System runs slow on start up and shut down

I have noticed that since the Win32 problem had been solved my PC runs slow in shutting down and opening up any software and bott up takes ages as well. I have cleared out files on internet options and tested for defrag but does not need it. There a no conflicts from what I can see unless aol spy zapper is clashing with Ewido. Is there any software I can down load to speed up my system I still have 61.5 GB freespace. I am on Win XP Home edition

I would try running a few more spyware progams(adware, crap cleaner and spybot) to make sure its not spyware. I usually run 4 to 5 programs before dwelling in deeper.

Go to the Security and the Web forum and follow the instructions in the "Read" threads.

But before you do that, download HijackThis and post a log in the Security and the Web forum for Howard to see whether you have a spyware problem.

You can also try removing useless statup programs and services. And you can also download programs to help your boot speed. Also remember as said above, scan for spyware and any other resource hogs.

Another reason why computers run slow is because of installing all programs on one windows installation.
Its best to partition your hard drive and have each partition for different programs ie one for games another for office based applications etc.

Check out HyperOS its a good program. HERE

HJT report for Howard in Security forum

Hya I have run again Ewido and nothing was found I have also posted A HJT report.


Thanks
Dave H

Have you done the above? If you have wait for a reply from Howard for your Hijack This log to be looked at in the Security and the Web Forum.

Also defragment your Hard drive. Click Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter

System running slow

Yes have done the above and will defrag system now

Which antivirus and firewall program are you running?

system running slow

Ok I am using AVG free and Zone Alarm

OK thats good i thought u may have norton. A quick way to slow down your computer is to install norton.What are your complete system specs?

system running slow

Yes my system came pre installed with Norton. It was useless took my Pc back to the shop thought it was faulty. They told me to remove it.


Thanks
Dave H

installing anti virus and anti spyware programs and having a few on is all well and good if its security related, however if its driver related as improporly installed driver often cause the pc to boot slowly and shutdown slowly. and also, depending on how much RAM your PC has you may need to remove these programs. Because if your computer has 512mb of ram or less, having a few antii virus and etc. can cause your pc to slow down, particulerly those running like firewalls and etc. This is because with you have 3 virus scanner programs running in the backgroud, each will scan each file you access, this causes documents and files in general to take longer to load, some file scanners like bitdefender virus shield scans the whole folder contents as u open it. This may very well be the reason your computer is slow.

i had that problem! computer was well sluggish,i went into control panel, selected system tools and adjusted my computer for best performance rather than apperance,that seem to help alot,also remove any unececary programs at start up cos i had two of each adware spyware poppustopers too much going on lol and i trie and keep my system maintained at least twice aweek running various spybot reg, mechanic.your pc is a bit like a women realy needs to be reasured and pamperd lol

I have never heard a computer described like that before, but however it makes 100% sense, computer must be taken care of and they will last a long time with no issues, except perhaps harware issues

Yeah similar problems here

I`m having similar problems. It`s clean install running spyware doctor, zone alarm pro, spybot s&d, nod32 and adaware se. Everything seems to be starting up ok untill i install zone alarm. Than most of the time system hangs for ever at startup. Also tryed using nvidia firewall instead of zone alarm and seemed to be booting up nicely. But had certain problems like corrupted files and some other things with that firewall so had to go back to software firewall.
Than i tryed different combinations of programs with zone alarm but nothing seemed to bootup normaly when zone alarm was arround. I also noticed that system respond was not so good. Since i like features that zone alarm pro has i keept trying and trying.
Went to system configuration utillity and checked wich programs are in startup and left checked only those needed. Than i did services also in system conf. utillity. There i unchecked a few, like help and support, security center, automatic updates, netmeeting remote desktop sharing, error report service, and some other that seemed to be pointless running. Cose there is a lot of crap running in services that you realy don`t need.
You migt wanna see some information about services and their use on: http://www.theeldergeek.com/
Restarted few times to see bootup process and for now things are running much smoother. Still testing and playing with configurations to get optimal performance.

Instead of Zonealarm Free, try Sunbelt Keiro Personal Firewall...

for computer safety all u need is 1 good internest security suit, this includes, virus scanning, firewall, spyware scanning, parental control and anti spam. you can also have 1 specific spyware program, having several will make ur computer lag

Don`t know if security suite that has good firewall, antivirus and others even exists. What i want in firewall is that asks me for allowing or denying internet connection every time it needs to connect. For example firefox, i don`t want permission set to allow all the time. When i run it, it asks me for permission to connect to internet. Just don`t like programs establishing connection without my knowledge. In antivirus i look for things like nod32 has. Runs siletntly in background without using to much resources and is efficient. It shuld identify viruses, ,adware, spyware, phishing .... I know it`s quite good finding viruses, but don`t know about the spyware or adware tho.
I did try out pc cillin internet security suite. Heard it`s good. But first thing that made me uninstall it after 30 min was firewall. Maybe i didn`t use it long enough, but whenever i`ve set program on ask and than when connecting, it asked me, but only for first time, than it automaticly changed permission to allow.Didn`t see program control aswell. Had norton security suite way back. But i seriously doubt in nortons capabilities. Altho norton systemworks has some nice things to offer. Perhaps i shuld try Zone alarm security suite, since i like their firewall. Dont`t know about their antivirus, never tryed it.
I was also using sygate`s firewall once. Not bad. Think it belongs to norton now.
So the point is that all good stuff probably can not be found in one place or one packet. There is much chance that with atleast one of security suite features like firewall or AV you might not be satisfied.
I will try out sunbelt keiro firewall like N3051M suggested. Altho i did kinda solve problems with hanging on bootup and shuting down by disableing some unnecessary services.

Quess the fastest way to solve most problems wuld be going linux on this machine aswell.