what started out as a pleasant surprise, in that the new computer build process was actually going rather smoothly- computer was doing what I wanted, printer installs only involved minor glitches, no major headaches like I normally get when doing 'anything computers'-- Well, my computer jinx let me know in no uncertain terms it was alive and well, in spades...
one problem I've had for some time: Gravostyle7, which is necessary for my business survival, for some reason is considered by many anti-virus programs to be a virus. Defender hasn't given me a problem because 'it' knows better. BUT- the version on my new computer, which I can't update because Microsoft won't let me, is several years old, and DOESN'T know better. In the middle of loading G7 to finish a job, which BTW I've ran several times in the past 2 days without issue, created a virus warning from Defender. So I immediately went in to Services and disabled Defender. Apparently, I did that while Defender was in the process of quarantining 'the virus', or so I assume-- anyway, THAT one stunt has completely fubar'd the computer as-it-was...
--Gravo7 will NOT fully un-install. And it will also not fully RE-install. System Restore won't work because (a) the restore points don't extend to before the initial install (my bad), and (b) most OTHER restore points won't take because of 'catastophic data errors'. I did find a restore point that worked, BUT- once I attempt another re-install of G7, upon reboot the computer hangs and goes into Startup Recovery mode, which doesn't work... so now it'll only boot in safe mode..
MEANWHILE, amongst the G7 trials, I found that the computer was ONLINE. Checked the router, it says it's blocked. Checked the DHCP table, and the computer is on there TWICE, with 2 different IP's AND MAC addresses-?? So to try a quick fix, based on an internet tip, I went into the internet settings/connections/LAN tab, unchecked automatic, checked proxy server, and VOILA! The computer went into an endless loop. Was an 8 minute or so wait for the loop to time out before any other window would appear... Took me nearly 3 hours just to undo that mistake. I also tried the wrong/no gateway idea, that didn't work - however, I found out later that the .198 IP address that I got from the first DHCP entry in the router was the erroneous one, computer itself says it's .146 -- So that may still work. I did at least get the endless loop issue fixed. Biggest problem now, while typing this I attempted a reinstall of G7 again, to again be greeted with a won't-boot situation... I'm now attempting a 'last known good configuration' boot... and, it just failed...
I CAN get the computer to work minus a working G7 program, but what I CAN'T figure out is how to remove a program that won't remove itself-- At one point last night I resorted to finding every instance of G7 in the registry and deleted them all. Didn't hurt anything, but didn't help either. I MUST have G7 on this computer, it's 100% necessary- I DON'T have a recovery disk of any kind to start over with the computer, and I don't have a Win7pro64 disk to reload Windows. Another anomaly of G7, it doesn't give me a choice of where to install it, much of it goes into Windows files, the rest on the default drive...
One option I have-? -- is I added a 1tb Sandisk SSD drive yesterday, maybe it's possible to boot up to it and install G7 on it?
AGGHH!! Meanwhile, I have to get into the router and figure out where the ghost computer came from and how to delete it! Among other things--
(and some people wonder why I don't want self-driving cars
)