Can someone help me with my desktop computer? It's running very slow

[buttonfluff]

Hi there,

I would be very greatfull if someone could help me bring my pc back to health asap.

Thanks

 

[Ididmyc600]

Hi

11 views and no one can offer you even the most basic of advice so i will..

First how old is the PC, has windows been installed for a long time, say 2 years or more, are you the sort who loves to install programs and then never use them, are you also a limewire or peer to peer user.

1) a reinstall will work wonders for any PC that is running slowly providing that the hard drive that the OS sits on is in good condition, if its an old hard drive then it may be on its last legs and replacements are quite cheap these days, remember to make a note of all the various installed items such as video card, sound card, network card etc etc and make sure you have the drivers for them, if you dont then use device manager to identify them and download the drivers from the manufacturers websites and then burn them to CDrom for use later.

If its a new install of windows or its not all that old then go into add/remove programs and remove any unused programs or any that are rarely used (you can reinstall them if you need them) favourites are games that you liked but dont play anymore.

Once removed go into windows explorer and go to the programs folder and go down the list check for any left over folders from uninstalled folders (many programs do a bad uninstall and leave things behind) and delete them, make sure you dont accidentally delete anything you might need, golden rule is if you dont know what it is leave it alone...

Now reboot the PC and then run start > run > msconfig the last tab is startup, uncheck the boxes for anything you dont need starting at startup, the list can be varied be careful what you uncheck though leave things like virus scanners and the like.

Nows reboot and start the PC in safe mode, and run a defrag on the Hard drive, running in safe mode means that all the programs that are running normally arent this makes for a better defrag.

once defrag has finished reboot back into normal mode this should speed things up how much though depends, its not set in stone that it will make much difference.

I mentioned peer to peer , this is a virus haven and viruses can cause the PC to run slowly, if you can make sure you check the drive through with a decent virus scanner and if in doubt refer to the security and the web section for further advice...

If you do plan to reinstall do a google on the subject there are thousands of sites with advice on how to reinstall an OS if you havent done it before then read them through first.

As a side note it may be worth identifying your Hard drive and downloading the manufacturers test tool and running that on the drive and seeing how well it performs.

Hope this helps

 

[kimsland]

Run CCleaner: http://www.ccleaner.com/
Run Startup Control Panel (and remove any not required startups: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
Run MalwareBytes full updated scan: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

 

[buttonfluff]

Im not sure how old the desktop is because it was from my aunt but im guessing its not that old because its running on xp... how can I find out how old it is?

 

[buttonfluff]

So far I have uninstalled anything i dont use and I have checked for bad uninstallations I have also sorted through my start up. I downloaded and ran the ccleaner and I am currently running a full systems scan with malwarebytes (updated). I will post the log once it is complete.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[kimsland]

Windows Install Date

Start-->Run-->CMD-->enter
"systeminfo | find /i "install date" -->enter

 

[kimsland]

Windows Install Date

Start-->Run-->CMD-->enter
"systeminfo | find /i "install date" -->enter

Sorry I had one too many quotation marks.
Make that:

systeminfo | find /i "install date" -->enter

 

[buttonfluff]

Log

Right i ran the malware thing here is the log from after removing 7.

 

[buttonfluff]

I tried the windows install date thing and it says the 20.11.2006

 

[gbhall]

look at the bios during load

Im not sure how old the desktop is because it was from my aunt but im guessing its not that old because its running on xp... how can I find out how old it is?

The date of the bios will be shown when loading. You might need to press ctrl-pause quickly to read it. That will be roughly the PC was built, could be much earlier than the install of XP

 

[kimsland]

Registry Keys Infected: 1
Registry Values Infected: 1
Files Infected: 5

Registry Keys Infected:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Multimedia\WMPlayer\Schemes\f3pss (Adware.MyWebSearch) -> No action taken.

Registry Values Infected:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\originalwallpaper (Hijack.Wallpaper) -> No action taken.

C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msimg32.dll (Adware.MyWebSearch) -> No action taken.
C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\riched20.dll (Adware.MyWeb.FunWeb) -> No action taken.
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Wallpaper1.bmp (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> No action taken.
C:\Documents and Settings\pat\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Wallpaper1.bmp (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> No action taken.
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Wallpaper1.bmp (Trojan.FakeAlert) -> No action taken.

These entries need to be fixed.

Re-Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Click on the Update tab and click update.
If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
Once the program has been updated, go back to the main screen and select Perform full scan, then click Scan.
When the scan is complete, click OK.
Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
When completed, a log will open in Notepad. Please save it to a convenient location.
The log can also be found here: C:\Documents and Settings\<User name>\Application Data\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\Logs\mbam-log-date (time).txt
Copy and Paste the log into your next reply

 

[buttonfluff]

log

there you go

 

[buttonfluff]

The date of the bios will be shown when loading. You might need to press ctrl-pause quickly to read it. That will be roughly the PC was built, could be much earlier than the install of XP

I havent a clue what a bios is or how to press pause lol

but thanks

it has pentium 4 so its earlier than 2006 i guess

 

[kimsland]

I would be very greatfull if someone could help me bring my pc back to health asap.

How is it now?
Is it any better?

I also use this program: Startup Control Panel, and remove any not required Windows Startups (as mentioned earlier)

Also what AntiVirus do you use? Some of them generally just slow down computers.
I usually recommend Avast Free Antivirus, also many report that Avira Antivirus is good too. But if you have Norton or any of the Internet Security softwares installed, this can cause slow downs.

Actually before you reply, also do this excellent test (and possible fix) of your system:

Open My Computer
Right Click on C drive
Select Properties
Select Tools tab
Select Check Now button
Tick "Automatically fix file system errors"
Start YES OK
Restart your computer
Wait for Check Disk to start/finish

Also it is advised to always back up your important data, externally. ie to CD/DVD or USB Flash/Hard Drive

Please let me know

 

[gbhall]

I havent a clue what a bios is or how to press pause lol

The bios listing is the white on blank bit that you see on screen when you first switch on, although if you've never seen it, display can be suppressed by an option within the bios. Chicken or egg?

The pause button is perhaps not labelled as such, maybe 'break' although it is normally the last in the row of three including 'print scrn' and 'scroll lock'. Since pause is the upper-case-shift value, you need to press ctrl at the same time.

PS this user is obviously completely uninformed about computers, and will certainly have mega amounts of temp files, old installs, internet cache, extremely defragmented drive - the lot. hi buttonfluff, why not google a few of those terms?

 

[buttonfluff]

Its running much better thanks and I have just set up that restart so ill let you know how that goes tomorrow.

I hit google up by the way gbhall... thanks for the advise

 

[kimsland]

After that, do a defrag, then let us know.
It's not bad, all of this support, without knowing anything about your computer