On Thu, 30 Jul 2015 09:47:58 +0100, David Lang wrote:
On 30/07/2015 09:32, Robin wrote:
David Lang wrote:
Hi
New laptop is already starting to run slowly. Piggin Windows 8.
I wonder if it is (in part at least) a matter of perception.
IIRC you went from a pretty old desktop to the new laptop. So the new
laptop was probably faster at booting up, opening programs, opening
photos. You'd have noticed those changes.
It was noticeably faster at first.
Now you are used to it. So you no longer notice the changes. What you
notice instead is that you are again having to wait while the bloody
thing boots up, opens programs etc.
I get the annoying spinning circle and the hour glass now.
Afaicr, the 'annoying' chase its own tale spinning circle replaces the
hour glass mouse pointer.
If so you could of course buy an even newer, more expensive, better
machine; or only use your laptop when drinking and look upon time it
spends booting up etc as opportunities to bend the elbow of your choice
I'll explore the drinking option :-)
It seems to me that that win8 laptop is infested with malware, PuPs and
adware as well as the more mundane fragmented out of all recognition
pagefile. BTW, if that laptop is fitted with an SSD, *don't* subject it
to routine defragmentation. Otoh, if it's a mere HDD, then defragmentation
may do a little bit of good.
I suggest you download:-
SpyBot S&D from https://www.safer-networking.org/
MalwareBytes free antimalware scanner from https://www.malwarebytes.org/
and visit: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ and download "Combofix.exe"
This site is also a good starting point from which to download other
useful tools and, likewise, the majorgeeks web site, specifically for ATF
Cleaner he http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/atf_cleaner.html
I'd recommend you save a copy of ATF Cleaner and ComboFix to the
desktop, run ATF cleaner first, then disable your AV's active protection
before launching ComboFix which will scan for and remove malware and
trojans your AV program (and the other 54 varieties of AV software) seem
so blissfully unaware of.
After that install SpyBot S&D (unchecking the uselsss Teatimer option),
update its database and make sure to apply the passive immunization
against bad web sites which attempt to hit you with a "Drive by Download"
exploit. You can also install Malwarebytes free antimalware on-demand
scanner, taking care to uncheck the 'install googlechrome' option (same
advice applies with Avast's free AV installer).
Don't be *too* surprised at what unwanted malware, trojans and adware is
discovered lurking in the system, just be grateful you were able to
winkle most, if not all, of it out. If you're now feeling paranoid about
the presence of such a huge parasitic load on the laptop, you can also
run other on-demand scanners such as AdwCleaner, Junkware Removal Tool,
RKill (and, RogueKiller) and TDSSKiller to name the few I'm familiar with
(all of which can be downloaded via the bleepingcomputer.org downloads
pages).
Quite often, the only way to be sure of a clean install of windows is to
make backup copies of all your important data onto a removable disk
(photos, home movies, documents, emails (and address books), bookmarked
pages from your favourite web browser(s) and any other crap deemed to be
of vital importance before wiping the windows install to either use the
recovery/rescue media you created or a proper OEM install DVD of the
relevant version of windows (a process referred to as "Nuke and Pave").
Sometimes the quickest way to clear all the malware off of a badly
infected system is to simply Nuke and Pave over the old rather than run
dozens of different antimalware and AV scanners. Either option is going
to be a pain whichever you choose but the obvious starting point is to
try and detect and remove the malware before considering the Nuke & Pave
option.
--
Johnny B Good