Laptop help

[jumpy]

My aunt has an older laptop (1gb ram not more than 1.7ghz cpu) with vista home basic (32bit) and recently had some issues with a virus or two.
She has a new copy of norton internet security (bleargh) 2010.

This was duly installed by me and cleaned the computer, but it shafted her internet connection, so that even with NIS un-installed her internet was broken. Proxy server issues.

Any way, after removing NIS, I tried the following 4 free av software:

Avast (what I'm currently using)
AVG
Avira
Comodo

Avast had some error about split profile or some such, and had to be removed in safe mode with a special uninstaller.
AVG failed to install correctly.
Avira was a whole bunch of files in a .zip with no installer or setup.exe
Comodo installed just fine, but did nothing, refused to run and now cannot be uninstalled (looked online and you can remove it using the cmd prompt, but this looks like loads of grief)

Currently she has no working AV and I cannot for the life of me think how to fix this.

Her user account is Admin, so I wouldn't have thought there's any rights issues, though I could be wrong.
Also the windows task manager is missing - ctrl-alt-del brings up a menu to switch user/lock etc, but when you select task manager from this list, FA happens.
I'm used to dealing with XP and as far as I'm aware, Vista was a pos from the start.

Her laptop was second hand so there is no install or windows disk, but there is a partition which I'm assuming to contain the backup/install info. I could be wrong.

I'm considering attempting a system restore point in the hope that it will leave me somewhere after NIS but before Avast.

I'm pointing the finger of blame firmly in the direction of vista and its babysitting 'are you sure you want to do that' in triplicate warning system any time you want to do anything to modify a program. The OS is up to date.

If it was mine I'd look for a copy of XP home or W7 and use that after scrubbing the whole damn thing clean.
The machine itself is ok, but the os doesn't seem to be co-operating.

I'm relatively tech savvy, having built and maintained my own desktops for over ten years, but this laptop is causing me to rage lol. Any of you guys who could shed a little light on the sitch, would be a real boon.

Gotta try and get my head round this by wednesday, as I promised to go back round and fix it after consulting the internet (you lot ;) )

[Gerald]

You would need to do an upgrade of RAM memory, the motherboard supports it, I think Vista sucks, and XP or W7 is a good option, and AVG antivirus and Spybot & S-D as Protection.
What HDD is it in the?

[jumpy]

HDD - dunno, it's 180gb or thereabouts, less than half full too.

tbh I don't think she really wants to spend any money on new hardware, or software for that matter - it's almost 100 quid for XP or W7.

I dunno if this is some sort of memory outtage due to vista hogging everything (vista was always greedy like that, which was why I stuck to XP), leaving the AV to crash and burn?

[Gerald]

If you reformat it and split it into two parts and then making Vista again, so you can make arrangements at all, but at the same time, all the drivers back in, so a restore is perhaps the best right now...

[FIREWALL]

What ever you do. When you get it sorted out . Make your Aunt a Recovery Disk.

Toss that Norton disk in the trash. Or... give it to someone you don't like. :haha:

[jumpy]

Well, as I suspected, window$ was broken.

Have since confirmed that the 'other partition' of the hdd was the packard-bell restore to factory settings/windows/programs basic install when you get the laptop new from the shop.

I should know better with windows products that the only way to 'fix' them when they break is by wiping/formatting the whole lot clean and begin again from scratch. Saves a lot of hasstle and grief in the long run.

I'm posting from it now - all is working as best as can be expected, given the specs of the machine dual core celeron 1.7ghz 1gb ram.
Vista uses quite a bit of that and norton used even more, so I went with avast instead... now vista is fixed (format reinstall windows mantra) everything works like it should. The age old struggle of man vs machine concludes another chapter of victory for man :rock:

I've also switched on the guest account and passworded the admin so my aunts neice cannot install loads of toolbars and other junk, which I suspect was the cause of all the infection in the first place. All I have to do now is teach my aunt about updates and basic maintenance of her pc, and my work here is done :)

[onelifecrisis]

Once the machine is up and running again...
Microsoft Security Essentials is a good AV and its fully automated (including auto-updating itself from Windows Update) which might make it a good choice for your aunt.