Need computer help

[Sully]

De-fragmenting hard drive is just a feel good useless utility IMO. It takes more time to de-frag than any perceivable gains you receive in return. Don't take this the wrong way but I think its for those that don't know much about computers but need to "do something" to feel like they are "computing". If it ain't broke don't fix it.

System restore and go from there

I would totally disagree with this. It is not only beneficial to you as a user but beneficial to the life of your computer. A disk that has been defragged, reduces the amount of movement the read/write head has to do in order to read a particular file. It can go to one location and read the entire thing as opposed to having to travel all over the platter to get all the pieces of it. Repeat this process thousands of times a day and you have one machine that is working twice as hard as the other. And with that extra travel comes added wear and potentially a quicker failure of the drive. Minimizing read/write head travel results in a quicker computer and prolongs the hard drive life.

[tx07]

I would instead of a restore do the sfc option first.
This checks the system files for change and replaces them with originals that could have gotten a change from rouge software.
The reason I say this is some rouge software infects the system restore and by doing a restore you think your doing good. But in fact you could be reinstalling it right back in.

[AtTheWall]

Once you start running XP's SP 2 or SP 3 with auto-update on, Norton AV & Registry cleaner (resource hog) and any other Auto Web-Centric update utilities like Google or Yahoo toolbar, Java, Flash/Adobe PDF, Windows Firewall (rules) Internet Explorers Anti -Phising features....to name a few.....there are many, most PCs will simply start choking. Based on how much RAM this particular top has.....network bandwidth available for it to poll for web centric updates, some web centric auto-update apps are more stingier than others (all of them are programmed by geeks to scream "ME ME ME" over the wire), your typically stuck with a very sluggish PC.

Here's the catch, anyone of these web centric apps, Microsoft code updates can be lumped into this as well, can and will potentially suck the entire processing power out of a single processor cored PC. Even dual core PCs get hammered and the only way to stave off big performance hits is increasing RAM to a point it gets painful to do the dirty to get it done.

Here's a recommendation I would add to the very valuable stuff mentioned above......


Click START

Click SETTINGS

Click CONTROL PANEL

Click ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS

Drill down the list of PROGRAMS installed and simply remove all applications that have no bearing on what you or the wife need to have to get things done on this particular Laptop. Mind you....keep an eye out for advanced hardware utilities like video, sound or DVD/CD software utilities used to use these sub-systems and do not remove them if you don't have to. The web stuff or goofy looking software stuff that some of this web centric madness loads is best removed. It's not going to kill anything from the core processes but as a safeguard, write everything down and do a little investigative work to see what that app really does. If it's not needed...dump it.

When I get real tired of junk.....I simply do a complete Operating System reinstall.....add my applications back in, the way I want them...and only them....and simply start over.

Maybe a move to Linux or RedHat or some other Unix variant is in order? Some swear by Xubuntu (a Unix variant) on laptops but you then enter a new world of lessons learned along the way including a new mix of supporting software and ways to manage/maintain this world.

Rob

[Texaholic]

May try "Ad-Aware" and "Malwarebytes". Both are free downloads and both will try to remove any spiware and malicious software. Just Google each one to download.

Just my 2 cents....

[tx07]

Mailware bytes is a good choice ad with spybot search and destroy.
But there are some
Fake spybot apps so be sure you are using a download from the original site.

Ad aware has a ad or spyware in it. But it is still ok for what it does.


The main reason people see choke down of a pc performance is like what is stated above. But to add to this, spy,ad,mail ware and data miners are all poorly coded and cause a choke down as well by using up resource no matter how much ram you have. In fact the more you have, the better that crap runs.

But going to the control panel and removing programs you do not need, mainly toolbars and search bars is not a bad idea a all.
You will even see applications in there that you possibly didn't know was there, if not. Find out what it is and see if you need it.

I don't know about others hobbies on here. But one of mine is to aynalize key loggers Trojans and such for fun. I run it in a sand box or virtual OS using file & registry monitors & debug it to see what's going on.
Mostly stuff people have released as online software with keyloggers and or trojans attached.

[Gunther]

Thanks to the TBH brain trust. I have printed this entire thread and will begin to diagnose the problem.

Thanks to all that replied and offered advise!!!!!!!