This has nothing to do with any particular game but I wanted to run it past the GB techs here for your own professional opinion.

For a while now I've not been able to view any utube or other video, or play for any significant length of time any online games without my monitor screen going down. If it goes black, I wait for it to recover, which it does, and says it had to restore the driver.

Earler this year, while hunting for help, I changed upon OMG and learned about their ability to do a remote 'clean up'. It was costly but at least I didn't have to lug my computer out of my home and they based in US. I've allowed this company to clean my computer 2x now and I still get a white or sometimes bluish screen while on line. The 2nd cleaning happened just over a month ago and I got a white screen like 2 days later. I've not gotten back to them because I'm waiting til I'm ready to give up my play toy.

The fist time I talked with the OMG rep and explained about the white screen he emphasized how bad that was and showed me that my computer runs too fast at times; gets a high pitched noise like its leading to the crescendo of a musical masterpiece but it sounds ominous.

I've also used RegPro to update my driver and clean up junk. It does its thing yet I still get those nasty screens which force me to do a shutdown via the tower button.

I"m interested in your coments, suggestions.

thanks

Annette

I hope you did a thorough search for reviews on this company... I only found complaints. When you said a rep said your computer runs too fast at times, this threw up a huge red flag for me. You should NEVER have to pay anyone to "clean" your computer. It's a simple procedure you can do yourself. And allowing someone remote access to your computer that you aren't absolutely and positively confident in their reputation is inviting serious problems if not catastrophe.

RegPro is also considered spyware and there are several references in a search I did on how to remove this malware from your computer.

I don't know what's going on with your computer, but I'm very suspicious that you've been "had." I would wait to see what Jenny and Inland have to say though.

Watching a Flash video (like those on YouTube) can heat up a computer more than you'd think, and you may hear the fans rev up to help cool down the computer. If the computer has had its vents or heat sinks choked by dust, it will heat up faster than it did when it was new, and the fans will come on more often. Excessive heat can cause graphics glitches. Laptops (especially small ones) are more prone to overheating than desktops.

There is absolutely nothing anyone can do over the Internet to fix hardware issues.
That company has been bilking you if they told you they could fix it over the Internet.

You need to have someone check to see if the computer needs the dust cleaned out.
It may need a fan replaced if a bearing is worn out.
The video card may need to be replaced if it's failing -- but the graphics problems may just be due to overheating rather than anything actually wrong with the card.


That depends on the computer. I wouldn't recommend a newbie try to clean a laptop themselves. And the person would have to be aware of how to avoid electrostatic damage even with a desktop.

Definitely agree, Jenny! But I meant the "cleaning" this company claimed to be doing remotely. Someone who is not experienced should never physically clean a laptop by themselves. Even a desktop is iffy for someone inexperienced because of electrostatic damage.

I too fear butterflybabe has been bilked by this company. And it concerns me to think of allowing someone to take over a computer if you don't know everything about them.

I've since talked with the tech at work who has his own guys who come out to troubleshoot pc problems. So i'm going to talk with him next. I work at a community college and hes been in charge of a lot of pc stuff for many years and I trust him.

When I spoke to the rep at OMG he insisted thta not everyone is licensed to know all the codes Microsoft uses within their programs. I was also told that I'm stuck with the IE search engine even tho I don't use it at all. I know better becuuase of the techs at work. Mozillla Firefox is my default search engine finally. At least they seemed to have gotten that straightened out. My pc kept defaulting to IE as my primary search engine and kept getting minor viruses.

It might help you to know that my pc traveled a bit from the end of May 2012 to about a year ago. While in the midst of a divorce, I had to leave my home and spent several months in a hotel then another 8 months renting condo space. It was crazy time for about a year.I kept having to pack it up and move to another location. So when OMG said they could do it remotely, I was happy to have it done without having to cart it someplace.

As I said, tho, I'm going to tak with the tech at work and tell him what you suggestred about things being dusty and how to get rid of it. Is it simply a matter of opening the tower and using a cloth or vac cleaner to remove whatever is in there?

Not thrilled about getting ripped off but lesson definitely learned.

Any furher comments/suggestion greatly appreciated!

Annette

Make sure you pass the lesson you learned on to others. If it's been done to you others may also get taken.

Just so you know, Firefox and IE are not "search engines." They are "web browsers."
Google, Bing, and Duckduckgo are search engines.
Most web browsers allow you to configure which search engine to use.


Wiping with a cloth or using an ordinary vacuum cleaner would risk electrostatic damage. It would be best to use canned air or a Metro Vac that's created specially for the purpose. Here's what a Metro Vac looks like:
http://www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW/qid=1403963919

Since you may have a problem other than the dust, it might be best to have someone look at it and make sure all the fans are turning and that the video card is OK. You may also have to clean out whatever OMG might have installed on your computer.

I would definitely have someone you trust take a look at your computer - I agree with Jenny. OMG may have installed something on your computer to keep coming back and paying them more.

At a minimum, immediately run a scan with your anti-virus and a deep scan with Malwarebytes.

Hey Jenny
Doe's that vacuum you recommended above,suck as well as blow ?
I've been using my Electrolux vacumm with my computers and compressed air for over 10 years and no static.

I have one, Cathy and it does not suck. It is a small hand-held air compressor which blows compressed air like the cans you buy - except that you never have to buy one again. I would not use something that sucked inside my computer - too much chance of it sucking up something important. It really blasts crud out from under my keyboard keys too.

I have also used it to dust a couple of lamps which I could never dust properly before and to blow off doors after sanding them and between coats of polyurethane. Handiest thing I ever bought!

Electrostatic damage is cumulative and rarely is it immediately obvious.
I wouldn't risk it.

That sounds suspiciously like a fan may be failing, and because your video is affected, I'd probably look there first. Is this an add-in card, or integrated graphics?

Inland, I don't know for sure. What I tell you is that the tower was custom made by a friend whose work I trust and it has not been open since. I'm not going back to that 'friend' right away for reasons I don't care to discuss right now. Let's just say I'm no where near as comfortable dealing with him as I am the guy at work.

I very much appreciate your advice and will let you know what happens.

I definitely think you're on the right track with the guy from work. Let us know what you find out...