Hourglass momentarily appears next to cursor every two minutes

[Guest]

Lately my computer has slowed down and an hourglass momentarily appears next
to the cursor approximately every two minutes and four seconds. This occurs
whether I'm in IE, running a program like Office, or just showing my desktop.
I've run Norton Antivirus -- no viruses. I've disabled my wireless connection
to see if that made a difference -- it didn't, the hourglass still appears.
In looking at the wireless connection, I noticed my firewall was disabled, so
I enabled it. When I did that, the slowness went away but the hourglass still
appeared every two minutes. What does the hourglass signify? TIA.

 

[Malke]

Lately my computer has slowed down and an hourglass momentarily
appears next to the cursor approximately every two minutes and four
seconds. This occurs whether I'm in IE, running a program like Office,
or just showing my desktop. I've run Norton Antivirus -- no viruses.
I've disabled my wireless connection to see if that made a difference
-- it didn't, the hourglass still appears. In looking at the wireless
connection, I noticed my firewall was disabled, so I enabled it. When
I did that, the slowness went away but the hourglass still appeared
every two minutes. What does the hourglass signify? TIA.

This means something is working in the background. The first
troubleshooting step is to check for non-viral malware:

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

If the machine is clean and the problem continues, use Task Manager to
find out what is running. Look in the Applications and Processes
sections. Here are some links where you can identify the processes:

http://www.blackviper.com/
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm

Malke

 

[Guest]

I uninstalled Norton Antivirus, and computer speed went back to normal and no
more hourglass. I've had Norton Antivirus on my computer for months and never
had this problem until a week ago or so. Periodically, I turned off the
real-time scan and turned it back on periodically -- never had a problem.
About a week ago I also turned off the worm protection and the e-mail
protection. That's about the time I started experiencing the slowness and the
hourglass. Don't know why. All I know is when I uninstalled Norton,
everything returned to normal. Now what do I do or a virus program? Just keep
my fingers crossed, I guess.

 

[t.cruise]

Keep it simple, and not something as system draining and bloated like Norton. Many have
their favorites, and will probably recommend them. I have been using the free version of
AVG Antivirus for about two years, along with the free version of the Zone Alarm firewall.
I have not had any infections or problems. AVG seems to keep definitions up to date,
having live updates almost daily. You can download the free version of AVG Antivirus at:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

You do NOT want the TRIAL VERSION. You want the FREE VERSION.

You can download the FREE version of the Standard Zone Alarm firewall at:

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=US&la
ng=en&lid=dbtopnav_zass

During install you are given the option to install Zone Alarm (just the free standard
firewall), or a trial version of Zone Alarm Pro. You want the FREE version of just the
firewall.