unexplained slowdowns

[Keyman]

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I hope someone here can help, I've tried about I know


Two machines, running win98se, using windoz ics to share a dialup (yeah,
it's a pain but there's no other options out here in BFE.)

Host is:
PII 333Mhz /250 Mb Ram
Zone Alarm free version firewall.
(set high security for internet zone, medium for trusted zone.)
Norton 2002 AV

Client is:
PI 233Mhz /64Mb Ram
Sygate Personal firewall
(strict rules allowing known programs and block all else.)
Norton 2002 AV


Symptoms:

host or client will without warning experience major slowdown. all
processes slow to barely noticeable crawl. mouse cursor moves freely, but
everything else is all but frozen. does not matter what's running, usually
happens in evenings and weekends. After anywhere from a few seconds to a
few minutes, everything starts running normally again. This behavior
started sometime in the last four months or so. It was very rare at first,
and has been more and more frequent lately.

Attempted fixes:

Full scan with norton av after getting latest defs.
nothing found.

RegCleaner 4.0 build 744 by Jouni Vuorio:
Full scan. revealed mess of invalid registry keys. deleted all.

System mechanic:

scan for and remove all junk files
scan registry, found mess of invalid keys.. removed all.

Ad-Aware Se personal with latest definitions,
full scan, found a mess of tracking cookies and a few registry keys.
removed all cookies except for two that are known login cookies,
removed all reg keys found to be suspect.

Spybot S&D ('final' version with the BHO fix)
latest updates and full scan.
found some more cookies, several more reg keys.
cookies dealt with, reg keys either fixed or removed.

CWShredder (latest version)
Found and removed two CWS variants (same two on both machines)

HijackThis (latest version) doesn't show anything obvious, but I'm certain
I dont' know all the things to look for.


All these efforts, while they yield cleaner systems, have no effect on the
problem of the mysterious slowdowns. it does not appear to matter which
machine is running how many processes or what is accessing internet.

If somebody has a clue we'd be gratefull as all get out, this is getting to
be a major PITA.

- --
remove .this to email



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[Bill]

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I hope someone here can help, I've tried about I know

<snip>

Perhaps the lumbering resource hog Norton has something to do with it.

 

[leslie]

Keyman ([email protected]) wrote:
:
: I hope someone here can help, I've tried about I know
:
: Two machines, running win98se, using windoz ics to share a dialup
: (yeah, it's a pain but there's no other options out here in BFE.)
:

There is another option for ~$ 60.00, if both machines have an ethernet
card:

http://www.actiontec.com/products/tech/modems/dual_pcmodem/dpm_overview.html
Product Info - 56K External Modem

"...Overview

Actiontec's Dual PC Modem gives your online access new life and a
faster engine to burn through the Internet. Utilizing the latest
technology and design advantages, the External Dual PC Modem keeps you
connected longer, and faster. Imagine two people online at the same
time, check email or just surf the web! With the Actiontec Dual PC
Modem, you can share your Internet Access with another member of the
family.


Note that the Actiontec Dual PC modem provides NAT:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?G25962C89
Product Info - 56K External Modem

The original URL, wrapped to 2 lines:

http://www.actiontec.com/products/tech/modems/dual_pcmodem/
dpm_specifications.html
Product Info - 56K External Modem

"Specifications

Operating System Compatibility Windows 98 / 98SE / ME / 2000 / XP/ MAC
OS 7.1 and higher/ Linux / Unix

Interface Ethernet

Fax Speeds and Modes Speeds: 14400; 12000; 9600; 7200; 4800; 2400;
1200; and 300bps.
Modes: Class 1, & Class 2

Data Transmission Speeds and Standards V.92/ V.90 / K56flex technology
Speeds: 56000* (download only); 33600; 31200; 28800; 26400; 21600;
19200; 16800; 14400, 12000; 9600; 7200; 4800; 2400; 1200; and 300bps.

Standards: ITU-T; V.92, V.90, V.44, V.34, V.32, V.22bis, V.21 Bell
212A; and 103

Error Correction & Data Compression MNP 2-4, V.44, V.42, LAPM; MNP 5,
V.42bis

DTE (Data Transmission) Speeds 115,200bps

Operating Modes Auto dial/answer; auto feature negotiation,

Full-Duplex, V.92 Quick Connect, Dial on Demand

Dial Type Tone and Pulse

Command Set Industry Standard AT Command Set, Extended AT Commands,

EIA Class 1 (EIA 578)

Flow Control XON/XOFF; CTS/RTS

Test Modes Analog Loop; Digital Loop; Remote Digital Loop & Pattern
Test


Security IP Masking (NAT).

Protocols Supported
RFC25216 (PPPoE), TCP, IP, UDP, DHCP (client, server), DNS (client),
TFTP (client, server), FTP, Telnet, HTTP, SMTP, POP3, 802.1d..."


--Jerry Leslie
Note: (e-mail address removed) is invalid for email

 

[Bob Smith]

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I hope someone here can help, I've tried about I know


Two machines, running win98se, using windoz ics to share a dialup (yeah,
it's a pain but there's no other options out here in BFE.)

Host is:
PII 333Mhz /250 Mb Ram
Zone Alarm free version firewall.
(set high security for internet zone, medium for trusted zone.)
Norton 2002 AV

Client is:
PI 233Mhz /64Mb Ram
Sygate Personal firewall
(strict rules allowing known programs and block all else.)
Norton 2002 AV

Out of curiosity, when's the last time you ran Scandisk and Defragged the
hard drive ...?

Bob

 

[Anonymous]

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Out of curiosity, when's the last time you ran Scandisk and Defragged the
hard drive ...?

Bob

Scandisk was last week, Defrag the week before (20gb drive takes four hours
or so, thus i don't do it too often.) this slowdown thing has been growing
from a rare thing months ago, to almost daily now.

I also keep temp files under control, deleting browser cache's, etc, and i
include this line in my autoexec.bat:

c:\windows\command\deltree /Y c:\windows\temp\*.*

so i never have a tempfile buildup.

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-=-

 

[Larry Sabo]

[snip]

host or client will without warning experience major slowdown. all
processes slow to barely noticeable crawl. mouse cursor moves freely, but
everything else is all but frozen. does not matter what's running, usually
happens in evenings and weekends. After anywhere from a few seconds to a
few minutes, everything starts running normally again. This behavior
started sometime in the last four months or so. It was very rare at first,
and has been more and more frequent lately.

[snip]

How many files and folders do you have in My Documents? Win98 has a
problem if it gets over 800 files+folders, or so. Move some to a
folder of a different name.

Larry

 

[Bluedog]

First you need to make sure that the spyware pgms you ran didn't miss
something. Do a ctrl-alt-del and bring up your task list. If you see
anything that looks suspicious then Google and see if it's spyware. If
you're not sure what looks kosher and what doesn't, then Google every
task in the list.

If the above yeilds nothing, then download some third-party software
that will show you the CPU utilization for each executing task. When
you have a slowdown, find out what task is hogging the CPU and then
post that info back here.

Bluedog

 

[Buffalo]

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[snip]
I also keep temp files under control, deleting browser cache's, etc, and i
include this line in my autoexec.bat:

c:\windows\command\deltree /Y c:\windows\temp\*.*

so i never have a tempfile buildup.

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Having that line in your Autoexec.bat file may prevent the proper install of any
program that needs a reboot to finish.
The reason : that is where a program may install files,etc that it uses to
finish its install during the first reboot.)

 

[news]

[Snip]

Symptoms:

host or client will without warning experience major slowdown. all
processes slow to barely noticeable crawl. mouse cursor moves freely, but
everything else is all but frozen.

Try running WinTop. (Google will tell you where to find it). This will
give you some idea of what processes are hogging the machine. Then you
can home in on the problem.