eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek...did my son catch a doozy...(virus)

[MrRiplEy[H]]

A 2003 system is about 5 years overdue of scrapping. I would carry it to a recycling center and get a $400 replacement box that will run circles around it.

Actually I was lying I would invest a 1000 bucks to a new gaming rig but anything you can buy today will outperform a 2003 box by a mile.

If you spend money now to upgrade it, chances are the next part will fail two weeks after. Then the next.. Soon you'll find out you've invested the worth of a new machine in legacy sloooww replacement parts.

But if you can find a replacement part for 5 bucks at a recycling center it might be worth its while. No new parts to a 2003 box, spare your wallet.

[OOZ662]

A 2003 system is about 5 years overdue of scrapping. I would carry it to a recycling center and get a $400 replacement box that will run circles around it.

Mine still plays modern games a decent settings. Nothing made to tax the system, but things like COD4 or Company of Heroes will do just fine. Don't diss it.

There are a number of virii that are designed to damage the BIOS. It's not all that hard. Just reverse engineer the BIOS update software for a common motherboard manufacturer and set it to run silently...even if it doesn't complete (you shut down the computer), it's still waxed the BIOS.

I recommend setting him up with FireFox and an extension called NoScript (and IE Tab if he wants, but that will circumvent NoScript). FireFox is incompatible with ActiveX, by far the most common method of delivering virii into a computer running IE. NoScript will automatically kill all Java, JavaScript, Flash, redirects, iFrames, ect. until the user specifically deems the site trustable (permanently or temporarily).

Just as a nice little touch, AdBlock Plus! will kill off just about every advertisement known to man. I always forget they even exist until someone complains about them.

EDIT: In the case of possible RAM damage, I suggest a bootable disk program called MemTest86+. It'll slap your RAM around like a schoolgirl until it cries or proves itself worthy.

[BaldEagl]

A 2003 system is about 5 years overdue of scrapping. I would carry it to a recycling center and get a $400 replacement box that will run circles around it.

Spending $400 on a new box when $20-30 on memory fixes the old one doesn't make sense to me but I guess others have $ to throw around.

Throw some this way please.

[humble]

It's all a matter of perspective, this box has a good MB and a decent CPU. "Stock" with the ati800pro it'll run just about anything he's got an interest in. It can even run AH just fine at default still. Any virus can be caught if the user allows it...as I said he probably just goofed in his desire to see something from a questionable site. The flip side that a hardware issue is contributing to the problem is an unexpected wrinkle. Certainly worth the $30 to find out...

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Spending $400 on a new box when $20-30 on memory fixes the old one doesn't make sense to me but I guess others have $ to throw around.

Throw some this way please.

I'm sorry did you read at all what I said? It's $20-30 now for memory, next goes HD, Mobo or other peripheral - add $100 or so, then PSU might fail (or cooling fan of any actively cooled component leading to failure). Soon you've wasted an awful lot of money 'updating' a legacy computer that has no upgrade path anymore i.e. you're paying new component prices for hardware that's totally outdated and slow.

For a 2003 system I would pay a visit to a computer recycling center and get a bunch of pre-owned legacy ram for 5 bucks.