Slow Computer

[Alien]

I am having trouble with my Dell laptop I brought 3 months ago.

Its a celeron laptop and at the time i bought it, it was quite fast but now its extremely slow. When i try to compile programs its extremely slow and takes ages. Sometimes programs like IE gives me error messages and quit unexptectedly.

In terms of memory, I am only using 8 gb out of 60.

One of my friend at uni suggested that I may be having spyware and stuff like that. I installed spybot and windows defender and scanned my whole computer several times. The Spybot did pick some fishy stuff and got rid of it. Only good thing is internet explorer is working well for the moment. Before I ran Spybot, it wouldnt do that either.

But the speed is still awfully slow. Can anyone suggest what should I be doing? Btw, I have already tried defragmenting.

[Carte Blanche]

8 GB out of 60 is our hard drive, not memory. If you right click my computer and choose properties, it will tell you how much RAM (memory) you have.

What version of windows are you running? Have you tried to tweak? Have you cleaned up your temp files? Cache? Have you enabled dll dump? There may be unnecessary programs running in the background that are overloading your system.

Please reply with a bit more details about your computer. Also, for more professional and free advice, you can try www.protonic.com. Although this method is not as fast as BC, the volunteers there are really helpful.

ps: if nothing else works, a clean install of windows has to do the trick. Of course, you'd want to back-up your important stuff.

[Fazal]

I said it before... and I am saying again..... stop going to all those [] rated website ..specially just before ramadan ..and every thing will be fine.

Now that its already infected.... touba koren .... promise koren er oisob site-ee jaben na...then re-image the computer.

[ammark]

my computer's been having massive problems too. I used to have PLENTY of sudden errors and shutting down of individual programs . one RAM chip is so faulty that my computer would blue-screen at least 4 times in a day.

You should monitor your computer's Task Manager (Alt+Ctrl+Delete) and see how much CPU resource and memory (RAM) processes ar using. List them in descending order. Do a google search with the names of the individual processes listed and "end process tree" for any non-System process that looks fishy (has a name you dont recognise or the google search results say its not-essential)

From what I understand from my experiences, your problems could also probably similarly hardware related. Download memtest32 and make a boot disk out of it and run it during startup if you can, and then check your RAM for errors.

Considering I am currently running on a 256MB RAM chip, I installed Kubuntu linux on a partition and am thoroughly pleased with how lightweight it is, user friendly and does 95% of all my regular windows tasks. makes running apache for my purposes so much of a non-issue. In windows, I'd have only 30MB of RAM free when running services and programs off my 256MB chip. Now I have 100 odd MB free in Kubuntu

[Alien]

Originally Posted by Carte Blanche
8 GB out of 60 is our hard drive, not memory. If you right click my computer and choose properties, it will tell you how much RAM (memory) you have.

What version of windows are you running? Have you tried to tweak? Have you cleaned up your temp files? Cache? Have you enabled dll dump? There may be unnecessary programs running in the background that are overloading your system.

Please reply with a bit more details about your computer. Also, for more professional and free advice, you can try www.protonic.com. Although this method is not as fast as BC, the volunteers there are really helpful.

ps: if nothing else works, a clean install of windows has to do the trick. Of course, you'd want to back-up your important stuff.

I am running windows Xp hime edition. So far, I have tried defragment, removed cookies, histories and tempfiles. Although my situation isnt as bad as ammark, but its heading that way.

I will put the my RAM stats when I get home in few hours time. Its a Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop with 512 RAM.

[akabir77]

Don't come to BC it makes every one slow not just pcs...
on a serious note. I would suggest re-installing the machine, cause dell installation comes with 101 weired stuff now a days. make sure you have either downloaded the network drive or wireless drive from their website before you proceed but if u have installation cds then i would highly recommend that doing now since its only 3 months and u have not saved a lot of stuff.
then install zone alarm first on u r pc and go from there...

[Rabz]

Originally Posted by adolf_hitler
I am having trouble with my Dell laptop I brought 3 months ago.

u sure ur laptop is not bugged by MOSAD or CIA?

does ur trouble shooting coincides with ur joining of BC? i mean if u use that name "adolf hitler" im sure those "smart" folks at thier office have some sort of bugging and tracking system where they filter all things containing "bombs", "terrorist" "plane and As-salamu walaikum" and anything remotely anti semitic anti zionist.

if everything fails, my simple suggestion would be to change ur name to something like "Bushland", "I ran after iraq" "Kaballa" "Hanakka". that might help u out, not only in ur computer problems but also in real life.

[Alien]

Originally Posted by Sydney
if everything fails, my simple suggestion would be to change ur name to something like "Bushland", "I ran after iraq" "Kaballa" "Hanakka". that might help u out, not only in ur computer problems but also in real life.

I dont think those names will help you out if you live in Lakemba like me.

[Rubu]

Here is some quick tips to make your computer run faster:

1. Get rid of as much services as you can : go to run, type in 'msconfig' and click on startup tab, get rid of as much as posssible.
2. get rid of icons from desktop as much as possible.
3. uninstall all the programs you don't need.
4. install a spyware remover such as spybot S&D and run it.
5. do a disk defragment.
6. increase the page file size if u have hard drive space.
7. make sure u have at least 5 GB of free space on C drive. they say xp runs with 2GB free space, but to get the most speed u do need at least 5.

this should fix it.

[mhferdaus]

Originally Posted by Sydney
u sure ur laptop is not bugged by MOSAD or CIA?

does ur trouble shooting coincides with ur joining of BC? i mean if u use that name "adolf hitler" im sure those "smart" folks at thier office have some sort of bugging and tracking system where they filter all things containing "bombs", "terrorist" "plane and As-salamu walaikum" and anything remotely anti semitic anti zionist.

if everything fails, my simple suggestion would be to change ur name to something like "Bushland", "I ran after iraq" "Kaballa" "Hanakka". that might help u out, not only in ur computer problems but also in real life.

looks like Sydney Bhai has sucked out all the humour juice out of Fazal Bhai .

[Hatebreed]

Don't expect anything good from Celeron. Defragmentation rarely makes a noticable difference, you either need to tune up your laptop or wipe everything off and reinstall your OS.

First go through Add/Remove Programs utility to remove programs you don't need or didn't install.

Then try Tuneup Utilities 2006 - a very neat utility software to remove any unnecessary processes that run at Windows startup, cleanup invalid registry entries, defragment physical errors in the registry, optimise system settings and various other cleanup tools.

After that run an antispyware, like Microsoft Windows Defender, then use an anti adware like Ad-Aware. Also use a Firewall software like Zonealarm. Use an antivirus like McAfee, Avg or Avast. After taking care of all malicious content, reboot your laptop - see if you notice a difference.

If you're still not happy then backup all your important files and software installers. Make a system backup disc. Reinstall your OS and transfers your files back on.

Good luck.

[ammark]

Originally Posted by Hatebreed
Then try Tuneup Utilities 2006 - a very neat utility software to remove any unnecessary processes that run at Windows startup, cleanup invalid registry entries, defragment physical errors in the registry, optimise system settings and various other cleanup tools.

I forgot to mention the registry too... I use this program to clean out my registry and streamline things out in windows.

[Spitfire_x86]

There's nothing wrong with Celeron for general usage (if it's Celeron M, then it's hardly differnet than Pentium M in terms of performance).

If you're confirm that you don't have any virus/spyware left in your PC, then do a clean installation of Windows (not repair, not restore using restore CDs) and all apps. It will feel like a new PC again.

And from then you should always run a firewall (something like Sygate Personal Firewall, which works well and not bloated), a good antivirus with updated virus defs (stay away from resouce hogs like Norton) and regularly scan your PC for spyware with both Spybot and Ad-Aware.

[Alien]

Originally Posted by Hatebreed
Don't expect anything good from Celeron. Defragmentation rarely makes a noticable difference, you either need to tune up your laptop or wipe everything off and reinstall your OS.

First go through Add/Remove Programs utility to remove programs you don't need or didn't install.

Then try Tuneup Utilities 2006 - a very neat utility software to remove any unnecessary processes that run at Windows startup, cleanup invalid registry entries, defragment physical errors in the registry, optimise system settings and various other cleanup tools.

After that run an antispyware, like Microsoft Windows Defender, then use an anti adware like Ad-Aware. Also use a Firewall software like Zonealarm. Use an antivirus like McAfee, Avg or Avast. After taking care of all malicious content, reboot your laptop - see if you notice a difference.

If you're still not happy then backup all your important files and software installers. Make a system backup disc. Reinstall your OS and transfers your files back on.

Good luck.

Thanks man. That TuneUp software was great help. I downloaded RegCure to fix up my registry. But the free version only identifies the error but have to pay in order to fix my registries.

At the moment I just finished removing those faulty registries. I hope thats the only problem. Pretty much tried everything, virus scan, spybot scan, TuneUp scan, defragment.

If this one fails then maybe have to wipe out everything and start fresh again. Thanks for the help.

[Hatebreed]

I hope that solves your problem, even if it doesn't I still suggest you use those programs in case if you have to reinstall your OS.

[Carte Blanche]

Originally Posted by Spitfire_x86
And from then you should always run a firewall (something like Sygate Personal Firewall, which works well and not bloated), a good antivirus with updated virus defs (stay away from resouce hogs like Norton) and regularly scan your PC for spyware with both Spybot and Ad-Aware.

Sygate? Sygate was aquired by Symantec almost a year ago and the personal firewall was discontinued since November.

It was one heck of a software though. It used little memory and was very efficient. Since Sygate's acquisition, I have vowed not to choose Symantec products again.

Anyway Hitler, if you want to go for a personal firewall, disable the Windows' built-in firewall (which offers zero outbound protection) and go for something less heavy than Norton/McAfee BS. Although I rely on hardware firewall these days, I highly recommend Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall. It is relatively easy to use and should keep you worry free.

[Spitfire_x86]

It's still works and avialable as free download.

[Carte Blanche]

Yes and it's smart to use a firewall abandoned a year ago. [/sarcasm]

On a serious note, Hitler - Rubu and Hatebreed's advice are spot on. Give ZA a try. If you are a heavy P2P user, you may not like ZA as it is known to slow a lot of things down unnecessarily. If you want a wider range of choice, you can consult this guide (http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1750) and choose one that fits your needs. For my laptop, I run a software called Phoenix Trustport - it's an all-in-one solution that takes care of everything from Antivirus, Firewall, Network Monitor, Disk Imager, Shredder, Encryption. As I type, it's using a measley 17 mb of memory. I am very satisfied with this software overall. You can give it a try too if you like.

Screenshot:


Also, there is a great utility called Hijack This. I think it was Tehsin bhai whom I suggested use of this software to fix a certain problem with his pc. It works great in identifying unwanted entries in your registry that hog up the system resources.

[Bancan]

i hav a problem. whenever i run anti virus and a firewall my computer slows down greatly during startup. though i didnt hav this problem when i used mcafee, but after trying avast and avg and the firewall hatebreed mentioned my computer got very slow.
is there any anti virus which doesnt slow down my computer

[Miraz]

CB, what's the cost of trustport?

[Hatebreed]

Originally Posted by Bancan
i hav a problem. whenever i run anti virus and a firewall my computer slows down greatly during startup. though i didnt hav this problem when i used mcafee, but after trying avast and avg and the firewall hatebreed mentioned my computer got very slow.
is there any anti virus which doesnt slow down my computer

If you think McAfee was better then I suggest use it coz I used it for a long time and was pretty happy with it. You can try BitDefender, which was suggested to me by a friend. Ultimately AV suites are bound to hog up more resources because they run several processes at once. Just use Tuneup Utilities (or the AV's configuration) to remove any unnecessary startup processes that you don't require. You don't necessarily have to keep the AV running all the time, so you may want to disable it entirely from Windows startup and only use it when you install or notice something suspicious.

As for the firewall, I can only suggest that you switch the AV off and free up some memory to keep the FW running, or vice-versa.. but I don't recommend it. ZoneAlarm is still the best free FW I've used and it ran smoothly on my PC, so if anyone can suggest a better software that runs on less memory - plz be my guest.

Currently I use none, I just use my own instincts and vigillance based on years of experience with the Internet.. and thanks to Netgear wireless router with built-in firewall

[ammark]

Originally Posted by adolf_hitler
Thanks man. That TuneUp software was great help. I downloaded RegCure to fix up my registry. But the free version only identifies the error but have to pay in order to fix my registries.

If you use torrents, you can get the full version from one of the torrent sites. Its well worth it.

[Alien]

How do you reset the computer? I mean wiping out everything and starting fresh again..

I tried browsing through the manual and internet but couldnt find anything.
Thanks.

[Hatebreed]

Reinstalling your operating system should do the job.

[Alien]

I have the windows XP CD. Should I just run it and it will reinstall automatically or is there sth I should be doing? Sorry for being such a pain.