Computer Speed ???

[Danny]

Hey

Recently I have been having problems with my PC it has been running really slow and frequently freezes , it's in getting fixed at the moment(that's why I haven't been on much) anyone know any ways to speed up the load time and make it run faster??

[Otto]

Hi Dan,

I've seen a variety of problems cause the symptoms you describe. At the top of my list, I'd put:

1. Hardware
2. Spyware
3. Viruses

I had some hang and reset problems with my machine at work, and I simply reseated all the cables and connections (inluding RAM and add-in cards) in the macine. I also had a keyboard go bad in a Toshiba laptop that caused a lot of crazy stuff to happen -- really made the machine worthless. I would say that it's one of the "less likely" things, but personal experience tells me it's definitely a possibility. Just reseat as many connections as you can, or as you're comfortable with.

Spyware, as you probably know, describes all kinds of ****** software that we pick up when surfing the web -- whether it's some cheesy thing from a website or something that you specifically downloaded and said "yes to all" when it asked if it could install 3rd party software (actually you didn't read the warning at all, just clicked "yes to all" or equivalent). Hey, don't feel bad. We've all done this -- I still do from time to time. Or blame it on "someone who lives with you." She probably doesn't read this forum. Anyway, if you think spyware could be the case, google for things like spybot or spysweeper or spyware. You should be able to find those kinds of things at http//www.download.com as well.

Viruses come from various sources on the internet and can certainly cause slowness and hangs. Kinda like looking for spyware removal software, google for "virus removal" or similar. McAfee and Norton are a couple big names that are probably pretty reliable if you think this is your problem.

Are you getting any particular message or error code from the Windows crash (presuming Windows). If so, can you get any information from that on the web? I find it's frequently very useful to input the text that's output with the crash. Something like "could not connect to remote server. error 1234" may be very common on the PC forums or whatever.

If I go through all this, and talk to my buddies at work, and search the web, and finally just get tired of trying to fix it, I'll probably back up my relevant data files and format the hard drive, then reinstall Windows from scratch. Definitely not my first choice. Also, I think you could have a virus live inside the data files that you would have backed up, but I have never experienced that problem. But if you have a bad virus, a reinstall may not solve your problems if you backed up your data and the virus lived on in there. I would consider this unlikely, but possible.

Anyway, just some ideas as I sit here.

Good luck with that, I know it can be frustrating.

[Sonnie]

I use Lavasoft Adaware, Spybot Search & Destroy, Windows Defender and AVG Anti-Virus. While probably a good virus protector, according to several of the gurus over at the Computer Forum, Nortons is a processing hog so it can actually steal some of your speed. AVG caught several viruses on our daughters computer that NAV missed too. We haven't had any problems since we have been using AVG. You can get a free version for one computer in your home and their pro version is very reasonable. We use it on all 4 of our computers at home and all 4 at work. Plus we use the above mention aniti-spyware programs regularly. It keep's us squeaky clean and our browsing experience is top notch.

I'll also echo everything Otto stated.

[Otto]

Yeah, I neglected to mention that McAfee and Norton can be processor hogs, especially when they're running full-time in the background. We use McAfee at work, and many people disable it in an effort to regain their processing power. Lots of times, I forget about anti-spyware and anti-viral software until I start having problems. Then I download whatever trials and free stuff I can find, and go on the attack. Sometimes it's too late, and I end up with doing a reinstall. I've been pretty fortunate this year, though, and our PCs are running nicely.

Oh, I almost made this point above, but I kinda got sidetracked -- If you have other users on your machines that aren't PC savvy (wives, kids, pets, etc.) try to educate them NOT to click on the pop-up boxes that appear from various websites. A lot of times, these look like they have a "yes" button and a "no" button, but it's really all just one BIG button that takes you to the same place, regardless of what you click. That place can install adware, spyware, and all that kind of junk. When those things come up, I usually do an alt-F4 to close the window. Second best is hitting the X in the top right corner of the pop-up to close it, but sometimes that's also part of the BIG button that does what they want. I taught this to my wife, and things have been better.

Good luck.

[Josuah]

It could just be your Windows install is suffering from cruft. In which case a full reinstall of the OS and apps can help. That used to be the situation with heavily used Windows computers before Windows XP and 2003. I'm not sure if it still applies to those. Disk defrag is still needed for XP and 2003 if I'm not mistaken.

[Danny]

Thanks for that advice, all being well I'll get the computer back tommorrow, I had it re-formatted. The programs I use are Norton AV Corporate, Zone alarm, Spybot S&D and Lavasoft Adaware. Anyways it should be working fine then.

[xmas111]

I know you'll think I'm crazy but I usually reformat my main machine ~every six months. It's a lot of work but it's nice to have that "Brand New" feeling when your done.

[Josuah]

It's not crazy. Six months is standard practice for Windows boxes at some companies.

[Praetorian]

http://www.greyknight17.com/spyware.php

[khellandros66]

My first question is do you know the muffin man...

All kidding aside make a backup of your system state, to see a tutorial go to microsoft.com search XP Backups After you have made a back up of the "System State" onto a CD or jumpdrive go ahead and do the following.

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for damage done to your product because these tweaks are done on your accord...!!!

Start
Run
Type "msconfig"
Go to the far right tab called Start Up.

Uncheck boxes for anything that IS NOT the following;
Video and Sound Driver and software
AVG or Spyware Protection Related
Logitech
Microsoft

--------------------------------------

Under the services tab uncheck;
ATI Smart (for ATI video cards)
ATI Hotkey Poller (for ATI video cards)
Messenger
Telephony (if on broadband internet)
Terminal Service (if you don't log into work remotely this is unecessary)

Here is a tutorial to free up more ram by using the registry editor.

These tweaks typically free up about 50-150MB of ram.

~Bob

[avnetguy]

xmas111 wrote:

I know you'll think I'm crazy but I usually reformat my main machine ~every six months. It's a lot of work but it's nice to have that "Brand New" feeling when your done.

Not uncommon at all to do a reinstall.
Another option which is much quicker is to use is a program like Norton Ghost.

Install your OS and setup all your normal applications then use Ghost to backup the entire drive. Now every six months or when ever you feel you need it, put your Ghosted copy back onto your computer and you're totally up and running in 15-30 minutes.

Steve

[Yamahaluver]

Also have you tried cleaning out your registry with some good free cleaners like **** Cleaner, Reg Seeker or Eusing Registry cleaner and then optimized the registry with NT Regopt, a bloated registry can slow windows down considerably, also its a good idea to regularly clean out temp folders and thoroughly defrag your drives with any of the commercial defrag utilities like Diskeeper or Perfect Disk. Doing this basic maintenance, my XP Pro is almost two years old on my dual XEON rig, on my newly acquired Core2Duo, XP 64 is around 4 months and going strong.