PC running slow

hockeyboy

Hi folks,

Help!!!

My PC is running really slow and when i'm on the internet the pages take an age to change (we have Tiscali Broadband) and when they do it goes to a white screen first and then (eventually) onto the page requested.

I have McAfee Anti Virus which never shoes up any problems when i do a check, i also have Stopzilla, Spybot & Ad-Aware on my PC, Spybot and ad-aware do show up minor problems (tracking cookies etc) but nothing too serious, and i run these everyday to keep on top of them.

I also regularly delete cookies & temp internet files just incase it's them that slows it down.

It runs on Windows XP.

Does anyone have any idea what i can do because it's driving me crazy (although not as crazy as my wife who keeps asking if it's sorted :snow_laug )

PS. i'm not to techie minded so it would be much appreciated if any replies were kept as simple as possible :xmassmile

Cheers,

HB

CIS

Try using one of more of the online virus scanners, one Av will often pick up a virus that another one wont. It does sound like you have a virus or trojan.

Try Panda online
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm
and/or
trend micro
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Also, you dont mention a firewall, dont rely on XP firewall.
try free zonealarm
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

Chippy_Minton

When did the slowness start happening? Have you installed any software or hardware since it was running OK? Is it just your web browser that's slow or other applications as well?

Let's do a bit of investigation to hopefully identify the cause: press the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys at the same time to bring up Task Manager. Click on the Processes tab and click on the CPU column heading twice so that the process with the highest CPU usage is at the top. Which process is this (ignore System Idle Process)? What is the overall CPU Usage % at the bottom of the task manager window?

How much memory (RAM) do you have and what's the size of your page file? To find these out, right-click My Computer and click Properties. The General tab tells you the RAM. Advanced tab - Performance Settings - Advanced tab - Virtual Memory tells you the page file size.

Try running in Safe Mode (press F8 when the computer boots up, before Windows starts). You won't be able to access the internet in this mode. Any difference? Next, reboot and try Safe Mode with Networking. Again, is there any performance difference between this mode and Safe Mode or your normal running mode?

Soz for all the questions, but the answers should help to trace the problem

hockeyboy

Right ok here goes, first of all thanks for replying guys.

I do have a firewall i use McAfee's which came with the Anti Virus.

The highest CPU usage changed between McShield.exe & SVCHOST.exe in the time i was looking at the window and the total usage was between 49-54%.

I have 512Mb RAM but the size of page file is 768Mb.

Tried running it in safe mode & with networking but it still ran slow even trying to get Word up & running.

I haven't installed any Software or Hardware recently and my wife says she hasn't either.

It started running really slow about a week ago, up till that point it had been working ok.

Cheers again

HB

Browntoa

I would install the free Microsoft Anti spyware

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en

and run that in safe mode,say yes to auto protection and updates when it asks during installation

Chippy_Minton

How much CPU is McShield.exe using? It sounds like your McAfee AV is the culprit, so disable it and see if that makes a difference. It might have downloaded a corrupt virus definition, so try updating both the AV engine and the AV definitions.

hockeyboy

McShield.exe is using about 25% of CPU, i'm just on quickly before going to work so i'll have a look at McAfee when i come home tonight and let you know how i get on.

Cheers

pchelpman

The post made me remember that I have seen this issue for users with QuickBooks. Mcshield would spike to 100%, then go to 0%, then spike again - big roller coaster. If you kill the Qbupdate.exe process then mcshield should go back to 0 permanently. If this sounds like you then you need to determine that "qbupdate" isn't running and how you are going to otherwise update QBooks.

Mcshield.exe isn't "critical" so, as chippy says, you can stop that file running without causing other problems as a temporary measure.

Tony_Hendrix

If you wish to,you can also install Avast,which is the best i have ever come across,it watches everything on your computer,and warns of any impending viruses,it also updates almost daily,and has never let me down yet.

hockeyboy

I've just disabled Stopzilla to if this is the cause of the problem (as this was the last thing i downloaded before it slowed right down) and it seems to quicker already but it still sounds like there's something working away in the background.

Now that i've disabled Stopzilla is Spybot & Counterspy (which i downloaded last night after reading a recommendation on another thread) enough protection (obviously i still have McAfee working as well)?

alykhalil

if i was you i would surely install some registry cleaner software and i have know CrapCleaner (free) as one of the very good followed by Regsupreme (trial) and some others. what i have learnt over the years is no matter which program you use (specially the free ones) to uninstall a software, it still leaves an entry in the registry which i feel also slowers the system.

i use :
- Avast anti-virus
- spybot search & destroy
- spyware guard
- spyware blaster
- zonealarm firewall
- adware Se

All above are free versions and are brillliant. I havent had any problems with my system. i install a software, use it, if i dont like it, i uninstall it using crapcleaner+ get the invalid (leftover) registry file...

cheers...