Schizotypic

My computer is starting to get slower. =(
What's the best way to fix this?
Is there online tools that work better then defrag or disck cleanup?

Note to any moderator: This thread was supposed to posted in the Lounge, so feel free to move it because I can't.

Yukon Cornelius

Get another hd.. one for storage.. If you want it to really run like a beast get two of the exact same hd raid 0... then just have one for storage.. Im thinkin thats raid 5..

What are you running as far as your cpu power supply hd ram etc??

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LoathsomePete

Make sure to run a virus and spyware scan both in regular mode and in safe mode. If you download a lot you're bound to pick up something nasty along the way, you must stay vigilant. I would recommend setting up some kind of virus/spyware scan daily, you can automatically set it to go off at your convenience. I have mine go at 3:17 a.m. so when I wake up at around 7, I can delete what it finds, then do it again in safe mode before I start work at around 8 or 8:30 (working from home kicks ass).

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Zarko

Is it the net or the actual computer?

Schizotypic

The actual computer.

Unfortanetly I'm not too computer savy. I wouldn't know if I already have virus protection or where to get if I didn't, or which one would be best, or how to set it to run at a certain time, or how to turn it off, or stop it from blocking certain downloads.

I'm sorry if my ignorance is making things complicated, but I'm not stupid or anything- so if I can just get an answer that makes sense one time I'll be set forever, which would be very much appreciated as I need a fast computer with all the music I've been downloading.

ace banks

clear your airport

LoathsomePete

Spybot Search & Destroy is a decent free spyware software that actually works. There are a lot of them out there that let you download them for free, then after you run a scan it shows a bunch of spyware and **** on your computer but won't let you remove them without purchasing the product. Spybot doesn't do that. Another one to try is Trend Micro House Edition, which will go through your hard drives and Internet cookies, making sure that the ones there are ones you actually need and not spyware masquerading as helpful ones.

Unfortunately anti-virus software is something you will have to go out and buy as it is hard to find for free. You can try bit torrents if you want to download them, but it's an important software and I think is just easier to go out and buy it. I would recommend McAfee over Norton's Anti-Virus which is absolute **** in my opinion. I think you can get McAfee for like 30 or 40 bucks.

To get Spybot and Trend Micro I would suggest just going to google and doing a search. If you get Spybot then I would suggest doing a scan while you're in safemode, that way it can get the **** that latches onto your registry, to get into safe mode you have to restart your computer and just keep pressing the F8 button til a little list pops up asking if you want to start your computer in safe mode. Select yes and everything will be running in a 640x400 resolution, that is normal and you don't need to worry about it.

This is just one of the possibilities, it is very hard to accurately diagnose the problem without actually being able to physically see it and work on it. If any of the suggestions people offer you on here don't work, I suggest contacting your local tech support business and having them take a look at it.

I hope all works out and if you have anymore questions feel free to PM me.

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Schizotypic

^Thanks a bunch man.

Dr_Rez

You should just reboot entirely. make sure to use a system restore point and have all your essential programs you use backed up so you can quickly load them back on. This will make your computer the same as when it came form the factory.

You will get much better results doing this than trying to de-crap the computer. Also once its rebooted then add all the necessary programs. (spybot, adaware, avg antivirus...)

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Guybrush

Schizotypic, if I were you, I'd do the following :

• Uninstall every program you don't need. I would also suggest uninstalling your antivirus because a lot of these virus programs are heavy in program requirements (examples Norton, McAfee) and I'll suggest one which is free, good and a little more easy on the requirements in a bit.
• Remove everything unnecessary from running at startup. In Vista, you have control over what starts with Windows. In XP, it only takes a sec to get Startup Control Panel, a handy little tool that gives a "startup icon" on your control panel that you can click. Then you can choose not to run stuff.
• Clean out all spyware. I see you've gotten some suggestions that you could use. I use Spyware Doctor myself and it's an excellent program. However, it's not freeware.
• Clean out and compact the registry. I would recommend the program Registry Mechanic made by the same company behind spyware doctor. All the programs you've had on your computer are gonna leave stuff in the registry and these are not always cleaned out, even after uninstallation.
• Get avast! Home Edition and install that. It's an antivirus program and it's developers sell it to businesses. For home users, however, it's free, easy on the reqs and it's also quite good.
• Do a thorough search for viruses on your computer
• Defragment it over night

Alternatively, if you're worried about getting viruses in the space of time between uninstalling your virus protection and installing the new one, just put those two events after one another ..

Doing these steps will help

edit :

Writing this up reminded me that I should do a little spring cleaning myself. I noticed that the last version of registry mechanic has something called "registry monitor" which basically watches your registry and let's you know if anything tries to do changes with it. I don't like unnecessary processes running in the background and this was easy to turn off!

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