OT - Period Windows 7 help

[Feltwell]

Morning everyone,

One for those amongst us who are computer-savvy......

The Feltwell desktop started running agonisingly slowly, I'm talking 5 to 10 minutes to open or even select an already open application. Nothing to do with my web connection, as my works laptop was running on wireless just fine.

Nothing new had been done to the machine - no new programs added. So I did a system restore back to 4 days ago, and lo and behold all was well again - for 24 hours, then back to being agonisingly slow.

So, I've done another restore, and this time I've also stopped Windows update from running automatically - I suspect those little devils at Microsoft may be the culprit.

My only anti-virus has been the Microsoft Security Essentials, a full scan reveals nothing untoward. But, I have now spotted that the machine must have come pre-loaded with McAfee "Security Scan Plus" as well - running that also reveals no problems.

All is well again for the moment, but has anyone any hints or tips to share?

 

[fluffytail10]

Have you tried emptying your start up file? I did this and my computer is now much more sparky, and shutting and down and starting up without me going to have a cup of tea and coming back later. I deleted everything from it, but you're supposed to add one program back at a time till you discover the culprit. I didn't bother as i had no idea what was in there and apparently don't need it.

 

[Penners]

CCleaner is a super bit of freeware. I run it every couple of months to keep my dross to a minimum. You can run the normal module which cleans out your temporary files, browsing history, waste bin and so on. There's also a Registry module which will ensure that you are free from Registry problems, orphan files, redundant DLLs and so on.

It's well worth using, and free!

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Note that there is also a paid-for version which has more bells and whistles, but I've never used that.

 

[worms]

CCleaner is a super bit of freeware. I run it every couple of months to keep my dross to a minimum. You can run the normal module which cleans out your temporary files, browsing history, waste bin and so on. There's also a Registry module which will ensure that you are free from Registry problems, orphan files, redundant DLLs and so on.

It's well worth using, and free!

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Note that there is also a paid-for version which has more bells and whistles, but I've never used that.

I'd second that recommendation, I use it on all the Windows O/S machines that I am involved with. I don't know if there is a Linux version but I've not felt the need for it on the machines that are running Ubuntu.

 

[Flyfisher]

Another vote for Ccleaner from me. I've used it for many years with no problems.

But in this case it does sound as if it's some sort of software update thing going on. How long did you leave the PC after it became slow? Updates can use a lot of PC resources while in process but if you leave them to complete then things might return to normal. Perhaps try leaving it switched on - and online of course - overnight?

Having said that, I'm still on WinXP so can't offer any more specific experience.

 

[worms]

Another vote for Ccleaner from me. I've used it for many years with no problems.

But in this case it does sound as if it's some sort of software update thing going on. How long did you leave the PC after it became slow? Updates can use a lot of PC resources while in process but if you leave them to complete then things might return to normal. Perhaps try leaving it switched on - and online of course - overnight?

Having said that, I'm still on WinXP so can't offer any more specific experience.

Also, when McAfee is running its background scan it can take quite a while and slow the machine down a lot. I used to have it programmed for a Monday morning, which was hopeless as that is often the very time that you have no patience for a slow machine. If McAfee has recently updated itself, it may be running a full scan again. Being mean, I now run the free version of AVG rather than pay for a McAfee subscription, so I don't know if the slow running issue has been resolved by the increased power of newer computers.

 

[Penners]

Feltwell - one other thought. I'm not familiar with Macafee Security Scan but does it incorporate an antivirus module? If so you'd be advised to check that you haven't got two antiviruses running at the same time. This is never advisable, and can cause conflicts.

 

[Flyfisher]

. . . . , so I don't know if the slow running issue has been resolved by the increased power of newer computers.

If only. How many thousands of times faster are current CPUs than those of 25 years ago? How many million times more memory do that have at their disposal these days? How many million times more storage capacity do they have? Yet, funnily enough, those 25 year old PCs were good enough for word processing, spreadsheets and email and - I'd bet - would have been good enough for web browsing as well if it had been invented.

We may have massively more computing power at our fingertips these days but it is mostly being used to run 'bloatware'.

Not that my moaning about it will do any good. :twisted:

 

[worms]

How many thousands of times faster are current CPUs than those of 25 years ago? How many million times more memory do that have at their disposal these days? How many million times more storage capacity do they have? Yet, funnily enough, those 25 year old PCs were good enough for word processing, spreadsheets and email and - I'd bet - would have been good enough for web browsing as well if it had been invented.

Yes, I often wonder what it would be like to go back to running Wordstar on my original Amstrad 1512 with double floppy disk drives and a monochrome monitor!

 

[88v8]

Agree with Penners, one should never have two anti-virus programmes on a PC. Essentials comes out well in Which Computer, it's on my own PC. I'd uninstall the McAffee.

Also, do you regularly clear your browsing history? The cache can all to easily become clogged. Explorer/Tools/Delete Browsing History. Don't alter the standard settings unless you know what you're about.

Ivor

 

[MdB]

Agree with Penners, one should never have two anti-virus programmes on a PC. Essentials comes out well in Which Computer, it's on my own PC. I'd uninstall the McAffee.

Agree with this and also how much free disc space do you have? beyond that, take a look at the task manager to see what is taking up the cycles - it is likely though to be hard disc access which is slowing you down.

 

[Feltwell]

Thanks everyone.

I'd forgotten about CCleaner - now installed & ran, including for the registry, and it has taken a lot of rubbish out. I would have thought though that if that was the problem it would have lead to a gradual slowing down of my machine, rather than a sudden change - however, still well worth doing. Might try a defrag as well, I see the same people as CCleaner do a defrag utility.

I'm not completely convinced the McAfee is doing anything - well, apart from occasionally trying to get me to spend money on the proper version! It's one of those things where I got it free for 3 months as it was a newly reconditioned Dell, then it nags you every month thereafter to try and part you from some cash. When I read up about virus protection at the time it seemed that the free Microsoft Security Essentials was as good as the others, so I just went with that. I may uninstall the McAfee anyway, just to be on the safe side - again though, it's always been there so I doubt it's the cause of the latest problem.

The machine tends to stay switched on and online all the time, although it goes into a power save mode after a few minutes - not sure if it keeps working in the background then or not. I emptied the startup file after my first system restore - I was quite surprised what a difference that made!

I shall keep on and see what happens. Hard to tell the effect on a Sunday - our t'interweb tends to be slow then anyway, so many people online I suppose.

 

[worms]

I seem to remember that CCleaner included a software removal tool which was quite good. It might get the stray files that Windows leaves behind, although antivirus software can be a pig to fully remove.

 

[Feltwell]

Agree with Penners, one should never have two anti-virus programmes on a PC. Essentials comes out well in Which Computer, it's on my own PC. I'd uninstall the McAffee.

Agree with this and also how much free disc space do you have? beyond that, take a look at the task manager to see what is taking up the cycles - it is likely though to be hard disc access which is slowing you down.

Have managed to take out McAfee with no problems with CCleaner. Machine was running slow again, took about 10 minutes to shut down - but after re-booting it's fine.

Loads of free disc space - I'm currently running Piriform's Defraggler and it tells me I have 94GB used, 594GB free. If it's slow again I'll try task manager, but I seem to remember it's all written in techno-babble - I can feel another post coming on!

 

[another_richard]

Not sure if it works in Win 7 (I have XP)

Press Start button click on Run and type msconfig

Click on the startup tab and note how many Startup items you have running.

I check each startup item on the internet to see how necessary they are to Windoze. Those that are deemed surplus (bloatware) are unticked.

Also, not sure if it has already been covered but Win 7 requires lots of ram.

 

[AMc]

If you bring up task manager you can see the processes that are using the most memory and/or CPU - right click on the taskbar or cntrl+alt+del. In Windows7 there is a "Diagnostic" tool button on there which gives more information (not on that machine to check the button name).
Google the program names of anything you don't recognise.

I would also check the disk(s). On XP open "My computer" and right click on the drive letter, select "Properties>Tools>error check". You may be prompted that it can only be run on start up. I had a works laptop that started behaving as you describe - after a couple of days the hard disk crashed in very impressive style taking several days to run a scan disk (from DOS) to produce the error report needed to get it replaced by the manufacturer.

 

[Penners]

25 year old PCs were good enough for word processing, spreadsheets and email

And landing men on the moon!

 

[Keithj]

Press Start button click on Run and type msconfig

Click on the startup tab and note how many Startup items you have running.

Yes, not only does it run on Win 7, but it's the first thing I do when "sorting" neighbours' PCs. (The word has spread, and I'm now "honorary volunteer fixer" for about 200 yards around, and a few further afield).

McAfee is very good at extracting money from the bank account, and probably as good as the better free Anti-Virus products. It is difficult to remove completely: it says it's gone, but there are still bits left around. I don't let it near my computers.

I'm not convinced by the stuff that claims to clear out the registry. I've known some of those disable stuff that I want to run. The msconfig process should suffice.

Certainly, never more than one AntiVirus app or they'll spend all their time arguing with each other.

When/if it's running slowly, press Ctrl Shift and Esc all at once. Select "Processes" if it isn't already selected, and then click on "CPU" (the third column). If the first item at the top isn't showing a large number, click "CPU" again.

That will show you all the dozens of processes running on your machine. Most of them are necessary - don't go knocking stuff off. But if any of them (apart from "System Idle") show more than a few percent for more than a few seconds very occasionally, find out what they are.

 

[AMc]

25 year old PCs were good enough for word processing, spreadsheets and email

And landing men on the moon!

To be fair I've just watched a documentary on the Apollo 11 landing. The guidance computer was sounding alarms all through the descent - it was over loaded and was dropping non-essential calculations to maintain the trajectory.
Amstrong had to override it to prevent them landing in a boulder field and ended up with 17 seconds of fuel to spare when they finally came to rest. They all seemed to credit him with the landing rather than the computer

 

[FamilyWiggs]

25 year old PCs were good enough for word processing, spreadsheets and email

And landing men on the moon!

To be fair I've just watched a documentary on the Apollo 11 landing. The guidance computer was sounding alarms all through the descent - it was over loaded and was dropping non-essential calculations to maintain the trajectory.
Amstrong had to override it to prevent them landing in a boulder field and ended up with 17 seconds of fuel to spare when they finally came to rest. They all seemed to credit him with the landing rather than the computer

Thank the sky-fairy they didn't have MS Windows installed... it would have, quite literally, crashed at the most inopportune moment. :shock: