It's so annoying when your computer slows down just when you need it to zip along. I installed free software recently that identifies and deletes some advertising and other spyware; even with an anti-virus present, these relatively low-risk malware can install themselves without you noticing.
Equally frustrating are those times when you hit the 'send' or 'enter' button before spotting a typing error - like during an IM session or while sending an e-mail or making a post. However, this is a different kind of time wasting problem from the former one.
What do you do during such slow times? I came across an insightful article about what to do about this kind of problem - depending on your OS, part of the the answer appears to be right there in your system, lying dormant:
[...Usually this problem is caused by the main system drive being over 80%
full... or your system has a virus or spyware (usually the latter).
If you do not have an antivirus, go to trendmicro.com or symantec.com or mcafee.com and use one of the free online scanners.
Cnet
has some good anti-spyware stuff in their downloads directory. NEVER
click on popups claiming to remove spyware or fix slow windows...
because usually they CAUSE the problem in order to sell you the
solution.
If after doing these your system is still slow....
Hit the <windows> and R key... then type in cleanmgr .
Select
your <C> drive... it will then take several minutes to calculate
space you can free up doing the different options. Once it is done,
check remove temporary internet files, downloaded program files,
recycle bin and temporary files.
If you need additional free space, you can remove unused programs through the control panel (add remove programs) option.]
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Bronx posted on Sep 04, 2007
| views: 511
Comments
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silverwhisper said on Sep 04, 2007....
um...i definitely recommend against online scanners. instead, i using grisoft's AVG.
ed -
Bronx said on Sep 04, 2007....
Why against, SW? Yes, AVG is great. -
truthsayer said on Sep 04, 2007....
I'm with silver on this one. I use AVG as well. But I also have dial-up which requires the patience of a saint ; ) So, our ideas of what "slow" is, may be quite different these days!Truth -
silverwhisper said on Sep 04, 2007....
i mistrust online scanners b/c they chew up a lot of bandwidth, and depending upon how secure one's connection is, a smart bit of malware will adjust to the scanner. basically, i think online scanners provide a false sense of security.
ed -
Bronx said on Sep 04, 2007....
truth: hi....ha-ha... yes, a dial-up is definitely retro-tech in space age. ;) -
Bronx said on Sep 04, 2007....
SW: oh, I see.....like a thief timing the patrol of a security guard to know when to leave his cover.
The closest I have to an online scanner is the 'No Script' extension for Firefox - seems to be doing fine.
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beyondtheveil said on Sep 04, 2007....
I haven't had that problem in a long time, but when things were slow I'd scream and go get a burrito.
That was a lot of screaming and a lot of burritos.
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Bronx said on Sep 04, 2007....
beyond: ha-ha.....and a lot of indigestion, too, I bet. ha-ha. -
paidinblood said on Sep 04, 2007....
On a computer with 256 MB of ram, XP with AVG will slow down to a crawl if you set it to automatically scan your computer everytime it boots; but that's the only beef I have with AVG.
Much respect.
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wombat said on Sep 04, 2007....
URRGH! I move to another country and find out I can't speak the language....lol. Maybe someday.... -
Bronx said on Sep 04, 2007....
paid: I guess I shouldn't complain about my 1Gigabyyte RAM. :>
BTW, AVG is even lighter than Norton but you're right about booting up being slow when the startup menu is loaded with many programs - mine takes a good two minutes, even without an Internet connection.
I must remove all the extras from the startup menu sometime soon.
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Bronx said on Sep 04, 2007....
wombat: ha-ha.....that was cute. ;) -
Mamie said on Sep 04, 2007....
wow, I sure wish I knew what you all are talking about! I always open two windows so that if one of the sites is slow then I flip over to the other for a bit. My husband is in technology and so if I seem to be having a problem, I hand the thing over to him and say "please fix this". -
mrhowto said on Sep 05, 2007....
defrag your drives. defrag is your friend! ;) -
JadeDom said on Sep 05, 2007....
What I do is pop out... usually to Tesco's over the road to get some cheese or some other snack to try to tempt the geriatric hampster that powers my work computer back out of retirement.Seriously, Rip Van Winkle would still feel our computers are out dated. -
bloc said on Sep 05, 2007....
Hey everyone, for those that don't know, I'm a computer programmer. First, a disclaimer, I use a mac and I don't care much for windows.
Here is my advice for performance. The culprit is usually a lack of RAM. Your computer has two types of memory (this is an oversimplification). Your RAM (temporary memory) and your hard drive (permanent memory). All of your files and programs are stored on your hard drive, but your hard drive is much much slower than RAM. When your computer runs a program or opens a file it first loads it into RAM where it can interact with it quickly. Remember hard drive = slow!
Unfortunately, when you are doing a lot of things on your computer it may not have enough RAM to store all the open programs and files. At this point your computer will use part of your hard drive as extra RAM (they call this virtual memory). When this happens frequently your computer gets really slow!!!
If you are on windows it's likely that you have other problems like viruses or a fragmented disk. You should run your disk degfrager periodically which will solve that problem without any headaches. After that you have to figure out if it's a virus or RAM that is causing the problem. It could be other things, but it's probably one of these two.
To figure this out you need to open the 'task manager'. You can do this by hitting ctrl-alt-del (3 keys at the same time) or right clicking on the task bar and picking 'task manager'. Once it's open you'll see the image below. If your CPU Usage is 99% you may have a virus. If your 'Available' Physical Memory is low, under 128,000, you probably need more ram.
I hope that was clear and helpful :) -
truthsayer said on Sep 05, 2007....
Boy bloc, do I wish you did house calls : ) We still don't have my computer running right. The little check up you just mentioned looks like the CPU Usage and Physical Memory look good. I have found this frustrating enough to extend my vacation from the Internet! I defrag regularly.
Any other suggestions? bloc? Bronx?
: )
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Bronx said on Sep 05, 2007....
mamie: well...lucky you. :) -
Bronx said on Sep 05, 2007....
mrhowto: thanks.....WELCOME TO MY BLOG!
Done that already, won't defragment any more - if I repeat it, I may have to take a club to the system. Ha-ha.
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Bronx said on Sep 05, 2007....
Jade: ha-ha... hi...WELCOME TO MY BLOG!
Yeah, he could watch his white beard grow ten inches just by waiting for a screen change sometimes. ;)
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Bronx said on Sep 05, 2007....
bloc: hi...fabulous stuff - you should teach that, you know. :>
Thanks for that - I hope everyone, too, appreciates the fact that you went the extra mile to get to a windows unit for that screen shot. ;)
The Task Manager gave me a CPU usage of between 3% and 24%, while available RAM was 651 MB, even with 8 tabs open in Firefox and about 4 other memory cruncher turned on.
So, I guess it should be something else. Thanks, again, bloc.
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bloc said on Sep 05, 2007....
"you should teach that, you know."
It would require a pay cut ;)
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Bronx said on Sep 05, 2007....
truth: hi....have you done a complete anti-virus scan?
If yours is an HP, log onto their website - their online diagnostics tool can tell you exactly what the problem is and they'll do it for you free every month.
If all that fails, complain at the CNET.com forum and you'll probably have more answer than you'd have time for there.
Alternatively, HP will accept your old computer - no matter who made it - as a trade in towards a new HP. However, I'm not sure that that trade-in option still available right now - it ran about two months or so ago.
Hope those suggestions help you.
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Bronx said on Sep 05, 2007....
bloc: ha-ha....yeah, if you fail to combine it with your present job. :> -
Suddenrain said on Sep 12, 2007....
Just post marking. Don't wanna lose you and all this great advice. :-) -
Bronx said on Sep 12, 2007....
Sudden: hi...:)