Computer Help

[Macs]

My home desktop has got some serious issues. i do not know if i picked up a virus or what. i know when my pc gets to this point i should wipe the slate clean, but i have all my work programs on my desktop and if i erase them it will take along time to be able to get them back on my computer ( if i am working out of the office is the only time i have user rights for home download, but i probly want be back inthe office for at least another year ) so does someone have a program that will sweep the computer and fix it or at least tell me whats causing the problem. It is just really reall slow. I have went through and deleted some stuff, cleaned it up good, did a scan with my ativirus and scanned it with another.

[84honda200s]

you try cleaning the cookies? how many tasks is it running?

[atctim]

try downloading windows defender and running it from microsoft.com

It is still in beta and you must have a valid copy of XP

[Macs]

i clean the cookies daily. i dont have any task running. I will try the defender.

[Macs]

well defender didnt work. it scanned and didnt find nothing. my internet connection is running fine but the computer itself locks up.

[atctim]

when you say it locks up - please describe - does it lock to the point you have to reboot it? Or can you fix it by Ctrl+Alt+Del then manually stopping the (not responding) programs?

Try this now:

Go to

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/systeminformationutilities.mspx - and find process explorer

Download it
then
Run it. It will show ALL apps running on your computer. Take a screen shot and send it to me and I'll decipher it for ya.

tkeister@gmail.com

Does it only freeze during internet applications - or all applications. If only internet application - are you still running Internet Explorer? Hopefully not. Try Opera or Firefox if it is internet related.

[xd 200x]

first pull cover off case blow all the built up crap out of there.

2nd and his should fix it honestly defraq your hard drive. ( use diske keeper or omthing like that

[XTrumpX]

If all else fails, go buy a new, larger HD and reinstall the OS. Then, take your old drive and use it as a slave and copy all the things you need over to the new disk and use the original as a back-up, storage disk.

Or, get a pogram that can clean you registry. I use registry mechanic. You may have some old entries that are no longer valid. If you're not experienced with registry entries, then I don't recommend you doing it. That could really lock things up, and end up losing stuff if you don't know what you're doing. I have a 3rd option, you'd have to PM about it.

I've been in the IT field for 10 yrs now and I usually opt for the new HD and start fresh. Working with the registry takes time to needle through some of the entries.

[Macs]

Its the computer itself that is locking up. it doesnt matter if i am on the internet or not. control+alt+delete doesnt work cause everything will freeze for about 30 seconds. once it finally pops up it is unfroze. It is like there is a 30 second delay in everything that happens. I am running firefox but i still, do have explorer on ther cause my wife like it.

[traxxasx]

You more than likley have a trojan. Go to http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/download/ and download that. Then install it. After you update it it will say register to register it for it to be FULL working order use one of the following.

SPYWARE DOCTOR:

1. Name: THAN GIANG NAM
S\N : 248C-0198-B029-A687-825E-DFF0-A69F-9D1C-7DE7-421E

2. Name: Jerryl Trammell
S/N : B96B-FCBE-F044-1AE0-7363-83A9-DF38-EA1E-F7B5-9D9C

3. Name: David Marler
S\N : 6931-F91F-8FBB-DA68-0DDD-C5BD-E7E7-FCB7-FE07-4BFF

4. Name: Radjani Camard
S\N : 6039-EF3A-EBCD-EBCA-8CD9-C07F-E02A-37A2-3E74-AB10

5. Name: Rick Moody
S\N : 6BDB-8CAB-244D-236E-11CB-1E1B-CD8C-AC18-7B91-3116

Try to use in safe mode with networking.



I just cleaned my computer of 400 bad cookies 2 trojans, one hi-jacker mod and somother crap. Also i couldent even run windows defender with my virusis so you might not either. There so many thing you can do. Also you can restore your computer to a later time when it wasent slow, but it wont have your work you saved from now to then.

[Dave223]

Im having the sme problem on my comp at home (Im at work now..shhhh). I found out I do have a trojan called downloader.trojan. Its giving me the EXACT same problems you describe, whether im on or offline its slooowww. I have finally found out what it is, now I just cant seem to get rid of it. No matter what I run program wise, it wont do anything to help.

[Macs]

i have tried every scan and program i can think of and nothing has helped. I havnt got to try the above program yet, i am at work too.

[traxxasx]

You need to find out whats its called in the task manager. Some trojans kill the task manager, one you find out the name like EXPLOERE.EXE you can search for it in the files and delete the exe and file. But you have to end the task first then delete really quick and empty trash *Edited**Edited* it re populates itself. Ive always had difficult times with trojans but i always seem to get rid of them. Run your comp in safe mod-with networkings and try to find out The name (unknown.exe) and search the files in the search wizard and kill it and delete it. Try the program i sugested it whats got rid of mine, and i had 3 trojans. So yea run that in safe mode (as above says) and run the full scan, also run it again in regular mode. Then clear all internet explorer cookies(the program removes cookies) if you have different browsers. Let me know how it goes.

[Dave223]

Thanks for the info and the link, my computer is working like it should now! My wife and I have been working on this thing for 2 weeks. In 2 hrs after finding this link, we got rid of 518 different trojans, virus' and spyware. I can finally stay on for more than 10 minutes! Thanks again!!!!


You more than likley have a trojan. Go to http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/download/ and download that. Then install it. After you update it it will say register to register it for it to be FULL working order use one of the following.

SPYWARE DOCTOR:

1. Name: THAN GIANG NAM
S\N : 248C-0198-B029-A687-825E-DFF0-A69F-9D1C-7DE7-421E

2. Name: Jerryl Trammell
S/N : B96B-FCBE-F044-1AE0-7363-83A9-DF38-EA1E-F7B5-9D9C

3. Name: David Marler
S\N : 6931-F91F-8FBB-DA68-0DDD-C5BD-E7E7-FCB7-FE07-4BFF

4. Name: Radjani Camard
S\N : 6039-EF3A-EBCD-EBCA-8CD9-C07F-E02A-37A2-3E74-AB10

5. Name: Rick Moody
S\N : 6BDB-8CAB-244D-236E-11CB-1E1B-CD8C-AC18-7B91-3116

Try to use in safe mode with networking.



I just cleaned my computer of 400 bad cookies 2 trojans, one hi-jacker mod and somother crap. Also i couldent even run windows defender with my virusis so you might not either. There so many thing you can do. Also you can restore your computer to a later time when it wasent slow, but it wont have your work you saved from now to then.

[traxxasx]

Thanks for the info and the link, my computer is working like it should now! My wife and I have been working on this thing for 2 weeks. In 2 hrs after finding this link, we got rid of 518 different trojans, virus' and spyware. I can finally stay on for more than 10 minutes! Thanks again!!!!



Hey im glad it worked for you do a weekly scan with this and you should be fine. Always watch what website you go to, always scan files that are downloaded, and try to stay away from downloading ZIP folders off of sharing programs (IE: limewire, kazza,shareware.) Your welcome.

[xd 200x]

defraq your hard drive please.

and blow all the crap out of the box. execeiive temp can cause this problem.

its no spy wear or trojans.


do you smoke?

[Macs]

I defragment my computer every night and run disc clean up everynight. Along with a registry scan and antivirus scan. so i know that isnt the problem. i ran the doctor program stated above and i lost my network magic program. So i figured thta is were the problem was. but it still running like crap. I had to make a schedule last night using primavera and it took me about 2 hours to do a 60 line schedule. It is kinda hard when you make a living with your computer and it runs like crap. i think i am going to start bringing my laptop home everynight. It is probly worth all of the paperwork to bring it in and out of the plant.

[Macs]

I defragment my computer every night and run disc clean up everynight. Along with a registry scan and antivirus scan. so i know that isnt the problem. i ran the doctor program stated above and i lost my network magic program. So i figured thta is were the problem was. but it still running like crap. I had to make a schedule last night using primavera and it took me about 2 hours to do a 60 line schedule. It is kinda hard when you make a living with your computer and it runs like crap. i think i am going to start bringing my laptop home everynight. It is probly worth all of the paperwork to bring it in and out of the plant.

[nobrakes2]

I defragment my computer every night and run disc clean up everynight. Along with a registry scan and antivirus scan. so i know that isnt the problem. i ran the doctor program stated above and i lost my network magic program. So i figured thta is were the problem was. but it still running like crap. I had to make a schedule last night using primavera and it took me about 2 hours to do a 60 line schedule. It is kinda hard when you make a living with your computer and it runs like crap. i think i am going to start bringing my laptop home everynight. It is probly worth all of the paperwork to bring it in and out of the plant.

Stop with all the defrag...cleanup...scan stuff.
Lets start from the top and I can fix it. :beer
What ver of windows are you using?

XP home or pro
Win2k
98SE or 98
95c1 or 95b
95a or just 95

Highspeed or Dialup connection?

[DeePa]

Take everything you want to save and put it on another hd or disc

format c:...reinstall windows

good as new.

I do mine at least twice a year depends on how many times i get screwed by spyware

mike

[3 weelin geezer]

Stop looking at porn. Those 'under 18' girls are not. Thats where a lot of virtual VD comes from.:drool:

[Macs]

Porn definatley is not the problem. I am running XP HOME. So i can by another hard drive and install all my programs on it. Explain exactly how that works. I need to get a bigger one any way. i have a 120gb and i only have 20% left on it. It is mostly filled up with programs and documents that i need to keep. I also have alot of resources built in primavera that i cannot lose. it is years of work in there.

[DeePa]

OK.....go buy the bigger hard drive.

On your current HD, move the pins in the back to the slave setting.

On the new HD, move the pins to the master setting.

Start the comp, keep on pushing delete til the bios comes up.

In the setting, change the boot device order to...CD FLoppy HDD...

Restart, let it boot off of the cd.

Install windows on the new drive.

When it is all done, you should be able to pull info off of the old hd, transfer it to the new one. Id run a virus scan on that drive first to clean it up.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[502SS]

You can purchase a larger hard drive and use a 3rd party utility such as Drive Copy/Ghost/etc. to copy your existing drive, but you CANNOT install XP on a new drive, and just copy your old programs over to the new drive and have them work (at least probably not any program made within the last 10 years) :-)
Assuming you have good anti-virus/anti-spyware software, and the scans are clean, try this...
close all programs so nothing is running except Windows. Right click in the middle of your task bar, then left click on Task Manager. When Task Manager comes up, click on the Performance tab. You'll see a couple of graphs, etc. Look at the bottom left hand graph. This will tell you how much RAM/memory is being used. Compare that to underneath the graphs where it says Physical Memory. The first line will read Total. Compare your computers total physical memory, to what it's using. If you are using more than your computer physically has, you will experience what you're talking about. It's not uncommon for an XP box to be using more RAM that it actually has. Even it you're close, once you open any other programs, it's going to put you over the top.

[Macs]

that was going to be my question. I do not have a software bundle that came with my computer. It was already in there when i bought it new. then when i first turned it on it told me to make a boot disk and i have no idea where that is at. So how would i install another hard drive. Also the ram might be the problem. Now that i think of it about the time that the problem started i tried to install some more ram but the sticks were not compatible so i put the old ones in. i wander if i didnt snap them in completely.

[XTrumpX]

You can purchase a larger hard drive and use a 3rd party utility such as Drive Copy/Ghost/etc. to copy your existing drive, but you CANNOT install XP on a new drive, and just copy your old programs over to the new drive and have them work (at least probably not any program made within the last 10 years) :-)
Assuming you have good anti-virus/anti-spyware software, and the scans are clean, try this...
close all programs so nothing is running except Windows. Right click in the middle of your task bar, then left click on Task Manager. When Task Manager comes up, click on the Performance tab. You'll see a couple of graphs, etc. Look at the bottom left hand graph. This will tell you how much RAM/memory is being used. Compare that to underneath the graphs where it says Physical Memory. The first line will read Total. Compare your computers total physical memory, to what it's using. If you are using more than your computer physically has, you will experience what you're talking about. It's not uncommon for an XP box to be using more RAM that it actually has. Even it you're close, once you open any other programs, it's going to put you over the top.
Why would you ghost it if you're having problems with it in the first place? Just get a bigger drive, install OS (get XP Professional) slave the old one, and copy all your needed files to the new drive. When satisfied that you have everything you want saved, zero out the old drive and reformat it... then use it as a storage drive for all the pictures and stuff you like saving. And, I can show you how to make a folder/directory invisable so you can hide the porn there ... :lol:

[Macs]

so in order to do the HD thing i need to go buy windows xp?

[XTrumpX]

Yea, but only if you want to use XP. But you can still use Home if you like, not alot of extras like Pro though. Check your PM.

[502SS]

Why would you ghost it if you're having problems with it in the first place? Just get a bigger drive, install OS (get XP Professional) slave the old one, and copy all your needed files to the new drive. When satisfied that you have everything you want saved, zero out the old drive and reformat it... then use it as a storage drive for all the pictures and stuff you like saving. And, I can show you how to make a folder/directory invisable so you can hide the porn there ... :lol:
If the problem lies in something like simply not having enough RAM, formatting the computer and reinstalling the OS and all his programs isn't going to gain much (if anything) in the end. By reading his original post, I was under the impression he did NOT want to format due to how long it would take to reinstall everything.
I'm sorry, but XP Pro probably won't benefit you in any way, just cost you more to purchase.

[troy]

so in order to do the HD thing i need to go buy windows xp?

My i ask why you have to buy a new copy of windows, don't you have one already?:wondering

By the way, how old is this computer and how much ram are you pushing, the reason i'm asking is because sense windows xp came out every one thinks that it can run it on a older computer, in fact most older computers CAN"T run windows xp right. I have had at less 10 to 15 people come to my and saying there computer is running slow, and the mother board and CPU temps are up. My question to them "what version of windows are you running" they say "XP", my answer "your computer isn't made for xp, most of the time they where built to run a MAX of windows ME". But if your computer is some what new, i say 85% of the problem is your running out of one of two things, RAM or CPU


I know i'm running windows XP Pro and running 1 gig of ram and i run out from time to time when i'm remixing and deejaying live. windows needs a Bare MIN of 256megs to run, and if you have a onboard video card, there goes 16 to 62 megs of you ram depending on the size that your Bios and shared memory is giving the video .

[XTrumpX]

If the problem lies in something like simply not having enough RAM, formatting the computer and reinstalling the OS and all his programs isn't going to gain much (if anything) in the end. By reading his original post, I was under the impression he did NOT want to format due to how long it would take to reinstall everything.
I'm sorry, but XP Pro probably won't benefit you in any way, just cost you more to purchase.
Well, running fine up to one point doesn't mean it needs more RAM... if you really want to get technical, then maybe he's experiencing a memory leak. If you is, then that involves the registry, processes running, a whole bunch of things. And since he's using the system for work, that's why I suggested PRO. There's a little more security in Pro then Home... and after speaking with him, PRO would be the way to go.

[Dave223]

And, I can show you how to make a folder/directory invisable so you can hide the porn there ... :lol:

ok so how do I make folders invisible? Not to hide porn, just to keep my wife from seeing the neked pics of my girlfriend! haha J/k

[502SS]

Well, running fine up to one point doesn't mean it needs more RAM... if you really want to get technical, then maybe he's experiencing a memory leak. If you is, then that involves the registry, processes running, a whole bunch of things. And since he's using the system for work, that's why I suggested PRO. There's a little more security in Pro then Home... and after speaking with him, PRO would be the way to go.
hmmm, seems to me, it was mentioned the problems started right after he tried adding more RAM, but had compatibilty problems. Memory leaks don't require you to go into the registry, etc. Let's see, last time a program I know of that had a memory leak was McAfee Enterprise 8. Don't remember going into the registry to fix that. Installing their patch did the job just fine ;) If he's at home using it for a work computer, Pro still offers nothing more than what Home will do for him. Not to mention the fact he already has Home, so why in the world would somebody pay more for features they'll probably never use, or for an XP Pro license when he already has an XP Home license??
If you want to purchase a new hard drive, purchase an XP Pro license, format/reinstall, more power to you. I just don't believe in doing hours of work if it could be prevented with a little troubleshooting and maybe 5 minutes of work.

[XTrumpX]

Let's see, last time a program I know of that had a memory leak was McAfee Enterprise 8.
Then you must not be around as many programs as I am every night. Everyone has their own preference, mine was just a suggestion.

[Dirtcrasher]

Stop with all the defrag...cleanup...scan stuff.
Lets start from the top and I can fix it. :beer
What ver of windows are you using?

XP home or pro
Win2k
98SE or 98
95c1 or 95b
95a or just 95

Highspeed or Dialup connection?

Barry Man, why don't you give this guy a shot....

[xd 200x]

use the home to pro patch dont give those blood suckers at microsuck a dime

[Macs]

Now i have no internet at home. I went home yesterday and my wireless network could not connect, then i discovered my windows firewall was turned on, i went to turn it off and it told me action could not be completed. Then my network magic got screwy. i tried to do system restore and every restore point it told me i could not complete. Whatever i did to try and fix it i messed it up. i downloaded one of the antivirus prorams and i deleted it the night before. that is what i think happened to it.