Avast is sending me a warning that I may be opening an application that may be potentially unsafe.

Files: c:\Program Files (X86)\Intel\Bluetooth\btplayerctrl.exe

opened by c:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe

I don't know what these are. I'm just trying to log in to either my admin account or my daughter's account - and Avast suggests open in sandbox (which means data saved in sandbox will be lost when sandbox is closed). I certainly don't want to lose data. I'm trying to set the computer up with programs and Firefox add-ons. What should I do?

Thanks.
Lynn.

this is the info for that particular exe

Bluetooth Media Player Controller
Company name: Motorola, Inc.
Product name: Motorola Bluetooth

if you do have the motorola bluetooth on the laptop I would assume it is legit and that Avast is flagging it either as a false positive or because it does not recognize it.

to be sure you could submit that particular exe file to virus total to see what results you get there.
Virustotal

Lynn; you didnt mention if you unistalled the trial AV that came with the computer...That should be done before installing a new one,,if not, there will be conflicts..
As for notify only for updates check out the link

Here is a link that might be useful: MS updates

There is some kind of bluetooth capability on the computer. I'm not planning for any of us to use it. I may have accidentally started it. Not sure if this is Windows 7 or Dell set up - but on the desktop, there's a row toward the bottom of the page - that has boxes to select media, documents, etc. There's what looks like a little wheel toward the bottom on the right. perhaps that shuts the screen - not sure. It's easy to accidentally open one of those options. Again - I'm not sure if that's a Windows 7 feature - or perhaps is there to set up the computer. We won't use bluetooth for now - so I have time to check it with Virustotal (great link - thanks).

Genes - luckily I have learned a few things from this forum. Including uninstalling McAfee trial with the McAfee software removal tool. I should probably go to control panel and add/remove programs to see if it's all gone.

That brings up a related issue - is there a way I can identify which installed programs are trials? I'd like to get rid of them. Should I consider the limited version of Microsoft Works to be a trial - or just a lite version and leave it in place. I didn't get Microsoft word bc. I thought we'd use open office.

And for some reason, when I came back on the computer tonight, I was able to set windows updates to just notify me of updates and let me choose whether to download and install. And the computer is currently downloading 3 or the last 4 important updates. I did not choose to get internet explorer 9. I wanted to ask here first if I should get it - or stick with IE8? Primarily my daughter uses firefox.

Thanks.
Lynn.

I believe the version of MS Works is the whole deal, not a trial version. I have it on my Windows 7 laptop. You would be more likely to have a trial version of Office.

I went ahead and let IE9 install. I don't see a lot of difference from version 8, but then I don't use it, either.

There is no desktop mail program with Windows 7, so if your daughter wants one, you will have to download either Windows Live Mail or some other program, such as Thunderbird. I didn't like WLM at first, but I'm getting used to it even though I use my XP machine with OE mostly for reading and sending e-mail.

Thanks grandms. Glad to hear IE9 is okay and MS Works is the whole deal. Not sure yet if the limited use will prove sufficient for her academic needs. Probably not for long. One teacher already suggested she might want to do a power point presentation for her geography project. Neither she nor I know how to do that - but the teacher might help. I'll go ahead and install it. My daughter and I don't use any desktop mail program. She just uses her gmail account.

Thanks.
Lynn.

I have never really figured out what the advantage is of using a desktop mail program. I do have Thunderbird - but that was initially to save emails from an AOL account I was closing. And now I'm trying to send just some specific emails that I want to save to desktop - but I haven't figure out how to select them yet (and I am on so many listservs I get a couple of hundred a day - so I don't want most of them going to thunderbird - but I'm stray off topic)

The service pack 1 update for Windows 7 is not working. I got an error message that windows said was unknown/undetermined. Beyond just trying again - which I'm doing, they offered no guidance. Am I okay in letting this slide for now - and trying again in the future?

There have been reports of some having difficulties with SP1 for Windows 7. It installed for me with no problems. If you have installed all the other security updates, why not just wait a bit and give it a try later on?

Works is good but does have its limitations. If daughter needs to do a power point presentation, works will not do it for her. However, I believe that Open Office does have that ability. Since I've never had the need to create a presentation, I can't help there, but I'm sure someone else can point you in the right direction.

Lynn... Since I've always had Microsoft Office, I'm not familiar with OpenOffice. However, it has piqued my interest. You may find the following link helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: PowerPoint and OpenOffice comparison

You need to remember that Microsoft Office and Open Office are not 100% compatible and that a document created in one may not be exactly the same when opened in another. That's not to say that you shouldn't give Open Office a try but I would test it in a Microsoft environment before your daughter stands up in front of the class.

As an aside, a few years back I worked on a collaborative PowerPoint presentation with another guy. He had a Mac and I had a PC, both with the same version of Office. The Mac had some features that weren't in the PC version (I want to say transitions but it's been a few years). What's interesting is that those Mac transitions would play on the PC and I could even edit the transitions (say, for time) on the PC but I couldn't add one.

So even versions of Office can differ. It's always a good idea to bring your own equipment or do a dry run before an important presentation.

You don't need all those anti spyware softwares, it's a bit of over kill, and sometimes they will conflict, and not work well...one good one will do, also some work well with an AV and some do not..

a good layered protection as Lynn has applied is with out doubt the best way to go and is the recommended way to go.
Each of the programs mentioned are top notch programs and are excellent as you know Lynn so you are good to go and I am sure you did activate the windows 7 firewall on it also.

The only program she has put on that is running real time full time is Avast the others are all on demand so they will not interfere.

There is no overkill especially when in the hands of a child.

The laptop's all set up - and dd received it on Tuesday. For now we'll try open office. She does have a desktop pc with word if she needs it. And at school they use Mac's. So no matter what we use at home, it won't be quite the same as in school.
abreeze - thanks for the link. It's beyond anything she or I will do now - but one or both of us might get more versed in powerpoint over time. That's a helpful comparison.

I created recovery disks - but when I went to create a password reset disk, the laptop kept asking me to insert a disk. There was a disk in there. I even switched disks in case one was bad. But it was birthday day - so I figured I'd get to this later. Well - it came back and bit me in the butt. Birthday night had some trauma. After dinner, my mother fell backwards and hit her head on the sidewalk. I took her to the ER. My daughter was distraught - and the parent controls had logged her off at 9pm. Husband thought this was a reasonable exception - so he logged into the admin account for her. She immediately eliminated the time controls. No big deal, I thought - I'll reset them another time. Somehow she tricked my husband into entering the admin password again - told him she'd restarted the computer by accident. Well - that sneak had gotten him to enter the password in a field that allowed her to change it. She changed the passwords and locked us out of the laptop.

So this is where that password reset disk would have been helpful - to override what she did and reset a new admin password. So this is partly a note to people about the important of creating a password reset disk (or set up on flash drive). I'd never even heard of this before.

We're at the beach with my daughter and friend - it's instead of a birthday party. So we're not having the confrontation with this weekend. Monday - we tell her she has to hand back the reins for the admin account (or no laptop). The joys of parenting preteens. It took her less than 24 hours to violate most of the terms of the contract she signed. Sure wish I'd had that reset password disk. When I get admin control back, I'll be sure to create one somehow. (I assume at this point my only option is getting her to give me that new password she created.)

Thanks.
Lynn.

see for me that would end all negotiations on the subject, with in 24 hours she disrespected both of you and lied to your husband and took advantage of an accident to do all her dirty work. IF she is this sneaky and stubborn it will happen again she will find ways to over ride you again. The laptop would go away period in my house.

There is a way to change the admin password it is not something we usually explain on open forums for obvious reasons. But I will say that google is your friend. However remember she knows how to use google too!!! In fact I bet you could ask her and she could tell you how to do it already. She was prepared for this and took her first chance.

As to why the password disc would not work I have no idea. Have you tried with a CD instead of a DVD just to see if it may take that?

From one mom to another, I would NOT want to be in your shoes for the next 8 or so years! You know they don't really perfect the manipulation skills until they are around 15, right? :-)

Well - I don't want to be in my shoes either. No question that she's precocious in terms of her sneakiness. I do know it comes from desperation - depression and powerlessness, without the maturity to know that sneaking and manipulating us isn't going to give her that power.

After her weekend away, I told her she had to restore the admin account to me. She protested - but I calmly said it was her only option if she wanted to keep the laptop. So she got me onto the account (she had changed the password to "mommyisevil" - kind of cute - and shows that she is just twelve). She also reset the time limits herself while I watched. I think that helped her feel less powerless if she actively complied with this.

I'm trying again to create a password reset disc - but I'm discovering that something is wrong. It does not see that a dvd or cd are in the drive. Didn't work for usb drive either. I decided to try another function for the dvd drive - and it's not working either (creating a backup). I think I may be doing something wrong. When I put the dvd or cd in, I get a pop-up with choices:

burn an audio cd using windows media player
burn files to disc using windows explorer
add files using Roxio home data
add files to disc using Roxio Burn
or view more autoplay options in control panel.

I was x'ing out of this window before. Maybe that was a problem. Then I tried selecting Burn files to disc using windows explorer - nothing. Maybe the optical drive is bad - but before calling Dell (which I hate the way people hate root canals), I thought I'd check in case I'm doing something wrong - and obvious to someone else. Should I choose something in that popup window? Is there an order to putting the disc in - and then choosing to create a backup - does it matter which is done first?

One more question - I do have admin control - but my daughter's account is password protected (which I hadn't objected to) - but I thought I'd have access with admin control. I know I can reset her password to get into her account - but I don't want to do that. Do I need to have her password - or reset it - to view her account?

Thanks.
Lynn.

After a bunch of tries, I think I stumbled on the right way to create a backup disk. I think I selected using windows explorer to burn files to disc. Then it asked if I should burn as a cd/dvd - or live format (which means like a usb drive - that new files can keep being added to - guess it's not finalized).

I was fuzzy on the distinction but it seemed a permanent cd was in order - so I did that and it seemed to work.

When I try again to create a password reset, it doesn't work.

Lynn.

Just a brief update - for anyone in a similar circumstance. My laptop at work died a couple of weeks ago - and I bought myself an inexpensive, open box Dell 14R - similar to my daughter's - with less bells and whistles. I created recovery disks, but when I went to create a password reset disk, it didn't work. Same problem as on my daughter's. It states that it needs a disk or usb to create the password reset disk - but it doesn't recognize that a disk or flash drive is already in the computer.

Clearly a glitch with these Dell laptops and the password reset function. Some time (probably not for a couple of weeks as I have an office move next week and my husband has surgery this week) - I'll have to call Dell to troubleshoot this. And I really hate to call Dell for anything. It's always a Kafka-esque experience.

When I find a solution, I'll post back.