I just read the FAQ over on the AVAST support page about what to do when you get the blue screen of death which tells you something has gone wrong with the system and some information has been dumped into memory. It says it’s the sign of a .dll gone bad, and what the blue screen says about the dumped stuff can tell you the what and the why of what was dumped. That’s nice (and it would have been nicer had I known this before I rebooted the computer, thereby wiping away that data). Not that I would know what all that information meant anyway – or, until now, where to send it. On my own, I have no idea what I would have done with that information. Unless it tells me how to fix the problem, it don’t do me a heckuva lot of good.
Now, all is not lost because AVAST says I can find that same information saved in either programs/windows/minidump or programs/memorydump. Finding it, I could send it to AVAST, who would presumably tell me what to do about the .dll problem.
I found the minidump folder but no files newer in there than about a month ago – and this problem began just last night with a program update from – supposedly – Microsoft. (Maybe I should check the memorydump folder, too.) But what do I do with the files in those folders anyway? I tried to open one, and I was asked what program I wanted to use to open it. I guessed Notepad, and I came up with a bunch of meaningless control characters.
I am no technical whiz with the PC, and I really don’t want to be. I just want a working word processor and a way to get on the Net. I don’t want to be a techie or coder, thank you. I just want a simple answer: what the hell do I do to get this PC working again?
Right now, I can only open in safe mode. I don’t know whether this precludes using Avast, or whether Avast has been wiped out. It’s strange that I cannot download any programs that might conceivably help me. (Is that another result of opening in safe mode?)
Quite frankly, I am willing at this point to reformat my disk and reload with a Unix OS program. I am thoroughly sick of Windows, a bad system from the getgo. I could work with the Unix OS for a couple of years, when I’ll be ready to get a new replacement computer – a MAC this time. Bite on that, Steve Ballmer.
Yes, I’m even ready to reformat the disk, but would this be a foolish point-of-no-return thing to do?
Help!!!
