P-IV computer slowing down
 

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.

If you're running Windows 2000/ME/XP then have a look in
WINDOWS TASK MANAGER, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE.
Look under the PROCESSES tab and see if any program is using
too much CPU time.
A good system will show everything with a low CPU reading (00-10)
and SYSTEM IDLE PROCESS reading (99)
If a program is using too much cpu time then do a search in
GOOGLE for it.

Example search:- "iexplore.exe high cpu"
a really good newsgroup for these problems is "24hoursupport.helpdesk"

wrote:
I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.
Don't rely on just one spyware checker......Adaware and Spybot my find
different things. Also, is there enough free disk space for the swap file?
It's amazing thse days how quickly a 40GB disk becomes full.

On 29 Dec 2004 18:14:30 -0800, wrote:

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.

What OS? What is slowing down, exactly? Have you regularly defragged
it?

Tom it

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that.

Have you done any other kind of housekeeping on your hard drive, like scandisk
and defrag?

Other things to check out is how many programs are running within your computer
at the same time. For instance, if the right hand part of your taskbar is
fully loaded with icons, then maybe you are running too many resident programs
at once. - Reinhart

If you are running XP, I have always had good luck doing a system
restore. You can set your system back to a date when it was running
properly. Beware, you will lose programs added after the restore date,
so try this as a last resort!

Is there enough free space on your hard drive? Swap file can get cranky
sometimes when you're at less than 20% free capacity...

--
"Stay calm. Be brave. Wait for the signs."

regards,

Frank Johansen
Aurora, Ontario

On 29 Dec 2004 18:14:30 -0800 wrote:

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.

I would download Spybot and Ad-Aware, then install and run both of
them. They are both free, and you should update their data sets as
soon as you install them. New data sets come out for both regularly.

I think you will be surprised at what they find.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

Jim Adney wrote:
On 29 Dec 2004 18:14:30 -0800 wrote:

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.

I would download Spybot and Ad-Aware, then install and run both of
them. They are both free, and you should update their data sets as
soon as you install them. New data sets come out for both regularly.

I think you will be surprised at what they find.

....and at what they don't. I got a particularly bad spyware infestation
which neither of them took care of. When I downloaded a trial version of
System Mechanic, the included AV software found even more spyware problems,
but didn't find some of the ones which Spybot and Ad-Aware found.

What's more, none of those programs did a thorough job of cleaning out all
references to the infection in either the registry or elsewhere.

When your spyware checker finds a particular infestation, after rebooting
run regedit and search for the name of the program in the registry. Likely
you will find it many places.

jak

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

"jakdedert" wrote in message
. ..

| ...and at what they don't. I got a particularly bad spyware infestation
| which neither of them took care of. When I downloaded a trial version of
| System Mechanic, the included AV software found even more spyware
problems,
| but didn't find some of the ones which Spybot and Ad-Aware found.
|
| What's more, none of those programs did a thorough job of cleaning out all
| references to the infection in either the registry or elsewhere.
|
| When your spyware checker finds a particular infestation, after rebooting
| run regedit and search for the name of the program in the registry.
Likely
| you will find it many places.

I had one computer where the user had added some evil toolbar that generated
massive popups for some anti popup software that shut the computer down for
lack of memory. According to what I read, even if you paid for this POS it
didn't work and it wouldn't stop the popups. Trying to remove it with
AdAware etc just caused the computer to lockup. I had to use Giant Spyware
Remover to get rid of it - took me over 2 hours all told.

N

Also open case and check for proper fan operation; vacuum out any dust. CPU's
will go into "slow mode" when running hot...

If you're savvy enough, Hijack this will get rid of many spywares.

Daremo


"jakdedert" wrote in message
. ..
Jim Adney wrote:
On 29 Dec 2004 18:14:30 -0800 wrote:

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.

I would download Spybot and Ad-Aware, then install and run both of
them. They are both free, and you should update their data sets as
soon as you install them. New data sets come out for both regularly.

I think you will be surprised at what they find.

...and at what they don't. I got a particularly bad spyware infestation
which neither of them took care of. When I downloaded a trial version of
System Mechanic, the included AV software found even more spyware
problems,
but didn't find some of the ones which Spybot and Ad-Aware found.

What's more, none of those programs did a thorough job of cleaning out all
references to the infection in either the registry or elsewhere.

When your spyware checker finds a particular infestation, after rebooting
run regedit and search for the name of the program in the registry.
Likely
you will find it many places.

jak

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

Sorry, that's Hijackthis (one word).

Daremo



"Daremo" wrote in message
...
If you're savvy enough, Hijack this will get rid of many spywares.

Daremo


"jakdedert" wrote in message
. ..
Jim Adney wrote:
On 29 Dec 2004 18:14:30 -0800 wrote:

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk. Of
late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking and
spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the reason
for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any solutions
please inform me about that.

I would download Spybot and Ad-Aware, then install and run both of
them. They are both free, and you should update their data sets as
soon as you install them. New data sets come out for both regularly.

I think you will be surprised at what they find.

...and at what they don't. I got a particularly bad spyware infestation
which neither of them took care of. When I downloaded a trial version
of
System Mechanic, the included AV software found even more spyware
problems,
but didn't find some of the ones which Spybot and Ad-Aware found.

What's more, none of those programs did a thorough job of cleaning out
all
references to the infection in either the registry or elsewhere.

When your spyware checker finds a particular infestation, after
rebooting
run regedit and search for the name of the program in the registry.
Likely
you will find it many places.

jak

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

Daremo wrote:
If you're savvy enough, Hijack this will get rid of many spywares.

Daremo

That's part of the problem. Many (most?) packages will get rid of a variety
of infestations. Apparently, none of them will get rid of *all* of them.
Even when they do, something usually gets left behind...often that
'something' hooks up to the mothership and downloads the whole mess again.

jak


"jakdedert" wrote in message
. ..
Jim Adney wrote:
On 29 Dec 2004 18:14:30 -0800 wrote:

I have a P-IV 1.8 Ghz computer with 256MB RAM and 40GB hard disk.
Of late it has become extremely slow. I have done virus checking
and spyware checking. Nothing comes up in that. What could be the
reason for the slowing down of the computer. If anybody has any
solutions please inform me about that.

I would download Spybot and Ad-Aware, then install and run both of
them. They are both free, and you should update their data sets as
soon as you install them. New data sets come out for both regularly.

I think you will be surprised at what they find.

...and at what they don't. I got a particularly bad spyware
infestation which neither of them took care of. When I downloaded a
trial version of System Mechanic, the included AV software found
even more spyware problems, but didn't find some of the ones which
Spybot and Ad-Aware found.

What's more, none of those programs did a thorough job of cleaning
out all references to the infection in either the registry or
elsewhere.

When your spyware checker finds a particular infestation, after
rebooting run regedit and search for the name of the program in the
registry. Likely you will find it many places.

jak

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

"jakdedert" wrote in message
. ..

| That's part of the problem. Many (most?) packages will get rid of a
variety
| of infestations. Apparently, none of them will get rid of *all* of them.
| Even when they do, something usually gets left behind...often that
| 'something' hooks up to the mothership and downloads the whole mess again.

Check out Spybot - Search & Destroy and Resident TeaTimer which locks your
registry and warns you of attempted changes.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/

N

jakdedert stated:

That's part of the problem. Many (most?) packages will get rid of a variety
of infestations. Apparently, none of them will get rid of *all* of them.
Even when they do, something usually gets left behind...often that
'something' hooks up to the mothership and downloads the whole mess again.

When you get everything clean, dump IE and use Mozilla, Firefox,
Netscape or Opera for web browsing - they're less prone to those
"browser hijack" programs. I have used the four and the best ones are
Firefox (freeware - Open Source) and Opera (adware).

[]s
--
Chaos Master®, posting from Canoas, Brazil - 29.55° S / 51.11° W

"People told me I can't dress like a fairy.
I say, I'm in a rock band and I can do what the hell I want!"
-- Amy Lee

Also check that CPU fan is working CPU will slow down drastically when over
heated