I hate my computer

[Linderbee]

I finally just got a pc at my new job; I was working off a laptop until now. This computer is not new, it was shipped to us from our San Fran office. The stupid thing, always, by mid-day, totally freezes up. I asked our IT guy if he could look into it; he said that I prob. had a virus and installed Norton. I ran a scan and in that regard there were no problems; no viruses detected. But now, the stupid thing is taking FOREVER to even boot up. Once I log on, it just goes into the "hourglass" pointer if I try to start anything for about 2-3 minutes. I don't have anything that is supposed to run on start up outside of Messenger. It used to start just fine, but now it's giving me fits. I asked if I should download ad-aware or something, but the IT guy said "Don't--it will just make my life harder"...whatever. Any thoughts any of you could give me would be much appreciated. At mid-day the "cpu usage" is usually maxed out at 100%, while the "PF Usage" seems to be fine. I also noticed when I had to "CTRL-ALT-DEL" re-boot, it said it was closing "realplay.exe" when I had nothing open (not realplayer). Anyway, let me know what y'all think. Here's a screenshot of my task manager from as soon as I could get it to open after turning on my machine:

 

[Ryanwb]

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=24784

see if real player is starting up on bootup

 

[Ryanwb]

BTW, your PF usage is too high, extend your pagefile

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=70300&highlight=page+file

 

[Linderbee]

Thank you very much for the advice/help. I made some adjustments; I'm sure it will help. There was a LOT of stuff listed to run on start...I left the things I knew I needed (okay, I asked someone in the office), and got rid of the rest.

 

[vince56]

Also, running a resident app like Norton or McAfee on startup can really delay your system's startup because it has to set up all of it's subcomponents (AntiVirus, Immunity, Firewall, etc.). If you don't have a newer, faster system, or you already had some things startup that you don't need to, that can really slow you down.

Do you have a lot of programs starting up when the computer starts up? I know a few people that have to wait 4-5 minutes on startup because they have half the programs on their computer begin on startup. I can't tell from your screen print there because you have the icons hidden, but if you unhide the icons in the bottom right corner of your screen (click on the "<" symbol) you can see what's running and what's not. IMO, if you have more than 4 or 5 icons show up, you've got too much starting up when your system does.

If you know what you're doing, you can run a program called msconfig from your start menu, and you can select what apps & services you want to have run on startup, and you can de-select those you don't want to. Also, go through your Control Panel (if you know what you're doing) and uninstall some of the programs you do not use. Some of them may be resident when you boot up.

Another idea is to boot up your computer in safe mode (hit & hold F5 or F8 on startup), then run your AntiVirus program or anti-adware program.

IMO, running a combination of AV programs works best. I run AdAware scans about once a week, SpyBot about once a week, and McAfee about every 2-3 days. It keeps my system clean.

I hope some of this helps.

 

[bratwurst]

so when this machine showed up from SF, did they wipe it clean and reload it or is it still have all the old people's files and stuff on it?

 

[Linderbee]

Most of the files were gone, but the programs were all still there. I ran msconfig like vince & ryan suggested and it seems to be working much better now. No problems at all today! There were a few programs that I could not figure out what they were at all, and I was pretty certain that they were unnecessary (I actually believe there's at least some spyware on this machine, but the IT guy won't let me download ad-aware or anything, so, oh, well.)

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions & the pointing in the right direction. At least for now all seems good!

 

[bratwurst]

For the most part, when reissuing a machine it should be wiped clean and installed with a fresh image of the operating system and programs. That obviously didn't happen in this case. For exactly the reasons you state, you have a machine thats full of spyware, and for all you know, viruses as well.

 

[mkapp]

check the task manager under the processes tab when the computer is running slow. What is taking up most the CPU power? It will have a high number. Also, as stated above, increase your page file. Another thing is the system may be doing a scheduled task at the time it slows down, such as a defrag or virus scan. See if you can delay these to a better time (overnight if possible).