but he preferred Avast as it was a bit more comprehensive.

I have Avast on my laptop((Win 7) and it seems to be easier to use. Certainly was easy to install.
I still have the damn block on the corner of the page from AVG. It is not a little thing, it is about 2 inches tall by 3" wide. Will not go away. As soon as I close out a site, it is back. (screammmmmmm!)

Maybe tomorrow I'll take care of that. I use free versions of everything.

feedback loop of backing up some file over and over and over until there was no memory to start the thing. I had to take it in, get it fixed and they said use avast. I use the free one and it asks me to update yearly, and if not update to click some link to recertify (not the right word, sorry) that I'm still using it which I figure is just tracking to be able to ask me next yr to update. But it works and is not obtrusive.

http://www.avg.com/us-en/faq.num-5422

All this is assuming you are running the free version of AVG and this popup is just their way to make extra money. If AVG is not you current antivirus (it sounds like it is) then that link would not apply.

Avast has ads too, but not particularly annoying. I use a paid antivirus just because I never have to really hear from it unless something is really bad. The best of the paid Kaspersky was just too "informative" for me, I want one that works in the background.

If your machine is really old like 2000-2004 with a pentium 4 processor than it is just too old for most people to use (won't play some videos). If it is newer than that with a decent processor than it can be fixed. By refurbished do you mean for someone else or just to get running better for you?

Up until about 3 years ago when the last of them died due to motherboard failure. None of them played .mkv files without unwatchable pausing.

No other more recent computer or tablet had this problem. On the p4s, Cpu usage was at 99% when trying to watch an mkv. And this was the old mkvs before 720p and 1080p were even in the picture. (I'm talking a film that would be 700mb in xvid format which would play fine but the same file in the same quality but smaller size) in mkv format could not be processed by a p4, it couldn't do the processing fast enough.

The p4s all topped out at less than 2gb RAM but it wasn't RAM causing the problem but the CPU.

Now I have a $50 dollar bottom of the line tablet that can play an .mkv file at 720p when connected to my teevee with barely a hiccup. I am saying p4 processors can't handle today's video processing needs.

Windows Media Player is a POS.

Never had a problem playing a full 1080P Blu-Ray on one. Any cpu of at least 2GHz would do it.

With built in video processing, no extra card. Same as anyone buying a Dell or HP P4 back in 2000 to 2004 would be running.

They won't play an mkv, properly. I had three and none would. If they did then I would never have had to upgrade.

It is ridiculous to say that a p4 can process video data at today's rates they simply can't. Nobody would buy or save up to buy a "gaming" computer if every old processor could just be tweaked to do what a 10x more powerful processor could do.

What is your point? And why are you angry?

Plug in any halfway decent graphics card, even an AGP or PCI card would let you watch movies.

There's a difference between WATCHING video and playing a game.
You said video, not gaming.
My HTPChas a 2.05 GHz quadcore but the graphics has no problem with even 4K resolution.

I'm greatly amused.

I have one old Dell 2100(?) that has a straight Intel board with 1.25gb RAM. All pieced together from older computers that I use to transmit a signal to my teevee. It can handle xvid but cannot handle mkv.

It has a Nvidia 256mb video card (PCI) that I plug into it (the only one the PSU can handle) but it balks at 720p even at xvid. Say what you want but depending on the OP's computer the p4s are not worth refurbishing.

I'm only trying to help the OP but I will admit that I think p4s are not worth trying to fix or refurbish unless you only browse the internet an use email.

If your HTPC(?) is quadcore than that is much more powerful than a straight old p4 processor that has only one core..

http://www.revouninstaller.com/

30 day free.If it doesn't show on programs to uninstall,you could keep it from ever starting up most likely in the autorun/autostart part.

Or track it down and get rid of it other ways.