Is your computer slow?

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needsaresto

needsaresto

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Man I was having lots of trouble! I just knew it was some kind of virus and likely a trojan. IE kept closing on me etc etc etc. tried several "free" registry cleaners which did zip.They get you to dowload the program,it runs a scan and finds all kind of crap. Then they tell you that you have to buy the friggin program..So much for free.

So I found this program at microsoft for nothing.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/products/mse.aspx

It took about 5 hours to scan the puter on a full scan but it found 4 trojans,and lots of other damaging crap. The 4 trojans were part of some movie files the wife had downloaded. So the microsoft scan cleared it all up and wow! The puter runs like brand new!!

I also downloaded spybot which is a good little tool. And also installed firefox as IE still seems to have some issues. We LIKE firefox!!! Faster than IE by far.

I am left wondering why the PC cillan program caught nothing and why I paid for it!
 
I have just been rebooting my computer when it crashes. You loose all your saved stuff but I don't keep much on this one any way. I have never had one of them virus scans fix any thing.
 
Yeah. You have to be extra careful when downloading stuff. Especially with Lime Wire. Sometimes its just easier to reboot. Just buy a portable hard drive and back up all your important files. Then rebooting just takes time:yawinkle:
 
Good find needaresto. I've been using Security Essentials since Oct. '09. It's so cool that it's free if you own a legit copy of windows xp, Vista, or 7. I never use IE, Firefox is superior by far.

Burntorange, you're just asking for trouble when you do that. A reboot will never ever fix an infection if you're unlucky enough to get one. Having a basic virus/malware program is essential these days. The programs are a lot better than they used to be, and quite a few are free: Avira, Avast 5.0, MS Security Essentials, AVG Free to name a few.

Here are a few other programs that help: Adaware, Spybot: Search and Destroy, Spyware Blaster, Maleware Bytes.

BTW, since when does a reboot delete all of your saved data? That shouldn't happen. Are you sure you're not talking about a Hard drive format?
 
I hate Vista. I hate Windows. I hate PC's. Everytime the computer is "thinking" it greys out the screen so I can't do anything. Anytime someone messages me on IM on Facebook it craps itself and forbids me to type so I have to click onto another tab and then back to what I was doing to continue. Just updated Kaspersky and no virus' can be found. I blame VISTA!!!! I miss my MAC, at least it works and works intuitively. I am in Microsoft Hell!
 
Brewil, in addition to scanning your computer for viruses/malware, are you also checking your hard drive for errors, defragging, cleaning the registry? All of these things factor into how well your computer performs. E.g. a badly fragmented hard drive will definitely slow down your computer. You should also make sure you don't have a lot of extra unnecessary programs running in the background. Open up Task Manager and look under the processes tab to see how many processes are running, as well as how much memory and cpu time each one is using. I'm only running about 30 processes at the moment, make sure yours isn't running over 50. There is nothing wrong with a PC if it is well maintained, sure it may not be as cool as a MAC, but it gets the job done if you take care of it.

CCleaner is a nice free little program for getting rid of extra garbage in your registry.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

I also recommend defraggler, it's better than the windows defragger and can be found on the piriform site as well.

Here is a great forum for computer problems:

http://www.computing.net

If nothing helps fix your shaky PC, you can always format and start from scratch (i.e. format the Hard Drive, and install a fresh copy of Windows). This is about a 100 percent full proof solution for many problems. Just make sure you backup everything you don't want to lose before doing this.
 
what ever scan your running, run it in safe mode. some bugs will hide in the background of startup programs that start when you boot up. safe mode only starts what the computer needs to run, not most of the programs where the bugs hide.
2 good and free programs are,

malwarebytes (runs in safe mode)

spybot search and destroy (does not run in safe mode)

cccleaner is exactly what it says it is, a computer crap cleaner! check off everything but your passwords to clean out.
 
All of my computers have been slow the last week or so. At work, at home, it doesn't matter.

I think it is SkyNet taking over.


Chuck
 
Ben i use to do the Mac thing and still have my unit. Probably outdated but still have it. My shop computer that i'm on now was slower than snail sh&t but this weekend i called a guy that advertised on a tradio program and he came out and brought out a used unit with XP Pro and WOW. This thing humps. Very satisfied. Before i was runing 98. Done deal. It cost me $275 American but i'm happy.
Small Block
 
MoparDart68 said:
Brewil, in addition to scanning your computer for viruses/malware, are you also checking your hard drive for errors, defragging, cleaning the registry? All of these things factor into how well your computer performs. E.g. a badly fragmented hard drive will definitely slow down your computer. You should also make sure you don't have a lot of extra unnecessary programs running in the background. Open up Task Manager and look under the processes tab to see how many processes are running, as well as how much memory and cpu time each one is using. I'm only running about 30 processes at the moment, make sure yours isn't running over 50. There is nothing wrong with a PC if it is well maintained, sure it may not be as cool as a MAC, but it gets the job done if you take care of it.

CCleaner is a nice free little program for getting rid of extra garbage in your registry.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

I also recommend defraggler, it's better than the windows defragger and can be found on the piriform site as well.

Here is a great forum for computer problems:

http://www.computing.net

If nothing helps fix your shaky PC, you can always format and start from scratch (i.e. format the Hard Drive, and install a fresh copy of Windows). This is about a 100 percent full proof solution for many problems. Just make sure you backup everything you don't want to lose before doing this.
Click to expand...

x2!! Good info here,including the reboot. Reboot is a lot of work. It wont clean out the regi or repair the damage. Best way to get rid of a virus is the scan I just did.

Clean your regi weekly. Run a disc defragmentation program once a week. Schedule it for 3 am when your not on the puter.

I run multiple online virus scanners as well.

Limewire etc,its so easy to get an infected file. I need to train the wife to scan the darn file beofre she opens it.
 
Ive been using Firefox for awhile now and works great.You dont have to d/l fils to get infected ,but visiting the wrong sites can inject trojans and other nasties on your pc.Malwarebytes is great,i use that on my pc also.
 
Vista does suck. It is easily twice as computer intensive (sucking all the horse power out of your computer) than windows 7 or Windows XP. Either run Windows XP Pro or run Windows 7 (Ultimate if possible). Run a minimum of 2 G ram preferrably 667, 800 or 1333MHz. Vista easily requires double the ram and 20 percent more cpu to operate. Windows 7 and Vista will do scheduled defrag, also checkdisk is something you can schedule on your disc for when the computer reboots, which if the option is selected will fix or repair disk issues if it can.
I have been running windows PC(s) for years, and have never had a sluggish, or irregular computer performance, with the exception of hard drive failure, nor have I had a virus in about 5 years. Simple maintenance and awareness just like maintaining an automobile..

Disc performance is easily as important as the entire rest of the computers hardware. Hard drive lag is commonly what is actually slowing your computer down. Most hard drives are junk.
Buy a high priced hard drive, such as a business, enterprise or mission critical class HD, install the OS on it, BUY a good anti-virus / firewall software such as Zone Alarm and let the good times roll ( for personal use, Zone Alarm will completely take care of your virus issues for ever) Also, use Mozilla (firefox) as your browser along with google chrome. Ditch IE unless you get in a pinch and a website refuses to load on Chrome or Firefox.
I can easily lend computer advise if you need. I can point you in the right direction for specific hardware and software as well as advise configuration of both. I designed a mass quantity worth of mission critical computer and hardware setups in the past few years and have a good understanding of how to keep things running quite smoothly. Its all about balance just like matching your cam to your headers, then setting things up properly from the get go to prevent problems from arising 6 months down the road.
Most computer folks these days can build a rock solid reliable super fast desktop computer for 850.00 (hardware cost, os not included). Not an ultimate gaming computer since graphics card(s) cost easily as much as the rest of the computer if not more.
Macs= really overpriced, cost vs performance is pathetic, very user friendly, good for people who generally dont understand computers.
 
Thanks for the info Mopardart68.

Im at my moms house after moving country and luggin my Mac around just to check emails gets annoying but definitely MAC all the way. VISTA is terrible, terrible!!!!!
I have run every scan on Kaspersky, defragged the hell out of this thing and everytime I print, the screen goes grey and I get spinning wheel of death until its finished, evverytime theres one programme more than the first running the computer hits the ice age and takes its time. Terrible programming from Microsoft, you'd think after 20 years they'd sort it out!
 
I bought an HP computer from Best Buy a couple years ago. Now before you yell, "sucker", I could not get anyone local to build me one for anywhere near what I paid. AMD Athalon 64, Dual Core 4200 (waaaaay outdated now). Windows Vista, dvd burner, 320 gig hard drive, 1 gig ram, 19" lcd monitor and printer/scanner. It was a hell of a step up from the Pentium II 400 I had before.

I quickly found out that 1 gig ram with Vista ain't nearly enough. Too many freeze ups and reboots. A few months later a local shop was selling ram - $25/gig. I bought 4 gigs and have never had another problem with Vista running slow or any other problem with Vista. I also run AVG, Lavalsoft Ad-Aware, Spybot - search and destroy, and Malwarebytes. They're all free programs. I'm going to download that Microsoft program too. You can never have enough protection..... or so they say.


Wylde1.
 
Wilde you hit it right on the money. Vista needs at least 2g of ram. We have that and it has never been a problem.
 
MoparDart68 said:
Good find needaresto. I've been using Security Essentials since Oct. '09. It's so cool that it's free if you own a legit copy of windows xp, Vista, or 7. I never use IE, Firefox is superior by far.

Burntorange, you're just asking for trouble when you do that. A reboot will never ever fix an infection if you're unlucky enough to get one. Having a basic virus/malware program is essential these days. The programs are a lot better than they used to be, and quite a few are free: Avira, Avast 5.0, MS Security Essentials, AVG Free to name a few.

Here are a few other programs that help: Adaware, Spybot: Search and Destroy, Spyware Blaster, Maleware Bytes.

BTW, since when does a reboot delete all of your saved data? That shouldn't happen. Are you sure you're not talking about a Hard drive format?
Click to expand...


I don't know what it is called. It just resets back to just like the day I got it. Factory settings? Sorry not a computer guy.
 
Thats pretty cool! I wonder if it works for all computers or if it has to be designed in from the start.
 
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