HOW TO SPEED UP A SLOW PC OR INFECTED PC. (a mini guide)

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cookies are tiny.

chubb, new threads are a better place for logs, follow the guide, esp regarding avg and avast, and cleanmem, and java. Disable woowatch and cleansetup from the O4's, and if you dont use it uninstall logitech messenger, which appears to have taken over your log

fix the wiki.dll, uninstall bugsoft

j.smith1981

There's quite a variation to speed concerning having files scattered around your desktop, if you index those files then the service (a program working in the background) will take some time to index those files, so you want to exclude those from that process.

Have a look also at the system processes too, are there any that you don't need? I do this about once a week where I go through all my systems processes and either disable them or make them manual and don't use them at start up but only when I need them, like disabling system updates and then trying to run the microsoft update system will invoke an error, but you could set that to manual maybe? Never tried that myself but could work.

Of if you have say a smartcard reader service, those devices you have a like credit card for (how chip and pin works for the banks) but for some secured software you have, not allot of home users will need this so why not shut it off? Would make allot of sense wouldn't it?

GSM12345

Superb post. It will help all the PC users. Thanks.

murphydavid

j.smith1981 wrote: »

There's quite a variation to speed concerning having files scattered around your desktop, if you index those files then the service (a program working in the background) will take some time to index those files, so you want to exclude those from that process.

I find that the inbuilt indexing for fast file search (windows xp) is a real drag and not very good at its job either. I think it best to switch off all indexing for all folders and install "Copernic Desktop Search" instead. (there is a free version) This program uses indexing (the same) but can be set to only use resources when they are not required ie it automatically stops background indexing as soon as you do anything else then turns it on again when resources are free.
And it makes it so easy to find things.
If you decide to try it There is one quirk in it in that you need to know (I spent some time thinking it was useless but now I love it) and that is when it is automatically stopped it sometimes will not display the search window. If you want to override the automatic stop temporarily to display the search window click right on the icon in the taskbar go to indexing performance and select "unrestricted". Then switch it off again when your search is complete.

thgs456

If someone has time I would be most grateful if you could look at logfile below. Laptop is so slow. I have recovered using recovery disc. Money is tight and cannot afford to replace lappy at the moment. I am useless with technology so please bear with an idiot. Many thanks in advance.



Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 15:10:41, on 22/12/2011
Platform: Windows XP SP3 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v8.00 (8.00.6001.18702)
Boot mode: Normal
Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\AvastSvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPLpr.exe
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Windows Utilities\Hotkey.exe
C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\NDSTray.exe
C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA Zooming Utility\SmoothView.exe
C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\Touch and Launch\PadExe.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe
C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\avastUI.exe
C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TOSCDSPD\toscdspd.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\acs.exe
C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\CFSvcs.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\heather\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\MSS5OIX8\HijackThis[1].exe
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL =
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL =
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O2 - BHO: DriveLetterAccess - {5CA3D70E-1895-11CF-8E15-001234567890} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswshx.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In SSV Helper - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: avast! WebRep - {8E5E2654-AD2D-48bf-AC2D-D17F00898D06} - C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\aswWebRepIE.dll
O2 - BHO: Java(tm) Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: JQSIEStartDetectorImpl - {E7E6F031-17CE-4C07-BC86-EABFE594F69C} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\deploy\jqs\ie\jqs_plugin.dll
O3 - Toolbar: avast! WebRep - {8E5E2654-AD2D-48bf-AC2D-D17F00898D06} - C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\aswWebRepIE.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ATIPTA] "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPLpr] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPLpr.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Toshiba Hotkey Utility] "C:\Program Files\Toshiba\Windows Utilities\Hotkey.exe" /lang en
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NDSTray.exe] NDSTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SmoothView] C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TOSHIBA Zooming Utility\SmoothView.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PadTouch] C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\Touch and Launch\PadExe.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [dla] C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avast] "C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\avastUI.exe" /nogui
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [TOSCDSPD] C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\TOSCDSPD\toscdspd.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'Default user')
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: Browseui preloader - {438755C2-A8BA-11D1-B96B-00A0C90312E1} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\browseui.dll
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: Component Categories cache daemon - {8C7461EF-2B13-11d2-BE35-3078302C2030} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\browseui.dll
O23 - Service: Atheros Configuration Service (ACS) - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\acs.exe
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - AVAST Software - C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\AvastSvc.exe
O23 - Service: ConfigFree Service (CFSvcs) - TOSHIBA CORPORATION - C:\Program Files\TOSHIBA\ConfigFree\CFSvcs.exe
O23 - Service: Java Quick Starter (JavaQuickStarterService) - Sun Microsystems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe
--
End of file - 5556 bytes

victorZ

Great post, In additional that can also help boost computer a bit of speed is you should defrag your computer once a month with this it can save you more space from the space that you empty when you delete a file permanently.

KxMx

I am still slowly losing space on my PC, decided to wait until it goes down alot more, then I should be able to see where it is going, as at the moment I cannot see for the life of me anything that is taking up more room than it should. Pleased i've come up with a solution!

murphydavid

KxMx wrote: »

I am still slowly losing space on my PC, decided to wait until it goes down alot more, then I should be able to see where it is going, as at the moment I cannot see for the life of me anything that is taking up more room than it should. Pleased i've come up with a solution!

I presume that by "space" you mean space free on your systems main hard drive (usually C:\). In many applications there are lots of automatic logs that often increase in size over time. If you are really interested there are programs out there that will tell you what is using it. For example see

http://www.blueproject.ro/systracer/features

This will take a before and after snapshot and compare the changes (there is a limited free trial version but as I have a registered version I don't know if the free trial would do the job)

Obviously this in itself will take up its own space and use space each time you take a snapshot of your system.

Do you think that the use of this space is slowing down your PC? I very much doubt it unless your hard disc is very small in which case a terabyte of portable hard drive pluged into your USB port is quite inexpensive.

Empty_pockets

Done all in post 1 but still got a start-up time of near 5 min.

All details here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3728819

If anyone can suggest where to go from here it would be much appreciated.

KxMx

Thanks murphydavid. I have used one or two programs recommended to me to map the C drive, but I can't see that anything is bigger than it should be. Hence the current plan to wait until alot more space goes to see if I can see it then.

I don't think it is slowing down my PC but every few days I lose another 1% of space. Sometimes it has only been used for web browsing once or twice in that few days. The PC is 3 years old and this started out of the blue so there must be a cause and that cause must be a problem rather than day-to-day running.

I have done full scans with all my av/malware programs several times and the ones recommended in post #1 and it isn't a virus etc.

EDIT: Think I may have found a cause, see here