What is wrong with my computer?? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Mc]

Just a few days ago, my computer has started slowing down for no apparent reason. If I run anything such as iTunes, games or even opening up an email, my computer will slow down to a crawl and then act normal again. I have noticed that my cpu will shoot up to 100% and then back down to 7 %, then up again. When I boot up, it takes five minutes to load everything up. I have run virus programs & spyware programs with no luck. This computer is driving me nuts!!! HELP!!!!!!


Bill

 

[Mike LS]

Have you gone through your startup programs list and killed the unneded programs one by one yet?

If you'll start with the most unneeded programs first....stop them and then use the computer to see if the problem still exists. Keep going down the list and see if there's a background/startup app that's bogging your system down.

 

[Ed Moxley]

Download Ad-Aware 6 from here:
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10...age&tag=button
Install, and run program about once a week. Takes about 5 - 10 mins. to run.

Download Spybot: Search & Destroy here:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best..._utilities.htm
Run this program about every two weeks. It will find stuff that Ad-Aware doesn't, and vice versa.

Then download the free version of AVG Anti-Virus software at:
http://www.grisoft.com ......... on left side of page, click on "Downloads" and take it from there. This is a great Virus protection program. It found 8 virus' on my pc, that Norton never saw! I run this every two weeks or so, too.

All pc's NEED these three programs, to help keep things running like they should. A friend solved most of HIS pc problems, when he installed and ran Ad-Aware.

Good luck! Keep us posted?

You said you ran virus and spyware programs. Was it these? If not, give them a try. If it was, I'm stumped. These type problems are USUALLY due to spyware, adware and/or virus....

 

[MarkN]

Yep...spy-ware.

I have been using the Beta version of the MS Antispyware for months and it's been great. (Real time monitoring).

 

[Bill Mc]

Just ran Spybot and Adaware and while they did find some spyware, I am still having the same problems. It tends to happen more when my computer is booting up (takes forever) or when I am running an application such as iTunes or simply checking my email through Outlook Express. I have PC-cillin as my virus protection and it gets updated on a dailey basis. I'm stumped. :frowning:



Bill

 

[Ed Moxley]

Did you do as Mike suggested, and go to the startup, and turn off everything that isn't absolutely necessary?

In case you don't know how to get to it................. Go to the "Start" button, at lower left, and click on "Run........" In the box, type "msconfig" and click "OK". Click on "Startup" tab and unclick everything you don't need to startup at bootup. Afterward, you'll need to reboot. When it reboots, a window will open that says something about reconfiguring ............. click the box that says to not show it again. This should help with the bootup time..............
Good luck!

 

[Bill Mc]

Hi Ed.

That was one of the first things I did when I noticed the problem. The strange part about this whole this is that it happened right out of the blue. What I restart the computer, it's slow from the get go. Even before XP fully boots up and the start up programs get booted up, it's slow. Something is sapping all my CPU processing power and causing the slowdown.

Bill

 

[DaveJJ]

Hi Bill, try going to Internet browsers tools file and go to internet options. Delete cookies and delete files including offline content. Good luck Bill!


DaveJJ

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Just to make sure we're covering all the bases -

Have you launched Task Manager and checked the "processes" tab while the system seems to be running slow? This might help identify which itme(s) is the source of the problem. Although Task Manager itself uses system resources, you might want have it load on start-up, or load it manually, and just have it running in the background until things slow down, so you don't have to launch it when in mid-problem.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Mike Voigt]

Suggest you get HijackThis to check what is being loaded.

Then compare it against known lists.

Mike

 

[Ed Moxley]

Have you tried going to a restore point, that was made before this started happening? Not sure this is the problem, but couldn't hurt.
You may have something corrupted in windows, and may need to reinstall.

Are you using a Dell?
I know several people that have Dells, that start experiencing these problems, after they've had it for several months, and these suggestions didn't stop their problems either.

Only other thing I can think of is maybe the HD is starting to go....... :frowning:
Good luck!

 

[Ed Moxley]

Just saw where others have a similar problem.
One guy said he finally fixed his. See how he did it here:

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/ide...?topicID=40927

Hope he helps your's................

 

[Chris]

Also remember, checking your task manager is important as this problem may have nothing to do with spyware. It could just as easily be a rogue USB driver, etc.

Check your event viewer and see if you have any red "X"s to indicate any services in a failure state or hardware problems as well.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

I've seen behaviour like this when the antivirus program has malfunctioned and used up a lot of system resources as well.

The best tip however is probably what has already been mentioned in this thread; bring up the task manager, click on the field for CPU usage to make sure the top CPU hogs are at the top of the list and keep an eye on it as you try to start itunes or something else that is slow. That will tell you what is using the most power when you do.

If you really want to know what your processes are up to, you can also get the free Processexplorer program from http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr.../procexp.shtml - there is a lot of really cool stuff on that site for people who want to know what their machines are up to.

You might also want to try and disconnect your computer from the network, uninstalling all antivirus- and spyware apps and trying to run itunes to see what happens.

Just make sure you reinstall that stuff again or equivalents before reconnecting the machine to the Internet.

You may also want to check your harddrive integrity. Assuming you're on Win XP, 2000 or some such, click on Start, Run and enter: chkdsk /f

You'll probably get a message that chkdsk can't check the drive and a question about checking it next time you boot; select yes, then reboot to do the check.

If you really want to be thorough, do: chkdsk /R

That will take a great deal longer but will do a more exhaustive check of the drive.

 

[Wes]

Ed Moxley
I tried downloading that AGV antivirus program and when I go to install it it asks for a code. Are you sure it's a Free program?

Wes

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

You have to make sure you've downloade the free version. The url is http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 - not the regular www.grisoft.com. (You can find a link from the main site, but you have to dig around for it, and it sends you to the address above.) I don't remember if the installation for the free version also prompts you for a code, but if it does you can just hit "enter" and the program will continue installing. You might want to do what I did when I recently got hit with a virus that disabled my anti-virus software as its first act: Download and install AVG on another computer. Update the program files and virus definitions. Use that computer to create a set of rescue floppies (there doesn't seem to be a "rescue CD" option in the free version - so you'll need 5 diskettes.) Then boot you problem PC off the rescue floppies and let the program run. This will prevent any nasty boot or start-up viruses from loading and scan every file on the machine. Takes awhile, but well worth it.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Wes]

Thanks, I will try that down load! My computer is running fine just no antivirus protection on it. I have seen more problems with norton and other virus protection programs causing other problems I refuse to pay money to get problems so I will give this a try. I love good Freeware!

I have yahoo Spyware remover on my tool bar do you think those other programs would be better?

Wes

 

[Wes]

Thanks, I ran the AVG program today and I only had one Virus, the "Trojan Horse"?

Wes

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Just FYI, a "Trojan horse" is a class of viruses - the kind that arrive disguised as something else (a game, document, a/v file, etc.) - not a particular virus.

They typically show up in e-mail attachments or hidden in macro code within word processing or spreadsheet files, or they may be hidden in apparently begnin software downloads or scripts on a web site.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Bill Mc]

Hmmm. Interesting. I opened the process tabs window and just noticed multiple rundll32.exe running. Could this be the problem?





Bill