I think I screwed up my computer (help)

[The Mega Champion]

This is going to take awhile to explain.

I really hate megaupload and their stupid download limit. I wanted to find a way to avoid the download limit. I couldn’t get a premium account because I’m not rich.

So… what did I do?

Something stupid of course.

I tried to spoof my MAC address. I used a program called TMAC and tried to do it. When I restarted my computer, my wireless internet had a small red X on it. I could still get on the internet just fine, though. I changed it back to my proper MAC address with the program, deleted the program, and restarted the computer. I still got the same thing.

It eventually got to the point where I did a system restore to before I made the idiotic mistake. It seemingly fixed the problem, but, the sidebar on the right of the Vista startup screen disappeared entirely and now no longer shows up when I start the computer.

I eventually cleared all of my viruses with my McAfee and things seemingly returned to normal.

But… I just know something’s still wrong with the computer. MegaManager sometimes gives me crappy download speeds, JDownloader jumps all over the place with the download speed, and FreeDownloadManager gives me crappy download speeds as well.

Ever since… it just seems like my computer isn’t running like it used to.

I have a Dell, Inspiron 518, Intel (R) Pentium (R) Dual CPU E2200 @ 2.20GHz 2.20GHz, 32-bit Operating System.

My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1.

So… help? Am I screwed?

I probably am. My parents won’t have someone look at it and can’t afford someone to look at it or fix it anyway.

If I’m screwed, my life is pretty much over; I grew up in the wrong time when everything depends on the computer, especially my favorite thing, anime.

Just tell me I’m screwed and I’ll probably never touch my computer ever again until I can get my parents to get it fixed (which will probably never happen).

So… yeah… if I’m screwed, then you’ll probably never see me ever again. Just saying.

 

[Cooldogs_1]

I can't help but laugh, lol! Spoofing your mac won't help you with megaupload at all! You still have the same IP Address. Spoofing your mac is only used in local networking. I'm not going to go into detail why someone would spoof their MAC address. I'm just saying it won't help you with megaupload.

With your side bar, when in doubt with your desktop, right click. I haven't use Windows Vista in a while (I currently use Windows 7). If not then, go to control panel and search around. If you're smart enough to figure out how to spoof your mac, you're good enough to find find a solution.

Try unplugging your router and internet modem. I would unplug both at the same time, wait 3 seconds and plugin the router in, followed by 30 seconds, followed by plugging into the modem. Since vista doesn't let you use command prompt like the old days, you could restart computer, or right click "Diagnose".

You're not screwed. I fail to see why you think so.
Source: Computer Science Major with years experience in Help Desk

 

[The Mega Champion]

It's all good. I overreacted.

I got help from someone my dad knows that I guess works with computer.

However...

Window problem report still says that my Dell WLAN Card isn't functioning properly. I'm not sure how to fix that...