sluggish operation

[MARK]

Since friday evening February 13 our windows xp home
edition has been operating extremely sluggishly. I was
using the computer around 5pm and it was working fine.
Later, when I started to use around 9pm, it was messed
up. I was the only one using the computer during this
period. When you click on something, either on the
bottom bar or on the program menu, it takes anywhere from
10 to 30 seconds for that item to come up. Usually when
the item comes up, it operates normally. It also takes
an abnormally long time when I boot up for the hourglass
to disappear (minutes) before I can use the "Start"
button. I have downloaded all of the critical and non-
critical fixes for windows xp home edition. My virus
detection software is up to date and has not found any
viruses on the computer.

I will also note that it took me a long time to type this
e-mail because the cursor would stop and stay in place
for about 5 seconds and then allow me to type for about
two seconds.

Is there some setting on windows xp that has gotten
messed up or is there some other explanation?

Please help!!!

Mark

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Mark;
Start with this:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

 

[Guest]

I checked the site that you suggested and, in most cases,
I have tried what was suggested.

I have run my antivirus (Norton) many times over the last
three days. I have checked to make sure that I have all
of the latest virus updates.

I have rebooted the computer many times, have run disk
clean-up, defrag and removed all the temporary files.
The only one that I did not remove was a folder titled
"LastGood.Tmp". It had about 10 sub folders and I did
not know what it was for.

I do not have file sharing software.

I have run Ad-Aware 6.0 and SpyBot 1.2.

I am sure that all that has helped quite a bit but
nothing seems to improve the sluggish performance.

Another note, for the last two weeks or so, I have been
getting a lot of pop-ups that appear to be related to
Microsoft Internet Explorer. I do not run Explorer. I
use AOL and a dial-up modem.

A final reminder for this evening, this sluggish behavior
just started suddenly. It is not a gradual problem that
has been developing over the last few months.

Also, the problems that I has typing my first message
have not plagued me while I was typing this message.
There a few times when things do perform as they are
supposed to but that is only about once in 50 times if I
am lucky.

I hope this helps your, or anyone else's, analysis.

Thanks.

Mark

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Exactly what type of pop-ups?
Some are caused by spyware.
Were both Ad-Aware 6.0 and SpyBot 1.2 updated within the last week?
Ad-Aware has an update 2 days ago 15 Feb 2004.

Others are the result of no or an ineffective firewall:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283673

Check #10 on the link from my previous post carefully, something may
be there.
Ctrl/Alt/Del twice quickly.
What processes are using the most?

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
An easier way to read newsgroup messages:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/newsgroups/setup.asp
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/

 

[Guest]

Not sure if you are still there but I have gotten the
computer up to snuff again with some effort.

Before I updated Ad-Aware and Spybot, I restored the
computer to 2/12/04, the date before most of the problems
began. That got rid of the sluggish response but not the
slow boot-up.

I then reset the computer so a lot of the excessive
programs would not start on boot-up. That did not seem
to help too much but the active programs decreased from
48 to around 20-21.

I then reloaded Ad-Aware and Spybot and downloaded the
upgrades. I ran them and rebooted and the computer boot-
up time decreased considerably.

I then checked Norton and found that a couple of the
items would not work. I reloaded Norton, downloaded all
of the updates and it now works normally.

Phew!!!

I did notice that after reloading and running Spybot, it
found 80+ items to delete. When I ran it on the 15th, it
had found 180+, so Friday the 13th must have been the
critical date.

I thought I had the XP firewall up and running but the
control panel connection for my dial-up modem
says "Disconnected-Firewalled". I am not sure if that
means the dial-up connection is disconnected (sometimes
it is and sometimes it isn't but the message is always
the same) or if the firewall is disconnected. When I
right click on the connection, the menu comes up with
the "Properties" heading but I cannot get windows to open
the "Properties" window. I will have to check on that.

In the meantime, I will not leave the connection on for
as long a period as I usually do and will search for a
good firewall program. For a free one, PC World
recommends ZoneAlarm for novices like me.

To answer your question. All of the pop-ups I kept
receiving, mostly advertising, ended with "- Microsoft
Internet Explorer", which I do not run.

I mostly use AOL, some games (ones that came with the
computer), Word, Excel and Microsoft Picture It.

Thanks for the help.

Mark