Slow Computer - Please Help

  • Thread starter Thread starter Helpless
  • Start date Start date
H

Helpless

Please help me figure out why my computer has become very slow.

Often, just selecting a file in Windows Explorer will bring a rotating
hourglass for a significant amount of time. Even displaying the Start
Menu often hangs up. Every thing seems to be inslow motion when it
starts. But once a program is running, things seem to be running well.

I'm lost.

I don't know where to begin figuring this out. Please help.

Running Win XP SP2 installed.

Thank You

Helpless
 
Helpless said:
Please help me figure out why my computer has become very slow.

Often, just selecting a file in Windows Explorer will bring a rotating
hourglass for a significant amount of time. Even displaying the Start
Menu often hangs up. Every thing seems to be inslow motion when it
starts. But once a program is running, things seem to be running well.

I'm lost.

I don't know where to begin figuring this out. Please help.

Running Win XP SP2 installed.

Thank You

Helpless
Click to expand...

Well it could be many things.
Open up 'Task Manager' and see what is taking up your memory, and is the
cpu at 100%
Have you got a firewall running (advised) and have you checked for
adware/spyware. Also have you ran your antivirus prog lately, and if so
what has it found?

HTH
 
First, thanks for the feedback. Please read on...

Spyware/Virus Removal and Prevention:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/windowsxpsolutions.htm
(Links to online virus scans on the same page)
Click to expand...

I'm overly cautious. Run a virus scan almost every day, keep defs up
to the minute, etc. And also run Spybot regularly. I really doubt
there is a malware infestation, BUT...
How to optimize Windows XP, 2000, ME
for the best performance (Step-by-step Visual Guide):
http://www.fixyourwindows.com
Click to expand...

This looks potentially very helpful. I have done some tweaking months
ago which improved my boot and shutdown time enormously. But this
page, at a quick glance looks like it has a lot more to offer. I will
spend some time really checking it out. Thanks so much for this link.
Good Luck!
Click to expand...

I installed SP2 from CD. I'm pretty sure this isn't an SP2 related
issue.

About a week ago I asked a question here which somehow never got any
attention. Maybe you can answer. If you can, or can point me to where
I can find out, I'd be very grateful.

Is there a limit, or recommended maximum on the number of
Folders/Directories and/or Sub Folders etc?

I ask because by far the largest part of my hard disk is devoted to
music files.(over 40 gig!) One directory with a dozen sub directories,
and then one of those has over. 521total folders and sub folders,
5,905 files. I can't help but wonder if this concentration of files is
somehow an overload for the system. (Or I may just be an idiot!) Any
feedback you might be able to give me on this would be enormously
appreciated.

thanks again

Helpless
 
Well it could be many things.
Open up 'Task Manager' and see what is taking up your memory, and is the
cpu at 100%
Have you got a firewall running (advised) and have you checked for
adware/spyware. Also have you ran your antivirus prog lately, and if so
what has it found?

HTH
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. already checked everything you have
mentioned. CPU use is always really low. I don't think I've ever seen
it reach over 50%, and that only happens when I write to a cd. Most of
the time it is under 20%

Most usage is by Mozilla, under 10,000 k most of the time,
occasionally as high as 15,000. Most of the time I have more than half
my ram available, very occasionally dropping low, and that is only
when I am writing to a cd. It has always been that way.

I do a virus scan every night, keep defs up to the minute, and run
sysbot also.

Have only had three items ever found by Virus Software, over the
course of many years, and the last was many months ago.

And I have just installed a supposedly more agressive and accurate
Virus checker, NOD 32, and it found nothing. I had used Norton for
years, but got totally sick of the lack of support. And this new (to
me) program supposedly has the highest rate of accuracy available.

Firewall is Windows XP's. I'm on dial-up, don't see why I need more.

This is SO frustrating. I have just been to, and am still reading the
link 'r' provided, and so far I have already long ago done just about
everything recommended. If it is a matter of tweaking this computer
should be blazing away....

SOOOOO frustrating.

thanks again for the feedback.

Any and all further ideas gratefully accepted and explored.

Helpless
 
The cpu usage in xp is the amount free being shown - not what's being used.
It should be showing approx 97% when idle.
 
The cpu usage in xp is the amount free being shown - not what's being used.
It should be showing approx 97% when idle.
Click to expand...

Now that's very interesting, and confusing. Idle to me means not doing
anything, which is never the case with my computer.I've always got
several things going.

Normal operation usually means downloading binaries from Newsgroups
while surfing the web, and listening to mp3's. That's exactly what's
happening now, plus Virus Checking being active, and eMail being spam
filtered and checked every I5 minutes, and a little utility called
Free Ram Pro, which I have been using for years. ( It also shows CPU
usage, which more or less matches the Task Manager, and it shows what
it calls True Adjusted Memory Load, which is almost always around 33%)

Right now the CPU usage in Task manager is jumping around between 5% &
15%. Does that seem correct? Whenever I may have glanced there seems
to me it was always about that.

Truth is, until quite recently I never had much problem with XP,
other than doing some tweaking to improve boot and shutdown times.
I've just re-examined that tweaking, and everything is still as it
was.

And I haven't made any significant changes. SP 2 was installed from
CD, without a problem, and that was quite a while ago. This slowdown
does not seem to me to be the result of SP2. I install all recommended
Critical updates from XP.

I defrag regularly, Virus Scan daily, Spybot 2x a week. Just did a
disc check, I have, I think, good housekeeping practices on my
computer.

But somehow.... I must have done SOMETHING wrong...

Just can't figure out what that is...

Thanks

Helpless
 
I should have said that under "Processes" the cpu free is shown as System
Idle Process"
What are you showing there ?
 
Thanks for the clarification. I was beginning to think I was nuts.

At the moment, with every thing noted below running, that reads 98%.
Sounds normal and healthy to me.

Thanks for the clarificatation.

Back to finding other causes.....

Helpless
 
Empty your Temporary Internet Files Folder, Temp Folder and you could also
empty your Prefetch Folder as well. You should make the Temporary Internet
File smaller. I set mine to 50 meg. The default was a ridiculous 1.6 Gigs.

There is a program called CCleaner that I use to freshen my XP when it seems
slow.
You can get it here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4191.html
 
Again, thanks so much for sticking with me!

I believe I am making some headway:

Found a print spooler fromEpson which I had disabled had somehow snuck
back in. Disabled it.

Found an outdated, useless Creative Labs CD Service. Disabled it

Disabled DAMON, Dell utility supposedly making support easier. Yeah,
Right....

Things seem a bit better. but not yet good enough. Still working at
it, Still looking. see below

Empty your Temporary Internet Files Folder, Temp Folder and you could also
empty your Prefetch Folder as well. You should make the Temporary Internet
File smaller. I set mine to 50 meg. The default was a ridiculous 1.6 Gigs.
Click to expand...
Temporary Internet Files Folder is always empty after boot. Is empty
now even after a full days worth of surfing....

Temp folder at present is only 700 k. Seems harmless to me. but will
delete.

Prefetch has only last 4 days worth, which is less than CCleaner says
it leaves you with. I think I will leave that.
There is a program called CCleaner that I use to freshen my XP when it seems
slow.
You can get it here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4191.html
Click to expand...
Yeah, just before I came back here, I stumbled upon that one. Plan to
go back and get it.

Little by little I am starting to see some changes.

If anything else occurs to you, it will be most appreciated,

Thanks again
Helpless
 
First thing - What is your first name ? I don't want to call you Helpless !
You probably guessed mine is Ron.

Have you had a look in msconfig Startup to see what is loading with XP ?
How about looking in services as well.

Ron
 
First thing - What is your first name ? I don't want to call you Helpless !
You probably guessed mine is Ron.
Click to expand...
But I thought that anonymity was an essential part of online
communicaation! :)

I'm Steve. How do you do, Ron? :)
Have you had a look in msconfig Startup to see what is loading with XP ?
How about looking in services as well.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah. That is why this has been so frustrating. I had done all
those things, months ago, with good results, and am reviewing what I
have done, and finding new tweak and optimize info pages through the
link my first responder provided. And as I mentioned I have found a
couple of newer things, and making some progress, I think.

I hope you have the patience to plod through what follows.

You mentioned CCleaner in your last post. I just installed it, and I
am looking at it now. It has no help file, and parts of it is not at
all clear and obvious to me. There is one BIG question, as well as
some details I can't make sense of.

(I am really feeling like an idiot about now. Too much dealing with
the computer gets a bit much after a while.)

The BIG question is how to undo what it does, particularly with regard
to the Registry. In the article I read which led me to it, they say
you can set it to make a backup, and then if something isn't right you
can reverse it. But I don't see that, or any way to select such an
option.

The applications tab: I don't understand what is intended in some
cases with the programs listed. Under Multimedia it lists such things
as Macromedia Player, Paint Shop Pro, AVI preview, etc. I have no idea
what it is supposed to be doing regarding these. Surely it is not
intending to delete these files!

It also lists SpyBot, WInZip, WInRar! What does it intend to "clean"
in regard to these Programs. Acrobat is listed, and Office. What is it
going to "clean" in regard to these???

In the Registry it lists such things as fonts. I have hundrends of
unused, uninstalled fonts, which occasionally I do use. Is ccleaner
going to remove them?

In regard to Cookies, under options, I am guessing they are referring
to Internet Explorer Cookies, not Mozilla. It does not appear to me
that most of the really useful Cookies that I do use, in Mozilla, are
there. And I see that Mozilla is and it's cookies and cache are
listed under applications, so I can't be selective about those
cookies.

Do I seem as much an idiot as I feel?

Now you know why my nom de guerre is Helpless :)

And tired at this moment... G'night.. Will check with the group in
the AM... Have a good night (or morning, depending on you
hemisphere...)

Steve
 
Hi Steve,

When you actually run CCleaner it will then give you the option of backing
up the registry.

I allow it to remove everything it finds. Any cookie information that may
be required can be fixed the next time you visit a certain web page by re
entering the information.
I find that is safer than to possibly leave any unwanted info in the cookie
department.

As for it showing all those other files - None of my programs have stopped
working after running CCLeaner. It removes recent temp files etc but will
not remove the program.

If you want to keep all your fonts you can uncheck them in Issues before
running it. You can also set to Ignore certain cookies.

Run it, Backup the registry and see how things are. It definitely gets rid
of a lot of crap !

Here's something else you can use :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

It's free to use for 270 days.

Ron
 
Hi Ron

Damn....

I feel like I have entered into some state of Brain Freeze!

I ran CCleaner. I see no option to back up. The window is still open.
Long list of what it has found/deleted(?) No button or anything which
says "Backup"

I posted a question on their Forum, the response was "when you
delete" you'll get the option to backup. I don't see "delete" button.
All I see is Tools, Options. Exit.

ARRGGGHHHH!]

Help!

:):)

Steve
 
You get the backup window when you do the Issues Scan.

Helpless said:
Hi Ron

Damn....

I feel like I have entered into some state of Brain Freeze!

I ran CCleaner. I see no option to back up. The window is still open.
Long list of what it has found/deleted(?) No button or anything which
says "Backup"

I posted a question on their Forum, the response was "when you
delete" you'll get the option to backup. I don't see "delete" button.
All I see is Tools, Options. Exit.

ARRGGGHHHH!]

Help!

:):)

Steve

Hi Steve,

When you actually run CCleaner it will then give you the option of backing
up the registry.

I allow it to remove everything it finds. Any cookie information that may
be required can be fixed the next time you visit a certain web page by re
entering the information.
I find that is safer than to possibly leave any unwanted info in the
cookie
department.

As for it showing all those other files - None of my programs have stopped
working after running CCLeaner. It removes recent temp files etc but will
not remove the program.

If you want to keep all your fonts you can uncheck them in Issues before
running it. You can also set to Ignore certain cookies.

Run it, Backup the registry and see how things are. It definitely gets rid
of a lot of crap !

Here's something else you can use :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

It's free to use for 270 days.

Ron
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Ron,

Yeah, I just found that by doing a search of the forums. It's not at
all obvious, at least to me, that you need to do a separate scan for
that tab.

This whole thing has got me totally exhausted and feeling moronic.
(I'm kinda nervous about re-booting at this point. I assume the
changes Ccleaner made won't come into effect until I do. Messing with
the regisrtry just makes me nervous)

Thanks SO much for your help.

If any further issues come up, May I simply start a thread
ATT: RONK ? and dump the rest of this increasingly LOOOOONG post?

I really appreciate all this.

Steve


You get the backup window when you do the Issues Scan.

Helpless said:
Hi Ron

Damn....

I feel like I have entered into some state of Brain Freeze!

I ran CCleaner. I see no option to back up. The window is still open.
Long list of what it has found/deleted(?) No button or anything which
says "Backup"

I posted a question on their Forum, the response was "when you
delete" you'll get the option to backup. I don't see "delete" button.
All I see is Tools, Options. Exit.

ARRGGGHHHH!]

Help!

:):)

Steve

Hi Steve,

When you actually run CCleaner it will then give you the option of backing
up the registry.

I allow it to remove everything it finds. Any cookie information that may
be required can be fixed the next time you visit a certain web page by re
entering the information.
I find that is safer than to possibly leave any unwanted info in the
cookie
department.

As for it showing all those other files - None of my programs have stopped
working after running CCLeaner. It removes recent temp files etc but will
not remove the program.

If you want to keep all your fonts you can uncheck them in Issues before
running it. You can also set to Ignore certain cookies.

Run it, Backup the registry and see how things are. It definitely gets rid
of a lot of crap !

Here's something else you can use :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

It's free to use for 270 days.

Ron

First thing - What is your first name ? I don't want to call you
Helpless
!
You probably guessed mine is Ron.

But I thought that anonymity was an essential part of online
communicaation! :)

I'm Steve. How do you do, Ron? :)

Have you had a look in msconfig Startup to see what is loading with XP
?
How about looking in services as well.

Oh yeah. That is why this has been so frustrating. I had done all
those things, months ago, with good results, and am reviewing what I
have done, and finding new tweak and optimize info pages through the
link my first responder provided. And as I mentioned I have found a
couple of newer things, and making some progress, I think.

I hope you have the patience to plod through what follows.

You mentioned CCleaner in your last post. I just installed it, and I
am looking at it now. It has no help file, and parts of it is not at
all clear and obvious to me. There is one BIG question, as well as
some details I can't make sense of.

(I am really feeling like an idiot about now. Too much dealing with
the computer gets a bit much after a while.)

The BIG question is how to undo what it does, particularly with regard
to the Registry. In the article I read which led me to it, they say
you can set it to make a backup, and then if something isn't right you
can reverse it. But I don't see that, or any way to select such an
option.

The applications tab: I don't understand what is intended in some
cases with the programs listed. Under Multimedia it lists such things
as Macromedia Player, Paint Shop Pro, AVI preview, etc. I have no idea
what it is supposed to be doing regarding these. Surely it is not
intending to delete these files!

It also lists SpyBot, WInZip, WInRar! What does it intend to "clean"
in regard to these Programs. Acrobat is listed, and Office. What is it
going to "clean" in regard to these???

In the Registry it lists such things as fonts. I have hundrends of
unused, uninstalled fonts, which occasionally I do use. Is ccleaner
going to remove them?

In regard to Cookies, under options, I am guessing they are referring
to Internet Explorer Cookies, not Mozilla. It does not appear to me
that most of the really useful Cookies that I do use, in Mozilla, are
there. And I see that Mozilla is and it's cookies and cache are
listed under applications, so I can't be selective about those
cookies.

Do I seem as much an idiot as I feel?

Now you know why my nom de guerre is Helpless :)

And tired at this moment... G'night.. Will check with the group in
the AM... Have a good night (or morning, depending on you
hemisphere...)

Steve
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
No problem.
Just reboot - it will be fine. Let me know if there is an increase in your
performance.


Helpless said:
Hi Ron,

Yeah, I just found that by doing a search of the forums. It's not at
all obvious, at least to me, that you need to do a separate scan for
that tab.

This whole thing has got me totally exhausted and feeling moronic.
(I'm kinda nervous about re-booting at this point. I assume the
changes Ccleaner made won't come into effect until I do. Messing with
the regisrtry just makes me nervous)

Thanks SO much for your help.

If any further issues come up, May I simply start a thread
ATT: RONK ? and dump the rest of this increasingly LOOOOONG post?

I really appreciate all this.

Steve


You get the backup window when you do the Issues Scan.

Helpless said:
Hi Ron

Damn....

I feel like I have entered into some state of Brain Freeze!

I ran CCleaner. I see no option to back up. The window is still open.
Long list of what it has found/deleted(?) No button or anything which
says "Backup"

I posted a question on their Forum, the response was "when you
delete" you'll get the option to backup. I don't see "delete" button.
All I see is Tools, Options. Exit.

ARRGGGHHHH!]

Help!

:):)

Steve


Hi Steve,

When you actually run CCleaner it will then give you the option of
backing
up the registry.

I allow it to remove everything it finds. Any cookie information that
may
be required can be fixed the next time you visit a certain web page by
re
entering the information.
I find that is safer than to possibly leave any unwanted info in the
cookie
department.

As for it showing all those other files - None of my programs have
stopped
working after running CCLeaner. It removes recent temp files etc but
will
not remove the program.

If you want to keep all your fonts you can uncheck them in Issues before
running it. You can also set to Ignore certain cookies.

Run it, Backup the registry and see how things are. It definitely gets
rid
of a lot of crap !

Here's something else you can use :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

It's free to use for 270 days.

Ron

First thing - What is your first name ? I don't want to call you
Helpless
!
You probably guessed mine is Ron.

But I thought that anonymity was an essential part of online
communicaation! :)

I'm Steve. How do you do, Ron? :)

Have you had a look in msconfig Startup to see what is loading with
XP
?
How about looking in services as well.

Oh yeah. That is why this has been so frustrating. I had done all
those things, months ago, with good results, and am reviewing what I
have done, and finding new tweak and optimize info pages through the
link my first responder provided. And as I mentioned I have found a
couple of newer things, and making some progress, I think.

I hope you have the patience to plod through what follows.

You mentioned CCleaner in your last post. I just installed it, and I
am looking at it now. It has no help file, and parts of it is not at
all clear and obvious to me. There is one BIG question, as well as
some details I can't make sense of.

(I am really feeling like an idiot about now. Too much dealing with
the computer gets a bit much after a while.)

The BIG question is how to undo what it does, particularly with regard
to the Registry. In the article I read which led me to it, they say
you can set it to make a backup, and then if something isn't right you
can reverse it. But I don't see that, or any way to select such an
option.

The applications tab: I don't understand what is intended in some
cases with the programs listed. Under Multimedia it lists such things
as Macromedia Player, Paint Shop Pro, AVI preview, etc. I have no idea
what it is supposed to be doing regarding these. Surely it is not
intending to delete these files!

It also lists SpyBot, WInZip, WInRar! What does it intend to "clean"
in regard to these Programs. Acrobat is listed, and Office. What is it
going to "clean" in regard to these???

In the Registry it lists such things as fonts. I have hundrends of
unused, uninstalled fonts, which occasionally I do use. Is ccleaner
going to remove them?

In regard to Cookies, under options, I am guessing they are referring
to Internet Explorer Cookies, not Mozilla. It does not appear to me
that most of the really useful Cookies that I do use, in Mozilla, are
there. And I see that Mozilla is and it's cookies and cache are
listed under applications, so I can't be selective about those
cookies.

Do I seem as much an idiot as I feel?

Now you know why my nom de guerre is Helpless :)

And tired at this moment... G'night.. Will check with the group in
the AM... Have a good night (or morning, depending on you
hemisphere...)

Steve
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Ron, (if you're still out there.... i've been flu-ish for a couple
of days...sorry for the silence.)

There remains significantly slow performance at times. Particularly
when accessing files through MyComputer/WindowsExplorer. Often takes
quite a while when going from one directory to another. Opening
applications also seems to be taking much more time than seems normal.
On a couple of occasions it has taken minutes.

Oddly, once something is running it seems to be fine.

I have run out of ideas.

CCleaner did get rid of lots of junk. Flushed much garbage from the
registry.

I have tweaked whatever can be tweaked.

Have no idea what to tackle next.

Thanks for all your help

Steve

No problem.
Just reboot - it will be fine. Let me know if there is an increase in your
performance.


Helpless said:
Hi Ron,

Yeah, I just found that by doing a search of the forums. It's not at
all obvious, at least to me, that you need to do a separate scan for
that tab.

This whole thing has got me totally exhausted and feeling moronic.
(I'm kinda nervous about re-booting at this point. I assume the
changes Ccleaner made won't come into effect until I do. Messing with
the regisrtry just makes me nervous)

Thanks SO much for your help.

If any further issues come up, May I simply start a thread
ATT: RONK ? and dump the rest of this increasingly LOOOOONG post?

I really appreciate all this.

Steve


You get the backup window when you do the Issues Scan.

Hi Ron

Damn....

I feel like I have entered into some state of Brain Freeze!

I ran CCleaner. I see no option to back up. The window is still open.
Long list of what it has found/deleted(?) No button or anything which
says "Backup"

I posted a question on their Forum, the response was "when you
delete" you'll get the option to backup. I don't see "delete" button.
All I see is Tools, Options. Exit.

ARRGGGHHHH!]

Help!

:):)

Steve


Hi Steve,

When you actually run CCleaner it will then give you the option of
backing
up the registry.

I allow it to remove everything it finds. Any cookie information that
may
be required can be fixed the next time you visit a certain web page by
re
entering the information.
I find that is safer than to possibly leave any unwanted info in the
cookie
department.

As for it showing all those other files - None of my programs have
stopped
working after running CCLeaner. It removes recent temp files etc but
will
not remove the program.

If you want to keep all your fonts you can uncheck them in Issues before
running it. You can also set to Ignore certain cookies.

Run it, Backup the registry and see how things are. It definitely gets
rid
of a lot of crap !

Here's something else you can use :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

It's free to use for 270 days.

Ron

First thing - What is your first name ? I don't want to call you
Helpless
!
You probably guessed mine is Ron.

But I thought that anonymity was an essential part of online
communicaation! :)

I'm Steve. How do you do, Ron? :)

Have you had a look in msconfig Startup to see what is loading with
XP
?
How about looking in services as well.

Oh yeah. That is why this has been so frustrating. I had done all
those things, months ago, with good results, and am reviewing what I
have done, and finding new tweak and optimize info pages through the
link my first responder provided. And as I mentioned I have found a
couple of newer things, and making some progress, I think.

I hope you have the patience to plod through what follows.

You mentioned CCleaner in your last post. I just installed it, and I
am looking at it now. It has no help file, and parts of it is not at
all clear and obvious to me. There is one BIG question, as well as
some details I can't make sense of.

(I am really feeling like an idiot about now. Too much dealing with
the computer gets a bit much after a while.)

The BIG question is how to undo what it does, particularly with regard
to the Registry. In the article I read which led me to it, they say
you can set it to make a backup, and then if something isn't right you
can reverse it. But I don't see that, or any way to select such an
option.

The applications tab: I don't understand what is intended in some
cases with the programs listed. Under Multimedia it lists such things
as Macromedia Player, Paint Shop Pro, AVI preview, etc. I have no idea
what it is supposed to be doing regarding these. Surely it is not
intending to delete these files!

It also lists SpyBot, WInZip, WInRar! What does it intend to "clean"
in regard to these Programs. Acrobat is listed, and Office. What is it
going to "clean" in regard to these???

In the Registry it lists such things as fonts. I have hundrends of
unused, uninstalled fonts, which occasionally I do use. Is ccleaner
going to remove them?

In regard to Cookies, under options, I am guessing they are referring
to Internet Explorer Cookies, not Mozilla. It does not appear to me
that most of the really useful Cookies that I do use, in Mozilla, are
there. And I see that Mozilla is and it's cookies and cache are
listed under applications, so I can't be selective about those
cookies.

Do I seem as much an idiot as I feel?

Now you know why my nom de guerre is Helpless :)

And tired at this moment... G'night.. Will check with the group in
the AM... Have a good night (or morning, depending on you
hemisphere...)

Steve
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hi Steve,

Go into Device Manager and under IDE ATA ATAPI - check the Advanced Tab in
Properties there and see if the hard drive is at UDMA 5 or 6.


Helpless said:
Hi Ron, (if you're still out there.... i've been flu-ish for a couple
of days...sorry for the silence.)

There remains significantly slow performance at times. Particularly
when accessing files through MyComputer/WindowsExplorer. Often takes
quite a while when going from one directory to another. Opening
applications also seems to be taking much more time than seems normal.
On a couple of occasions it has taken minutes.

Oddly, once something is running it seems to be fine.

I have run out of ideas.

CCleaner did get rid of lots of junk. Flushed much garbage from the
registry.

I have tweaked whatever can be tweaked.

Have no idea what to tackle next.

Thanks for all your help

Steve

No problem.
Just reboot - it will be fine. Let me know if there is an increase in your
performance.


Helpless said:
Hi Ron,

Yeah, I just found that by doing a search of the forums. It's not at
all obvious, at least to me, that you need to do a separate scan for
that tab.

This whole thing has got me totally exhausted and feeling moronic.
(I'm kinda nervous about re-booting at this point. I assume the
changes Ccleaner made won't come into effect until I do. Messing with
the regisrtry just makes me nervous)

Thanks SO much for your help.

If any further issues come up, May I simply start a thread
ATT: RONK ? and dump the rest of this increasingly LOOOOONG post?

I really appreciate all this.

Steve



You get the backup window when you do the Issues Scan.

Hi Ron

Damn....

I feel like I have entered into some state of Brain Freeze!

I ran CCleaner. I see no option to back up. The window is still open.
Long list of what it has found/deleted(?) No button or anything which
says "Backup"

I posted a question on their Forum, the response was "when you
delete" you'll get the option to backup. I don't see "delete" button.
All I see is Tools, Options. Exit.

ARRGGGHHHH!]

Help!

:):)

Steve


Hi Steve,

When you actually run CCleaner it will then give you the option of
backing
up the registry.

I allow it to remove everything it finds. Any cookie information that
may
be required can be fixed the next time you visit a certain web page by
re
entering the information.
I find that is safer than to possibly leave any unwanted info in the
cookie
department.

As for it showing all those other files - None of my programs have
stopped
working after running CCLeaner. It removes recent temp files etc but
will
not remove the program.

If you want to keep all your fonts you can uncheck them in Issues
before
running it. You can also set to Ignore certain cookies.

Run it, Backup the registry and see how things are. It definitely gets
rid
of a lot of crap !

Here's something else you can use :
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

It's free to use for 270 days.

Ron

First thing - What is your first name ? I don't want to call you
Helpless
!
You probably guessed mine is Ron.

But I thought that anonymity was an essential part of online
communicaation! :)

I'm Steve. How do you do, Ron? :)

Have you had a look in msconfig Startup to see what is loading with
XP
?
How about looking in services as well.

Oh yeah. That is why this has been so frustrating. I had done all
those things, months ago, with good results, and am reviewing what
I
have done, and finding new tweak and optimize info pages through the
link my first responder provided. And as I mentioned I have found a
couple of newer things, and making some progress, I think.

I hope you have the patience to plod through what follows.

You mentioned CCleaner in your last post. I just installed it, and
I
am looking at it now. It has no help file, and parts of it is not at
all clear and obvious to me. There is one BIG question, as well as
some details I can't make sense of.

(I am really feeling like an idiot about now. Too much dealing with
the computer gets a bit much after a while.)

The BIG question is how to undo what it does, particularly with
regard
to the Registry. In the article I read which led me to it, they say
you can set it to make a backup, and then if something isn't right
you
can reverse it. But I don't see that, or any way to select such an
option.

The applications tab: I don't understand what is intended in some
cases with the programs listed. Under Multimedia it lists such
things
as Macromedia Player, Paint Shop Pro, AVI preview, etc. I have no
idea
what it is supposed to be doing regarding these. Surely it is not
intending to delete these files!

It also lists SpyBot, WInZip, WInRar! What does it intend to "clean"
in regard to these Programs. Acrobat is listed, and Office. What is
it
going to "clean" in regard to these???

In the Registry it lists such things as fonts. I have hundrends of
unused, uninstalled fonts, which occasionally I do use. Is ccleaner
going to remove them?

In regard to Cookies, under options, I am guessing they are
referring
to Internet Explorer Cookies, not Mozilla. It does not appear to me
that most of the really useful Cookies that I do use, in Mozilla,
are
there. And I see that Mozilla is and it's cookies and cache are
listed under applications, so I can't be selective about those
cookies.

Do I seem as much an idiot as I feel?

Now you know why my nom de guerre is Helpless :)

And tired at this moment... G'night.. Will check with the group in
the AM... Have a good night (or morning, depending on you
hemisphere...)

Steve
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top