New computers....

[Thief]

There are viruses, Trojans and malware that do various things and there have been viruses in the past that would kill your computer by flashing the BIOS (Basic Input Output System)

You likely need to start from scratch with your PC, Laptop or get a new one. Look to getting as much memory as possible and getting an Intel Processor that is fairly popwerful, no need for going overboard.

If you do online gaming you need a pretty powerful video card too.

As for the OS, if you are still running Windows XP or something older, all bets are off, you need to upgrade.

Windows 7, or 8.1 are what you should be using now, most likely if you go the upgrade route or buy a new PC you are going to end up with 8.1. If you were not on 8 that will be a bit of a jump and you will need to learn how to access your stuff since it is different.

As for security software; McAfee, Symantec, TrendMicro, F-Secure all good. I am not a big fan of free downloadable security systems but there are those that swear by them.

Another thing you could do now with your HP, assuming it is Windows 7 or newer. Download and run HitMan Pro, it is a very good Malware scanner, but you need internet access because it is cloud based. Also F-Secure, Panda, TrendMIcor, Spybot and Ad Aware all have online or downloadable scanners to check for Malware. Make sure the sight you are dealing with for Ad-Aware is Lavasoft and nothing else for the initial download should you go that route. If Spybot make sure you are getting it from safer-networking.org.

These could find malware and remove it and that might speed up your PC. Also F-Secure did have a free trial of a piece of software that checked and speed up your PC a bit, but for the full functioning model you need to buy it. TrendMicro also had something similar , but I think that you have to buy that one to use it

There was a flash of warning about a Trojan....then it disappeared.
the newest Toshiba failed the next day.

will consider your words of wisdom.

 

[Thief]

The mobility you gain is at the cost of product quality and life-span. The products are also tiny so there is a restriction in cooling capabilities which are inadequate for even modest gaming or demanding uses. Just to compare any example my now defective notebook's idle temperatures are higher than fully stress testing my desktop CPU for 12 hours straight. Moderate gaming produces temperatures that are higher than full 12 hour long GPU benchmarks. Chances are your systems have died just as a result of normal uses and the limited life-span of mobiles rather than viruses. Most viruses have the purpose of collecting information in order to commit fraud under your name rather than damaging the system itself.

To address a few question you posts.



The back light could have died thus there is no ability to project anything on to your screen. If this happens before windows even loads then it was not a virus. If this does not happen in safe-mode then it is not a virus. It is a simple mechanical failure otherwise.



Power can still be run through a system without a monitor working. If the system even turns on then chances are the monitor died rather than a system failure. If the system does not power up then it is a hardware failure which is most likely the power supply, connect from the supply to the system via battery or a/c ports or a motherboard failure.



It is the standard connect for a hard drive and solid state drive to a motherboard. It allows it to communicate with the system as a whole.



Data loss is a hard drive failure. Screen issues are either the monitor or gpu failure.



There is a reason for that. Windows as an OS is easy to infect with a virus. Get Linux and you will never need protection programs as Linux is not worth hacking nor infecting.

Most viruses attack your software thus regardless of Mac, Linus or Windows the software is the major source of infection. Windows is just easier to infect itself via software than OS X and Linux. Even Firefox or Chrome can be infected both of which can be used on Linux and OS X

Windows update are mandatory regardless of how you feel or not. As pointed out above Windows is an OS which is always vulnerable thus it needs updates as people poke more holes in the poor coding of the OS.



Yes some can. One virus for example is used for bitcoin farming, an internet currency. In order to generate these bitcoins your gpu needs to run at full load thus a virus for this purpose will load your gpu with algorithms to generate coins which will be transferred to another user. This puts stress on your system well beyond even gaming use. A full load is placing your system at it's maximum capabilities which not all systems are designed to handle. For example a stock cooling system for an intel CPU will be hard pressed to hand a 100% load for a long period of time while an aftermarket cooling system is designed for this purpose. Most ready to buy systems are designed for moderate uses not server use which see this 100% loads for long duration. However this are easy to find using task manager for the CPU or a GPU program like afterburner.

As I said before a notebook/laptop is not a desktop. Regardless of what the manufactures claims these systems will never be equal to a desktop of similar specification. Even the specification are clever commercial tricks. A notebook with say a 850m or 920m are not products with the equivalent desktop 800/900s. A 800m is around a 600 series for desktops thus 4-5 year old tech. A 900 is a high end 600 or low end 700, 2-5 year old tech. It is all marketing since big numbers are fancy and people like big numbers. All notebooks have heat issues. All notebooks throttles, reduce, it's own capabilities without the user being aware so that the product does not kill itself running mundane task a desktop can. You can also notice for yourself most notebooks only have a 1-2 year warranty while desktop parts have mostly 3 year warranties, at times even life-time warranties. Mobiles are designed for mobility nothing more thus you get what you pay for. A limited short life-span product you are carry with you. Everything else such as "gaming notebook" are commercials designed to fool the customer into buying a limited product at a high price. The notebook industry has been robbing it's customers blind for years. Repairs are expensive as well which is part of robbing customers for the sake of mobility

Stick with cheap notebooks so you are not burned when a system fails a year later.

It seems you know the neighborhood quit well........thank you

 

[Thief]

If I take the previous two Toshibas to a shop......can the old info be regained?

 

[Wu Wei]

There was a flash of warning about a Trojan....then it disappeared.
the newest Toshiba failed the next day.

will consider your words of wisdom.

There are fake virus alerts that are basically trying to get money from you, there are also crypto viruses that will extort money from you, but I do not think it is a crypto virus.

Basically without security software on your pc/laptop, on you hit the internet, in a few seconds, the computer is no longer yours. It has been taken over by someone else to use for what they wish.

 

[Shad]

If I take the previous two Toshibas to a shop......can the old info be regained?

Whatever problems these two systems have could have have nothing to do with the hard drives but rather display parts, power, motherboard, etc. First off you need to find a store that covers and repairs Toshibas products. Notebooks repairs are based on certification and authorization from the manufacture. For example the local store I use does not cover Asus. If you can not find a store you will need to contact Toshiba to do this. Be warned even the local store will charge you at least $50, if not more, to work on your systems. The manufacture will charge you a similar fee but you will also have to cover shipping and handling as you will need to send the notebooks to them. I would talk to the techs before doing so in order to find the cost and what can be done. You need to have some sort of medium to store this data on if you intend to place it on a new system. Something like a USB drive or external hard drive. You can see if one of the hard drivers can be installed on your current systems as most notebooks have two ports for hard drives. One will be used by the current system so you still need some sort of medium as storage for the drive that is not installed. After you recover your data format the old drive, if installed, to use on your current system in order to prevent issues with the old OS on these drives.

As Wu Wei said using Windows you will need a anti-virus program. Only get one of these as often multiple products can cause issues, crash your system, etc. Try to find one with browser protection as your browser is usually the primary route viruses get into your system. Avoid questionable websites like random streaming webpages which have broadcast movies, tv, etc, illegally. The best protection you can have is you as a user and safe browsing practices.

 

[Thief]

There are fake virus alerts that are basically trying to get money from you, there are also crypto viruses that will extort money from you, but I do not think it is a crypto virus.

Basically without security software on your pc/laptop, on you hit the internet, in a few seconds, the computer is no longer yours. It has been taken over by someone else to use for what they wish.

I've seen documentaries about zombie viruses....
The bad guy can access and then use your computer and id as if it was his in the first place.
(not that I think mine stuff has been compromised)

but maybe it has.

It seems odd, one day all is well and the next day.....nothing.
nothing at all.

One documentary was all about one fellow hacking the gov.
Got to the point the gov was baiting just to see if he could break in.
He caught on to that.
So after several failed attempts to catch him the gov decided to let it go.
The black hat was learning faster than they could.

Most of the world seems prey to the lesser crime.....
hope my little system is not part of it.

 

[Revoltingest]

My 2006 Dell laptop (DOS box running Win98) just died.
I paid $1300, so it cost $100/year....not bad.
But now I have a spanking new (used) tower PC which cost $230.
It has a hard drive, Iomega Zip drive, 3.5" floppy drive, & it runs Win98.
(My old British operating system won't run on anything newer.)