WHY is my computer so SLOW???

[Sage]

Big problem. I uninstalled MS Outlook 2002 and Protowall from my computer, rebooted, and suddenly everything is literally about 10x slower. I messed around with it forever and made sure I'm virus and spyware clean and, I made sure there's no strange and unusual apps running.

Let me explain more accurately the symptoms- display refresh is painfully slow. It took a few minutes to put all of the icons on my desktop. Took about 20 seconds to open the start menu, and the same or longer for any submenu's. Starting any program oropening any window would take several minutes. Just moving my mouse to the bottom of the screen to make the taskbar show was taking several seconds.

system specs:
Dual 1.26GHz Tualatins
1GB DDR333
Via chipset
GF4
WinXP SP1

So.... I un- and reinstalled the graphics drivers. That helped a LOT but its still very very slow. It's usable now, whereas before it wouldnt have even been possible to browse the internet. I reinstalled VIA 4in1's. Didnt help much. I use a program called ProceXP which is kinda like NT's built-in performance monitor but gives a LOT mor info. I noticed before that explorer.exe was frequently using 40-65 percent CPU power (remember, I'm using duals so %50 = %100 cpu for single-threads). Now it doesntuse so much but it's still being really slow. So, I checked it out and DPC (deffered prcedure calls) is often using 11-26 percent. I can't figre out wtf is the deal. iTunes still takes about 3 minutes to open. I cannot game. And I, mr CIO, cannot figure out what's wrong!

 

[cloudscapes]

Download Process Explorer (free) and find out if there are any apps or processes which are showing suspicious behavior. Process Explorer shows more than the task manager. Hye, you never know. Also, I'd backup really important data ASAP. Is Protowall some kind of firewall? If so it *might* be a virus, a lot of viruses get undetected by virus scanners. explorer.exe might be infected, that happened to me last week, and McAfee didn't even detect it. All this because I shut down my firewall for ten minutes!

Is your HD swapping like mad while all this slowdown is occuring?

 

[Sage]

Download Process Explorer (free) and find out if there are any apps or processes which are showing suspicious behavior. Process Explorer shows more than the task manager. Hye, you never know. Also, I'd backup really important data ASAP. Is Protowall some kind of firewall? If so it *might* be a virus, a lot of viruses get undetected by virus scanners. explorer.exe might be infected, that happened to me last week, and McAfee didn't even detect it. All this because I shut down my firewall for ten minutes!

Is your HD swapping like mad while all this slowdown is occuring?

protowall is kind of a firewall... but its used for blocking RIAA/MPAA/etc. And, it's driver-based. I am using Windows Firewall right now since I don't have a hardware one atm. But, before I uninstalled Protowall, I would always disable it on startup because it was blocking things I didn't want it to block.

And, yeah, I do have Process Explorer. That's what I was talking about... when i noticed that DPC's are eating a lot of CPU power. And, eplorer.exe isnt acting so wierd now that I reinstalled Dets. But, the comp is still a lot slower than it should be. I don't know if my harddrive is swapping because I can't hear it over the fans, even with them turned all the way down.

 

[Sage]

oh yeah ad my norton subscription expired so i had to use the online free housecall virus scan. dammit. stupid thing. maybe i should just shell out and buy a new version of norton. really think there could be a virus? that sucks. But, I do have a physically seperate HDD that I can reformat, install an OS, and use it to scan from... I really hope its not a virus. I have, on my puter, a log of every chat I've had on Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and ICQ for the past 3 or so years. Do NOT want to loose all of that. Oh yeah and all of my pr0n. got to save that.

 

[Schadenfroh]

If your norton antivirus expired, i would reccomend using the freeware antivir (provides real time protection and is updated very often), grab it here

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download955.html

It uses much less resources than norton. I wrote a round up review of antivirus applications, including NAV 2005 and Antivir, located here

http://www.schadentech.com/Reviews/Antivirus/antivirus_roundup.htm

As far as slowdowns go, check out my guide to free performance, located here

http://www.schadentech.com/Other/performance.htm

 

[Sage]

If your norton antivirus expired, i would reccomend using the freeware antivir (provides real time protection and is updated very often), grab it here

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download955.html

It uses much less resources than norton. I wrote a round up review of antivirus applications, including NAV 2005 and Antivir, located here

http://www.schadentech.com/Reviews/Antivirus/antivirus_roundup.htm

As far as slowdowns go, check out my guide to free performance, located here

http://www.schadentech.com/Other/performance.htm

thanks for the antivirus links, I'll certainly read your review. But, this is not a slowdown that is going to be covered in any normal tweaking guide- it's an abnormal problem. something has gone wrong and I can't figure out what it is. a week ago my system was extremely fast, even under very heavy load (duals really help increase responsiveness under load because a single-threaded app can't use both CPU's at once)

 

[Schadenfroh]

If your norton antivirus expired, i would reccomend using the freeware antivir (provides real time protection and is updated very often), grab it here

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download955.html

It uses much less resources than norton. I wrote a round up review of antivirus applications, including NAV 2005 and Antivir, located here

http://www.schadentech.com/Reviews/Antivirus/antivirus_roundup.htm

As far as slowdowns go, check out my guide to free performance, located here

http://www.schadentech.com/Other/performance.htm

thanks for the antivirus links, I'll certainly read your review. But, this is not a slowdown that is going to be covered in any normal tweaking guide- it's an abnormal problem. something has gone wrong and I can't figure out what it is. a week ago my system was extremely fast, even under very heavy load (duals really help increase responsiveness under load because a single-threaded app can't use both CPU's at once)

ahh, ok. let me see your hijackthis log. Post it here and we will review it, it lists everything that startsup when your computer starts up. If there is any trojans executing on startup, it will show us in the log where it is and you can remove it from startup. Just fire it up, hit scan, then save log, then notepad will pop open, just copy and paste it to here

download link
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155

 

[Sage]

here we go

Logfile of HijackThis v1.98.2
Scan saved at 1:16:34 PM, on 10/23/2004
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

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\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\spm\spmd.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\sesinetd.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\hserver.exe
C:\WINDOWS\runservice.exe
C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\MouseWare\system\em_exec.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\tbctray.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\Program Files\Norton SystemWorks\Norton Utilities\NPROTECT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Program Files\Pixar\license-1.0\lmgrd.exe
C:\Softimage\XSI_3.5\Application\bin\ray3xsi3_5server.exe
C:\Program Files\Pixar\license-1.0\pixard.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\SPEEDD~1\nopdb.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Tablet.exe
C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
C:\Program Files\Trillian\trillian.exe
C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape\Netscp.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Nmain.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton SystemWorks\Norton Utilities\WINDOC.EXE
C:\Program Files\WinRAR\WinRAR.exe
C:\DOCUME~1\ADIMAN~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\Rar$EX02.625\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://yahoo.sbc.com/dsl
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = 
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = 127.0.0.1
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - _{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497} - (no file)
F1 - win.ini: run=C:\WINDOWS\..\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\MSInfo\info32.exe
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=D:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,
N3 - Netscape 7: user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://home.netscape.com/bookmark/7_1/home.html"); (C:\Documents and Settings\Adimantium\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\6z0swjne.slt\prefs.js)
N3 - Netscape 7: user_pref("browser.search.defaultengine", "engine://C%3A%5CProgram%20Files%5CNetscape%5CNetscape%5Csearchplugins%5CSBWeb_01.src"); (C:\Documents and Settings\Adimantium\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\6z0swjne.slt\prefs.js)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton SystemWorks\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O3 - Toolbar: (no name) - {E0E899AB-F487-11D5-8D29-0050BA6940E3} - (no file)
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccRegVfy] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccRegVfy.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Logitech Utility] Logi_MwX.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RivaTunerStartupDaemon] "C:\Program Files\RivaTuner\RivaTuner.exe" /S
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TraySantaCruz] C:\WINDOWS\System32\tbctray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NVMCTRAY.DLL,NvTaskbarInit
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msjava.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msjava.dll
O9 - Extra button: Create Mobile Favorite - {2EAF5BB1-070F-11D3-9307-00C04FAE2D4F} - C:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\INETREPL.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {2EAF5BB2-070F-11D3-9307-00C04FAE2D4F} - C:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\INETREPL.DLL
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Create Mobile Favorite... - {2EAF5BB2-070F-11D3-9307-00C04FAE2D4F} - C:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\INETREPL.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YPager.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YPager.exe
O16 - DPF: ConferenceRoom Java Client - http://chat.privatefeeds.com:8000/java/cr.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Checkers - http://download.games.yahoo.com/games/clients/y/kt3_x.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Dots - http://download.games.yahoo.com/games/clients/y/dtt1_x.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! MahJong - http://download.games.yahoo.com/games/clients/y/ot0_x.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Pool 2 - http://download.games.yahoo.com/games/clients/y/potb_x.cab
O16 - DPF: {12F7F128-B36C-4843-8AA4-A5F71A969331} (Launcher Control) - https://horizons.istaria.com/controls/launcher.ocx
O16 - DPF: {2354C890-3350-11D5-85A7-0050DAEAEC2C} (DepthCharge Class) - http://vrex.com/depthcharge/DCActiveX/DCActiveX.cab
O16 - DPF: {30528230-99F7-4BB4-88D8-FA1D4F56A2AB} (YInstStarter Class) - http://files.member.yahoo.com/dl/installs/sbc/yinst.cab
O16 - DPF: {56336BCB-3D8A-11D6-A00B-0050DA18DE71} (RdxIE Class) - http://207.188.7.150/12f9e97b04f502d65900/netzip/RdxIE601.cab
O16 - DPF: {74D05D43-3236-11D4-BDCD-00C04F9A3B61} (HouseCall Control) - http://a840.g.akamai.net/7/840/537/2004061001/housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/xscan53.cab
O16 - DPF: {75D1F3B2-2A21-11D7-97B9-0010DC2A6243} (SecureLogin.SecureControl) - http://secure2.comned.com/signuptemplates/ActiveSecurity.cab
O16 - DPF: {8EDAD21C-3584-4E66-A8AB-EB0E5584767D} - http://toolbar.google.com/data/GoogleActivate.cab
O16 - DPF: {90C9629E-CD32-11D3-BBFB-00105A1F0D68} (InstallShield International Setup Player) - http://www.installengine.com/engine/isetup.cab
O16 - DPF: {9A506A66-B0AD-483A-9E69-2D5E5EB67099} (PowerFTP Control) - http://dist.wdbftp.co.kr:8080/PowerFTP.CAB
O16 - DPF: {B9191F79-5613-4C76-AA2A-398534BB8999} - http://us.dl1.yimg.com/download.yahoo.com/dl/installs/suite/autocomplete.cab
O16 - DPF: {C2FCEF52-ACE9-11D3-BEBD-00105AA9B6AE} (Symantec RuFSI Registry Information Class) - http://security.symantec.com/SSC/SharedContent/common/bin/cabsa.cab
O16 - DPF: {FA13A9FA-CA9B-11D2-9780-00104B242EA3} (WildTangent Control) - http://www.wildtangent.com/install/wdriver/audioviz/knightstale/mediaplayer/wildtangent/wtinst.cab
O18 - Filter: text/html - {4F7681E5-6CAF-478D-9CB8-4CA593BEE7FB} - (no file)
O19 - User stylesheet:  (file missing)

 

[Schadenfroh]

It creates backups btw, so make sure you extract it into a folder

fix the following:
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - _{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497} - (no file)

F1 - win.ini: run=C:\WINDOWS\..\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\MSInfo\info32.exe

F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=D:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,

N3 - Netscape 7: user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://home.netscape.com/bookmark/7_1/home.html"); (C:\Documents and Settings\Adimantium\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\6z0swjne.slt\prefs.js)

N3 - Netscape 7: user_pref("browser.search.defaultengine", "engine://C%3A%5CProgram%20Files%5CNetscape%5CNetscape%5Csearchplugins%5CSBWeb_01.src"); (C:\Documents and Settings\Adimantium\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\6z0swjne.slt\prefs.js)

O3 - Toolbar: (no name) - {E0E899AB-F487-11D5-8D29-0050BA6940E3} - (no file)

O16 - DPF: {2354C890-3350-11D5-85A7-0050DAEAEC2C} (DepthCharge Class) - http://vrex.com/depthcharge/DCActiveX/DCActiveX.cab

O16 - DPF: {56336BCB-3D8A-11D6-A00B-0050DA18DE71} (RdxIE Class) - http://207.188.7.150/12f9e97b04f502d65900/netzip/RdxIE601.cab

O16 - DPF: {9A506A66-B0AD-483A-9E69-2D5E5EB67099} (PowerFTP Control) - http://dist.wdbftp.co.kr:8080/PowerFTP.CAB

O16 - DPF: {FA13A9FA-CA9B-11D2-9780-00104B242EA3} (WildTangent Control) - http://www.wildtangent.com/install/wdriver/audioviz/knightstale/mediaplayer/wildtangent/wtinst.cab

O18 - Filter: text/html - {4F7681E5-6CAF-478D-9CB8-4CA593BEE7FB} - (no file)

O19 - User stylesheet: (file missing)


Once, you fix those, run CWShredder:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html

 

[Sage]

woohoo! it seems *seems* fixed!

 

[Sage]

well it SEEMED to be fixed. I think it's UNfixed now

oh and the problem- a lot of apps seem to be using 3-7 percent of my cpu's. they used to not do that. dont know why they do now.

 

[Sage]

and it just now closed norton windoctor for absolutely no reason. no errors or anything, just closed. and its slower than it was half an hour ago too. i ran cwshredder again and as soon as i closed it my comp was fast again... for half a minute... then it got slow again.... this makes no sense at all

 

[digitalwanderer]

Sounds like your PC has gone wonky and it's time for a re-format.

Start your back-ups now.

 

[Schadenfroh]

sage, follow the following steps:

1st. Disable System restore, instructions here
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...111912274039?OpenDocument&src=sec_doc_nam

2nd Run CWSmartkiller
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4113.html

Download, install and update the following the following, but do not run yet:

Spybot (install, update, but do not scan yet)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2471.html

Adaware SE (install, update, but do not scan yet)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=506

Install the following adaware plug-in, VX2 cleaner
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/addons/vx2cleaner.shtml

Restart your computer into safemode, instructions here
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...052409420406?OpenDocument&src=sec_doc_nam

now that you are in safemode, run the following

1. CWSmartKiller
2. CWShredder
3. Spybot Search and destroy (remove and fix anything found)
4. Adaware SE (when you get to program front end, click add-ons, then click VX2cleaner, let it install the plug in, then go back and do a FULL system scan)

Rerun hijackthis and remove the same entries i have listed above if they are present. IF those fail, reboot into normal mode and run the following trialware application:

Spysweeper (update, then do a full scan, then uninstall, this is not freeware, only trial ware)


http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3263.html

 

[Sage]

Sounds like your PC has gone wonky and it's time for a re-format.

Start your back-ups now.

NEVA i tell you NEVA!

I've even upgraded to a new motherboard with a new chipset... even from single-CPU system to dual... and NOT reformatted in THREE YEARS! I shan't let this little setback force me to reformat, not now!

 

[digitalwanderer]

NEVA i tell you NEVA!

I've even upgraded to a new motherboard with a new chipset... even from single-CPU system to dual... and NOT reformatted in THREE YEARS! I shan't let this little setback force me to reformat, not now!

Well, I can't argue with you. I went thru two mobos, four viddy cards, and two sound cards at least once with the same stubborn refusal to reformat too, so I reckon I get where you're coming from.

Never say die, never surrender. 8)

G'luck mate!

 

[Sage]

the bedamned taskbar keeps loosing track of what windows are open. they will disappear and reappear onthe taskbar, and sometimes switch to the wrong one. and when they reappear the bar SLOWLY rolls out. you know how in XP with the fancy theme a new window listed in the taskbar kinda rolls out? well now they CRAWL... taking up to a minute just to display it in the taksbar. and my cursor icon as im typing this... flashing all fast and jittery like if it were taking speed. and I am typing WAY faster than it is showing it so i have to wait for it to catch up.

tried all of the above... didnt help. my system seems to be worse off than when i started messing with it this morning. running Kaspersky AV right now, maybe that will find something

 

[Sage]

oh yeah and every time I use CWShredder i get

Removed from your system:
- CWS.Jksearch
- CWS.HiddenDll

also windows ont shut down my computer anymore. when i tell it to shut down it just restarts it.

edit:
AND running in safe mode is perfectly fine performance-wise. Starting in regular mode it boots up just as fast as it should. But, booting to safe mode it takes foever between the time i choose my Windows installation and it displays "multi(0)channel(0)disk(0)partition(1)/Windows/ bla bla bla" and runs several lines of that down the screen. Then it pauses again for a while. Then it finally gives me a logon screen.

 

[Guden Oden]

Why don't you just call it a day, back up your sh-...important stuff, and reformat your windows partition? Your installation sounds way too borked to be fixable, how you've had the patience to go this far I can't understand. Minutes to start a single program? Jesus!

Give up already!

 

[Sage]

Why don't you just call it a day, back up your sh-...important stuff, and reformat your windows partition? Your installation sounds way too borked to be fixable, how you've had the patience to go this far I can't understand. Minutes to start a single program? Jesus!

Give up already!

no way! I can't give up on this thing. I've been through much worse than this. I even had to change my HAL once from acpi-uni to acpi-smp.. And, it's a saturday, I don't have anything else to do 'cept surf the net... well, actually, I never have anything else to do