system slow

[Guest]

my system is very slow lately and I dont know how to check what is wrong. it plays MP3s intermittanly and everything is slow i have even downloaded the latest media player 9 and it is still not playing correctly I have increased the buffer to 50secs but that had no effect so I am guessing I will have to format and redo the whole system
any idea's anyone I dont want to format!!

JohnCoke

 

[Shenan Stanley]

my system is very slow lately and I dont know how to check what is
wrong. it plays MP3s intermittanly and everything is slow i have even
downloaded the latest media player 9 and it is still not playing
correctly I have increased the buffer to 50secs but that had no
effect so I am guessing I will have to format and redo the whole
system. any idea's anyone I dont want to format!!!

Clean up that system of Viruses/Trojans/Spyware..

Please Notice that if you use AOL, you should at least upgrade to 9.0 or
greater before doing any of the fixes. I know you can get AOL 9.0 at almost
any convenience store, gas station, super market or other retail outlet in
the world, so this should not be a problem. Also, if you are using AOL 9.0,
you will not be able to perform the first step in this list. You should
look into another solution, such as ZoneAlarm, for a firewall.


Turn on that firewall...
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/home/using/howto/homenet/icf.asp


Make sure you have all the updates (critical) installed from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
(Scan for updates, Review and Install)


Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these..
I recommend at least the first three. Also..
UPDATE the definitions for them before using.)

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.net/

Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de

CWSShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Hijack This!
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

I also like "The Cleaner" and "SpywareBlaster" and "SpywareGuard".
- http://www.moosoft.com/
- http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

The first is a PAY product, but useable for 30 days - it has found and
eliminated problems in the past the others did not. The latter two are
prevention mechanisms. SpywareBlaster is a FANTASTIC free product, I
suggest getting this after you cleanup and keeping it updated as well.

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner (Free!)
http://kephyr.sureshot.xaviermedia.net/spywarescanner/

ToolbarCop (Free!)
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/toolbarcop.htm

Browser Security Tests
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

And Assortment of Others:
http://spywareinfo.com/

ALSO - Be sure to IMMUNIZE after you clean up. SpywareBlaster and Spybot
Search and destroy both have these features - use both!


After you cleanup your PC somewhat of spy/ad/mal-ware, verify your antivirus
software is updated and run a full scan of your computer. If you have no
antivirus software - get one NOW! Grisoft AntiVirus:
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php


Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80 to 120MB (seems to be an optimal size for the normal user)

- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section,
do the following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the
"Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 80MB
and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to
"Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click
OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or
more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer
- Re-open Internet Explorer.


Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it.) If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.


Also, if you are tired of Web Page Pop-Ups/Unders.. You could try the
Google Toolbar.
http://toolbar.google.com/


Stop loading applications at logon.. run MSCONFIG and look under the startup
tab for things you DON'T want to startup! Search the Internet with Google
to discover what things are safe to remove and what things may even be
malware infecting your computer.


Better control your email and lessen the amount of time you spend dealing
with SPAM:
SpamBayes
http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/
or
Spamihilator.
http://www.spamihilator.com

 

[Gerry Cornell]

John

Poor system performance can be the result of a single problem or a
combination of factors. Listed below are issues, which you may wish to
examine if you are experiencing poor performance after the boot process
has completed. Some items may help with slow starting of Windows XP but
the list has not been prepared for tackling that problem. Work through
the list until you achieve an acceptable result.

Regular and effective housekeeping is essential. What you do and how
often you do it will depend on how you use your computer. A suggested
routine may include:

1. In Outlook Express empty your Deleted Items folder.

2. In Outlook Express run File, Folder, Compact All whilst OFFLINE.

3. Run Disk Cleanup. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Cleanup with Temporary Internet Files, Offline Web Pages (optional), and
Recycle Bin selected for deletion. If you have more than one drive /
partition you may need to do this operation for each drive / partition.

4. Remove Cookies. Start, Control Panel, Internet Options, General,
Delete Cookies.

5. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Check whether you could reduce the number of days the History of sites
visited is retained. Start, Control Panel, Internet Options, General,
History.

Spyware causes many problems. If not installed download Adaware and / or
update Reference file from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
and use it to remove parasites. If Spyware persists as a problem try a
Hosts file.
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

Slow performance resulting from insufficient memory, causing over
reliance on virtual memory, may be especially noticed by those upgrading
to Windows XP from an earlier version of Windows. Windows XP will run
with 64 MB of RAM memory. However, a minimum of 256 MB is recommended
and many users will recommend 512 MB. You may check on pagefile (virtual
memory) usage with Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Check your setting for the Indexing Service. Start, Administrative
Tools,
Services, Indexing Service. The default setting is Manual. Check that
it is not running. More information here:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm#Indexing_Service

You can have too many programmes running in the background. Close
programmes/windows after use. Check whether all the programmes loading
when Windows is started are really necessary.
http://aumha.org/a/loads.htm

Check whether you can identify slow performance with a particular
programme. Look in Google to see whether others have encountered the
same problem and found a solution.
http://groups.google.com/

Are there any error messages in Event Viewer? You can access Event
Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer. When
researching the meaning of the error, information regarding Event ID:
and Source Description is important.
HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&Product=winxp


~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
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Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

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