Help me- please!

[Bret4207]

Ok guys, beyond viruses, spyware, etc., what can I do to restore the performance of my computer? I've run Ccleaner, Spy Bot, Ad Aware, System Mechanic. It's defragmented every 2 weeks, and the other recommended maintainemce is done every 3 days- dumping cookies, temp files, etc, etc. How do I tell WHERE the problem is? I think it's a hard drive issue, that something is messed up someplace. Or missing. My tech buddy says another memory card would help, but isn't keen on dumping "System Restore Points" or Norton for AVG for example. He had to reload Windows last week for me. I've gotten rid of as many unused programs as I can like Earth Link, Yahoo Toolbar, etc. Where do I go from here?

I'm pretty sure it's the computer as stuff like Quicken takes a lot longer to load than it used to. The 'net is ridiculously slow.

Thanks to all who've helped in the past and will help in the furture.

[OldBob]

Tpr. Bret, with restore points active you can use all of those programs to remove the garbage and some or all of it will reinstate itself at the next boot up. You can download a free program called Belarc Advisor and run it, this will tell you whose hard drive you have, then go to their website and download their drive testing utility. Run that utility to test your hard drive for errors, bad sectors etc., I sort of doubt its the drive though. I think if I was in your shoes, I'd wipe it clean, reload, remove all unwanted programs, get rid of anything that even remotely looks like Norton, install AVG Free and the AVG firewall or Zone Alarm, Xsoftspy or SpySweeper, then and only then (!) re-hook your computer to the net. Another program to try is HiJack This, download it, run it and then go to their forum with a screen shot of the results, they will help you remove the garbage, its amazing what is in there !
When you had it reloaded, did you retain all of your documents, etc. and do an "overlay" or was it wiped clean of everything and restored to "factory new " ? Some of this garbage is unbelievably tenacious and takes extreme measures to remove. If you did a complete "clean" reload and it was still slow when you got it back (before hooking it to the 'net, then I would expect some kind of hardware issue.

[garandsrus]

Tpr Bret,

When you buddy reloaded Windows (XP?) did he start with a clean install? That is actually the best way to improve performance. After a while the registry gets a little unwieldy and a clean install rebuilds it.

You can also limit what automatically starts up by using Start/Run and then typing "msconfig" without the quotes. Go to the "Startup tab" and disable anything you recognize that you don't want to start when the system boots up.

To see your memory and CPU resources, do Alt/Ctrl/Delete (press all three at once) and go to the "Processes" tab. You can click on the "CPU" and "Mem Usage" column headings to see what resources the process is using. You can also go to the "Performance" tab to see how much memory is "Available" so you can determine if you need more.

John

[454PB]

I agree with the previous posts.How much RAM is installed? XP needs 256MB to run, and more is better. I get by with 256, but I'm anal about housekeeping and frequent virus and spyware scans. I never keep more than one system restore point. Spybot installs a new system restore point every time you delete files it has found. If you are running less RAM than needed, swap file usage will slow down any computer.

One of the things a lot of people miss when clearing unnecessary files is old e-mails. I'm not aware of any software program than cleans out old e-mail, you have to do it manually. I've cleaned a GB of old mail off of computers I worked on for friends and family. Since your computer has recently been reloaded, this shouldn't be the cause, but it's something to keep in mind.

[Old Ironsights]

Post your system specs....never mind, you did already. Gotta think on this some more.

[Bret4207]

It wasn't a clean reload. I'll get a hold of him and make sure, but I think he reloaded over the old copy. I'm going nuts as it just gets slower and slower. Sounds like we need to talk and see if this is over his head. I doubt it, I think he's just real coservative aobut making the changes.

[Old Ironsights]

Not good enough.

You need to have him do an FDISK and start over.

Pull the HDD, Blow the boot partition completely. run a serious virus-scan on the Dell protected partition (if there is one) then reformat and reload.

Huge PITA but may be the only thing you can do.

[Topper]

These days, it's very unlikely that you have an MBR virus.
I still think if the recovery partion on the hard drive is intact, then backup your data and run it. It will restore image to the first day you received it. Then, if it's still slow, run a full diagnostics on the system. Here's "how too" support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8250/K0004bk0.pdf

[Bret4207]

Well, we're gonna take the old 'puter, update to XP, add the ethernet and load a norton program till I can get AVG and Firefox. Then we'll reformat the new /problem 'puter. If AVG and Firefox work as well as claimed I may go with that after it's fixed.

I'm also thinking about getting and external HD to transfer the files to and to use as a backup for the important stuff.

Thanks again to all.

[OldBob]

Tpr. Bret, be sure to get the latest Firefox, its got a blocker that shuts out most of those annoying "flashing" adds and banners. Its a short download on broadband if you have it, if not, I'll burn you a copy or maybe your local library has broadband ? Ours has dsl, so I go there every couple of weeks to get current stuff.If you don't like Firefox, you might like Opera, it has some real nice features too.

[C1PNR]

I'm also thinking about getting and external HD to transfer the files to and to use as a backup for the important stuff.

Thanks again to all.
I HIGHLY recommend an external for backing up your documents and other important files.

I'm the guy who chewed out my Boss for not backing up often enough. Then, just a couple of weeks ago, my C drive died and I had NOT saved my Access database file of firearms purchased beginning in the '60s! I have since purchased a large External, but now I've got to take the dead drive to a specialty service and pay between $300 and $500 to recover my lost data. To say I'm sick about it is a gross understatement.

Yeah, an external with a USB 2.0 connection would be a good thing.

[Bret4207]

To all of you who helped me- THANK YOU!!!!!!!

I'm typing this on my "old/spare" 'puter, updated to Windows ME (XP was too big), running Firefox (Love it so far!), AVG anti-virus (Uninstalled Norton as recommended), and Thunderbird for email. The only issue so far is I have to disable AVG's Firewall to down load email. Can't figure how to set it. Anyone know?

COOL! Firefox comes with an automatic SPELL CHECK!!!!!!

Did I mention how nice it is to have a DSL that acts like DSL and not a dial up connection?

The newer 'puter will have it's files saved and will be reformated. I think Firefox, Thunderbird and AVG will be on that one too.


Thanks so much for the help guys. I was/am in over my head.

[454PB]

I went to the control center in my AVG (version 7.5, which is the version that replaces the current expiring version) and checked the help file it says:



"E-mail Scanner Component - Plugins Tab

The E-mail Scanner component operates all installed plugins for e-mail scanning, e.g. plugins for The BAT!, Qualcomm Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, and the Personal E-mail Scanner for any other e-mail client.



To change the parameters for a plug-in, select it from the list of Installed plugins.



Select Ignore plugin status to hide the status of the selected plugin.



Select the Use the shared test configuration option to make the plugin use the same settings as any other plugins which use the shared test configuration. This shared configuration can be modified (click the Configure button to activate the E-mail Scanner settings dialog); a predefined configuration for the Personal E-mail Scanner is set by default.



If you select the Use the personal test configuration option, then the selected plugin will have a specially configured test. The default settings for this test will be the same as the default settings for the Personal E-mail Scanner, but they can be modified. The settings will only be applicable for the selected plugin.



If your selected plugin is the Personal E-mail Scanner, Properties and Disable plugin buttons will also be available.

Press the Properties button to bring up the Personal E-mail Scanner Properties dialog.

Press the Disable plugin button to deactivate the Personal E-mail Scanner. (This button is also available for the MS Outlook plugin.)



Click the OK button to save any changes and close the dialog.

Click the Cancel button to close the dialog without saving any changes.

Click the Apply button to confirm your settings without closing the dialog."



The e-mail settings are found by selecting "view">"components">"E-mail scanner"

I've never had this problem, so I hope by using this you can find what is set incorrectly.

[Bret4207]

Thanks- Apparently it's fixed itself as it seems to work now. Sorry to have you go to the trouble.

Jeeze it's nice having a fast connection back!

[Bret4207]

Well, as I said I'm real happy with Firefox, Thunderbird and AVG so far. I am wondering if I should do as recommendedand disable the "System Restore" in the Windows ME and should I set it up to get the automatic updates to Windows even though I deleted Internet Explorer and Outlook Express?

[crazy mark]

No more updates to WIN ME as they discontinued support several months ago. I have firefox and AVG on a windows ME 'puter and the system restore is still active. Not been a problem. Just make sure you don't go too far back. Mark

[Bret4207]

Thanks Mark. I'll not worry about it then.

I do have a hard drive question though- If I get an external HD does it function kind of like a CD, that is I have to down load to the hard drive right? It wouldn't function as additional memory but rather as a storage system? Might be a dumb question, but I'm learning as I go. Thx.

[IcerUSA]

Might want to grab avast AV also, it works well with AVG, have run both of these for a few years together, if one dosn't catch incomeing the other usually does, just a precaution, up to you tho :)

[454PB]

I use my external hard drive as storage. My computer is old enough that it has USB 1.0, rather than the newer and faster 2.0. Since you are using a computer that is older than mine, I'm sure you would have the same problem. I understand that 2.0 is fast enough to run some programs, but I think it would be impractical.

Still, an external hard drive is very fast, faster than any other storage medium. I keep all my valued data backed up on mine.....digital photos, music, and documents. Presently, they are actually cheaper as well. You can buy a 60 to 80 GB external hard drive for less than a big memory card.

[Char-Gar]

I am not a computor geek, but I frequently delete programs I don't use. Often I find duplicates of the programs. I don't let files, just accumulate. I will store them off the hard drive in a zip drive or CD. I never let my hard drive get more than 50% full. A loaded hard drive will start to give problems long before it gets full.

[Bret4207]

Well, I bought a Western Digital 80G external hard drive at Wally World. For those interested it comes with NO DIRECTIONS beyond "Plug it in and follow the on screen prompts". That got it loaded but gave no info to this wretched idiot on how to USE IT. I finally figured out how to send a file to "Drive F" and it seems to work ok. Theres also a photo program with it I haven't used yet.

I have yet to load it on the "Old" 'puter and see if I can transfer a file entirely between computers. Any assistance would be gratefully accepted and appreciated.

[C A Plater]

First you need USB ports. Your new external hard drive may have an AC adapter but many just draw power from the USB port. Next plug it in and wait a few seconds for the computer to recognize it. Windows will say it found new hardware and it will walk you through the setup process. It is probably already formated and ready to go so once it has setup the driver, you should be ready to go. You will find it under "My Computer" that shows your "C:" drive etc. You can then open it up with the file explorer program and just drag and drop files like any other folder.

[454PB]

Mine is a 80GB Western Digital, probably the same unit. Since you've already got it working, you obviously installed it correctly. The easiest way to move files is to "drag & drop" them, or you can "copy and paste" them. Western Digital has a web site where you can read FAQs and download additional software if you want.

Be sure you use the "safely disconnect hardware" feature. You can damage and corrupt files if it isn't used.

If you upgrade to XP, you will probably have to reformat the drive to NTFS. The default is FAT for previous versions of Windows. It will work on XP with FAT, but will only store a small percentage of it's capacity.

[Bret4207]

454- Thanks, yeah I got it working.I think what I'm asking is can I take a program, Quicken for instance, copy it to the HD and then upload to my other computer without problems? IOW-use it like a CD-R?

[454PB]

Yes, you can store anything on it that can be stored on any other medium (like a CD-R, but much faster). However, moving a software program will require moving the exe. file, not just the folder containing the existing program from one computer to another. Programs like Quiken scatter dll's and other related files all over the hard drive, and they won't be moved along with Quiken unless you can find them and deliberately move them.. The way to do it is to move the executable file that originally installed Quiken on the first computer to the external hard drive, then install Quiken on it. After Quiken is installed on the external drive, files can be moved back and forth between the original computer and the external drive. This assumes you want to be able to run Quiken on the external drive. If you just want to store the files and latter run them on the original computer, just drag and drop them to the external drive. To modify them, move them back to the original computer.

[Bret4207]

Thanks 454- I've got the same Quicken program on both computers, soI'll givr it a try. If I can't transfer the file, I can at least run it from the HD and that'll solve the problem while the "new" 'puter gets fixed.

[Bret4207]

Well, I must have done something right because I transfered the Quicken file and it loaded on the spare without a hitch! This is amazing to a guy to whom a floppy seems really hi-tech. I managed to move all the photos to the HD too. Can't figure out how to move the saved emails, etc. I'll check out the website and see.

My AVG anti-virus program, which I thought was free, isn't. At this point I don't care, I just am glad it seems to work.

I kind of doubt I'll be able to transfer my "Favorites" file from MS IE to Firefox "Bookmarks", but I'm going to check Kim Kommandos (The Digital Goddess) website because I think I heard here mention a program that would do it. I'll let you kow if it's a go.

All in all I'm very well pleased with Firefox, Thunderbird and AVG. The external HD is great! Thanks to all who helped.

[Bret4207]

Found it at www.komando.com The Kim Komando Radio show site. This is supposed to allow you to move Favorites/bookmarks folders between computers.

http://www.linkagogo.com/

It's free, I haven't tried it yet, but Kim has always been right so far. Plus, she's kinda, you know, cute... in a blond, Arizona, about my age kinda way...

[454PB]

It's fairly easy to import your I.E. bookmarks. Open Firefox, and click "bookmarks", then click "manage bookmarks", then click "file", and click "import bookmarks". Select Microsoft Internet Explorer and follow the prompts. You don't need any additional programs, it can all be done right in the browser.

You must have downloaded the pay version of AVG, do you want a link to the free version or are you keeping what you have?

[Bret4207]

454- I thought it was free too. I'll see what it costs and let you know. I've got the version with the firewall, so maybe thats the $$ part.

I'm trying to get bookmarks from one computer and put them on the other. That complicates things, for me at least.

[454PB]

I've done this in the past by e-mailing the bookmarks to myself at one of my hotmail or Yahoo mail accounts. It's a fast and easy way to have all your address books and bookmarks backed up off of your hard drive. Again, you have to export them within Firefox to a file, then just e-mail that exported file to an address that can be accessed on the internet.

[C1PNR]

If you're looking for a free firewall, the ZoneAlarm personal version is pretty well respected. I think it's put out by Zone Labs, or some such.

The free version of the AVG antivirus is well respected too. I think Kim suggests you load more than one anti virus, anti spyware program. She has quite a lot of free downloads that I've used over the years. And you're right, she's not at all hard to look at.[smilie=1:

[OldBob]

Tpr.Brett, here is the link to the free AVG http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ It does not come with the firewall, but as C1PNR says, Zone Alarm is well respected and free. Tiny Personal Firewall is also free and last I knew was well respected, link here http://www.webmasterfree.com/tpfw.html