HELP, my computer is running sloooow

[HeyFellas]

"Crap Cleaner" is a good program for getting rid of Temp files etc.
Just Google "Crap Cleaner".

I tried CCleaner once, it wiped everything, pics, vids, all my files. I dunno, maybe I did something wrong.

Anyway, go into Control Panel, and find Add/Remove Programs. Check everything on that list, and if you don't recognise something, probably a file of one or two megs, remove it and then reboot. Solved my slow running. :thumbsup::wave2:

 

[nearlyinvisible]

Get a Mac

 

[Namreg]

mac= paying $500 more for a computer that is less powerful and only runs %5 of all available software. but if you're really into cheap white plastic...

 

[Namreg]

btw, that is some good advice from extremeb, but one other thing you should try is switching browsers. most malware seems to be made to exploit holes in internet explorer, so switching to mozilla firefox or opera (both free) helps. both can also import your existing bookmarks so you don't lose any favorites.

 

[Torre82]

None taken, but if he's like me money is tight and I don't now any IT's that work for free.

All he can hope for is that if he's infected it's something not as malicious as you described, heck it maybe his luck day and it may turn out to be a known bug that can be easily cleaned.

My :2 cents:

First question: Are you using internet explorer, sir?

Second: Operating system.

Third: Do you know jack shit about computers? Oh I see.. do you have any teenaged nieces, nephews? Call them and I'll deal directly with them, sir.

Thank you for calling FreeOnes tech support and have a nice day.

 

[pitino]

try 2-3 different anti-vrus, anti-spyware programs to make sure your pc is clean...

 

[member979979]

Again, thank you all or your help and tips.

@ extremeb, I'm going to look into your suggestion.

Here is a sample of the problem I'm having with my browser. My homepage is my yahoo email. As soon I open Internet Explorer, I notice a unusual icon on the bottom of the page as seen in the picture:

The page does not load and then I get a pop up window of spam. Besides being online, when I boot up my computer is starts up slow and my instant AOL messenger lags while opening. I hope this better clarifys my problem. I'm going to run more scans and look into what extremeb posted. Other than that, I may just take it in to a professional first thing tomorrow.

 

[member979979]

I'm taking it in to a professional shop today and will let you guys know what happens. It booted up much better just now, but its still blocking me from my email.

 

[extremeb]

I'm taking it in to a professional shop today and will let you guys know what happens. It booted up much better just now, but its still blocking me from my email.

Make sure you back up everything you want to keep, cuz likely they'll just smoke your drive and install clean. But be careful you don't re-infect yourself with your old data

 

[member979979]

Update: After 24 hours later, my computer is now healed and STD free

Yesterday morning I took it to a professional IT guy who runs his own business out of his home. He said he would take a look and scan it with a few programs and should be done by 6pm. Well 6pm came around and I called him for an update, he told me that his scans failed to detect the main virus, and would need to run KASPERSKY.

Kaspersky killed the virus. The guy told me that the name of the virus is some new program called 'Virtumundo' and spreads nasty. So thanks to Kaspersky, my computer now runs back to speed. And the even better news, he didn't have to re-format my hard drive or windows so I didnt lose all my files. :bowdown:

 

[stainedblueyes]

Good work, and some good advice from what I have read, I think the posts here pretty much encompass any piece of advice I could give. It's worth keeping a good quality AV and or firewall on your machine which wil regularly update itself. If you want to pay for it Kaspersky is decent, stay away from Norton 360 if you run vista (far too many crinkles in that and a serious resource hogger) and as far as I know McAfee is still in the xp world. I've maintained for some time now that the free version of AVG is a cracking tool, regular updates, low to resource and simple operation

 

[member979979]

Good work, and some good advice from what I have read, I think the posts here pretty much encompass any piece of advice I could give. It's worth keeping a good quality AV and or firewall on your machine which wil regularly update itself. If you want to pay for it Kaspersky is decent, stay away from Norton 360 if you run vista (far too many crinkles in that and a serious resource hogger) and as far as I know McAfee is still in the xp world. I've maintained for some time now that the free version of AVG is a cracking tool, regular updates, low to resource and simple operation

So you are saying that free version AVG is not a good program to use? As of now I'm using the free trial version of Kaspersky as well as Ad-aware. I also forgot to mention in the beginning that my OS is indeed Vista. Has anybody else had trouble or heard about this Virtumundo virus?

 

[bodie54]

Has anybody else had trouble or heard about this Virtumundo virus?

there was a thread about it a couple of weeks ago:

http://board.freeones.com/showthread.php?t=218558

 

[Namreg]

always use at least two different programs, one alone will never catch anything.

 

[Purple†Pain]

format your hard drive. you'll need:
- the drivers of your chipset, video, audio, etc. usually the manufacturer give you that.
- windows copy / linux distribution
- some patience

if you like, i could walk you trough

Excellent advice indeed, a good anti-virus and free is Superantispyware.com
Click on the 'Free' version. This shit is the real deal!

 

[member979979]

Should I get rid of IE and stop using it completely and start using FireFox? Everybody keeps telling me to stay off IE, but I've been using it for so long I'm too use to it.

 

[hiimrudd]

you'll love Firefox

 

[HeyFellas]

This is your lucky day.... :angels: Try the following software and hopefully your troubles will be gone

1. Restart your computer and boot into Safe Mode by hitting the F8 key repeatedly until a menu shows up - Choose SAFE MODE

2. Run CleanUp. CleanUp deletes EVERYTHING out of your temp/temporary folders (cookies, index.dat etc) it does not make backups. If you have any documents or programs that are saved in any Temporary Folders, please make a backup of these before running CleanUp! After it's done, choose Yes to logoff.

3. Run a scan in HijackThis - Be very careful as this powerful little util will delete whatever you tell it to, so make sure you know what you are deleting!

4. Run Ad-aware and do a full scan. Remove all it finds.

5. Install and run Eiwido (more commonly known as AVG)

6. And finally bury that thing and do a scan with Stinger

Run all of these utilities one after another! This may sound excessive, but trust me, it's not.

Good Luck and be careful, if you are uncomfortable trying these, then you'll need to find someone you can trust that can.

I'm having trouble at the moment and woulds like to try the above advice, but first I have a few questions. (p.s I run Windows XP).

1. How do I know if a file is temp or saved? If I run "cleanup" will all my pics, vids, music etc in "My Documents" be safe?

2. I already have AVG Free, Windows Defender and Spybot (awesome tool :thumbsup; will the new programs conflict with these?

3. Windows Defender seems to do nothing since I got AVG, should I get rid of it as it is taking up a lot of space?

4. I also have PC Guard from Virgin.net waiting to be installed, will it be any use?

All my problems started a few days ago when AntiVirus XP 2008 auto downloaded and installed itself onto my laptop, since then links are redirecting and normal ops are slower than usual, even though I have since removed AV XP and what I thought was all its related files.

Please help, I'm really stuck on this one. :helpme: :wave2:

 

[Legzman]

just buy a new one!

 

[Member2019]

Firefox with Noscript ...

Should I get rid of IE and stop using it completely and start using FireFox? Everybody keeps telling me to stay off IE, but I've been using it for so long I'm too use to it.

Yes, because Microsoft can't fix many holes in the code because it would break many aspects of Windows automation that many programs rely on.

Firefox with Noscript is highly recommended. Unlike MS IE, Firefox will not run Javascript if you disable it (MS IE still allows select ActiveX and Javascript to execute, even when they are disabled in settings). Noscript disables Javascript by default (among other plug-ins and add-ons) and only enables them for sites you specifically mark as trusted.