I'm asking this at a few boards I frequent in hopes that someone knows the answer.
Recently something happened to my computer. I'm not quite sure what. Three somethings to be exact but they all started at the same time so I assume they're directly related.
1. When using Internet Explorer it takes my computer a long time to load a page if I type in a URL(about 10 minutes or so). But if I use the favorites menu on IE or use something other than IE(such as Mozilla) it works normally.
2. Sometimes when I try to upload something the window freezes and I get that "error, this program is not working" message.
3. When going to My Computer it takes my computer forever to find my computer. I see that little flashlight icon searching around and about ten minutes later it finally finds it.
Does anyone know what causes this? And how to fix it?
Hmm... I'm not sure, but...
I do know that IE has serious security problems and allows your computer to be infected with all KINDS of nasty things. I should know. I just spend about an hour cleaning the various nasties left from when I was still using IE.
The only thing I know to do with that is to stop using IE entirely and switch to another browzer. I use Mozilla Firefox cause it works well and is free. (Always a plus. ^_-) Plus, your bookmarks and things from IE will merge right into Firefox. Others use Opera and the like, but you'd have to talk to them on how well they work.
But, the main problem with the IE for me is that it was taking all these crap programs and files and shoving them into my Windows drive and making my computer think they were important. Thus, my 2.6 Ghz P4 notebook was running with a speed similar to a P3 800 Mhz laptop. Veeeery annoying.
I don't know if that'll help or not, but hey, I figured maybe it might so offer it, eh! ^_^
First off, you are using IE.
Second off, may I suggest getting whatever anti-virus package you have (if you don't have one, ask, someone will suggest one) and running a complete hard-drive sweep because that is what I would guess.
It is either a virus, some configuration error at the OS level that is effectively acting like a virus, or a hardware part(s) about to fail. Most likely the first.
Dracos
hitting enter helps
Drac's probably right. It may be a virus, malware or spyware of some sort. Before anything else, I'd run your computer through the gamut of anti virus and anti spyware tools to see if that remedies the situation.
Free virus scanning programs:
http://www.grisoft.com/ - Worth a shot.
http://housecall.antivirus.com/ - Web based virus scanner. Use IE and load the plugin needed. I can vouch for it's plugin safety, and I've had good results with the program. It can run in Firefox or Mozilla, but you'll need to manually insert the plugin and fiddle with it.
www.norton.com - Norton is running a 15 day trial download of it's anti virus program. Worth trying if all else fails.
Free anti spyware tools:
http://www.spybot.info/
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Run both Spybot and Adaware. While not foolproof, the duo is a strong 1-2 punch to begin with. If they pick up and have problems dispatching certain types of specialized spyware, you can move onto specific tools to defeat the brand you have.
If these fail, you may need to investigate hardware issues, or some sort of odd IE corruption/failure.
As for the browser, for the love of the merciful Lord above; STOP USING IE. As the main browser in the world, it has so much crap thrown at it to begin with, and it's a subpar product anyway. Try Firefox or Opera, both are so much more secure.
She does use Mozilla apparently, but not as her main browser it seems. And even if she didn't use it at all, it's still a problem unless you can get rid of it completely and that's impossible to do without switching operating systems drasticaly.
The slow network access via IE, and the My Computer slowdown seem (to me) to indicate spyware.
If all else fails, R&R. Reformat and Reinstall. :P
Quote from: "CyMage"If all else fails, R&R. Reformat and Reinstall. :P
Oh yeah, THAT'S a great suggestion. =p
Quote from: "Inuyasha-chan"
Oh yeah, THAT'S a great suggestion. =p
Microsoft Approved!
To address the original question: my experience would suggest that the spyware hypothesis is bang on.
Alas, Spybot, Adaware, Norton, and Housecall all say I'm free of spyware and/or viruses(Spybot found a few things Adaware had missed earlier but they're removed now). And the problem remains. Nuts.
Are you running multiple torrents or something else that might be eating your system resources?
Torrents?
That's a no.
bittorrent downloads are brutal on resources.
Dracos
Okay. If you're clean on Spyware and Virii, the next possibility that occurs to me is:
Corrupt windows files. Probably one associated with IE. You can TRY to upgrade IE., but I often find that only makes things worse....
So basically some files of Windows itself are corrupted? How does that happen? And I'm guessing by what your saying is odds are I'm going to have to go through the fun and joy of a reformat? Which of course makes me want to know more what corrupts them so I don't reformat just to have the problems come back.
Corruption just plain happens, unfortunately. At least with Windows. Some releases are better about sensing it and repairing themselves, but generally speaking, it's an inevitability.
There is a reason that most people who work with computers a lot say that it's a good idea to regularly reinstall the OS.
However, you may not need to reformat. Windows will let you do a sort of brute-force repair. You just install it over itself. Now, this keeps the majority of your settings, and all of your files (save those that are part of windows itself, like configuration files, etc.), while re-recording the files that might have gotten corrupted.
Check out the program MyDrivers - it can backup your current driver settings and upload newer ones (or backed up ones).
-J
Okay. First of all, clear up ALL of the stuff on your hard drive that you DO NOT NEED, such as games you don't play anymore, porn you don't look at, high-res pictures of your dead goldfish, etc. Delete it. Make at least 15% of your space free, run defrag, then open up My Computer, right click on the C:/ drive, and click 'Properties.'
Click over to the 'Tools' tab, it should be the second tab from the left, at the top of the new window. Click the 'Check Now' button in the Error-checking row. Watch it go, and make sure it does a FULL SCAN, which will likely require you to reboot and rescan.
Do this, then shut off your computer for 24 hours. Spin in circles three times, while saying, "I DO believe in faeries." Grind up a whole unicorn's horn and some medusa scales in a bowl, and sprinkle it in a circle around bour computer, chanting "Thank God for hamsters." Do this BEFORE you turn it back on. If you do not do this, your computer will EXPLODE and BLEED TO DEATH on your floor.
The solution was simpler than I thought. I just needed to remove Service Pack 2 from the computer. It was root of all evil. I should've realized. I've got people pointing out security vulnerabilities to me but considering that I can't even get certain parts of my computer to even work while it's installed I don't see a whole lot of choice here.
Celi, did you try the alternate version of SP2? And if so, how did it work?
Inu>I tried it. It hates me.
Conclusion: Microsoft sucks giant donkey balls and needs to stop giving updates that do more damage than the problems they're supposed to fix.
Heh....what can you do, eh? I guess you'll just have to find your own fixes to the problems.
Well my computer is working fine right now so all is good.
Quote from: "Celisasu"Conclusion: Microsoft sucks giant donkey balls and needs to stop giving updates that do more damage than the problems they're supposed to fix.
Switch to Linux.
What? It worked for me, and I was a total Windows junkie that hated DOS a couple years ago. They've literally copied the layout down to the Start menu, except stuff works, and AIM doesn't have advertizments, and I don't get 14 prompts from McAfee/whatever stupid program every time I log in.
Which kinda Linux? I've been pondering a move for a while.
The huge thing that makes me hesitate is that I have a lot of .exe programs I like to run, and I'm not thrilled about having to go through a lot of trouble to access them.
Mandrake 9.2, largely using KDE and a bit of Gnome. I had Red Hat before that (which is even more Windows-esque and easy to install) but I think they've gone pay for the most updated versions (and it's useful to get the updated stuff, since KDE, Gnome, and the kernel will all be newer...which is good because the newer stuff runs faster).
Mandrake was...relatively easy to install (not a total cakewalk, but not bad) and automatically had a checkbox for dual-booting (to make booting up in Windows when I want to play games possible). My one warning is not to go skimpy on what you install (not having X-win installed would be annoying, for instance).
Quote from: "Ragnar"Which kinda Linux? I've been pondering a move for a while.
The huge thing that makes me hesitate is that I have a lot of .exe programs I like to run, and I'm not thrilled about having to go through a lot of trouble to access them.
I run Debian myself - powerful and clean and simple. Ubuntu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Linux) is a distro that's based off of Debian, but is more user-friendly, so you may want to try that.
As for running windows programs, the standard solution is a program called WINE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WINE). There are two major companies that sell modified versions of WINE. CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrossOver_Office) is intended to help you run MS Office type programs (It also lets you run IE 6, Macromedia products, Photoshop, and Quicken, and has many user-friendly improvements). TransGaming's Cedega (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedega), in contrast, implements DirectX under Linux to help windows games run. If you would like any other info, please let me know.
OpenOffice.org can actually open and modify all office documents that I've tried to use, personally.
Incidentally, I keep hearing about Debian (heck, Hal installed it at home). What was it that stood out about Debian? I had it explained to me once in passing, but I didn't pick up the details.
Quote from: "metroid composite"OpenOffice.org can actually open and modify all office documents that I've tried to use, personally.
Incidentally, I keep hearing about Debian (heck, Hal installed it at home). What was it that stood out about Debian? I had it explained to me once in passing, but I didn't pick up the details.
Well, the reason I mentioned WINE was because he said he wanted to run windows programs, not just open office documents. Anyhow, the biggest thing that drew me to Debian was
package management that actually works. I realize that Red Hat et al have made improvements to RPM over the years, but APT is still recognized as one of, if not
the best package manager out there.
When I started using Debian, the Mandrake/RedHat idea of "handling dependencies" was for me to manually go out and figure out what RPMs I needed to install this program, download them, then install them in the right order, and hope that nothing was broken. In contrast, Debian let me type 'apt-get install pie-rms' to install, say, a game where you throw cream pies at RMS, and APT would handle all the dependencies for me, going so far as to install X Windows if it was required and I didn't have it installed.
Debian has other advantages for different people. It has versions for a wide variety of computer systems. You have your standard x86, your PowerPC, and also Itanium support, but you also have support for ARM processors, IBM s/390 mainframes, Sun's SPARC, and others. It also has some other interesting projects; there is a project that aims to produce a Debian distro that has replaced the Linux kernel with GNU's Hurd kernel. While this is hampered by the fact that Hurd is not yet fully working, Debian is still the only Linux distribution I've heard of that doesn't actually require you to use Linux.
Well, that was long-winded, but I guess the main points that Debian delivers is power and flexibility, usually without requiring you to sacrifice one for the other.
I've got Ubuntu running on the linux box I plan to use for coursework at uni next term (course title: Java under Unixes). It's really easy to set up, and really quick if you don't need to download a bunch of extra packages off the net. And once it's set up, it throws you straight into a Gnome environment which is as easy to use as windows. It comes with firefox straight off, OpenOffice for your word processing, and you can get almost anything else off the net using the "Synaptic Package Manager" which is, I suppose, Ubuntu's version of apt-get.
All in all, highly recommended.