Ryuu

I would go restore first.. hope it was one of the updates which caused it or some app which got loaded in-between restore points...

Recovery if all else fails..

I haven't had any unusual screens or problems with win 8.0 or 8.1, the laptop may have win 8 on it, however it should be upgradable free to win 8.1

type a simple description of exactly what you see happening as a search an it may result in something related and solution providing...

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...0-c073207ba194

Lainey

In safe mode trying a refresh, no clue if that will help.

She described problem accurately.

System starts up, you hold the mouse over a program icon and you get the blue circle showing the program is loading, then the screen flashes between desk top and purple theme color screen. Task mgr shows lots of programs running.....

Can't open any programs.

Windows did update last night.

Ryuu

in a early beta win 7 version I had a video driver cause a memory failure which lagged the system like this mouse over and it indicates a loading program.. as well as other screen issues,, after changing that to a newer updated driver that issue was resolved..

another type issue memory hog would be conflicting version issues, Norton could be the cause of this.. most / all antivirus programs had to have serious updates to operate.. I think avast was most known for problems at first..

let's go with hope restore does it's job..

check the laptop manufacturers website for updated drivers..

ralper

I agree. Do a system restore to a data point before the problem occurred. If it was the update, this should fix it.

Which Norton product was she running. Not Norton360 I hope.

Lainey

I tried a restore and that didn't work..got a message....I'm not sure which version of Norton....it comes with Comcast. I will have to look as I have it on m PC as well.
What is the issue with 360?

I did see some chatter that other folks with Windows 8 weren't happy with it. (it being Norton360).


What might she lose in the refresh.........hoping that works at least.

Ryuu

only information she has and not backed up..

in essence it would be a day one pc again..

are there any other levels offered.. or only recovery.. it may be setup for factory recovery options.. advanced options

ralper

Lainey,

You might want to try the system restore one more time going back to an earlier restore point. I tried system restore on one of my clients computers the other day and it didn't work so I tried it with an earlier restore point and it worked perfectly. It may not work, but its worth a try.

I've never used Norton360 but I've heard that it's a horrible piece of software. Actually, I did install it a few years ago and experienced such poor performance that I almost immediately uninstalled it. In my case a brand new computer ran very, very slowly and I got error messages. From what I've heard, the newer versions aren't much better. It supposedly runs very slowly and can lead to other problems. I've used Norton Internet Security without a problem.

If I'm correct, the refresh that you're thinking about will bring the computer back to when it first came out of the box. Anything that you or her might have added or configured since then will be lost. I had to do the same thing for my sister in law. Her computer was unusable until we did the refresh. Once done we immediately upgraded win8 to win8.1 and she hasn't had any issues since.

Good luck.

ralper

I'd think she'd lose everything that she put on from day one. I think it (recovery) actually formats the drive. I have heard there are some recovery options that doesn't delete data files but I've never seen it.

Ryuu

yes, it would wipe it clean to a fresh install..

mine comes up with several options on one tablet, but my other tablet never does, nor my desktop.. her's might have recovery options that leave her files.. that's what I was hoping she would see an let us know..

I don't use any popular antivirus, all of them slow the system down, I use the built-in windows defender an firewall, keep them updated.. if I feel a need I scan online from places like Housecall ( http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ )

Lainey

It was a refresh and it worked. I did have to re-load her Word program Thunderbird and Firefox. So glad I bought the key code for Word vs just a download!

I had to reload some of the other things she added on.

As careful as I am when downloading, I ended up with some Comando browser?? That was quickly uninstalled.

I set the computer to not start up every program known to man, and right now she has the McAfee that came with the computer for virus protection.

Thankfully, she has only done one paper for school and has already turned it in. So she lost nothing of importance.

This computer is a big part of her Christmas gift, and it already was screwed up.............kids!!

I'll check the Windows updates tomorrow night. Time to hit the sack!