Sloooooooooow 'puter!

[EZSnow]

I have a Dell inspiron 6000 notebook. Nothing flashy, Running XP home, and firefox as my browser. Over the last few days, it seems like the thing has hit a brick wall. Last night, while trying to watch a DVD, it was chopping the video and the audio was intermittent- at best. So, I started a defrag and went to bed. Defrag seemed to have some work to do, and took a few hours to do its thing. I have a 33gig hard drive with over 25gigs free.

This morning, there was no improvement, so tonight I restarted in safe mode, then updated and ran both Ad-Aware and Spybot. I also updated and am in the process of running a scan with AVG anti-virus, and so far (40 minutes in) it's found nothing. Windows firewall is enabled. Just last week I got a Sprint AirCard, if that means anything, but I'm on a standard wi-fi here at my in-laws. Browsing seems fairly normal, but I'm using 50-70% of the CPU with no programs running... not good

What's next?:damputer

[snowjoker]

Sounds to me like you have some hidden nastys in there that need to be removed:mad: Probabbly a reformat is in order.. FYI as of Jan 15,2007 AVG will no longer support the Free edition of virus prtection :mad:

[EZSnow]

Dropping the freeware, huh? Nice. Sounds like somebody got too big for their own britches. Format? Ugh- I really hope not. The thought of saving all my pics and documents and customer info, then *hoping* that they all make it through a restore... :scramble :scramble

Oh well, I guess I'll run ad-aware and spybot a couple more times to see if they have added a new definition or something, but other than that... format it is...

[Rob]

I would also try to use TrendMicro's free scan. It is a bit slow over the net, but it works pretty well. Looks for Tracking Cookies, Spyware, and viruses. I have had pretty good luck with it, and bets of all... FREE! You can buy the product to run locally, but the free scanner can be found at Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com)

Good luck!

P.S Formatting would be my absolute last resort

[Wizard]

The thought of saving all my pics and documents and customer info, then *hoping* that they all make it through a restore... :scramble :scramble


Derek, that's the easy part. I just picked up a 1gig thumb drive for 20 bucks to add to my collection (now 3 strong). Just click and drag to the thumb drive and you don't have to worry about losing your files. :nodd

[Plow Dak]

I had to do fdisk and reformat myself a couple of weeks ago.
I was down to 62% with no programs running. I built this machine about 7 years ago and this is the first time i have done this full reinstall.
I hope you have a zip drive or burner or removable like wizardsr said to keep your pics and files.

One tip i'll pass on to ya. ( And this is your own risk of course ) Before i do a reinstall I copy the program file ( Like WS-ftp95 ) as a example. When installing the programs again i do a fresh install of the program and then over write the program by copy and paste. There are so many info files in some programs you couldn't save the right ones to save it. This gives the puter the right install to remove later if necessary and then rewriting gives the latest info back into the program. I have had good luck doing it this way on the programs i really needed ( Like AT GREENS Info )

Took me about a week of playing to get it back where it was. I'm running 60% right now after burning cd's all day and having about 5 or 6 programs open at this time. Mine went to #$%^$% like you in about 2 days. Even though i had 2 spyware and norton running one program failed and i got hit hard.
Good Luck.

[PSDFordMan]

Even with no programs running (i.e. nothing in your taskbar that's "on"), there's still hidden stuff running on your computer. Around 15-20 "tasks" as opposed to programs. Hit the CTRL+ALT+DEL once and it'll bring up the task manager and click on Processes.. it'll show you what hidden processes are running, along with what percentage of your CPU power it's taking up. Find what's eating you up and kill it.

Also, www.pchell.com has instructions on how to delete spyware/adware from your computer without having to reformat everything.

[EZSnow]

Looking like my hard drive has pooped the crib. My brother has some low-level recovery software that might be able to save most of my stuff, but it's looking like a new hard drive is in order... not good with the threat of our first storm coming. I'm going to have to pass this one off on my computer whiz brother to get it done asap.:damputer

[BDB]

In the meantime I can have my office lady do your billing and collect the money for you (you'll end up giving it to me anyways).payup Hey this will even save you the money of repairing it....and while your at it pass that sprint card this way.

Looks like it's time for a external hard drive or a jump drive in order to back up your files.

let me give 'er a toss:damputer

[PSDFordMan]

let me give 'er a toss:damputer


Think we could rig up a clay-pigeon launcher to throw the computer?


"....PULL!"

and Derek's neighbors thought the sparkin' was redneck..

[Mark Oomkes]

Think we could rig up a clay-pigeon launcher to throw the computer?


"....PULL!"

and Derek's neighbors thought the sparkin' was redneck..

I mentioned this in the HP thread, but why not just mount the 'puter to the back of Derek's truck and let BDB drive. It's have the same effect. :nodd

[BDB]

I mentioned this in the HP thread, but why not just mount the 'puter to the back of Derek's truck and let BDB drive. It's have the same effect. :nodd

I like V10FordMan's sugg....more fun....It would be a way to fire a few rounds through the new hand gun. Ya know he got a couple of cans of Fluid Film....maybe he takes his puter and F.F. to the whack shack.:eek:

The spreader was mounted to my truck when I adjusted it for him I don't need anymore dents in my tail gate. I had to keep up with him.....he backed into a pole at about 40mph at the same place (no spreader) Thats a story for him to tell.

[Grader4me]

Sounds to me like you have some hidden nastys in there that need to be removed:mad: Probabbly a reformat is in order.. FYI as of Jan 15,2007 AVG will no longer support the Free edition of virus prtection :mad:

I think that the free version of AVG that is out there now is going to be done in January. The newest version of AVG is avalible now for download. This is also free and will continue on after January.

[Wizard]

The spreader was mounted to my truck when I adjusted it for him I don't need anymore dents in my tail gate. I had to keep up with him.....he backed into a pole at about 40mph at the same place (no spreader) Thats a story for him to tell.
Guess I missed the part about you doing it in the same lot he did. Must be why the customer keeps you guys, the place must be cursed and no one else will do it! :rolling
That and all the black smoke you boys put out, it's a wonder you can see anything backing up :smokin1 :haha

[BDB]

Guess I missed the part about you doing it in the same lot he did.

Same lot different pole. SHHHH I gave his wife the Dell catalog.....and she looked at me funny. :confused: To think of it she always looks at me like that.:haha

[Wizard]

My wife would look at you funny too... She deffinitely wouldn't think I could possibly be worth that much... :rolling