Very Slow Computer

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WhiteTree

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Very Slow Computer [thread finished]

Our family computer has been slowing down over the past year. It now takes about 15-20 minutes to start up. I don't know if it's related to malware or just too many programs in start up, or something else. I tend to think it is a combination of things. I don't know that much about Windows.

We got the computer in the fall of 2004. We've been using the zone-alarm firewall. As I learned more, I got symantec antivirus installed also. (I think it was installed in 2006.)

Everything works, it's just gotten slow. We are also down to about 3 GB of harddrive space. It would be great if we could free up some of that. I really don't want to have to do a reinstall unless it's absolutely needed due to the fact that it would be a lot of work to set everything back up for everyone.

Thanks for any help. :)

Dell Dimension 3000: Windows XP SP2, 2.4 Ghz Celeron, 1GB RAM, 40GB HD (3GB free)

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Malwarebytes' log (performed the removal it requested)
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This thread is finished, no need to post anymore in this thread.
 
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I see you are running outdated software that has vulnerabilities, which we will fix later, so lets start out by running combofix.

Download and Run ComboFix
If you already have Combofix, please delete this copy and download it again as it's being updated regularly.
Note: Do not mouseclick combofix's window whilst it's running. That may cause it to stall

Combofix should never take more that 20 minutes including the reboot if malware is detected.
If it does, open Task Manager then Processes tab (press ctrl, alt and del at the same time) and end any processes of findstr, find, sed or swreg, then combofix should continue.
If that happened we want to know, and also what process you had to end.

In your next reply please post:
  • The ComboFix log
  • A fresh HiJackThis log
  • An update on how your computer is running

Also please let me know how much system ram you have and if you have done a disk defrag lately.
 
Combofix is down at the moment. I will let you know when its back up. There is a bug in it and they are trying to fix it.
 
The last time it was down, was for 4 or 5 days. I'll let you know when its back up or you can keep trying that link.
 
Since you have been using your computer for a long time, have you ever done some maintenance to your computer, such as defragment disk or clean registry?
 
I don't currently have enough free space to defragment. (I think it recommends 15% free.) Last defragment was 10-8-09.

Before I knew better, I did attempt to edit the registry. (I didn't even have a backup!) I was careful and didn't damage anything, although I wouldn't dare try it again. I don't have any easy way to back it up (except system restore). I did try a few freeware cleaners several years ago, but one of them disabled our internet connection. I recovered it with system restore, but haven't really bothered with the registry since.

I'm sorry I missed the RAM question; here are the basic system specs:

Dell Dimension 3000: Windows XP SP2, 2.4 Ghz Celeron, 1GB RAM, 40GB HD (3GB free)

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It's the "home" edition of Windows XP which doesn't have a registry backup feature. I think Windows XP Pro has a registry backup feature, but I'm not sure.
 
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If you have a lot of documents and data on that drive then I would recommend getting a bigger hard drive and using it for storage after transferring your documents to the new drive and just use the original drive for operating system and programs.

However, chances are if you've been in the registry, you could have done some damage, hence why it takes 20 minutes to boot up. You might have to do a repair installation of XP.
 
Considering that was 3-4 years ago and it didn't slow down until recently, I don't think it's related. However, it could have been damaged some other way or it could be something totally unrelated. I think it just needs a good clean up, but I could be wrong.

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I am in the process of moving some data over, but I don't think that will speed things up much.
 
Well, the more fuller the drive gets, it tends to really slow down. Make sure you are deleting your temporary internet files and empty the recycle bin. Or you can download and run Ccleaner and it will do it for you.
 
confidence is high

Dimension 3000, not a bad little computer for general use. It was ok back in the day though its more than a little dated in todays world. Funny though, my brother has the exact same pc.

So when was the last time you dusted its guts? If you haven't recently or ever. Then don't despair, they are super easy to open up and clean. Grab a shop vac and and can of compressed air then get the dust out. You don't even need to pull the heat sinks, just vac the dust out. I cleaned my brothers in about 20minutes, and that's including time for dismantling! Though if you aren't ok with opening it up, shops charge very little to do it for you. Most places will/should charge at the most $30 (I dont know if your in the US, thats 18.625 GBP or 21.207 Euros or 33.2116 AUD).

+1 with Johnb for CCleaner, I use it regularly and consider it a must for everyone. If you want to keep any items related to your computer usage then just un-check them before analyzing. I have friends with kids who keep the history and look it over regularly, just in case! ha ha ha

CCleaner also has a registry repair tool (it will prompt you with a chance to backup the registry before running). There are also options for removing startup programs, an Add/Remove list for your programs, and a restore point list; all in the tools section. (When I run the registry cleaner, I UN-check anything to do with my A/V before the repair operation.)

I noticed that you have viewpoint on your computer, it should be uninstalled.

Update Adobe Reader here: http://get.adobe.com/reader/
Just UN-check the box for the Macafee scan item, you dont need it.

Update Java here: http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp?detect=jre&try=1
But UN-check the box for the yahoo toolbar during install, its unneeded. Once Java is updated go to Add/Remove all other instances of it other than the current version.

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If you want to free up some space on that HDD, then I'd recommend the following. Its the check list I follow when cleaning my and other peoples computers.

1. Use CCleaner to clean up your temp files.

2. Go through Add/Remove Programs and get rid of programs that you used to use but dont anymore. Things like Alien Shooter, $10 poker games, that stupid shooter game the cousin installed "for you", netscape, etc... Get rid of them

3. Clean your user account. Do you really need those 50 photos of uncle Bob's foot, or the ceiling? How about the 1000's of save points for a game you lost 4 years ago? Do you have 10 copies of the same photo, document, video? Carefully get rid of the extraneous files, or if your sentimental, move the extra stuff to an external HDD.

You get the picture.

(4. Put your flash drives in and do the same to them as in step 3. I include this step to be thorough. A word of caution, do not defragment a flash memory drive.)

5. Run Checkdisk on the HDD

6. Check your HDD free space now, if you can defragment the drive then do so now. While defragmenting, don't do anything else on the computer until it completes. And check to make sure your A/V isn't about to start a scan in at least the next 6 hours.

7. Hows the HDD now?

(EDIT) Oh an buy some more RAM for your machine. 1GB is barely enough. But now I'm turning into one of them, the RAM pushers!!! I hate it when peoples only suggestion to any problem is "You need more RAM!". However you could use some more.
 
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I'm looking at ccleaner, but I'm a little leery about some of its settings. I turned off the mft and wipe drive settings. I'm also not sure about registry editing, though I'm sure there is a lot of junk there. I can't afford to mess anything up because everyone depends on this computer. However, I do certainly want to fix anything that is not risky. (They mention that it creates a registry backup file, but if the registry gets corrupt, how will I navigate to the backup file?)

About the dust, it has been cleaned out before (was really dusty too), but it's time to clean it out again.

What is viewpoint?

I'm working on updating Adobe Reader and Java now
 
Ahh, the soothing electronic embers enlighten

Ok, good questions.

If you mean the "wipe free space" at the bottom of the advanced section, I believe that's off by default. If it isn't, then turn it off. It would take far to long to clean the HDD free space. I wiped my free space once with Acronis (my backup program), I thought it would never finish!

I keep MFT on, I dont need that space chock full of problems. I want those areas cleaned. Keep in mind that it isn't erasing everything in MFT, CCleaner is just cleaning the free space.

About the registry cleaning, so far I have had absolutely no problems with it working correctly. But that's not to say something couldn't go wrong. But if it got that bad, I'd have to say that something is VERY wrong with your computer. In any case, if you want to restore the registry to how it was before "fixing", you can keep the files in the folder of your choosing. All you do is open the folder, run the file and let it go to it.

Viewpoint is Foistware, its an unneeded and unwanted program that is installed at the same time as something you want/need. It only serves to take up space and is just one more place for trouble.

As far as the CCleaner is concerned, I only wanted to put what I do on a regular basis with the computers I work on. But it is totally up to you to decide on a level of cleaning that you are comfortable with.

The main things I see is people not emptying their A/V virus-vault (after careful examination of course), and not deleting temp files, cache and cookies.
 
I did a registry scan with ccleaner and there are a LOT of things wrong. What settings should I choose to fix and what should I leave alone?

Also if it does mess something up, will I be able to graphically boot into Windows and navigate to backup file? Or does that have to be done through the command line? (I don't really know anything about the command line.)
 
study while your young

Well lets look at some of Windows features.

XP comes with some really great tools in case you run into major problems and can't start-up. One of those tools is "restore points", it regularly saves crucial system data, so that you can "restore" back to a point you choose. It does this in case you have the creation of an instability, due to messing with the registry for instance. It can do a lot, but it wont restore your programs, so dont expect to see a program you accidentally uninstalled reappear. Restore points can be accessed if you are able to log in and use your account profile.

More information on this through Microsoft Support: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

But lets say that whatever happened made it so that you cant even log in. Its all gone downhill and now you think you your dead. Calm down, because you can still access the "Last Good Configuration" application during start-up by going to the Safe Mode start-up screen.

I'm not sure if you are familiar with safe mode, I will assume you are. If you arent then go read this from Microsoft Support: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222

The Last Good Configuration restores registry and driver information that was present at the last successful boot-up. Again this feature of XP will not reinstall programs that you choose to uninstall. Its only for registry and driver rollbacks.

More information on this through Microsoft Support: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852

Do you have CCleaner yet? Try doing a registry scan and read it over. Most of what you will find will be things related to leftover or dead-end registry bits. There are usually a lot of associations that CCleaner gets rid of the first time through,. Its usually a lot of textual dead-ends and registry remnants of uninstalled programs.

I usually see things like Quicktime/......... or Realplayer...... or etc..... and I fix them. Like I said before, the only thing I leave alone with the registry cleaner is anything related to my Anti-Virus program, in my case thats Trend Micro Internet Security. When I see that program on the list of fixable objects (after the analysis), I UN-check it so that my A/V is left alone. If I have a problem with my A/V I call Trend Micro and see what they think, I go right to the source. However you can clean the registry remnants of A/V programs, I've done it plenty of times with no ill effect. I just choose not to on mine. Everything else gets "cleaned" though, I don't usually exclude anything. But each time I analyze, I analyze the log it generates before I click FIX. I do this to make sure I don't cause a problem. Though usually, its just just random leftover garbage that needs to go.

I feel that this tool is necessary, especially after a major virus cleanup. That is, due to the mess that will invariably be left in your computers registry. You could choose to put your XP install DVDs in and do a repair install of the OS, but that wont eliminate the leftovers from other things.

The analysis logs that CCleaner Registry cleaner generates are not hard to read. But its totally your choice to run this tool. If you are not comfortable using something like this, then I would advise you not to. But if you choose to use this tool, sit down and take your time. This is not the time to rush through. I hope I answered your questions.
 
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Here is a list of the registry things ccleaner wants to fix. (The only area it wasn't interested in was fonts.)

What should I fix and what should I leave alone?

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It appears I can only upload 5 files at a time.
 
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not me

Sorry bro, i just dont have time (or the patience) right now to wade through all of that. If it were me, I'd just click "fix". You can always reset it to how it was if it makes a mistake. Keep this in mind as well, CCleaner is usually considered the least aggressive registry tool.

If it means anything, I and many other people use that program and dont have problems with it working correctly. But maybe someone else can toss some thoughts this way?
 
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