What's the best wireless broadband in Galway City?

SerenaC

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good wireless broadband for Galway City? I am currently with UPC but am having issues for the past 3 months. Numerous phone calls to them but their blaming everything but their connection. They sent out a technician but still not fixed.:mad: So have decided to switch. Any advise would be helpful.

Thanks,
Serna

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

I am currently with UPC but am having issues for the past 3 months. Numerous phone calls to them but their blaming everything but their connection. They sent out a technician but still not fixed.:mad:

What exactly is the problem with the UPC service? You're gonna be taking a big step down in speed by switching to someone else so I'd be careful about switching if I were you. If a UPC technician visited and said that everything was okay then maybe the problem is somewhere else?

I think that Irish Broadband (aka. Imagine), Digiweb, Airwire offer wireless in the city but it might depend on what part of the city you're in.

SerenaC

The problems are that it would not update Adobe, java etc. So could not look at U-tube, gaming etc. Would not recognise Norton antiviris. They said it would work if i connected it directly to modem. It didnt. Said it was the laptop. Got that checked out. They said it was fine. If i bring the laptop home to my parents house, where there is eircom it works fine. I realise that UPC has high speed and good value but its not much good if i cant access what i want.

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

The problems are that it would not update Adobe, java etc. So could not look at U-tube, gaming etc. Would not recognise Norton antiviris. They said it would work if i connected it directly to modem. It didnt. Said it was the laptop. Got that checked out. They said it was fine. If i bring the laptop home to my parents house, where there is eircom it works fine. I realise that UPC has high speed and good value but its not much good if i cant access what i want.

Well at first glance I'd honestly be suspecting a problem with the laptop. What is it that works in your parents house but not in yours, e.g. update Adobe, java U-tube, gaming etc.? What do you mean by "Would not recognise Norton antivirus"?

SerenaC

When ever i tried to update adobe would get a message that it failed to download. Or could get a message that it had a invalid digital signature. But when i connected to eircom it would download no problem.
When i brought the laptop in they installed Google Chrome so it should update Adobe automatically but got a message a few days ago to say that Adobe needed to be updated but again it failed. Its not the browser because get the same responses on IE8 and firefox.
With Norton I would get a message to say it was out of date and fix now. It would not download the updates so would get message to sat computer was at risk even though my antiviris is up to date. So what i have being doing as suggested by UPC is updating Norton by going home and connecting to eircom!
Im just very frustrated. Dont think its the laptop if it will work perfect on eircom and also on airwire. (friends house)
Any suggestions?

SerenaC

Forgot to mention. UPC updated its software last night. The box went off and got the message on the tv screen that software update in progress please do not switch off your box. But after 20mins it did not come back on so i switched it off at the wall. And the tv worked fine again. When i turned on my laptop this morning Notron is working fine again. So that why i think it UPC.

bhickey

It just doesn't make sense that being in a different location changes the behaviour of the laptop. It's certainly something I haven't come across before.

First I'd rule out viruses one last time as a possible source of the problem. Also Norton can cause so many weird problems that I'd uninstall it and replace it with MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials). Let MSE update itself and scan the computer.

Boot into 'Safe Mode with Networking' by tapping the <F8> key as the laptop is booting up (just before Windows starts to load) and then download, install, update & run Malwarebytes.

Let us know how that goes.

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

When i turned on my laptop this morning Notron is working fine again. So that why i think it UPC.

I assume you have one of those UPC Cisco routers then? They are a strange breed but UPC do seem to sorting out a lot of problems with new firmwares.

SerenaC

Thanks for the suggestions. Ill try them. The router is Netgear. Have tried rebooting that but it made no difference and technician said it was working fine. Hence my frustration at it working with other providers in other locations and not here in my house.

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

The router is Netgear.

No harm. It makes things a little simpler to figure out. Some people in Galway would love to have the old modem + router setup that you have instead of the all-in-one Cisco device that UPC provide now. Having said that though, I have to admit that the Cisco devices have improved over the last 6-12 months.

SerenaC

Have a problem. Im on the MSE website using Google Chrome but nothing happens when I click the download button. Tried it on IE8 and it runs part of itt but got a message. Windows has found a problem with this file. Unknown publisher. This is the same message i get when i have tried download other things.

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

Have a problem. Im on the MSE website using Google Chrome but nothing happens when I click the download button. Tried it on IE8 and it runs part of itt but got a message. Windows has found a problem with this file. Unknown publisher. This is the same message i get when i have tried download other things.

Okay well for now just try the Malwarebytes bit and see if that picks up anything.

SerenaC

I can't seem to get into 'Safe Mode with Networking' It went into Start up repair. I tried to download it from the web got another error message. C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes'Anti-Malware\rules.ref
An error occured while trying to copy a file.
The source file is corrupted.
Click Retry, ignore or Abort

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

I can't seem to get into 'Safe Mode with Networking' It went into Start up repair.

It can be tricky alright. What your trying to do is hit <F8> at the moment between when the BIOS screen disappears and Windows starts to load. Just keep tapping the <F8> key a couple of times a second after turning the machine on and you should catch it. You'll be presented with a long list of options and 'Safe Mode with Networking' is one of them near the top.

SerenaC

Thanks. I got into it. It ran a check and didn't show up anything. Tried to download the Malwarebytes. The same error appeared again.

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

Thanks. I got into it. It ran a check and didn't show up anything. Tried to download the Malwarebytes. The same error appeared again.

Just to be clear - what exactly was it that ran a check if you weren't able to download Malwarebytes?

So are you saying that in 'Safe Mode with Networking', that you start your browser, go to the Malwarebytes site, start the download and then you get this error message :

"C:\ProgramData\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes'Anti-Malware\rules.ref
An error occured while trying to copy a file.
The source file is corrupted.
Click Retry, ignore or Abort "

SerenaC

Sorry. I went into safe mode with networking and it scrolled down a list of things. It opened into windows. I tried to download the Malware but got the error message. Sorry im not the best on the technical side of computers.

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

Sorry. I went into safe mode with networking and it scrolled down a list of things. It opened into windows. I tried to download the Malware but got the error message. Sorry im not the best on the technical side of computers.

No worries, so can you try Malwarebytes using 'Safe Mode with Networking' again then and let us know how you get on?

SerenaC

I tried to download Malwarebytes again in safe mode with networking. It goes through the usual agree to term etc but then when i hit the install button the same error message appears.

bhickey

SerenaC wrote: »

I tried to download Malwarebytes again in safe mode with networking. It goes through the usual agree to term etc but then when i hit the install button the same error message appears.

Hello Serena, based on everything that you've been saying, I think it's almost certain that you have a virus problem. Viruses can stop you from getting any further as they often work by blocking access to the very tools that you need to remove them.

Do you have access to another PC that you can use to download scanning software and burn this software to a CD or DVD? You can then boot your laptop from this CD and run the scans.

A useful boot CD for this sort of work is the Bitdefender Rescue CD. You can download it from here, it's the 'bitdefender-rescue-cd.iso' file. Save it to the hard disk and use the CD-writing software to burn it to the CD. This file is a CD image so it it must be burned to the CD as an image and not copied as a file.

If all this sounds like double-dutch then have you any friends that would be good with computers that might help you?

SerenaC

I'll do that. I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks for all your help and patience.:)