Surfnshannon Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 I need some help. I'm new to the whole Windows XP thing. I managed to screw up my computer at home. I installed a virus software program and it detected I had a nimda virus!! So I cleaned that all up and then while surfing the web I acquired some sort of EVIL program that would take over my internet and put all this porn on it. So I got that off. But now my computer is running SLOW. Its like brand new (well June of last year)! I hardly have anything on it either! I deleted all my MP3's...used add/remove programs to uninstall the software I wasn't using. I used scan disk and defragmentor etc. What other things does windows xp have to clean up the computer? Also how do I edit the programs that "start up". I know how to do it at work and everywhere else...but I can't seem to find it on xp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Havoc Stryphe Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Got to your start menu and click on the "run" button and type MSCONFIG I'm not sure about XP but it works on all other Windows platforms. With that program you can edit the windows startup progress, autexec.bat and config.sys. That might help speed the startup, and then I would get a windows registry "scrubber" program. Alot of slowdown comes from Windows registry entries. When you uninstall or remove programs they still leave entries in the windows registry which makes the list alot longer than it has to, when windows does a search or swap or file access within the registry. Try that, if that still does not work. I say Format C: and start all over with your recovery discs (Blah!) or windows install disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Odin Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 There are powertoys for Windows XP. try looking at the Mircosoft website for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Start> Run> type in msconfig> go to the Startup tab. Chances are there are dozens of programs running in the background that don't need to be there. A good explanation of what's going on here can be found here: http://ww2.whidbey.net/djdenham/Uncheck.htm For a complete list of the things that are safe to uncheck go to http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.htm I have only 5 things that start up with Windows now, my firewall, my anti-virus, my keyboard and mouse drivers, and my SETI screen saver. The other thing you are going to want to do is run a spyware checker. Since you have already encountered spyware and malware on your system, chances are there are some others running that you are unaware of. Get the free Spybot Seach & Destroy: http://spybot.eon.net.au/ Also get Lavasoft Ad Aware: http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10045910.html?legacy=cnet Another good one to keep this stuff from getting installed in the first place is Spyware Blaster: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/spywareblaster.html After you are sure everything is gone that doesn't need to be there, run another scandisk, disk clean, defrag, and find the Window's temp folder and make sure that's empty. This should speed things up noticably. Good luck. Edlib EDIT: A new version of Ad Aware will be available soon! Keep your eye on this site for details: http://lavasoft3.element5.com/software/adaware/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Another thing just occured to me: Get over to Windows Update if you haven't done so recently and download all the patches, fixes, critical updates, and Service Packs available there! Especially Service Pack 1! This won't speed up your PC, but will increase the security 100 fold! I sure hope you have a fast internet connection though! Some of these files are HUGE!!! If you have MS Office installed get over to the MS Offfice Update page and do the same ASAP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishflesh Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 when ever you have problems you can come to this chatbox open 24 hours a day http://chat.msn.com/chatroom.msnw?rm1=Helpd.NL&rm=Helpd.NL its dutch but we are abel to speak english for you i am not aways there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith 8 Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 well.. or you could just delete the entire hard disk and put your BIOS in this boot order: CDROM - C: - A: then out in the XP cd-rom and install it again. when your finished you ofcourse set your boot order to: A: - C: - CDROM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfmanNCSU Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 These are all good tips for fixing up your XP. I would also recommend the MS Power Tools. You can always tweak your registry to get more from your system too. Just be careful and backup what you change. There are a lot of tweaking sites availible on the net. Also, your start menus is located at C:\Documents and Settings\[uSER]\Start Menu\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Another cool thing to try to speed up a PC: PCPitstop http://www.pcpitstop.com/ It will run a series of benchmarks on your computer, then recommend things to tweak or fix to speed things up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfnshannon Posted January 30, 2003 Author Share Posted January 30, 2003 WOW!!! Thanks guys....see I would have no idea about all those tools!!! Thank you!!!!! I will try all those when I get home this morning...thank god I have DSL at home! Down with Spyware! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Let us know how it came out and if anything worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swphreak Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 I use Ad-Aware cuz when you D/L Kazaa you know how they give you a bunch of those sh!t ads and crap. It helped get rid of all the other advertising except those d@amn pop-ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfnshannon Posted January 31, 2003 Author Share Posted January 31, 2003 yes..i'm almost anti-kazaa now...after all this evil stuff on my computer happened. I was working on going through all the start-up programs yesterday - I hope to finish that up today. Then I will do the spyware checker because I'm SURE that there is one on there. And then follow through with the rest of the stuff edlib said. This stuff is very useful! My computer is already booting up I'd say 10 times faster than it was! Thank goodness! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Cool. Not that long ago I had to go over a friend's house one day and help him clean up his PC the same way. A couple of years use by his son had left a lot of crap on the system from using Bear Share, Morphius, Kazaa, and the like. His system was totally crawling with Spy programs, crashed constantly, and took FOREVER to do anything! So I've had a little experience with this stuff. I've heard that "Kazaa-Lite" is currently the best Peer to Peer service around, with WinMX as a close second. AFAIK they both come devoid of spyware and questionable add-ons. If you really have to a file swapping program, then please use one of these! As most of my income comes from the music biz, I'm sorta officially opposed to the use of such services to share music until a way for fair artist, songwriter, and composer compinsation can be worked out. I, like most folks in the biz, have given up on the idea of these services are ever going away and am now only interested in working out a new model of the music distribution business that works and will be fair for everybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith 8 Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 I have Kazaa lite... works perfect for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolfmanNCSU Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 WinMX is my peer2peer choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphis Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 I tried to download kazzaA on my comp and some thing can up that would not let it run. so i renamed the files to try to make it work but i didn't. So what should i do to make it work? p.s. i have tried most things:fett: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrackan Solo Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 did you try running it from a different path? Instead of running it from Media files try saving it to some other path Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphis Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Yes i have tried that, do you have any other ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEDI_MASTA Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 take off the security ****... all it does is mess up your computer in the long run, get this to protect yourself from viruses, http://www.grisoft.com/ and if your computer gives you problems after that go to http://www.pandasoftware.com/ that is like the best virus scan out there but you hafta run it off the net and you cant install it unless you want to buy it has anybody heard about them bot ing *new word* kazaa to steal the ips of the big sharers and prosecuting them??? i thought posessing somebody elses IP without their consent was illegal, I mean they cant put it in the kazaa liscense because 1 kazaa wont cooperate with them, and 2 most people are allready signed up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swphreak Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 I have Kazaa, but all it advertising **** is getting annoying. Is Kazaa Lite better? less advertising? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swphreak Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Also, I am trying to delete my sister's old Account on the computer (I have Win XP Home FYI) but it keeps on freezing (the "Not Responding" thing). I am using an Administrator Account (that's me ). Has anyone ever had this problem? If so, How did you ever fix it (if you did)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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