PC Woes, Unwanted Guests, & a Free Paper

Ever since Microsoft discontinued support for XP under Microsoft Security, I've had increasing problems with my PC> I bought one program that is supposed to clean the registry but it wasn't taking care of the biggest problems I was having. I investigated several other free options to no avail. Most will certainly scan for you but then to fix the problems that are found, you have to buy the program. I was fighting with this again today and looking into buying a windows 7 upgrade. No, that wouldn't cure the problem but would give me Microsoft Security that might find it. My husband saw me struggling and asked what the problem was. Then he proceeded to suggest the things I'd already tried. Next he suggested I call our BIL who usually does our computer work. I didn't want to because I knew he was involved in a project in his off time. Besides, I knew if he did have time to come over he'd probably tell me 2 things: 1) You have too much on here! & 2) The best bet is to wipe it clean and start over. Well, you know that means losing a lot of stuff. But hubby called and BIL suggested I download Bit Defender - the free version. He has 3 daughters at home all still running XP with Bit defender wiping out problems. I did download and it fixed a few more things. But a couple things kept coming back so I did more research. Turns out one adware program that was causing pop-ups often isn't detected as malware because it has a valid signature. It shows up in your add/remove programs list as fst_us_118. When you try to remove it you get weird pop-ups about uninstalling and other program names (;ike something that supposedly converts Utube files). Do all you can and when it says it has removed it, it also says some items must be removed manually. And my add/remove screen hung up. In my research I learned that you need to go into c\users\%username%\appdata\local\fst_us_118\ and remove that folder. I did and it removed the ads! I was also able to remove that annoying installer of malware that pretends to be a windows installer. Hurrah!

All happy that things were back to normal with PC, I went into the kitchen and discovered the stovetop (one of those flat cooking surfaces) crawling with sugar ants. They had already gotten into a package of cupcakes and were having a feast. My Terminex guy had said last visit that we were lucky as everyone else was battling these unwanted guests. Sugar ants are especially hard to get rid of. We used to get them in the sunmmer but some years back had a super Terminex guy who went the extra mile and tracked down the origin. Haven't had them for years until now. So I had to spray, set out traps, and remove the damage. Yuck! Hate bugs of any kind.

On the plus side. We don't need the cupcakes anyway, and the PC is fixed, laundry done today too. Got to work on some designs again. And I made a CU paper for you. Hope you like it.

Pick it up here: http://www.4shared.com/zip/v_G1FnWoba/ss4cu_waterlilly_paper-free.html? Hugs! and thanks to cheyOkota for the lovely dividers

I want to scream & a freebie

Okay, so I have Windows XP which Microsoft Security no longer supports and I can't afford to update to Windows 8 (which I understand has problems anyway and is about to be replaced by newer version). I have been having problems for days now with things my PC is picking up like Wajam and FreeSoft. I search them out, remove them and as soon as I open a tab in google they pop up again with really weird options for downloading. No matter which you choose, it starts to install! Going crazy over this. Anyone else having this problem? Thought about calling my BIL who usually does my computer work but he's hard to get lately, tied up with other stuff and when all else fails, his answer is to delete everything and start over. The thought of all I'd lose is giving me a headache. On the other hand, maybe this is the universe's way of telling me I spend too much time on PC (I do) and that I could be making better use of my time. [Sigh]

I don't think I've given out this little mini before - hope not. Here are papers: http://www.4shared.com/zip/ooUfVVbZba/ws_we_r_family_papers.html? And now to get to the email I've missed. Elements tomorrow