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The W - Internet & Computers - Computer slowdown problems
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Oliver
Scrapple








Since: 20.6.02

Since last post: 3305 days
Last activity: 3299 days
#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.70
Hey, everyone...

I made a bit of a mistake: I lent my laptop to my girlfriend, and when I got it back...it was running very slowly. Any audio has the scratched CD effect...it skips and sounds awful.

Startup itself is a nightmare; what used to take a minute takes about three.

I found out my girlfriend installed eDonkey, and a couple other programs. I did a spyware sweep, and removed all the spyware I found. However, a registry sweep hasn't done much to fix the problem.

I even looked at all the files on my processes list, and nothing sounds fishy. Outside of the fact that scvhost.exe is listed six times.

There are instances where the computer will just FREEZE for anywhere between five and ten seconds. My touchpad won't work, any music that I'm playing will will just skip, and anything I type will NOT appear until the system resumes.

IT's getting on my nerves...and I'd like to know what I can do to get it up and running again.

So, any computer experts...can you help? Can anyone suggest anything?

Thanks;

Oliver







Here, look at the monkey! Look at the silly monkey!
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DJ FrostyFreeze
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: Hawthorne, CA

Since last post: 128 days
Last activity: 128 days
#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.63

    Originally posted by Oliver
    There are instances where the computer will just FREEZE for anywhere between five and ten seconds. My touchpad won't work, any music that I'm playing will will just skip, and anything I type will NOT appear until the system resumes.
That's not normal??? Every computer I've ever owned (including computers I've used at work) has done that! Win95, 98, XP, whataver.

I *ALMOST* made the leap to an iMac a few months ago, but I chickened out at the last second. But I still might do it (maybe).



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Oliver
Scrapple








Since: 20.6.02

Since last post: 3305 days
Last activity: 3299 days
#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.70
    Originally posted by DJ FrostyFreeze
      Originally posted by Oliver
      There are instances where the computer will just FREEZE for anywhere between five and ten seconds. My touchpad won't work, any music that I'm playing will will just skip, and anything I type will NOT appear until the system resumes.
    That's not normal??? Every computer I've ever owned (including computers I've used at work) has done that! Win95, 98, XP, whataver.

    I *ALMOST* made the leap to an iMac a few months ago, but I chickened out at the last second. But I still might do it (maybe).
My point is: it's random, and it's never happened before my girlfriend got hold of it.



Here, look at the monkey! Look at the silly monkey!
JayJayDean
Scrapple








Since: 2.1.02
From: Seattle, WA

Since last post: 2975 days
Last activity: 2553 days
#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.52
    Originally posted by Oliver
    I lent my laptop to my girlfriend


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Roy.
Pepperoni








Since: 25.2.04
From: Keystone State

Since last post: 5792 days
Last activity: 1756 days
#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.84
This sounds silly, but a similar thing happened to my friend's computer a few months ago. I was in charge of fixing it, and it was super slow and didn't appear to have any spyware or anything else suspicious. It turns out that one of his memory modules went on the fritz, and he was suddenly down below the minumum for XP.

How's your memory?
If it turns out to be a spyware thing, I absolutely love Microsoft Defender. It's gotten rid of everything that's been on my computer, and it's kept it off. I believe it's linked on the front of the Microsoft Homepage.
Oliver
Scrapple








Since: 20.6.02

Since last post: 3305 days
Last activity: 3299 days
#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.70
    Originally posted by Roy.
    This sounds silly, but a similar thing happened to my friend's computer a few months ago. I was in charge of fixing it, and it was super slow and didn't appear to have any spyware or anything else suspicious. It turns out that one of his memory modules went on the fritz, and he was suddenly down below the minumum for XP.

    How's your memory?
    If it turns out to be a spyware thing, I absolutely love Microsoft Defender. It's gotten rid of everything that's been on my computer, and it's kept it off. I believe it's linked on the front of the Microsoft Homepage.
I'm acutally not a big fan of Defender; it didn't find stuff that Spybot S&D found.

A quick check of my computer's memory finds taht everything is good: my memory count is right where it should be.




Here, look at the monkey! Look at the silly monkey!
Guru Zim
SQL Dejection
Administrator








Since: 9.12.01
From: Bay City, OR

Since last post: 4 days
Last activity: 3 days
ICQ:  
#7 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.81
Run MSCONFIG and see what is in your startup - uncheck things you don't recognize. Did she install iTunes or anything that might be resident in memory? It's not necessarily spyware but it could be the difference before and after.




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Andouille








Since: 2.2.04
From: Austin, TX

Since last post: 2552 days
Last activity: 1537 days
#8 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.55
    Originally posted by Oliver
      Originally posted by Roy.
      This sounds silly, but a similar thing happened to my friend's computer a few months ago. I was in charge of fixing it, and it was super slow and didn't appear to have any spyware or anything else suspicious. It turns out that one of his memory modules went on the fritz, and he was suddenly down below the minumum for XP.

      How's your memory?
      If it turns out to be a spyware thing, I absolutely love Microsoft Defender. It's gotten rid of everything that's been on my computer, and it's kept it off. I believe it's linked on the front of the Microsoft Homepage.
    I'm acutally not a big fan of Defender; it didn't find stuff that Spybot S&D found.

    A quick check of my computer's memory finds taht everything is good: my memory count is right where it should be.



See here's the deal about spyware programs. One isn't enough. Not even close. I use Spybot, Defender, Adaware, Ewido, and some others I'm forgetting. They all can find things the other ones can't. But honestly they never find anything anymore on my pc's, because I keep updating the Immunization feature, keep Defender running, and have cookies in IE set to block all third party ones. I definatly go to sites that could mess things up, but don't have trouble. Point being, I would try all of those and keep Defender running. Certainly can't hurt.

Besides that do like Guru said and check your startup programs. Also there is a command that slips my mind right now that will let you see what processes are running inside those svchost.exe's you have. Mostly it's harmless stuff in there, but sometimes I've seen annoying programs hide in there on PC's I worked on. Do a google search and you should find the command easy.

Check the Scheduled Tasks and make sure nothing is set to run that shouldn't.
El Nastio
Banger








Since: 14.1.02
From: Ottawa Ontario, by way of Walkerton

Since last post: 34 days
Last activity: 19 days
ICQ:  
#9 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.95
I've picked up a few tricks since I've started working at Dell. Here's some info which may or may not be useful (I hope it's useful...it's what I tell customers!).


- I reccomend to customers AVG Free Edition, ewido, and Ad-Aware for malware issues. I've had custoemrs tell me Windows Defender is very good as well. As a rule, only have one virus scanner. But you can have many different malware removal programs. wmastic is one the right track with that one.

- As Guru and wmastic said, MSCONFGIG (go to "run" in the start menu then type in MSCONFIG....go to the startup tab and click on the stuff you don't need/want) is an EXCELLENT resource. Inconjunction with www.processlibrary.com you can find out many things which start up with your computer. DIsable all of them and see if there's a difference....

- Safe mode is your friend. All our base are belong to safe mode. Does it work fine in safe mode? You know it's a problem with something in Normal Windows.

- Do you have the OS cd's? Run a chkdsk /r through the recovery console. Never hurts to scan for errors.

- System Restore can restore you computer to an earlier time. This is completely reversable, and can save you in a tight pinch. You don't lose photos or music. It changes configs, programs, and settings to an earlier date. Pick a date where your system was

- Swap with known goods. Known good hard drives, known good memory. If the problem presists with known good hardware....it's software.

- Update your malware and virus canners in normal mode.....then duck into safe mode and do yoru scanning there. Things can hide in normal mode.....NOTHING hides in safe mode. NOTHING.


Here's hoping you don't have to do an OSRI =)

(edited by El Nastio on 8.9.06 0051)


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Oliver
Scrapple








Since: 20.6.02

Since last post: 3305 days
Last activity: 3299 days
#10 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.70
I took everyone's advice, and did the System Restore; I love that feature. ANd to think, an old (read: former) friend of mine, who fixeD computers for a living, turned that option OFF when reinstalling WIndows XP to clients' computers.

ANother piece of advice I took from you guys is running more than one spyware program: I now have Spybot S&D and Adaware on my system. Outside of Defender (which I'll probably put back on later) can anyone offer any good freeware programs for spy/mal/adware detection and removal?

After everything: I've decided to never let the girlfriend use my system ever again. I can barely use hers, with all the crap she put on it.





Here, look at the monkey! Look at the silly monkey!
Merc
Potato korv








Since: 3.1.02
From: Brisbane, Australia

Since last post: 4723 days
Last activity: 4702 days
#11 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.96
    Originally posted by Oliver
    ANd to think, an old (read: former) friend of mine, who fixeD computers for a living, turned that option OFF when reinstalling WIndows XP to clients' computers.


Turning System Restore off is the first step in getting rid of most virus infections, so I can understand why he'd do it.
wmatistic
Andouille








Since: 2.2.04
From: Austin, TX

Since last post: 2552 days
Last activity: 1537 days
#12 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.56
    Originally posted by Oliver
    I took everyone's advice, and did the System Restore; I love that feature. ANd to think, an old (read: former) friend of mine, who fixeD computers for a living, turned that option OFF when reinstalling WIndows XP to clients' computers.

    ANother piece of advice I took from you guys is running more than one spyware program: I now have Spybot S&D and Adaware on my system. Outside of Defender (which I'll probably put back on later) can anyone offer any good freeware programs for spy/mal/adware detection and removal?

    After everything: I've decided to never let the girlfriend use my system ever again. I can barely use hers, with all the crap she put on it.




When installing a PC for anyone else, that I may have to support later, I keep it on. On my personal computers, no way in hell I'm ever leaving System Restore on. Nothing it can do that I can't do myself anyway, and usually better. Not to mention it likes to start itself up and eat processing power at annoying times.
Deputy Marshall
Liverwurst








Since: 28.6.04
From: Troy, NY

Since last post: 3442 days
Last activity: 2963 days
#13 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.29
    Originally posted by Oliver
    I even looked at all the files on my processes list, and nothing sounds fishy. Outside of the fact that scvhost.exe is listed six times.


Same here; I just noticed it a couple weeks ago. Is that normal?



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wmatistic
Andouille








Since: 2.2.04
From: Austin, TX

Since last post: 2552 days
Last activity: 1537 days
#14 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.56
    Originally posted by Deputy Marshall
      Originally posted by Oliver
      I even looked at all the files on my processes list, and nothing sounds fishy. Outside of the fact that scvhost.exe is listed six times.


    Same here; I just noticed it a couple weeks ago. Is that normal?


Pretty much. The command I mentioned is

tasklist /svc

type that in at a command prompt and you will see all running processes, but it'll expand the svchost.exe and show you what's running inside. Mostly essential windows services.
Jericholic53
Boerewors








Since: 18.3.03
From: Honolulu, HI

Since last post: 1888 days
Last activity: 1303 days
#15 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.33
    Originally posted by Oliver
    Outside of Defender (which I'll probably put back on later) can anyone offer any good freeware programs for spy/mal/adware detection and removal?



In addition to the ones that you mentioned I also use SpywareBlaster:

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

It's like S&D's immunization, a prevention kind of tool, and works great. It also has specific blocks for both IE and Firefox (if that makes a difference. Makes me feel safer though )



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