Too many general issues to list.

[Gavin Smith]

Hi. Gradually since I got a Windows XP based computer,
the problems have been building up. Things such as
windows magically closing. I realize that many of these
problems are probably my fault because of getting
viruses/spyware/adware, but the problems are too serious
to ignore right now. I'll describe some of the main
issues here.

- Microft Messenger and MSN Messenger
Both of these programs will rarely sign me in properly.
Windows Messenger works more often than MSN, but wven
then - The signing in graphic/animation will be extreemly
jumpy, and signing in will be a slow process. With MSN, I
usually can't get in at all with my correct email and
password. This problem started about a month or two ago.

- System Inforamtion wil not open
Under Accessories > System Tools, 'System Information'
will not open. Since it's a shortcut, I went to the
source file and that wouldn't open either.

-Internet Explorer loads slowly
When I open a new IE Window, it will take about 7 seconds
before the page will start to load. Before then it's
idle. This isn't my internet connection, because I have a
3 MB connection. I have about 380 MB of RAM, too, so
that's not it. This problem started about 3 weeks ago.

Those are a couple problems I've been having. Now, I do
do Norton Antivirus Live Updates and Virus scans
frequently, as well as adware/spyware scans. If you'd
like to see any of my computer's spect or anything,
please ask. If there is no real way to fix these issues,
could someone please link me to some official Windows XP
Re-Formatting instructions? Thanks in advance.

P.S. I do have XP SP2.

 

[Guest]

I will list some free programs that may help you. Adaware. Spybot Search and
Destroy. SpywareBlaster. SpywareGuard. Defrag your system. Use the cleanmgr
and clean out the garbage. Run chkdsk and let it find and repair missing
sectors if there are any. Get a good registry cleaner like the old JV16. Do a
search on the internet for ways of speeding up IE. There are two basic ones.
Increase the MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server .Stop IE
from checking for scheduled tasks on remote computers. SpeedXP is free and
does a marvelous job of tuning about 20 settings in the registry for maximum
performance. I don't recommend the "clear pagefile on shutdown option though.
e:mail me if you can't find the IE tuneups. System maintenance is a must in
XP. Not like the old OS's where it was important but not "vital". Post back
if you need more.

 

[Michael Stevens]

I will list some free programs that may help you. Adaware. Spybot
Search and Destroy. SpywareBlaster. SpywareGuard. Defrag your system.
Use the cleanmgr and clean out the garbage. Run chkdsk and let it
find and repair missing sectors if there are any. Get a good registry
cleaner like the old JV16. Do a search on the internet for ways of
speeding up IE. There are two basic ones. Increase the
MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server .Stop IE from
checking for scheduled tasks on remote computers. SpeedXP is free and
does a marvelous job of tuning about 20 settings in the registry for
maximum performance. I don't recommend the "clear pagefile on
shutdown option though. e:mail me if you can't find the IE tuneups.
System maintenance is a must in XP. Not like the old OS's where it
was important but not "vital". Post back if you need more.

List??? More like a jumbled mass of words. But posting from CDO what can
you expect. LOL
This would be a list.
*****
1. Adaware.
2. Spybot Search and Destroy.
3. SpywareBlaster.
4. SpywareGuard.
5. Defrag your system.
6. Use the cleanmgr and clean out the garbage.
7. Run chkdsk and let it find and repair missing sectors if there are any.
8. Get a good registry cleaner like the old JV16.
9. Do a search on the internet for ways of speeding up IE.
There are two basic ones.
Increase the MaxConnectionsPerServer and MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server .
Stop IE from checking for scheduled tasks on remote computers.
SpeedXP is free and does a marvelous job of tuning about 20 settings in the
registry for maximum
performance. I don't recommend the "clear pagefile on shutdown option
though.
e:mail me if you can't find the IE tuneups.
System maintenance is a must in XP. Not like the old OS's where it was
important but not "vital".
*****

--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Gavin;
Start here:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

 

[Al Smith]

Hi. Gradually since I got a Windows XP based computer,

the problems have been building up. Things such as
windows magically closing. I realize that many of these
problems are probably my fault because of getting
viruses/spyware/adware, but the problems are too serious
to ignore right now. I'll describe some of the main
issues here.

Three main approaches to your problem, any one of which may help a
great deal.

1) Optomize your system, by running scandisk and defrag, running a
registry cleaner, deleting temp files and unnecessary files, and
turning off as many programs that start automatically as possible.
On the Start/Run line, type "msconfig" and see what's starting up,
then uncheck those things you know you don't need or want. You may
have to re-check one or two, if you find programs stop working --
it's trial and error, when you are not sure what's needed. Press
Ctrl+Alt+Del and see what is hogging your CPU cycles. Anything
that is burning up all your resources, you should try to uninstall
or deactivate. Go into Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services
and turn off and deactivate as many services as you can turn off,
without affecting your use of the computer. The Blackviper site
will help you to know what you can turn off safely:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

2) Run an antivirus scanner, both on your computer, and on-line.
In fact, run two or three, just to be sure nothing is missed.
Don't have them running at the same time -- I mean run them
sequentially, then turn them off, all but your regular AV scanner,
which should be set to run all the time in the background. Have a
reliable firewall running all the time, and configure it so that
it blocks as much as you can block, yet still access the Internet.
Never let anything access the Net unless you know what it is, and
why it's doing it. Run spyware removers such as AdAware and
Sypware Search and Destroy. And keep them up to date. That goes
for the antivirus scanner, too. Download the Windows XP critical
updates. The others, you don't really need to bother with.

3) Practice safe computing. In the Internet Explorer settings,
turn off everything you don't absolutely need. Don't be afraid to
turn stuff off -- it's a switch ... you can always turn it back on
again if you need to. ActiveX is particularly evil. Turn off all
scripting, anything that says "scripting" in the title. Turn off
Java. Turn off frames. Turn off anything that happens
automatically -- i.e., when you don't know it's happening. Don't
let Windows do things for you -- do them for yourself. If you
forget what you've turned off, you can always use the Windows
default setting. The more you shut down, the safer your Web
surfing will be. After you've done that, stop using Internet
Explorer, Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Messenger, MSN
Messenger. Did I say stop? Why, yes I did. Am I serious? Why, yes
I am. They are virus and trojan pipelines from the Internet to
your hard drive. Use alternative programs that do the same things.

It is so damned simple to have a clean, safe, trouble-free
computing and Web surfing experience, if only you do these three
general things -- clean out the crude, delete the malware, and
lobotomize Windows so that it won't install spyware, viruses and
trojans behind your back.