Memory (laptop, RAM, games, monitor)

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by mrdude

since you say you have a lot of music on your computer, i would recommend using perfect disk to defrag and optimize your hard drive. upgrading memory will most likely prevent a lot of problems, but i have found that a fragmented hard drive can kill performance.

I still find it interesting/amusing/annoying that Windows filesystems still seem to require explicit defragging from time to time.

Microsoft's own Gordon Letwin designed the HPFS filesystem in 1989 that I use on my OS/2 and eCS machines, and I've *never* had to defrag those partitions. Why their newer NTFS filesystem isn't similar in its basic behavior is something I've never understood.

Fragmentation, by itself, isn't harmful in most filesystems anyway unless it causes a performance hit.

Thankfully, my own music server (a Buffalo LinkStation) uses the ext3fs jouirnalling filesystem internally, so it doesn't suffer from fragmentation. A drive that contains fairly static data should rarely fragment, anyway...

[southernlady5464]

I still find it interesting/amusing/annoying that Windows filesystems still seem to require explicit defragging from time to time.

Microsoft's own Gordon Letwin designed the HPFS filesystem in 1989 that I use on my OS/2 and eCS machines, and I've *never* had to defrag those partitions. Why their newer NTFS filesystem isn't similar in its basic behavior is something I've never understood.

Fragmentation, by itself, isn't harmful in most filesystems anyway unless it causes a performance hit.

I usually compare fragmentation to someone digging thru a filing cabinet. While many people put stuff back where they found it, not everyone is quite so neat.

Windows is NOT neat. Liz

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by southernlady5464

I usually compare fragmentation to someone digging thru a filing cabinet. While many people put stuff back where they found it, not everyone is quite so neat.

Heh. Yes, that's a very good analogy.

The worst part tends to happen when someone adds some new data to a file, making it a little bit larger.

Windows tends to keep the first part where it was and often puts the new part somewhere else. That usually breaks that particular file into two pieces, so anyone coming after the fact has to look in two separate places to access the entire file again.

Some filesystems (HPFS, ext2fs, etc.) are a bit nicer in that they'll try to find another slot in the drawer large enough to fit the entire file if the file was made larger by adding data to it. That way it still fits in one place, and the old place is made available for other people to use.

Windows is NOT neat. Liz

Not when it comes to filesystems, no. It could easily could be made that way, however, which is the part I have a hard time understanding...

[citydweller]

Even since my original posting my computer is running even more slowly! I have already run Spybot and Adware. Every time I exit out of a window it slowly dissapears from top to bottom. Upon mentioning this to a tech guy at work he says it sounds like a virus to him. Anyone have any suggestions?

[southernlady5464]

citydweller,

Originally Posted by southernlady5464

KittensPurr, one of the things I was suggesting was for you to get help at an ASAP site.

The reason being is that some of your computer's behavior suggests that you might have some things going on that can be cleaned out.

I don't do that work any longer due to my health but I will tell you the starting instructions prior to getting the help needed.

So, prior to posting your log file on one of the ASAP sites, do this:

Security Steps for a Security Forum

Please perform the following prior to posting an HJT log, The following steps will likely clean most of the garbage from your system,

First
Download Ad-Aware SE
Use the: “Check for Updates Now” option and download the latest reference files
Use the Start button, and on the next window, select: Perform Full System Scan
Press Next, and let Ad-aware scan the hard drive
When finished, right-click the window with the entries, choose: Select All from the menu, and click Next
Once AdAware has removed the entries, close the program
Restart the computer

Next
Download the latest version of Spybot
Please check it for updates, Run the program and have it fix anything it finds in Red.

Restart your computer,

Next
Update your Anti Virus

Next
Reboot to safe mode

Delete the entire contents of the below Temp folders, but not the TEMP folder itself.

Remove all the files and sub-folders from the below TEMP Folders:

C:\Documents and Settings\ \Local Settings\Temp
C:\temp
C:\windows\temp

The TIF ( Temporary Internet Files) can also be emptied via:
Internet Explorer--Tools--Internet Options--General tab--"Delete Files",
Also tick the "delete all offline content" box .

Clean out your Recycle Bin

Next
Run a full system scan with your Anti Virus,

Run a scan with Ad-aware, Have it fix anything it finds,
Run a scan with Spybot, Again have it fix anything it finds

Next
Restart your computer,

Next

Free online scan (at least one...and most use IE not Firefox)

Free Virus Scan - Kaspersky Lab
Free online antivirus. Download ActiveScan and clean your PC. Panda Security
Online malware scan
Trend Micro HouseCall - Free Online Virus and Spyware Scan
Virus Scanner - CA

Run a scan. Be sure and Check Auto Clean. Make a note of anything it can’t remove

Next
Go to TrendMicro - Free Online Scan
Be sure and check Auto Clean before you do the scan. If it finds anything that it cannot clean have it delete it or make a note of the file location so you can delete it yourself.

Next

Please go to HiJackThis and unzip the newest version into a new dedicated folder,

Create a folder on the C: drive called C:\Programs\HJT.
Unzip HijackThis into this folder. Launch Hijack This, then "Do a system scan and save log file".

This will generate a text file that will list all running processes, all applications that are loaded automatically when you start Windows, and more.
Most things are harmless and needed so don't make any changes.

Then go to ASAP and pick a site from the list on the left side. Go to the forums, sign in as a member and look for the proper security section.

Your likely to get help quicker if you start your own thread, Post a log in a new thread started by you please. Posting a HJT log in someone else's thread gets to confusing and there is a good chance it will get overlooked.

Make sure you post the contents of the text file as a copy and paste...do not attach it as an attachment. Liz

Liz

[citydweller]

Thanks. I will try this as soon as I get home.

[Dd714]

No offense to southernlady, but be careful about downloading even more free virus scanners to get rid of a virus - some of them are, themselves, loaded with their own detection programs, etc. Her solutions seems pretty extreme and overly complex. Do the simple things first -

You have some resource hog programs running in the background - this is what you do first -

Control, Alt, Delete to run task manager and click on control processes tab - sort by CPU and memory usage. This shows you what programs are hogging your memory. Normally, if you aren't running any other program, you would see idle at 99%. But something may be running in the background, not a virus, could be just some program in a loop. Once you identify it then research further, it may be a program you don't need, might be a virus, might be a program that you do need that is just not functiioning properly.

It doesn't have to be a virus to be a resource hog, plenty of legit programs just aren't engineered well.

[southernlady5464]

No offense to southernlady, but be careful about downloading even more free virus scanners to get rid of a virus - some of them are, themselves, loaded with their own detection programs, etc. Her solutions seems pretty extreme and overly complex. Do the simple things first -

#1 I am a member of ASAP
#2 Every link I've provided is to MajorGeeks.com - Download Freeware and Shareware Computer Utilities. A known SAFE site to all those downloads to EVERY ASAP member.
#3 In order to get help at an ASAP site, each person has to run those scans first to get rid of the junk that those programs can eliminate.
#4 Everyone who runs a Windows OS needs to be running Ad-Aware SE and Spybot weekly anyway.
#5 If it isn't a virus, they will let her now what to do to optimize her computer.

See my post here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/techn...e-your-pc.html

Liz

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by southernlady5464

#1 I am a member of ASAP
#2 Every link I've provided is to MajorGeeks.com - Download Freeware and Shareware Computer Utilities. A known SAFE site to all those downloads to EVERY ASAP member.
#3 In order to get help at an ASAP site, each person has to run those scans first to get rid of the junk that those programs can eliminate.
#4 Everyone who runs a Windows OS needs to be running Ad-Aware SE and Spybot weekly anyway.
#5 If it isn't a virus, they will let her now what to do to optimize her computer.

See my post here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/techn...e-your-pc.html

Liz

I don't know what ASAP is (dont really care either). His question was rather simplistic and your solution was rather complex. I'm sure they are valid sites and you mean well but, come on, it is alot of downloading of programs and scanning, etc, doing this and that, when a simple review of the task manager to see what is running may solve his problem. Maybe he can follow it as a second step but in the mean time let the dude find the simple fixes. Maybe he just clicked on something wrong and he has his virus program scanning every half hour or something, which will of course make his computer crawl. That will easily be detected. Your method is the shotgun approach, wasteful and needless.

[southernlady5464]

The reason ASAP uses HiJack This AFTER using the above mentioned free highly rated scans is that HiJack This can se into the parts of your computer that you can not see with the Task Manager.

It checks BHO's among other things.

I will run one and post it to let you see what one looks like. Liz