Painfully slow computer

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Device 0:

TSF mode - DMA if available
Current - Ultra DMA Mode 5

Device 1:

TSF mode - DMA if available
Current - Not Applicable

Secondary Device Status:

"This device is working properly"
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
1 - Delete Cookies & Temp Internet files
2 - Remove any Tool Bar programs via Add/Remove in the Control Panel
3 - Run SpyBot S&D ( download if needed )
4 - Run TweakNow Registry Cleaner... ( download if needed )
  • clean your main drive ( C: most likely - don't do the OS partition )
  • defrag Registry
  • use Startup Manager and disable any programs not needed

5 - Run a virus scan of your hard drive
6 - Run Defragler disk defrag ( download if needed )

This is what I would do, in the order I would do it, and are the programs I use. This should make a difference. Also, stop paying someone $90 to reload the OS. Do it yourself. It isn't hard.


Registry cleaners have the potential to cause more harm than good. I don't advise anybody to "clean" their registry. It does nothing for the performance of the computer and could potentially extremely screw things up.


I have been using TW for years now with very good results. It does work and it does make a difference. JMHO.
 
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
1 - Delete Cookies & Temp Internet files
2 - Remove any Tool Bar programs via Add/Remove in the Control Panel
3 - Run SpyBot S&D ( download if needed )
4 - Run TweakNow Registry Cleaner... ( download if needed )
  • clean your main drive ( C: most likely - don't do the OS partition )
  • defrag Registry
  • use Startup Manager and disable any programs not needed

5 - Run a virus scan of your hard drive
6 - Run Defragler disk defrag ( download if needed )

This is what I would do, in the order I would do it, and are the programs I use. This should make a difference. Also, stop paying someone $90 to reload the OS. Do it yourself. It isn't hard.


Registry cleaners have the potential to cause more harm than good. I don't advise anybody to "clean" their registry. It does nothing for the performance of the computer and could potentially extremely screw things up.


I have been using TW for years now with very good results. It does work and it does make a difference. JMHO.


Please explain to me how it works? The registry is a flat database containing hundreds of thousands of entries. It is indexed, meaning it knows where every entry is kept. Removing redundant or invalid entries doesn't make anything faster because it already knew where the entry it was looking for was.

Also, the registry is cached into RAM as soon as you start your computer. So "defragging" it has limited benefits as well. The only one really being that it might speed up boot time my a tiny amount by making it quicker to cache.

I have no doubt in my mind that you've had "good results" with TW. And by good I mean it hasn't broken anything. If it had, you wouldn't be recommending it. But people shouldn't confuse not breaking something with there actually being perceptible benefits to the product's use.

Registry clean-up was relevant back in the Windows 9x days. But when Windows was switched to the NT-based system, they became essentially useless. This, and the potential for damage is why Microsoft stopped producing their own unofficial registry cleaner (which they used to provide for free).

Here's a really good read on the subject if you are willing to take the time to go through it:

http://lifehacker.com/5482701/whats-the-registry-should-i-clean-it-and-whats-the-point
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL


Please explain to me how it works?


TweakNow isn't magical or anything. It is a simple program but it does work however. In a nutshell it removes obsolete registry entries. If you do a lot of installing and uninstalling of programs you can get a lot of dead-end registry entries. Uninstall doesn't always remove everything. In time the obsolete registry entries build up and can cause the computer to slow down as it has to navigate through the obsolete entries.

It isn't going to make it 100X's faster but as part of the steps I gave it does help. I have used it countless times on many different systems and it has always helped out.

If you don't want to use it don't. No skin off my back.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
OK, good. What's your CPU usage at? Is Internet Explorer still hogging massive amounts of processor time?

Yes Exployer is still hogging processor time at close to 100% much of the time.
Next hogg would be mbamschedeler.exe, whatever that is, which bounces up to 50% at times.

Malwarebyte scan is done with 200+ items recommended to remove.
Do I need to select (check off the left box) before each item before clicking on the "Remove Selected" box?
 
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL


Please explain to me how it works?


TweakNow isn't magical or anything. It is a simple program but it does work however. In a nutshell it removes obsolete registry entries. If you do a lot of installing and uninstalling of programs you can get a lot of dead-end registry entries. Uninstall doesn't always remove everything. In time the obsolete registry entries build up and can cause the computer to slow down as it has to navigate through the obsolete entries.

It isn't going to make it 100X's faster but as part of the steps I gave it does help. I have used it countless times on many different systems and it has always helped out.

If you don't want to use it don't. No skin off my back.


Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. My question was somewhat rhetorical in the fact that in an indexed database that contains hundreds of thousands of entries, what effect is removing a couple hundred of redundant or invalid entries going to have? It isn't like the computer is going to be trying to access them. The program that put them there is no longer on the PC (that's how they became invalid).

Removing invalid start-up entries through a program like ccleaner so it isn't trying to start things that aren't there or isn't caching programs (Acrobat, Open office....etc) that don't really need to be cached can certainly make a difference, but that's an entirely different ball of wax.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
OK, good. What's your CPU usage at? Is Internet Explorer still hogging massive amounts of processor time?

Yes Exployer is still hogging processor time at close to 100% much of the time.
Next hogg would be mbamschedeler.exe, whatever that is, which bounces up to 50% at times.

Malwarebyte scan is done with 200+ items recommended to remove.
Do I need to select (check off the left box) before each item before clicking on the "Remove Selected" box?


OK, can you download Chrome or Firefox and then kill the iexplore.exe process and then use one of those other browsers to post here? See how it affects things?

mbamscheduler.exe is Malwarebytes.

Yes, please remove EVERYTHING Malwarebytes detected, then reboot. Which it will probably ask you to do anyway. Then run the scan again to confirm that everything was properly removed.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL


Please explain to me how it works?


TweakNow isn't magical or anything. It is a simple program but it does work however. In a nutshell it removes obsolete registry entries. If you do a lot of installing and uninstalling of programs you can get a lot of dead-end registry entries. Uninstall doesn't always remove everything. In time the obsolete registry entries build up and can cause the computer to slow down as it has to navigate through the obsolete entries.

It isn't going to make it 100X's faster but as part of the steps I gave it does help. I have used it countless times on many different systems and it has always helped out.

If you don't want to use it don't. No skin off my back.


Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. My question was somewhat rhetorical in the fact that in an indexed database that contains hundreds of thousands of entries, what effect is removing a couple hundred of redundant or invalid entries going to have? It isn't like the computer is going to be trying to access them. The program that put them there is no longer on the PC (that's how they became invalid).

Removing invalid start-up entries through a program like ccleaner so it isn't trying to start things that aren't there or isn't caching programs (Acrobat, Open office....etc) that don't really need to be cached can certainly make a difference, but that's an entirely different ball of wax.



You technical knowledge exceeds mine so I can't argue with you. I can only say I use it, have for years, and it has helped.

cheers3.gif
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Yes Exployer is still hogging processor time at close to 100% much of the time.

When you shut down IE, does the process go away or does it continue to hog up RAM and CPU usage?

Quote:

Next hogg would be mbamschedeler.exe, whatever that is, which bounces up to 50% at times.

That's one of Malwarebyte's processes. I'm guessing you still have it open, that's why it's showing up in Task Manager.
 
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL


Please explain to me how it works?


TweakNow isn't magical or anything. It is a simple program but it does work however. In a nutshell it removes obsolete registry entries. If you do a lot of installing and uninstalling of programs you can get a lot of dead-end registry entries. Uninstall doesn't always remove everything. In time the obsolete registry entries build up and can cause the computer to slow down as it has to navigate through the obsolete entries.

It isn't going to make it 100X's faster but as part of the steps I gave it does help. I have used it countless times on many different systems and it has always helped out.

If you don't want to use it don't. No skin off my back.


Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear. My question was somewhat rhetorical in the fact that in an indexed database that contains hundreds of thousands of entries, what effect is removing a couple hundred of redundant or invalid entries going to have? It isn't like the computer is going to be trying to access them. The program that put them there is no longer on the PC (that's how they became invalid).

Removing invalid start-up entries through a program like ccleaner so it isn't trying to start things that aren't there or isn't caching programs (Acrobat, Open office....etc) that don't really need to be cached can certainly make a difference, but that's an entirely different ball of wax.



You technical knowledge exceeds mine so I can't argue with you. I can only say I use it, have for years, and it has helped.

cheers3.gif



Ultimately if it hasn't damaged your computer and you feel good about it, I'm not going to come down on you for using it or anything
smile.gif
I've just had a lot of experience with people using registry cleaners that HAVE caused damage and ultimately end up having to have their OS reinstalled because of it. It led to me develop a zero-tolerance policy with respect to their use (and I used to advocate their use back in the Windows 95/98/ME days), which in itself can be problematic because programs like CCleaner are excellent for cleaning out temporary files, pruning start-up entries, removing invalid or rogue browser plug-ins.....etc. So telling somebody to use that program but NOT the registry cleaner component of it has left me with a few people scratching their heads, LOL!!
smile.gif
 
Caterham,

Is there a compelling reason you've continued to use Windows XP? It boggles my mind that you're paying $90 every six months and still having such severe issues...
 
Computer has rebooted and CPU usage is now hovering at around 30%, a hugh improvement.

What is missing though is the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen. How do I reinstall that?
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Computer has rebooted and CPU usage is now hovering at around 30%, a hugh improvement.

What is missing though is the Task Bar at the bottom of the screen. How do I reinstall that?


You mean the start menu area? LOL!

You can do CTRL-ALT-DEL and then go to file -> Run and type explorer

hit OK.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Task Bar just popped up by itself.

So is 30% CPU usage considered acceptable or is there more work I should do?


Well what is using that 30% CPU?
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
The biggest user appears to be "System Idle Process" which bounces as high as 75% although the total CPU useage is staying at around 30%.


System idle process, is, as the name implies, the amount of idle CPU time, it is the inverse of CPU usage. So if you see 75% on system idle process, CPU usage will be 25%.

So look for other processes
smile.gif
You may have to hit "show processes from all users" at the bottom to see what one (or ones) are using that 30%.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
The remaining single biggest CPU users are Norton 360 of up to 15% and Malwarebytes up to 12%.


Then that's as close to normal as you are going to get. Did you confirm how much RAM that unit has? I didn't see if you answered Rand's question about it still having 512MB or not. If so, Norton is probably a bit heavy on the memory usage for you.

Also, you can right-click the Malwarebytes Professional trial tray icon, uncheck "start with windows" and then exit it.

Also, since it (Norton) allowed so much tripe to permeate your system I'd think twice about continuing to use it as your antivirus protection. Perhaps a product like ESET's NOD32 would be a better choice...?

And back to my earlier recommendation: Please download Chrome or Firefox and add the Adblock Plus extension and use that as your browser from this point forward. You are using an old version of Internet Explorer that is full of security holes.
 
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