Computer dying - help needed please

[Bob]

I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both memory and
HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been running very slow
which is understandable. In the last couple of weeks it has become
virtually unsuable. Without going into to much detail, I have not been able
to get any ad/spy ware programs to run (they hang up in various spots, some
will not start at all. AVG anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking
about 10 hours to rum - 10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung
up on the following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall. Any
suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

 

[Offbreed]

I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both memory and
HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been running very slow
which is understandable. In the last couple of weeks it has become
virtually unsuable.

"Borrowed laptop", eh? Well, what you can do depends on how much use you
can get out of it. Assuming the owner did not leave anything in there he
or she wanted to keep:

When is the last time you did a surface scan or defragged the hard
drive? Have you cleaned out the temp files?

10G hard drive? Limited?? What are you doing, bunches of multi media?
Burn or copy the data files, images, music, etc to CDs or an external
hard drive. Take the owner's stuff out, too. No damage to it, and make
is less likely to get lost.

Then run some tests.

 

[Postage Stamp]

I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both memory and
HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been running very slow
which is understandable. In the last couple of weeks it has become
virtually unsuable. Without going into to much detail, I have not been able
to get any ad/spy ware programs to run (they hang up in various spots, some
will not start at all. AVG anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking
about 10 hours to rum - 10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung
up on the following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall. Any
suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

Put it in the dustbin

 

[Bob]

"Borrowed laptop", eh? Well, what you can do depends on how much use you
can get out of it. Assuming the owner did not leave anything in there he
or she wanted to keep:

When is the last time you did a surface scan or defragged the hard
drive? Have you cleaned out the temp files?

10G hard drive? Limited?? What are you doing, bunches of multi media?
Burn or copy the data files, images, music, etc to CDs or an external
hard drive. Take the owner's stuff out, too. No damage to it, and make
is less likely to get lost.

Then run some tests.

The HD was very badly fragmented. I had to defrag 3 or 4 times before
Windows said it was okay. That helped. That was about 3 weeks ago. The
performance has dropped significantly in that last couple of weeks though.I
attached an external HD and moved everything I could there (including the
owners stuff). I will be giving the computer back to him in about a month
so I can't be doing anything too drastic. I'm not doing any multimedia
stuff. Email, light web, Quicken, and a few small Word/Excel files.
Outlook became virtually unusable because of speed delays and I switched to
OE6 for email and it helped somewhat.

Bob

 

[Tommy McClure]

I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is interested. See
this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq , a bit old, but most
principles still apply. [W2000 and above have no scandisk programs included.
It was determined that all MS file systems are completely foolproof since
WME and scandisk is no longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk
properties / tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the cleanup
that you used to do manually.

Tommy

 

[Bob]

I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is interested. See
this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq , a bit old, but most
principles still apply. [W2000 and above have no scandisk programs included.
It was determined that all MS file systems are completely foolproof since
WME and scandisk is no longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk
properties / tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the cleanup
that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is one of the
things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of those programs to check
anything. Spybot freezes while saying "initializing scan", Adaware freezes
with the message "scanning process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be
causing this? As I said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

 

[Tommy McClure]

I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is
interested. See this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq ,
a bit old, but most principles still apply. [W2000 and above have no
scandisk programs included. It was determined that all MS file
systems are completely foolproof since WME and scandisk is no
longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk properties /
tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the
cleanup that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is one
of the things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of those
programs to check anything. Spybot freezes while saying
"initializing scan", Adaware freezes with the message "scanning
process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be causing this? As I
said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary crap
programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks and quick
starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be able to do a
proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded from memory, even if
temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably don't have enough memory
either making this even more important. 10Gb should be enough if there's at
least 1gb of free space. Also, configuration of Spybot is important as well
as using the very very latest version. Some of the newer updates are not
compatible with the older main program files. This is important with adaware
too. I got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe mode. This
way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise you get a message
"can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup and use
of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

 

[Bob]

Bob wrote:
I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is
interested. See this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq ,
a bit old, but most principles still apply. [W2000 and above have no
scandisk programs included. It was determined that all MS file
systems are completely foolproof since WME and scandisk is no
longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk properties /
tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the
cleanup that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is one
of the things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of those
programs to check anything. Spybot freezes while saying
"initializing scan", Adaware freezes with the message "scanning
process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be causing this? As I
said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary crap
programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks and quick
starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be able to do a
proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded from memory, even if
temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably don't have enough memory
either making this even more important. 10Gb should be enough if there's at
least 1gb of free space. Also, configuration of Spybot is important as well
as using the very very latest version. Some of the newer updates are not
compatible with the older main program files. This is important with adaware
too. I got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe mode. This
way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise you get a message
"can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup and use
of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

I think you are probably right. I'll work om it from that angle.

Bob

 

[pcbutts1]

First use ccleaner like Tommy said http://www.ccleaner.com/ then use
Remove-it version 13, it's fast and free. It now has over 4000 signatures to
remove All variants of Rogue scanners, Desktop/Homepage Hijackers, Trojans,
Codec's, and related Malware/Spyware. New Feature, Remove-it will now update
your hosts file. This tool is designed to Specifically remove all variants.
Scan time is about 3 minutes. Designed for Windows 2000/XP only. Password is
still required. Remove-it will not lock up on you.
First read this page http://www.pcbutts1.com/downloads then use the email
link on the bottom of the page to receive the software.


Check my feedback and see what others have said about it
http://pcbutts1-therealtruth.blogspot.com/


Feedback is very important to the development of Remove-it.
Let me know how it works. Send feedback here
http://pcbutts1-therealtruth.blogspot.com/

--

Newsgroup Trolls. Read about mine here http://www.pcbutts1.com/downloads
The list grows. Leythos the stalker http://www.leythosthestalker.com, David
H. Lipman, Max M Wachtell III aka What's in a Name?, Fitz,
Rhonda Lea Kirk, Meat Plow, F Kwatu F, George Orwell

"Tommy McClure" <tommylee9_2000(AT)yahoo(DOT)com> wrote in message

Bob wrote:
I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is
interested. See this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq ,
a bit old, but most principles still apply. [W2000 and above have no
scandisk programs included. It was determined that all MS file
systems are completely foolproof since WME and scandisk is no
longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk properties /
tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the
cleanup that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is one
of the things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of those
programs to check anything. Spybot freezes while saying
"initializing scan", Adaware freezes with the message "scanning
process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be causing this? As I
said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary crap
programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks and quick
starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be able to do a
proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded from memory, even if
temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably don't have enough memory
either making this even more important. 10Gb should be enough if there's at
least 1gb of free space. Also, configuration of Spybot is important as well
as using the very very latest version. Some of the newer updates are not
compatible with the older main program files. This is important with adaware
too. I got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe mode.
This
way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise you get a message
"can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup and
use
of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

I think you are probably right. I'll work om it from that angle.

Bob

 

[What's in a Name?]

First use ccleaner like Tommy said http://www.ccleaner.com/ then use
Remove-it version 13, it's fast and free. It now has over 4000 signatures to
remove All variants of Rogue scanners, Desktop/Homepage Hijackers, Trojans,
Codec's, and related Malware/Spyware. New Feature, Remove-it will now update
your hosts file.

And block some good sites that know what butts has done.

This tool is designed to Specifically remove all variants.

Scan time is about 3 minutes. Designed for Windows 2000/XP only. Password is
still required. Remove-it will not lock up on you.
First read this page http://www.pcbutts1.com/downloads then use the email
link on the bottom of the page to receive the software.


Check my feedback and see what others have said about it
Feedback is very important to the development of Remove-it.

Here are some thoughts from real people.
http://www.besttechie.net/2006/09/07/pcbutts1-back-at-it/
http://www.atribune.org/Blog/?p=16
http://www.viruslist.com/en/weblog?weblogid=197597102
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/securityblog/2006/09/07/pcbutts1what-a-royal-pain-in-the-butt/
http://msmvps.com/blogs/spywaresuck...lieve-PCBUTTS1-has-finally-lost-the-plot.aspx
http://www.digg.com/security/PCButts1_Under_Attack
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/pcbutts1.com
http://bughunter.it-mate.co.uk/PCBUTTS.TXT

max

 

[John S]

SNIP ...

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary crap
programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks and quick
starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be able to do a
proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded from memory, even if
temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably don't have enough memory
either making this even more important. 10Gb should be enough if there's at
least 1gb of free space. Also, configuration of Spybot is important as well
as using the very very latest version. Some of the newer updates are not
compatible with the older main program files. This is important with adaware
too. I got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe mode. This
way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise you get a message
"can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup and use
of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

One thing you can do simply, which may help in following some of the other
suggestions, is to disable some of the stuff which runs automatically on
startup.

An easy way to do this is to download the sysinternals programme, autoruns.
Microsoft now owns the sysinternals software, but it can still be
downloaded free. It's quite a small file and can be run simply by running
the executable (no installation required)

Click the "logon" tab and look at the list of stuff which starts
automatically. You can disable anything you don't need just by unticking
its entry in the list and re-starting the computer. The entries will stay
there, and you can easily re-enable them again later if you wish.

Cheers,

John S

 

[rjdriver]

"Tommy McClure" <tommylee9_2000(AT)yahoo(DOT)com> wrote in message

Bob wrote:
I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is
interested. See this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq ,
a bit old, but most principles still apply. [W2000 and above have no
scandisk programs included. It was determined that all MS file
systems are completely foolproof since WME and scandisk is no
longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk properties /
tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the
cleanup that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is one
of the things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of those
programs to check anything. Spybot freezes while saying
"initializing scan", Adaware freezes with the message "scanning
process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be causing this? As I
said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary crap
programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks and quick
starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be able to do a
proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded from memory, even if
temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably don't have enough memory
either making this even more important. 10Gb should be enough if there's at
least 1gb of free space. Also, configuration of Spybot is important as well
as using the very very latest version. Some of the newer updates are not
compatible with the older main program files. This is important with adaware
too. I got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe mode.
This
way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise you get a message
"can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup and
use
of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

I think you are probably right. I'll work om it from that angle.

Bob

Regarding Tommy's excellent advice, did you check to see how much free
space is left on the drive? If it's not 2-3 GB, you (or the owner) should
free some up. (Temp Internet files is good place to start). If there is
enough, check the virtual memory setting and see if the owner has limited it
in some way:

Right click My Computer. Choose Properties, select the Advanced tab and
under Performance, click the Settings button. Click the Advanced button,
and under Virtual memory, note what the paging file size is. If it's 2GB or
more, close the window. If it's less, hit the Change button and see if
Custom size is checked. If it is, and there is more free space available
than is designated, change it to System managed size, click OK, and close
all the windows. Restart and see if things speed up a bit. If there isn't
any extra free space, then you are back to making some. This is all
assuming you feel you have the freedom to do this on someone else's system,
of course.

Once you have enough virtual memory, it it's still running slow, then
look at programs running at start up, and you don't need to download any
programs to get a pretty good idea what's going on. Start, Run, type in
"msconfig". Choose the Start Up tab and take a look at what's checked.
Here's where it gets a bit dicey if you don't know what you're doing, and
also because it's not your computer. And MS didn't make it easy as they
limit the size of the overall window. But you can scroll and widen the
columns, which you'll need to do to be sure what each entry is, and program
it's attached to.

Don't uncheck anything you're not sure of, but look for obvious things
like Real Player (RealPlay), Quicktime(qttask), etc. These do not need to
run at start up. Open the command column to see the full path to help you
decide what's what. If he uses an instant message program, it might be
there. Turn it off for now. He can reset it to autostart later if he
wants. Don't uncheck anything to do with the video card or chip, and leave
alone anything that sounds like anti virus, anti spyware or firewall.

Once done here, restart and see if your anti spyware apps will run
better. And as someone else said, you should run them in Safe Mode.


Bob

 

[Offbreed]

The HD was very badly fragmented. I had to defrag 3 or 4 times before
Windows said it was okay. That helped. That was about 3 weeks ago. The
performance has dropped significantly in that last couple of weeks though.I
attached an external HD and moved everything I could there (including the
owners stuff). I will be giving the computer back to him in about a month
so I can't be doing anything too drastic. I'm not doing any multimedia
stuff. Email, light web, Quicken, and a few small Word/Excel files.
Outlook became virtually unusable because of speed delays and I switched to
OE6 for email and it helped somewhat.

Yeah, sounds like something is going on, alright. Cleaning up is still
step one; get the garbage out of the way so you have room to work, and
scanning the computer does not take as long.

I prefer Norton Speed disk for defrag, and any defrag runs a heck of a
lot faster if I shut down everything but systray and explorer (98SE).

I'd poke around in ebay for a used laptop to mangle. Expect to spend
more for a good battery than on the laptop.

 

[rjdriver]

Bob wrote:
"Tommy McClure" <tommylee9_2000(AT)yahoo(DOT)com> wrote in message

Bob wrote:
I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is
interested. See this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq ,
a bit old, but most principles still apply. [W2000 and above have no
scandisk programs included. It was determined that all MS file
systems are completely foolproof since WME and scandisk is no
longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk properties /
tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the
cleanup that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is one
of the things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of those
programs to check anything. Spybot freezes while saying
"initializing scan", Adaware freezes with the message "scanning
process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be causing this? As I
said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary crap
programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks and
quick
starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be able to do a
proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded from memory, even if
temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably don't have enough memory
either making this even more important. 10Gb should be enough if there's at
least 1gb of free space. Also, configuration of Spybot is important as well
as using the very very latest version. Some of the newer updates are not
compatible with the older main program files. This is important with adaware
too. I got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe mode.
This
way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise you get a message
"can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup and
use
of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

I think you are probably right. I'll work om it from that angle.

Bob

Regarding Tommy's excellent advice, did you check to see how much free
space is left on the drive? If it's not 2-3 GB, you (or the owner) should
free some up. (Temp Internet files is good place to start). If there is
enough, check the virtual memory setting and see if the owner has limited
it in some way:

Right click My Computer. Choose Properties, select the Advanced tab
and under Performance, click the Settings button. Click the Advanced
button, and under Virtual memory, note what the paging file size is. If
it's 2GB or more, close the window. If it's less, hit the Change button
and see if Custom size is checked. If it is, and there is more free space
available than is designated, change it to System managed size, click OK,
and close all the windows. Restart and see if things speed up a bit. If
there isn't any extra free space, then you are back to making some. This
is all assuming you feel you have the freedom to do this on someone else's
system, of course.

Once you have enough virtual memory, it it's still running slow, then
look at programs running at start up, and you don't need to download any
programs to get a pretty good idea what's going on. Start, Run, type in
"msconfig". Choose the Start Up tab and take a look at what's checked.
Here's where it gets a bit dicey if you don't know what you're doing, and
also because it's not your computer. And MS didn't make it easy as they
limit the size of the overall window. But you can scroll and widen the
columns, which you'll need to do to be sure what each entry is, and
program it's attached to.

Don't uncheck anything you're not sure of, but look for obvious things
like Real Player (RealPlay), Quicktime(qttask), etc. These do not need to
run at start up. Open the command column to see the full path to help you
decide what's what. If he uses an instant message program, it might be
there. Turn it off for now. He can reset it to autostart later if he
wants. Don't uncheck anything to do with the video card or chip, and
leave alone anything that sounds like anti virus, anti spyware or
firewall.

Once done here, restart and see if your anti spyware apps will run
better. And as someone else said, you should run them in Safe Mode.


Bob

On second reading, I realized you had Windows 2000, which does not come with
msconfig, but you can download it here:

http://www.techadvice.com/specs/files_dl.asp?fnid=3398288


Bob

 

[Tommy McClure]

"Tommy McClure" <tommylee9_2000(AT)yahoo(DOT)com> wrote in message

Bob wrote:
I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has
been running very slow which is understandable. In the last
couple of weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going
into to much detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware
programs to run (they hang up in various spots, some will not
start at all. AVG anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking
about 10 hours to rum - 10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus
check hung up on the following file all of last night. Does this
name mean anything to anybody? Sound like it has something to do
with an OE6 inistall. Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is
interested. See this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq
, a bit old, but most principles still apply. [W2000 and above
have no scandisk programs included. It was determined that all MS
file systems are completely foolproof since WME and scandisk is no
longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk properties /
tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the
cleanup that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is
one of the things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of
those programs to check anything. Spybot freezes while saying
"initializing scan", Adaware freezes with the message "scanning
process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be causing this? As I
said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary
crap programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks
and quick starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be
able to do a proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded
from memory, even if temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably
don't have enough memory either making this even more important.
10Gb should be enough if there's at least 1gb of free space. Also,
configuration of Spybot is important as well as using the very very
latest version. Some of the newer updates are not compatible with
the older main program files. This is important with adaware too. I
got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe
mode. This way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise
you get a message "can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup
and use of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

I think you are probably right. I'll work om it from that angle.

Bob

Its illuminating to find out how much memory you have to work with .
Find the MyComputer icon on the desktop, rt-click it, and select
"properties"

BTW, msconfig is a nice quick way to see what garbage you have loaded into
your precious memory, problem is W2000 doesn't come with msconfig. Here is
the link http://www.techadvice.com/win2000/m/msconfig_w2k.htm msconfig for
Windows 2000 .I use Regcleaner 4.3 by Jouni Vuoro . The simplest I have
found and reliable. Use the startup list and start looking for unnecessary
programs.


Here's the link: [only 540k]
http://www.worldstart.com/weekly-download/archives/reg-cleaner4.3.htm make
sure backups are enabled. Then if you mess up , you can recover.

on the subject of startups, here is the original link for info and a list of
programs and their importance
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php

Sometimes when you look at a startup item, you find it listed as a trojan or
virus. Then you definitely want to not start it. [this can be frustrating
with trojans, they put their bad stuff back in when you remove it, you would
need Hijack this in that case]

Now that you know what to do, it seems simple , doesn't it?

Tommy

 

[Tommy McClure]

"Tommy McClure" <tommylee9_2000(AT)yahoo(DOT)com> wrote in message

Bob wrote:
I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has
been running very slow which is understandable. In the last
couple of weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going
into to much detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware
programs to run (they hang up in various spots, some will not
start at all. AVG anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking
about 10 hours to rum - 10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus
check hung up on the following file all of last night. Does this
name mean anything to anybody? Sound like it has something to do
with an OE6 inistall. Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

Thanks... Bob

You can probably clean that old laptop up if your friend is
interested. See this page on pc cleanup. http://tinyurl.com/2dzahq
, a bit old, but most principles still apply. [W2000 and above
have no scandisk programs included. It was determined that all MS
file systems are completely foolproof since WME and scandisk is no
longer needed. You can do, a disk check under disk properties /
tools / error checking [very simple check] ]
Don't forget Crap Cleaner "ccleaner", which automates much of the
cleanup that you used to do manually.

Tommy

One of the 1st things on the list is get rid of spyware. This is
one of the things that concerns me the most, I can't get one of
those programs to check anything. Spybot freezes while saying
"initializing scan", Adaware freezes with the message "scanning
process waiting for scanner". Might a virus be causing this? As I
said AVG found nothing and Trend Micro freezes up.

Bob

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary
crap programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks
and quick starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be
able to do a proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded
from memory, even if temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably
don't have enough memory either making this even more important.
10Gb should be enough if there's at least 1gb of free space. Also,
configuration of Spybot is important as well as using the very very
latest version. Some of the newer updates are not compatible with
the older main program files. This is important with adaware too. I
got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe
mode. This way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise
you get a message "can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup
and use of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

I think you are probably right. I'll work om it from that angle.

Bob

here' s a couple of links to programs that somewhat automate the process /
startup programs

http://iknowprocess.com/ very nice process / startup manager real freeware

http://www.answersthatwork.com/TUT_pages/TUT_information.htm The Ultimate
Troubleshooter TUT startup manager process viewer $30 or trial ver limited
to 10 uses.

These would make process identification much easier. They both do very
similar things. The TUT is the best but costs $30 / a few features are
disabled for the trial version, which is still very useful.

http://www.answersthatwork.com/home_page.htm The home page for TUT, includes
a link to a very much more easy to use list of processes under "Task
Manager"


Tommy

 

[Bob]

"Tommy McClure" <tommylee9_2000(AT)yahoo(DOT)com> wrote in message

Bob wrote:
I am using a borrowed laptop with very limited recouces in both
memory and HD size. It is running Windows 2000 and always has been
running very slow which is understandable. In the last couple of
weeks it has become virtually unsuable. Without going into to much
detail, I have not been able to get any ad/spy ware programs to run
(they hang up in various spots, some will not start at all. AVG
anitvirus found nothing wrong (after taking about 10 hours to rum -
10 Gig HD). Trand Micro's online virus check hung up on the
following file all of last night. Does this name mean anything to
anybody? Sound like it has something to do with an OE6 inistall.
Any suggestions?

C:\winnt\$NtUninstallKB937143-IE6SP1-20070717.120000$\spininst

SNIP ...

your laptop probably [very probably] is overloaded with unnecessary crap
programs. Things like hp printer and Adobe Reader update checks and quick
starts for mozilla or Adobe Reader. You probably won't be able to do a
proper scan unless some of those programs are unloaded from memory, even if
temporarily. I see this everyday. You probably don't have enough memory
either making this even more important. 10Gb should be enough if there's at
least 1gb of free space. Also, configuration of Spybot is important as well
as using the very very latest version. Some of the newer updates are not
compatible with the older main program files. This is important with adaware
too. I got rid of my Trend Micro stuff, AVG does just as well, costs less,
and is more ram efficient. Also scans with AVG are best in Safe mode. This
way trojans still being used can be deleted. Otherwise you get a message
"can't delete: file in use"

This link may help
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/security/spyware/spybot/ setup and use
of Spybot including scheduling automatic scans

One thing you can do simply, which may help in following some of the other
suggestions, is to disable some of the stuff which runs automatically on
startup.

An easy way to do this is to download the sysinternals programme, autoruns.
Microsoft now owns the sysinternals software, but it can still be
downloaded free. It's quite a small file and can be run simply by running
the executable (no installation required)

Click the "logon" tab and look at the list of stuff which starts
automatically. You can disable anything you don't need just by unticking
its entry in the list and re-starting the computer. The entries will stay
there, and you can easily re-enable them again later if you wish.

Cheers,

John S

Thanks everyone. I've used many of the recommendations and thing are
looking up.

Bob