I googled this but couldn't find anything at all. I recently reinstalled, defragged, installed updates (except see below), got virus checker, firewall and malware stuff all in place as per my thread re macs vs pcs. So I am a bit bemused that things are going wrong again already. It just started doing it today. Nothing has changed, no installations or anything like that.
I get an error message after I connect to the internet that is titled '16 bit MS DOS Subsystem' and it reads
c:winpkr.exe
The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction
then a load of numbers and letters then:
'click close to terminate the application'.
(I have saved a screengrab if I can email it to anyone)
What's this all about? Does it explain why the PC occasionally just 'hangs' when using Firefox?
Also - how can I get SP2 installed - I did all the updates through the windows update page which took hours but still no SP2.
This PC is starting to really hack me off
Sounds like you installed an old 16-bit application or software/hardware driver that doesn't run under Windows XP. Try this solution from the Microsoft web site.
SP2 is just an a culmination of all the fix packs you download individually, but you can buy or download the SP2 to avoid having to download and restart your computer hundreds of times. Anyway, you can download Service Pack 2 from the MS web site as well...
Cheers
Ah - OK cheers. I was searching for the winpkr bit and didn't find owt so will check out this page thanks
Interestingly, if you google winpkr.exe you find a few references to some malware. So, it's possible you still have a malware problem of some kind. Whether it's a dead relic, still referenced somewhere, or a live nasty is harder to guess though.
Just because Firefox is less immune to nasty stuff, doesn't make it invulnerable unfortunately. Hanging could be a symptom of something having managed to weasel it's way through - but it's not guaranteed, it may just be you're running a bad extension. Try disabling all Firefox extensions and see whether it starts working reliably again.
Also make sure you have something like Spybot S&D running at all times - that will reduce the chances of something taking hold, and make sure it's up to date.
Whatever you do, never click on an advert for anti-spyware products, they can be malware disguised as anti-malware. Sometimes they'll even use the name of a real anti-malware product fraudulently. So always use a trusted source for anti-malware links. Some in my FAQ:
trusted partner
