Slow PC arrrgh

j-dogg · 29-May-06, 10:59 PM

You guys know my setup. Well, I have noticed lately my PC becoming slow as hell. I figured I'd run some spyware removal programs and some antivirus stuff. So far, on a 1 year installation of XP Pro, I have managed to find total 500 spyware infections. That's like. nothing. I ran Spybot and Spyware Doctor, I also ran Hijack This! and all the processes and stuff checked out. I ran Avast! Anti-virus software and found no viruses. Wtf is slowing this thing down? Right now I only have 31 processes running. Wtf gives?

musclecars&computers · 29-May-06, 11:02 PM

Run Defrag and disk cleanup.

Nerdz · 29-May-06, 11:04 PM

Did you try MS anti spyware or Adaware? Somethings eating up your ram or taking up CPU cycles, or something is writing to the HDD.

Is reformating an option?

j-dogg · 29-May-06, 11:28 PM

I would like to steer away from a reformat and reinstall as I have a LEGIT copy of AutoCAD 2005 installed and a friend of mine has my disks in his car, and he lives in West Palm which is like a 2 hour drive. Even for 800 dollars worth of software it isn't worth it. I won't be seeing him again until maybe August at the next Probe Owners Club meet.

It's funny because now that I have typed this post, it seems to have fixed itself. It's still a little slower but not like it was. I'll run a defrag on it and see what happens.

All day I have been working on this computer to try to speed it up, I even gave it a run through our industrial washers at work. I disassembeled the whole rig and ESD bagged all the components and ran them through our washer at work to get all the dust and contaminants off it. It's a conveyor belt about 20 feet long and it gets run through a stage of 135*F ionized decontaminated water, and then gets run through a series of hot blowers. They are designed to clean flux off of hundreds of boards at a time but are quite effective when it comes to getting other things like dust and thermal grease off. 100% ESD safe and gets stuff that compressed air can't get.

The funny thing is, the wash actually seemed to help it out a bit.

Could tons of games slow it down? I have like seriously 15 games installed on it, everything from Doom Legacy to Call of Duty Expansion Pack. It's my gaming rig. Gotta have my games. hehe.

Marc · 30-May-06, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j-dogg


	I'll run a defrag on it and see what happens.

Boot to safemode and run defrag.

Boomer8450 · 30-May-06, 12:57 AM

Try checking all of the temp folders as well -
C:\Documents and Settings\%User%\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\%User%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
C:\WINDOWS\Temp

I've found that disk cleanup rarely gets everything out, and if they're bloated, they can seriously impact your performance.

Oh yeah, and a defrag like the others have mentioned. I'll run it several times until there is nothing left fragmented, or it's two or three files that it can't defrag.

THRiLL KiLL · 30-May-06, 02:50 PM

clean the registry...

hell... download system mechanic and let it have fun (dont install the antivirus)

http://www.iolo.com/

Fu3lman · 30-May-06, 03:19 PM

if none of the above work, i would suspect a few things....either:

-your cpu is overheating, causing a massive downward speed-step to save the cpu from incineration.
-your hard drive is failing or overheating, and slowly losing its performance due to its moving parts becoming less accurate, many failing hard drives still work, but work very poorly...
-memory errors, failing RAM, not all ram issues produce visible errors, use a memory checking software to test the accuracy of your system memory
-a serious misconfiguration in your bios, such as your system speeds, timings, and drive settings.
-your hard drive set to PIO mode...either by windows, or your BIOS, changing this setting to Ultra DMA or better will produce a dramatic increase in overall hdd performance

if i can think of any more, i will post them here....

Marc · 30-May-06, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THRiLL KiLL


	clean the registry...

I like to use CCleaner (crap cleaner)

Reza · 30-May-06, 04:25 PM

You've gotta get into the habit of reguarly cleaning your system up, I spend an hour or so once a week running spyware and virus scans as well as cleaners.

I use:
CCleaner
Ad-Aware
Spybot Search and Destroy
Tune XP
Advanced System Optimizer
McAfee Virus Scanner

Still your 500 spyware are nothing compared to my aunts computer where I found nearly 2000.

$SOLID$ Necro · 30-May-06, 08:25 PM

Idealy should never use more than 50% of your HD space for best performance, and if it goes over 80% things will start chugging.

Run it at PCPITSTOP.com and see if it flags any issues, it found some pesky junk files and I can't seem to remove, but my performance overall is fine.

http://pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp

Here is a quicky score (1999 points, I have scored over 2200 with tweaking) click on the various links for detailed info.

http://pcpitstop.com/TechExpress.asp...F1PW98XDJSJSNQ

j-dogg · 30-May-06, 09:15 PM

Well I would like to go ahead and use this thread to tell all the virus writers out there...

**** you in the asshole with a rubber dick I hope you rot in Hell you ****-smoking dildo-humpers..

I hope you all ****ing rot in Hell and die.

Some hacker broke into one of my backup gaming rigs and apparently corrupted all of it's data.

Because some ****-sucker in Russia who has nothing better to do than to write viruses on his computer and jack himself off to his gay lover decided to break into my network, now I have corrupt data on my other gaming machine.

I'm reconfiguring my whole network now and building a brand-new one, my original setup. **** you virus-writers, go suck my ****

On a positive note ironically my other computer is much faster now

Fred_G · 30-May-06, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j-dogg


	Well I would like to go ahead and use this thread to tell all the virus writers out there... ** you in the asshole with a rubber dick I hope you rot in Hell you -smoking dildo-humpers.. I hope you all ing rot in Hell and die. Some hacker broke into one of my backup gaming rigs and apparently corrupted all of it's data. Because some -sucker in Russia who has nothing better to do than to write viruses on his computer and jack himself off to his gay lover decided to break into my network, now I have corrupt data on my other gaming machine. I'm reconfiguring my whole network now and building a brand-new one, my original setup. you virus-writers, go suck my ** On a positive note ironically my other computer is much faster now

I feel your pain! I had a folder hacked a few months ago, a format and Linux install got that folder back up.

I say, lets put the virus writters in a room, and let a few of of us average folks beat the living crud out of them! Then, after the beating, 10 people that have gotten a virus, get to have an icon on their computer that just formats the offenders HD.

And yeah, they would have to call Microsoft to activate it every freakin time!

Have a good one!

E

WDoG · 30-May-06, 11:10 PM

That sucks J-dogg. I hate hackers. Fortunatly enough the only think that has ever F'ed my computer is spyware. Ive had a couple of nasty ones install themselves. The worst being spyfalcon. I hate spyfalcon. Took me almost an entire day of virus scanning and such to finnaly get it off. F spyware and F viruses!

thedemonxanth · 30-May-06, 11:12 PM

Check msconfig for anything fishy and maybe do a hard drive benchmark. Check your hdd cables, I know you're no moron but sometimes it's the little **** we don't think of.

Go to the recovery console, log in to your installation as admin and from the the root folder (c

type.

attrib -h c:\boot.ini
attrib-s c:\boot.ini
attrib -r c:\boot.ini

del c:\boot.ini

bootcfg /Rebuild
chkdsk /R /F
FIXBOOT

use /fastdetect /noexecute=optin

This will rebuild your system.

j-dogg · 30-May-06, 11:48 PM

Define rebuild my system, and by the way, it's speeding up some now. My gameplay is better, my 3dMark03 benchmark literally went up 1300 points and I'm on an x1600 Pro 256mb AGP.

It still boots slow but once it gets going it's fine. One question I do have, I think a lot of what is slowing it down is startup processes, how do I modify the startup process procedure?

By the way a whole bunch of you are gonna get hit up for rep.

Marc · 30-May-06, 11:55 PM

Quote:

29-May-06, 10:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
j-dogg Mystical Schwinn Guru Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: West Melbourne, Fl-HOE-rida Posts: 8,870	Slow PC arrrgh You guys know my setup. Well, I have noticed lately my PC becoming slow as hell. I figured I'd run some spyware removal programs and some antivirus stuff. So far, on a 1 year installation of XP Pro, I have managed to find total 500 spyware infections. That's like. nothing. I ran Spybot and Spyware Doctor, I also ran Hijack This! and all the processes and stuff checked out. I ran Avast! Anti-virus software and found no viruses. Wtf is slowing this thing down? Right now I only have 31 processes running. Wtf gives? __________________

29-May-06, 11:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
musclecars&computers Apex Tech Demi-God Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Pimping in Lancaster, S.C. Posts: 1,965	Run Defrag and disk cleanup. __________________

29-May-06, 11:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
Nerdz Sir Knight of Spamalot Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Water-hoe-Bury, CT Posts: 6,587	Did you try MS anti spyware or Adaware? Somethings eating up your ram or taking up CPU cycles, or something is writing to the HDD. Is reformating an option? __________________ I still fold "No amount of Experimentation can Prove Me right, It only takes one to prove me Wrong"-Albert Einstein

29-May-06, 11:28 PM	#4 (permalink)
j-dogg Mystical Schwinn Guru Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: West Melbourne, Fl-HOE-rida Posts: 8,870	I would like to steer away from a reformat and reinstall as I have a LEGIT copy of AutoCAD 2005 installed and a friend of mine has my disks in his car, and he lives in West Palm which is like a 2 hour drive. Even for 800 dollars worth of software it isn't worth it. I won't be seeing him again until maybe August at the next Probe Owners Club meet. It's funny because now that I have typed this post, it seems to have fixed itself. It's still a little slower but not like it was. I'll run a defrag on it and see what happens. All day I have been working on this computer to try to speed it up, I even gave it a run through our industrial washers at work. I disassembeled the whole rig and ESD bagged all the components and ran them through our washer at work to get all the dust and contaminants off it. It's a conveyor belt about 20 feet long and it gets run through a stage of 135*F ionized decontaminated water, and then gets run through a series of hot blowers. They are designed to clean flux off of hundreds of boards at a time but are quite effective when it comes to getting other things like dust and thermal grease off. 100% ESD safe and gets stuff that compressed air can't get. The funny thing is, the wash actually seemed to help it out a bit. Could tons of games slow it down? I have like seriously 15 games installed on it, everything from Doom Legacy to Call of Duty Expansion Pack. It's my gaming rig. Gotta have my games. hehe. __________________

30-May-06, 12:57 AM	#6 (permalink)
Boomer8450 Apex Techie I Join Date: May 2006 Location: B-hoe-lder Posts: 53	Try checking all of the temp folders as well - C:\Documents and Settings\%User%\Local Settings\Temp C:\Documents and Settings\%User%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files C:\WINDOWS\Temp I've found that disk cleanup rarely gets everything out, and if they're bloated, they can seriously impact your performance. Oh yeah, and a defrag like the others have mentioned. I'll run it several times until there is nothing left fragmented, or it's two or three files that it can't defrag. __________________ Knowledge is Power Power Corrupts Study Hard Be Evil

30-May-06, 02:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
THRiLL KiLL PcApEX's PuNK ROckER Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Seattle Posts: 4,589 Blog Entries: 2	clean the registry... hell... download system mechanic and let it have fun (dont install the antivirus) http://www.iolo.com/ __________________ www.xmb-psp.com Last edited by THRiLL KiLL; 30-May-06 at 03:24 PM.

30-May-06, 03:19 PM	#8 (permalink)
Fu3lman Light My Fire Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: closer than u think... Flames: 26,134 Posts: 3,241	if none of the above work, i would suspect a few things....either: -your cpu is overheating, causing a massive downward speed-step to save the cpu from incineration. -your hard drive is failing or overheating, and slowly losing its performance due to its moving parts becoming less accurate, many failing hard drives still work, but work very poorly... -memory errors, failing RAM, not all ram issues produce visible errors, use a memory checking software to test the accuracy of your system memory -a serious misconfiguration in your bios, such as your system speeds, timings, and drive settings. -your hard drive set to PIO mode...either by windows, or your BIOS, changing this setting to Ultra DMA or better will produce a dramatic increase in overall hdd performance if i can think of any more, i will post them here.... __________________

30-May-06, 04:25 PM	#10 (permalink)
Reza Apex Elite Expert Tech Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: University of Leeds, UK Posts: 1,352	You've gotta get into the habit of reguarly cleaning your system up, I spend an hour or so once a week running spyware and virus scans as well as cleaners. I use: CCleaner Ad-Aware Spybot Search and Destroy Tune XP Advanced System Optimizer McAfee Virus Scanner Still your 500 spyware are nothing compared to my aunts computer where I found nearly 2000. __________________

30-May-06, 08:25 PM	#11 (permalink)
$SOLID$ Necro Mastah Overclocker Join Date: May 2003 Location: Lima, Ohio Posts: 7,217	Idealy should never use more than 50% of your HD space for best performance, and if it goes over 80% things will start chugging. Run it at PCPITSTOP.com and see if it flags any issues, it found some pesky junk files and I can't seem to remove, but my performance overall is fine. http://pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp Here is a quicky score (1999 points, I have scored over 2200 with tweaking) click on the various links for detailed info. http://pcpitstop.com/TechExpress.asp...F1PW98XDJSJSNQ __________________ Join the PC Apex "Overclock and Benchmark" team today! Click Here! Necro's "Ultimate Links" Collection Click Here!

30-May-06, 09:15 PM	#12 (permalink)
j-dogg Mystical Schwinn Guru Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: West Melbourne, Fl-HOE-rida Posts: 8,870	Well I would like to go ahead and use this thread to tell all the virus writers out there... ** you in the asshole with a rubber dick I hope you rot in Hell you -smoking dildo-humpers.. I hope you all ing rot in Hell and die. Some hacker broke into one of my backup gaming rigs and apparently corrupted all of it's data. Because some -sucker in Russia who has nothing better to do than to write viruses on his computer and jack himself off to his gay lover decided to break into my network, now I have corrupt data on my other gaming machine. I'm reconfiguring my whole network now and building a brand-new one, my original setup. you virus-writers, go suck my ** On a positive note ironically my other computer is much faster now __________________

30-May-06, 11:10 PM	#14 (permalink)
WDoG Apex Elite Tech Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Dallas, Tx (Home) Arlington, Tx (College) Posts: 1,185	That sucks J-dogg. I hate hackers. Fortunatly enough the only think that has ever F'ed my computer is spyware. Ive had a couple of nasty ones install themselves. The worst being spyfalcon. I hate spyfalcon. Took me almost an entire day of virus scanning and such to finnaly get it off. F spyware and F viruses! __________________

30-May-06, 11:12 PM	#15 (permalink)
thedemonxanth Apex Tech Fanatic Supreme Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Harker Heights, TX Posts: 656	Check msconfig for anything fishy and maybe do a hard drive benchmark. Check your hdd cables, I know you're no moron but sometimes it's the little **** we don't think of. Go to the recovery console, log in to your installation as admin and from the the root folder (c type. attrib -h c:\boot.ini attrib-s c:\boot.ini attrib -r c:\boot.ini del c:\boot.ini bootcfg /Rebuild chkdsk /R /F FIXBOOT use /fastdetect /noexecute=optin This will rebuild your system. __________________

30-May-06, 11:48 PM	#16 (permalink)
j-dogg Mystical Schwinn Guru Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: West Melbourne, Fl-HOE-rida Posts: 8,870	Define rebuild my system, and by the way, it's speeding up some now. My gameplay is better, my 3dMark03 benchmark literally went up 1300 points and I'm on an x1600 Pro 256mb AGP. It still boots slow but once it gets going it's fine. One question I do have, I think a lot of what is slowing it down is startup processes, how do I modify the startup process procedure? By the way a whole bunch of you are gonna get hit up for rep. __________________