Extremley Slow computer

A

Atilla 21

New Member
Hi all just so you know I'm a noob! My computer is sooooo slow! I have no idea what to do? I've had the techs from Norton Antivirus go through and they went to run and cleared out my %temp%, temp, prefetch, and recent.... it's still soooo slow.... I went to cleanmypc.com and it turns out you have to pay 30 bucks for it..... anyone have any ideas or know of any websites that are free?? I'm running on windows XP.. thanks for any help!!
 
What is your system specs as far as how much memory is installed and what processor are you running? Just because you have nortons installed( I assume you do anyway) doesn't mean you are infection free. Please perform the following procedure and post the logs from both programs.

Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from here, here, here or here and save it to your desktop.
  • Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
  • At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to
    • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    • and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • then click Finish.
  • If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
  • Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.
  • When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
  • Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
  • A log will be saved automatically which you can access by clicking on the Logs tab within Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

If you continue to experience problems after doing this, please post a HijackThis log by doing the following:

Download the HijackThis installer from here.
Run the installer and choose Install, indicating that you accept the licence agreement. The installer will place a shortcut on your desktop and launch HijackThis.

Click Do a system scan and save a logfile

Most of what HijackThis lists will be harmless or even essential, don't fix anything yet.

Post the logfile that HijackThis produces along with the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware log
 
You have Norton? That's probably some of it. Symantec stuff is good for industrial-level applications, but it's terrible for a home user...
 
Thank you for responding, when I get home from work, I'll try doing what you said! I'm not sure how to find my memory or what processor i'm using? I'm very ignorant when it comes to computers! I'll see what I can find! Thank you again! I'll check back with you! -Mike
 
to find your specs atiila click start > right click my computer > and then properties and that will display your memory and processor specs.
 
Go to ccleaner.com or filehippo.com and download ccleaner. Run it.

Get rid of Norton's and replace with AVG which is FREE and updates daily. Once you have AVG, run a Complete scan

Defrag

Disksweep

Get spybot at spybot.com and run a complete scan.

Look for malware.

Uninstall any software and hardware, that you do not need, think you need but never use.

I strobgly suggest going to uniblue.com and getting their registery cleaner. It works very well and egts rid of dead files.
 
Your computer must be full of crap when it works so slow.Probably your registry is full of GOd knows what:D and some of the Windows file might be corrupted.Anyway do the following:

-Scan your computer with the McAfee+McAfee AntiSpyware in the SAFE MODE WITH COMMAND PROMPT
-After the scanning process is finished,restart your computer by using the following command:

Shutdown.exe -r -t 0

-Now perform the DISK CHECKING PROCESS
-After that perform the DISK DEFRAGMENTATION
-After that restart your computer
-Now scan your registry with Eusing Free Registry Cleaner and delete everything that was found after the scanning process has finished
-Restart your computer

-Still working slow?

-Be sure that ALL your antivirus programs and COMPLETELY turned off!

-Still working slow?

-REPAIR your Windows operating system by using its Windows OS disk in the case some of your Windows files are damaged or even deleted




Cheers!
 
I did the malwarebytes and I even bought the uniblue and scaned and removed everything they found... alas, my computer is still slow!!! Just a thought, alot of this seemed to start after I installed Turbo Tax 2009. I installed it with a jump drive (I think that's what it's called?) But after I installed it I pulled the drive out of the USB port... I was I supposed to do something before removing it? Could that have caused a problem?
 
Hey S.T.A.R.S thanks for the help but I'm a noob and I have no idea how to do any of the stuff you mentioned? I don't have Mcafee I have norton antivirus, malwarebytes, and uniblue... I have no idea how to perform disk checking process, disk defragmentation? Or registry cleaner?
 
To run disk defragmenter:
Start
All Programs
Accessories
System Tools
Disk Defragmenter

What does it do you ask?

your hard drive (after being used) becomes fragmented. Basically it stores things in parts all over the hard drive. This slows down performance because, in order to open something, the computer has to look all over the hard drive to find it. The disk has become fragmented. The disk defragmenter does exactly what the name sounds like it does. It finds all those files that are all over the place and tries to put them next to each other. This will speed up you performance because the computer can find things faster not having to look all over the hard drive. This isn't a one time fix, however. You have to do this at least once ever two months. Once you have defragmented the hard drive, the computer continues to store things in strange ways splitting them up. So, after a while, even though you defragmented, things will get slow again. When that happens it is time to defragment again. Defragmentation may take a little while, depending on how fragmented your hard drive is.

hope this helps!
Have a good one!
 
Please post a hijackthis log so we can see whats on your system. The link is in the same thread I posted Malwarebytes.
 
I tried to defragment and this is what popped up! Disk Defragment has detected that chkdsk is scheduled to run please run chkdsk/ f. So.... I went to run typed in chkdsk/ f. and the little black box popped up and went away in a blink? So I have no idea what to do?
 
I've found that a really easy way to speed up a computer is to look at the programs running on the bottom right of the screen and close the ones that don't matter to you. My dad won't take some off of his startup list, but when I close Windows Messenger, Skype, Windows Sidebar, OctoShape Client, and a few others, it really speeds up.
 
Atilla 21 said:
I did the malwarebytes and I even bought the uniblue and scaned and removed everything they found... alas, my computer is still slow!!! Just a thought, alot of this seemed to start after I installed Turbo Tax 2009. I installed it with a jump drive (I think that's what it's called?) But after I installed it I pulled the drive out of the USB port... I was I supposed to do something before removing it? Could that have caused a problem?
Click to expand...

Definitely sounds like you got a virus from the thumb drive. That is very common.
 
if you updated malwarebytes and did a full system scan, and nothing came up, you are good as far as viruses or spam goes. next you should clean up your startup, by clicking on start, run, then typing in msconfig. go to the startup tab, and uncheck any programs you dont want to start with windows.

after that, run disk check. make sure your harddrive is functioning well... then run a defrag. if its still slow, run ccleaner (free), and download atfcleaner. when you open atfcleaner, click select all, and empty selected. if that computer isnt significantly faster after all that, you are either looking at a reinstall or might be facing hardware issues
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top