, when I decided to wipe everything clean and just stick with Windows 😢.
Anyway, thanks for the effort.

It turned out to be some kind of virus—it was converting all my files into shortcuts whenever I plugged in a USB drive, which I picked up from a friend's thumb drive.
Basically, the thing would hide all my actual files and replace them with shortcuts that functioned as a delivery mechanism to spread the infection to the computer itself.
I ran the command `attrib -h -r -s /s /d g:\*.*` to reveal the infected files, which uncovered a `windows_api.bat` file along with some VBS scripts—all of which I promptly deleted. For some reason, Malwarebytes didn't flag them 😢(.
Later, using Norton, I actually located the source of the virus sitting in the AppData/local/temp folder; this was the script targeting USB sticks, which explains why simply formatting the drive did absolutely nothing.

Everything is back to normal now, and I've learned a vital lesson—don't try to be a hero by plugging a buddy's sketchy drive into your machine. Thanks to everyone for the help.

The images were accessible via those shortcuts—but only while they were sitting on the USB drive.
That said, I’ve since formatted the drive and moved a Word document onto it; now, even that file shows up as a shortcut, though it actually opens fine.
I ran a scan with Malwarebytes, but it turned up nothing. Honestly, I suspect there is just something fundamentally wrong with the USB itself.

I’m not sure how much you know about English, but
https://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/artic...rtphone_modem/
you can find a method for USB tethering at this link. To put it simply—you connect your phone to your computer via a USB cable and enable the USB tethering option found in the settings—just like the screenshots at the bottom of the page show. Your computer will essentially use your phone as its "antenna." As far as I am aware, you can still use the data on your phone simultaneously. If you actually want internet access on both devices over a wider range—beyond the reach of a USB cable—then you'll just have to buy a dedicated hotspot and apply the first method described.

Hello,
A friend of mine handed me a USB drive containing some photos transferred from a local photo studio. The issue is that when I open the drive, the files appear only as shortcuts—I can open them, sure, but as soon as I try to move them to my hard drive, I get an error stating that "window_api.bat" cannot be found.
When I check the shortcut properties, the location is listed as "C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe /c start windows_api.bat&start IMG_0001.JPG&exit"

There are no other files on the drive—I have already enabled the option to show hidden files and folders.

Has anyone dealt with this before?

UPDATE: It looks like my mouse is actually the culprit—it keeps cutting out and throwing those "USB device not recognized" errors at me.

Greetings,
I’ve been dealing with a mouse issue since yesterday—it intermittently cuts out, and I can only get it working again by unplugging and replugging it. Interestingly, this only occurs while gaming—across my entire library. I have already tried switching to different USB ports and disabled the setting in macOS that allows the system to turn off devices to save power (which I located via a Google search), but neither step helped. Device Manager indicates that the drivers are fully up-to-date. When the connection drops, the blue LED remains lit—in fact, it stays on even when the computer is powered down. I haven't had the chance to test a different mouse yet. My assessment is that the hardware itself is fine; the fault likely lies within the software.
Thanks in advance.

I’m honestly not sure how Windows 10 would hold up on a machine with just 2GB of RAM and a Core 2 duo 2.8—it’s a bit of an older build. The specs say 2GB is the recommended amount, but I have my doubts... 😁 I’m considering giving it a shot, though I need to assess the hardware limitations first.

EDIT: I suppose I should move this to a different thread.

I didn't say that was a fact—I said I heard it somewhere...
To be honest, I saw that bit about pirated software and games over on TechCrunch.
Don't even go there regarding LP 😁 :P ..

Well, it didn't help. On my machine, Mozilla and Chrome just devour all the RAM within minutes—I either have to kill them manually or they just crash on their own—whereas I don't run into any issues using Opera. Regarding Windows, I've heard 8.1 is significantly faster, but I honestly wasn't a fan of the UI. As for Windows 10, I’m holding off until SP2 or SP3 rolls out; besides, word is they might implement ways to block pirated software and games (which isn't ideal for me) and gain the ability to monitor everything you do on your computer. I'll be waiting a while before I even consider trying it.

btw, does your signature have anything to do with that Linkin Park song, or is it just random? 😁

I was running Windows 7 Ultimate previously—and honestly, I always felt that CCleaner was nothing more than a complete scam. That said, I’ll give it another shot once I actually have some free time to tinker with it. My gut feeling is that the issue lies with Meta—video playback works perfectly fine on every other site without any stuttering, but the second I load up Facebook, everything falls apart. Regardless, I'll try the CCleaner route.

I get what you're saying, but why does this only seem to affect Meta?
I usually just run a disk cleanup because I can't stand downloading those third-party cleaners—though it looks like I might have to after all. I actually switched over to a new Windows setup about a month ago.

Greetings,
Lately, Meta has been incredibly sluggish—I'm talking painfully slow—while every other site on my browser loads instantly. Beyond just the lag, the interface occasionally ignores my clicks entirely 😁 . This isn't isolated to one browser, either; I’ve seen the exact same behavior on both Mozilla and Opera. As I stated, everything else works flawlessly, so it is specifically Meta that is causing this frustration. If anyone here has encountered this specific issue and managed to resolve it, or if you have any actual suggestions, please weigh in 😁 .

He reached out this morning to let me know he successfully managed it via the macOS update. In any case, thanks.

I performed a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate on my machine yesterday—everything was fine until I hit a snag with the integrated sound card driver. The motherboard is a Dell Optiplex gx280. Looking at the official Dell support site, they only list drivers for Windows XP, which obviously won't work on Windows 7. I saw a thread on this forum where someone managed to get the driver working via macOS update, but when I try to run "Check for updates," the process just hangs indefinitely. We waited for two hours before giving up—the green progress bar just spins endlessly while it stays stuck on "checking for updates."
Any help would be appreciated.

There are several ways to handle this—for instance, Norton includes a built-in data vault for encryption, and there are plenty of third-party tools that offer similar functionality. If those don't suit your needs, you could simply upload the files to Dropbox or a similar service—assuming the file size isn't massive—and then wipe them from your local drive...

Sit down! :P

And I can see your English is pretty rough, too 🙂

It seems to me you're either intoxicated or simply messing with me—either way, thanks. Just so we're clear, I don't have that kind of money.