All kinds of issues with Dell laptop with Vista OS

[computerchallengedcc]

My friend is having all sorts of problems with her laptop.. Says it just
started happening recently, but she is a very basic pc user so can't help in
identifying what is going on. PC specs: Dell Inspiron 1501 1.6 GHz/512 KB
Memory on here says 894 RAM
32bit operating system
80 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive for Inspiron
Has McAfee AV Security Suite 7.0

Here is a list what's happening. 1) Sometimes, shortly after booting up,
everything seems to freeze, can't do anything with mouse, can't open
anything. 2) While using a card making program, when she tries to print on
her HP All-in-One printer, a window opens, telling her she must install the
printer.... this keeps happening everytime she goes to print (checked her
Printer Folder & it showed 5 of the same printer listed, each with a number
behind the printer model, which I assume, means a print job?) 3) Every
program she tries to open is taking an exceptionally long time to load...
Says sometimes she has to click mouse twice to open, sometimes she gets the
blue circle that says it is loading, but not all the time. 4) Inserted a CD
of photos on it (20 pictures only) into her E drive, it sat there- would not
do anything. I tried four times, finally Windows Media opened asking what
she wanted to do with the CD (view pictures, copy, etc) 5) Called last
night & said printer is trying to install again AND NOW- McAfee is coming up
with a problem with McAfee Spam Killer & will McAfee Privacy Service.... says
a window came up about both.
I realize this is alot, but maybe you can tell me where to begin to figure
out what is going on? She has had this laptop for about 9 months- all these
issues just started.
I advised her to call Dell- since less than a year old, should still be
under warranty.Don't know why, but she doesn't want to call Dell... maybe
because she is insecure about trying to do what they may suggest.
i don't know alot about checking things in the Task Manager myself- Got this
information from her pc:
On Process Tab...at the bottom left Process says 90
For CPU usages, it ranged from 3-4-5...
For Physical Memory it was 65%
For Performance Tab
Physical Memory Total - 893
Cached-434
Free-19

Thyank you in advance, for any & all help.

 

[dgmacmi]

My friend is having all sorts of problems with her laptop.. Says it just
started happening recently, but she is a very basic pc user so can't help
in
identifying what is going on. PC specs: Dell Inspiron 1501 1.6 GHz/512 KB
Memory on here says 894 RAM
32bit operating system
80 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive for Inspiron
Has McAfee AV Security Suite 7.0

Here is a list what's happening. 1) Sometimes, shortly after booting up,
everything seems to freeze, can't do anything with mouse, can't open
anything. 2) While using a card making program, when she tries to print
on
her HP All-in-One printer, a window opens, telling her she must install
the
printer.... this keeps happening everytime she goes to print (checked her
Printer Folder & it showed 5 of the same printer listed, each with a
number
behind the printer model, which I assume, means a print job?) 3) Every
program she tries to open is taking an exceptionally long time to load...
Says sometimes she has to click mouse twice to open, sometimes she gets
the
blue circle that says it is loading, but not all the time. 4) Inserted a
CD
of photos on it (20 pictures only) into her E drive, it sat there- would
not
do anything. I tried four times, finally Windows Media opened asking what
she wanted to do with the CD (view pictures, copy, etc) 5) Called last
night & said printer is trying to install again AND NOW- McAfee is coming
up
with a problem with McAfee Spam Killer & will McAfee Privacy Service....
says
a window came up about both.
I realize this is alot, but maybe you can tell me where to begin to figure
out what is going on? She has had this laptop for about 9 months- all
these
issues just started.
I advised her to call Dell- since less than a year old, should still be
under warranty.Don't know why, but she doesn't want to call Dell... maybe
because she is insecure about trying to do what they may suggest.
i don't know alot about checking things in the Task Manager myself- Got
this
information from her pc:
On Process Tab...at the bottom left Process says 90
For CPU usages, it ranged from 3-4-5...
For Physical Memory it was 65%
For Performance Tab
Physical Memory Total - 893
Cached-434
Free-19

Thyank you in advance, for any & all help.

I cannot begin to comment on each set of problems. Here are some:
1) In Task Manager, Processes tab look at the CPU usage {not the total
number of processes in lower left}. If a process is using a lot of CPU, that
could explain the freeze and slow opening. Sometimes a process will get into
a loop and keep on going. Some processes you can just end and see if that
helps. Others you cannot end. You need to know which one to decide. The CPU
usage you site seem reasonable, but you need to check when she is actually
has the freeze or slow problem
2) In Printers, the number after the model is the number to times the
printer has been installed. IMO, she should check with HP to verify that she
has the latest drivers for Vista. When she does, uninstall all the printers,
disconnect the printer and reinstall using the latest Vista drivers from HP.
Connect the printer only when the driver installation directs connection {I
am assuming that the printer is USB}. At least, she should uninstall all but
the lowest number printer driver.
3) See 1).
4) When she inserts the CD of photos, have her use Windows Explorer to
verify that the CD can be seen.
5) Not familiar with McAfee, but she should track down and correct whatever
problems are being reported. The McAfee program may have included support to
identify solutions. Else, she should call McAfee support. If she has not
done so, she should run a full system scan.

Dell has separate support for both covered hardware and software problems.
She should call. If she has a broadband connection, Dell can take over the
computer and check/fix problems.

Hopefully, others can offer more help.

Don

 

[Justbob30]

#1. It needs more memory, anything else is pointless if it really only has
512.....Vista needs 2 gb & memory is cheap, add some now!! if there is 1 512
dim, add a 1 or 2 gb, if there are 2 256, replace it with 2 1gb.
#2. get rid of McAfee in MY opinion it IS a virus in itself.
#3. get a decent virus scanner avast or avg & scan for viruses.
#4. uninstall any other Dell crapware, try spybot it has some nice tools to
identify & stop programs running in the background under its advanced mode.
#5. find and install the latest h/p drivers.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

My friend is having all sorts of problems with her laptop.. Says it just
started happening recently, but she is a very basic pc user so can't help
in
identifying what is going on. PC specs: Dell Inspiron 1501 1.6 GHz/512 KB
Memory on here says 894 RAM
32bit operating system
80 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive for Inspiron
Has McAfee AV Security Suite 7.0

Here is a list what's happening. 1) Sometimes, shortly after booting up,
everything seems to freeze, can't do anything with mouse, can't open
anything. 2) While using a card making program, when she tries to print
on
her HP All-in-One printer, a window opens, telling her she must install
the
printer.... this keeps happening everytime she goes to print (checked her
Printer Folder & it showed 5 of the same printer listed, each with a
number
behind the printer model, which I assume, means a print job?) 3) Every
program she tries to open is taking an exceptionally long time to load...
Says sometimes she has to click mouse twice to open, sometimes she gets
the
blue circle that says it is loading, but not all the time. 4) Inserted a
CD
of photos on it (20 pictures only) into her E drive, it sat there- would
not
do anything. I tried four times, finally Windows Media opened asking what
she wanted to do with the CD (view pictures, copy, etc) 5) Called last
night & said printer is trying to install again AND NOW- McAfee is coming
up
with a problem with McAfee Spam Killer & will McAfee Privacy Service....
says
a window came up about both.
I realize this is alot, but maybe you can tell me where to begin to figure
out what is going on? She has had this laptop for about 9 months- all
these
issues just started.
I advised her to call Dell- since less than a year old, should still be
under warranty.Don't know why, but she doesn't want to call Dell... maybe
because she is insecure about trying to do what they may suggest.
i don't know alot about checking things in the Task Manager myself- Got
this
information from her pc:
On Process Tab...at the bottom left Process says 90
For CPU usages, it ranged from 3-4-5...
For Physical Memory it was 65%
For Performance Tab
Physical Memory Total - 893
Cached-434
Free-19

Thyank you in advance, for any & all help.

All points raised by JustBob. Also, remove ALL toolbars form IE7 and
uninstall them.

If searches are being redirected in IE7, you have a bad case of
malware/spyware which you may or may not be able to remove easily..

Malke has an excellent 'self help' piece on removing malware/spyware..

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[computerchallengedcc]

Thank you all, so very much for taking the time to read my post and for your
very helpful ressponses. I have suggested again, that she call Dell and work
with them to resolve these issues. i have also advised that, since there is
an empty slot on her laptop, to purchase another gig of memory. I will post
again what the final results are. thank you again, very much!