Computers 101

[Leetahkin]

:banghead:

I'm nearing my wits end with my computer at home.

If my computer stays on for more than, say 8 hours, the system starts lagging when switching from one open application (such as GS StormFront) to another (such as the PC in Internet Explorer that has been minimized). Or even opening a new IE screen, it can take a minute or longer from when I click on it to open.

So lately, this has been happening as soon as I turn my computer on. Not to mention start-up takes over 5 minutes for my AIM to start showing signs of life and connect.

And scripting from one town to another with two characters at the same time, one leading... there's sometimes a 5 minute delay before the follower's screen actually catches up to real game time.

This is very noticeable in my screen saver too. Instead of it floating around, it skips from one area to the next. I jiggle my mouse, and I'm lucky if after several minutes my computer takes it off screen saver mode. I waited over 5 minutes one day with still no response (jiggling the mouse every so often, hitting an up or down arrow on the keyboard), so I did a hot shut-down.

I have about 77% HD space available.

Is this a processor speed issue??
If so, am I screwed and should buy a whole new computer?

This is driving me INSANE!

:compcrash:

Oh yeah, I have it under the Best Buy store warranty for another year, but I doubt this issue would be handled under it?

[Warriorbird]

Spyware from all the porn you've been downloading.

(stock answer normally used for guys)

;)

[The Ponzzz]

Sounds like a memory issue.

I can tell you, that StormFront uses quite a bit of resources. And IE does as well. Try getting Trillion to replace AIM, Firefox to replace IE and go to RUN and type MSCONFIG. Click selective startup and then the last tab on that screen and click things you do not need to start up...

Um, other than that, how much memory you got? And processor speed..

[hectomaner]

sounds like spyware.


pwned by the pr0n

[hectomaner]

Originally posted by The Ponzzz
Sounds like a memory issue.

I can tell you, that StormFront uses quite a bit of resources. And IE does as well. Try getting Trillion to replace AIM, Firefox to replace IE and go to RUN and type MSCONFIG. Click selective startup and then the last tab on that screen and click things you do not need to start up...

Um, other than that, how much memory you got? And processor speed..


its not that bad, i can run 9 instances of SF and be fine

[Asha]

The girl loves porn.
We have a little club where we watch porn on a big screen while wearing massive black trash bags with holes cut out for the eyes.

Yeah so run as many anti spyware programs and check ups as you can.
Get every last bit spyware out of your system.
Delete ALL you internet history.
Defragment your HDD local disk.
Stop letting your cats sleep on the computer.
Get more fans to keep it mega cool.

[Leetahkin]

I always check my system with Spybot, unless someone knows of a better (yet still free) one out there.

I'll look at my specs when I get home too.

Oh, with Firefox. Is there a way to open the play.net website and sign on with multiple accounts at the same time? I found I had to have one account opened with Firefox for psinet (when ever it's going to work) and one opened with IE.

[Skeeter]

what kind of virus protection do you have? try using pandascan or some of the other freebies out there. I had similar trouble on the work cpu they gave me. had like 425 different versions of virus's on it. worked much better after that.

[Leetahkin]

I use Norton.

Oh, I have a few firewalls on my system too. One from my OS, one from Norton... I think that's it.

And the latest AIM update gave me their own version of Internet Explorer. Such a headache.

[Latrinsorm]

If you can, get rid of Norton. Norton is the biggest resource hog I've ever seen.

[Leetahkin]

Ugh, I swear by Norton Internet Security. Used to have McAfee, but hate it.

You're trying to give me more of a headache, aren't you ;)

[Sean of the Thread]

On the surface it sounds like spyware. Would need your systems specs as well as a belarc advisor cut/paste for further examination.

If you use an updated spybot be sure and download adaware to use side by side.

[The Ponzzz]

I had no spyware, but only 128 MB of ram and SF crashed me several times... But after upgrading to 1 GB of ram, I'm great!

[Leetahkin]

I used pandascan and found some adware on my computer that I knew about, and accept. It found a potential virus in my registry though? I don't know what that was about, and I'd have to run the lengthy scan again to figure out what it thought was potential.

Cleared temp files and history, defragged the other night even though it said it didn't need it, impossible for my cats to sleep on the computer... :)

I couldn't figure out how to find my computer specs such as memory and processor speed. I usually bump into this info when I'm not looking for it, but can't find it otherwise.

My system is still a bit more sluggish than I want. If it comes down to it and will make a difference, i don't need the adware that I know is on my comp.

Oh yeah, and forgot about adaware. I could do that tonight as well.

[Latrinsorm]

If you right-click My Computer and go to properties, that should bring up everything you need.

[AnticorRifling]

If you've installed more memory and the "sticks" aren't the same speed (speed not MB size) there is a chance it could cause conflicts or leakage. From the first post the first thing that comes to mind is RAM issue. This can be taken with a grain of salt since I'm a hardware tech/guru/nerd/hug me.

If you don't think it's memory then I'd look for any ad/spyware or malicious activities. Another one would be having both Norton and Mcafee on the same machine. I've seen issues generated from having more than one antivirius on a box.

[Numbers]

Sounds like a RAM problem. If Spybot, Norton, or AdAware isn't picking anything up, and your hard drive is defragged, scanned, and cleaned of temp files, and you've got a firewall up, there's only a few other things it could be.

First, get rid of Norton. It's a massive resource hog. Go to grisoft.com and download AVG. It's a free anti-virus program, what I use, and it's yet to let a virus through.

Make sure you have as few programs running as possible in the background. Clear it out of the taskbar in the lower right of your screen. If you've got icons there for crap like RealPlayer, QuickTime, MSMessenger, and so on, open them up if you can, go to options, and unclick the "Start when windows starts" box.

Also, press ctrl-alt-del, go to Processes, go to http://www.processlibrary.com/, and enter the processes there one by one. It'll give you a description of what that process is there for, and whether you need it or not. After that, go to Start > Run > MSConfig. Go to the Startup tab, and go through the same thing with that.

After that, go to http://www.majorgeeks.com/download458.html, download RegClean, and run it. It's an old Microsoft tool, and it'll go through your registry and clean out any redundant or invalid entries.

Also, when exploring your hard drive, on the address bar, type in %temp%. Clear out everything you can from there.

Make sure you've got all the recent Windows Updates.

If your computer is still sluggish after all this, it's probably almost definitely a memory problem. Could be you've got a bad stick. More likely it's a memory leak that's just gotten worse over time. If that's the case, and you've still got your warranty with Best Buy, just have them replace the sticks.

[Edited on 8-23-2005 by 3704558]

[Anebriated]

I have been using AVG for the better part of 2 years with no complaints. Good free virus scan(arent they charging now?).

[Leetahkin]

All these suggestions are easy enough for me to handle when I get home. I'll attempt them in between hunting Entress :whistle:

Btw, I did the right click on My Computer and then properties. I'm 99% sure I couldn't find the information there.

I also can't remember if I added a memory stick to this computer or the one my ex husband has. I can look into it if all my other avenues die.