|
Welcome to the YorkieTalk.com Forums Community - the community for Yorkshire Terriers. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. You will be able to chat with over 35,000 YorkieTalk members, read over 2,000,000 posted discussions, and view more than 15,000 Yorkie photos in the YorkieTalk Photo Gallery after you register. We would love to have you as a member! Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please click here to contact us. |
|
| LinkBack | Thread Tools |
08-13-2008, 05:53 AM | #1 |
I Love My Munchkins! Donating Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: My Babies ♥'s!
Posts: 8,765
| Computer help?? Calling all computer experts! I've been having computer issues for the last few months. Certain days are just terrible and others aren't so bad. Sometimes I run soooooooooooo slow!! I've cleaned so much stuff out and I'm still having these issues. I feel like dumping my entire system and reinstalling Windows ?? I think I have XP now but I thought about buying Vista. If I dump and load the new Windows will my problems go away? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I seriously have no idea. I wasn't sure if the problems would be hidden in there no matter what I do. Thanks for any help.
__________________ I My Lil Furballs!! Pia Mojo ~ Trixie Murphy ~ Paisley Max |
Welcome Guest! | |
08-13-2008, 06:02 AM | #2 |
Donating YT 10K Club Member | The problem may actually lie with your internet service provider...I'd have that checked before wiping out the hard drive. I have broadband and had issues when another utility company nicked one of the lines. Even though it is considered a high speed connection...ours runs through our phone lines...so those lines must be clear too. Have you checked the speed your computer is connected? That may give you some indication. If it's not connecting at high speeds...that'll slow things down.
__________________ Deb, Reese, Reggie, Frazier, Libby, Sidney, & Bodie Trace & Ramsey who watch over us www.biewersbythebay.com |
08-13-2008, 06:20 AM | #3 | |
I Love My Munchkins! Donating Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: My Babies ♥'s!
Posts: 8,765
| Quote:
Hi, thanks for the help. I have checked the speed. I actually called and talked with a technical support person and everything was fine on their end. I honestly think we have a virus or something. I've always had Norton and I swear when I installed our new addition of it everything went bad. That makes no sense to me. I called Norton and also did their online support and they didn't help much at all. I think they made matters worse. The only thing I care about are my pictures. I've been saving them, so starting over isn't a big deal to me. I have nothing else on here that I care about. I just don't want to buy a new windows and load and still have the same issues. I swear these computers are such a darn headache!!
__________________ I My Lil Furballs!! Pia Mojo ~ Trixie Murphy ~ Paisley Max | |
08-13-2008, 06:31 AM | #4 |
Donating YT 10K Club Member | They're on line support....sux to put it mildly. Do you have system restore? You could go back before you installed the Norton update. Did you install the update via a download or actually have a disc? Sometimes they have issues with download verisons. Heck I got a brand new computer...Norton was supposed to be already installed...and the stupid thing would say...you have to register this product to use it...and it wouldn't LET me register. I'd click the link to register...it disappeared. I tried going to their website...do it manually...and the website would tell me I entered an incorrect serial number. After about the 10th time of putting the serial number in...trust me...it was CORRECT. It was madding....
__________________ Deb, Reese, Reggie, Frazier, Libby, Sidney, & Bodie Trace & Ramsey who watch over us www.biewersbythebay.com |
08-13-2008, 06:44 AM | #5 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Chicago Suburbs
Posts: 3,306
| Norton and McAfee are what my husband refers to as "Bloat ware" They slow your computer down as they run in the background. You could also have spy ware on your computer - do you get pop-up ads? You can try AVG (anti-virus) for free: AVG Free - Download antivirus and antispyware software for Windows XP and Vista And Spybot for ad-ware and spy-ware: The home of Spybot-S&D! My husband the computer geek just walked in the room said upgrading to Vista is like "pouring gasoline on your house when it's on fire." HA. No Vista won't help you because unless you buy a brand new top of the line computer Vista will run slow. We have Macs, but your WinXP should work better if you run those programs and uninstall Norton. You can also do a speed test at Speakeasy - Speakeasy, Inc. - Broadband, Voice and Data Services to make sure your connection is consistent. Good luck!
__________________ |
08-13-2008, 06:47 AM | #6 | |
I Love My Munchkins! Donating Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: My Babies ♥'s!
Posts: 8,765
| Quote:
Unfortunately, I have tried to restore and it didn't help at all. I bought Norton because I wanted to have the disc here and I've even taken it off and reloaded and it still stinks. My computer is only a little over a year old but I feel like buying another because I am so frustrated. Knowing me I'm going to buy the new Windows and probably scream when the problems are still there. I'm sorry you had so many issues with Norton. Again, computers are such a pain!!
__________________ I My Lil Furballs!! Pia Mojo ~ Trixie Murphy ~ Paisley Max | |
08-13-2008, 06:49 AM | #7 |
Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: State College, PA
Posts: 177
| Hi there! Definitely try getting rid of any SpyWare first ... it slows down my computer significantly. I use AdAware (the free version) and it's a lifesaver. I run it once a week and it eliminates between 50 and 200 spyware infections each time. You can read about it and download it here: Ad-Aware 2008 - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com It gets pretty good reviews. Good luck! |
08-13-2008, 06:53 AM | #8 | |
I Love My Munchkins! Donating Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: My Babies ♥'s!
Posts: 8,765
| Quote:
Thank you for all of the help. I don't have many pop-ups. I get some here and there. I do have ad-ware and run it pretty often. I guess I'll stay away from Vista, lol. Tell your hubby thanks. Again, I am so not a computer person but would reloading XP be okay? I just thought maybe since Vista is the newest that was the reason why it would be bad for me. However, I wasn't sure about the others. I'm ready to pull my hair out, lol!!
__________________ I My Lil Furballs!! Pia Mojo ~ Trixie Murphy ~ Paisley Max | |
08-13-2008, 07:01 AM | #9 | |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Chicago Suburbs
Posts: 3,306
| Quote:
If you have ANY popups you probably have adware. It's not a bad idea to use Ad-Aware AND Spybot because they search for slightly different things. Make sure you have the newest versions of both. Check out this CNet review on Norton: "Resource hogging bloatware" - Norton Antivirus 2008 with Antispyware user opinion and rating - CNET Reviews Oh also - how much RAM do you have? RAM is relatively cheap but improves your performance significantly! If you buy a new computer buy a Mac.
__________________ | |
08-13-2008, 07:24 AM | #10 | |
I Love My Munchkins! Donating Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: My Babies ♥'s!
Posts: 8,765
| Quote:
Thanks for the help!! I feel like an idiot but I'm not sure how much RAM I have, lol! I'll try a few other things but I'd love to have an excuse to get a Mac, haha!
__________________ I My Lil Furballs!! Pia Mojo ~ Trixie Murphy ~ Paisley Max | |
08-13-2008, 01:42 PM | #11 |
lovin my girls Donating Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nottinghamshire, UK
Posts: 9,342
| Please don't buy Vista. My laptop came with Vista installed and it has the bare system requirements for it. I've had it little over a year and it's slow and sluggish because there isn't enough memory to run everything. You will have this problem pretty much straight away because your system is designed for XP and most likely won't have the minimum requirements needed to run Vista. Firstly I suggest you go through your add/remove programs and uninstall anything in there that you don't use... and uninstall the anti virus you brought too, I forget who said this a couple of posts up, but her BF is right, it really does slow your system down and even with a customised install and putting the bare esstentials on it will still bog everything down. Next I would check the RAM on your system and maybe see about getting an upgrade. It's really not expensive to buy and it's relatively easy to install although places don't tend to charge much for installing memory anyway. Another thing to look at is how much space you have on your hard drive? Mine was crammed with photos and videos and I moved them all onto another drive to free up the main drive so there was just programs on there. Last week I also changed how much virtual memory I had and surprisingly that made a HUGE difference. I've done all this in the past week because for two weeks I was having major issues with over heating, stalling, freezing, shutting itself down, etc... it's made all the difference and now runs just as well as it did the day I purchased it... I wish I wasn't so lazy otherwise I would of done all this before now.
__________________ Vicky - Gypsy, Kayla & Amelia Grace's Mummy Follow Yodi's Adventure! Where In The World Is Yodi? Petitioning For ERFW |
08-13-2008, 01:46 PM | #12 |
BANNED! | If you load all your pictures to a disc and upload from there it will free up alot of space on your puter and help it run faster. Pictures take up alot of space and memory. Also clean your disc and cleaning out your cookies will help. AsO run a virus check then reboot and run it again. |
08-13-2008, 05:49 PM | #13 |
Donating Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Mississippi
Posts: 152
| To check the memory on your system, go to the desktop, right click on my computer and click properties. It may take a few seconds but it'll show you how much memory you have. Anything less than 512 mb isn't very good for running XP. |
08-13-2008, 05:55 PM | #14 |
Donating Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Iowa
Posts: 651
| First - don't get VISTA or you will need to upgrade your RAM too and it will still be slow. (We purchased our daughter a laptop for college - it came with VISTA. My DH formatted that baby and installed XP on it - much faster!) Second - see what is running in the background - this will slow your machine down terribly. Example: when you turn on your computer MSN will automatically start if you IM people (or whatever instant messaging system you use). Also - many music downloand and file sharing programs will run "quietly" in the background so they are ready for you but you may not even use them. You can find this information in your task manager. Lastly - Get FREE AVG and then run a scan. I have had AVG find things that Norton (Symantec) and McAfee does not find. Perhaps you may have a trojan horse in the background that isn't found yet by your software - AVG will find it and fix it. Good Luck!
__________________ Gracie Froto Blair and RIP Bear-Bear 12/31/08 & RIP Roscoe 06/12/08 Free Samples! All-Natural, High-quality Pet food for your Furbaby! http://www.trilogyonline.com/missiemiss |
08-13-2008, 06:12 PM | #15 |
My Little Man! Donating Member | Definitely scan for spyware. That will definitely slow your system down. I use these: CCleaner, SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition. Just google it and it will take you right to the page to download it. Also dont forget to do Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup on your system. That will also take care of some slowing down on your system. Finally when you store your photos and videos try to store it on a different drive not a C drive. C drive is suppose to be only for programs that run on your system.
__________________ By purchasing pet store or other puppy mill puppies, you support the abuse of innocent animals! |
Bookmarks |
|
|
| |
|
|
SHOP NOW: Amazon :: eBay :: Buy.com :: Newegg :: PetStore :: Petco :: PetSmart