PC and Technical Help Forum

I just said I don't like and don't use IE or Outlook. I know the p2p situation is because of security updates, one of them specifically targeting the tcpip.sys file and locking it. We had to remove that update so the evid4226patch could work for us. And I've written a old fashioned batch file to verify my settings plus I don't let my system update automatically.

The problem started with the update to SP2 but it was too late once we updated. I think a lot of us would love to uninstall IE but most of us have programs that depend on IE for some reason and the companies will not give us a work around so we live with the problem. It's like anything else, some updates are useful and some aren't.

The Microsoft OS no matter what version and IE only become a problem depending on what you use your computer for. The average joe may never have a problem. But as an expert, guru or power user, whatever label you want to use for some of us, we have to monitor the OS and it's updates much closer than most.

I also use 'Firefox' as my browser after Todd mentioned it in an earlier post and I must say that it defently is a noticeable improvement over 'Internet Explorer'.

I had a sneaky reason for asking what software packages each of you use to keep your computer running smoothly as I wanted to see if mine lacked something. The reason for this is because it still takes around 2 minutes for the browser window to open on my computer, and as of late the computer has had the tendancy to freeze. I have updated windows, Spybot, Avg, and Zone Alarm all regulary and while Spybot did return several problems when I last ran it, it didn't rectify the problem.

Does anyone have any further suggestions?

Make sure you Defrag regularly, and try starting your system without those TSR's and see if your browser starts faster. My browser pops up the second I touch the icon. I also load with a blank page instead of with any sort of home page.

Robbie,

You might also try loading an antispyware program called Adaware. It often finds stuff that Spybot misses. Your performance issues make me wonder if you're dealing with a virus or spyware.

You may have already said so I apologize if we're covering old ground but is your antivirus software up to date? Are you scanning your system regularly?

I use Spybot, adaware and windows defender http://www.microsoft.com/athom…are/software/default.mspx

They all pick up items that the other miss, also I would boot to safe mode run them and then boot to safe mode again and run one more time.

Quote from ethanedwards

Thank Eric,

You re-assure me, I use the same combo!!

Oh, I don't really use them, I just tell people that.... j/k lol

From what I have found they are the best free ones out there.

Keith,

Is there a possibility that release dates of different versions is different in different parts of the world (pardon the repetition of "different" . . . )? We have been using version 2.0.0.1 for at least several months now.

Mrs. C

Keith,

I wasn't trying to make fun, just wondering if Foxfire 2 had been recently released, or just that you wanted to make sure everybody was aware that it was around?

Obviously with all the pictures and attachments you post here, you are WAY beyond just colour TV

Mrs. C

Keith, you're probably quite right, I wasn't thinking along those lines. We live only about 20 miles from Silicon Valley, so I probably take some things for granted. It's food for thought . . . .

Someone was telling me yesterday that nowadays, there is more computer power in a cell phone than they had available during the first moon launch. Imagine that!

Mrs. C

I thought I would update you on my PC.

I have ran updated versions of Ad-Aware, AVG and Spybot and removed several bits of spyware.

I have also updated windows, defragmented the hard drive and ran scan disk (which didn't find any errors).

I have in the process fixed many problems with my PC and it is running very well, however one problem remains, when the system boots up the Internet browser window still takes around 2 minutes to load up.

Does anyone have any more suggestions?

Robbie,

Does your browser window open automatically when your system boots up? I know it takes about a minute to two minutes for my desktop to completely boot up because it's loading a bunch of stuff at start-up.

OR do you mean that once your system is completely booted up, the browser takes two minutes to open. I know that if I , in my impatience, click on the browser to open it as soon as the desktop opens, it does take awhile. If I wait till the system is completely finished booting up, it takes seconds.

You can check what things come on automatically when you start by going to "Start", then "Run" and type in "msconfig" (without the " "). Go to the Start Up tab, and see what things open when you boot up. Sometimes things start up that you don't really need on a daily basis, that contribute to slowing down the system. Examples on my computer are Quick Time, iTunes helper, Windows Messenger, to name a few. I disabled these, because I don't use them often enough to take the time every time I start the computer to load them. Anyway, if you find items that you feel certain you don't need at start-up, you can just uncheck the boxes. If you do that you might have a box pop up the next time you start up, stating that you (or someone) made changes. You can check a little box that tells the computer to not tell you again.

If you don't know what something is on that list, don't disable it until you find out what it is - it might be important. But most things are usually easily identifiable.

I hope this might help.

Mrs. C

Try going here http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ and running housecall and see if it finds anything.

erthomp143,

That is a good idea, just in case something got left behind that's tweaking the system.

I know this is a little off topic, but one of these days, we'll have to get the families together for dinner.

Chester

Robbie, does it matter what browser you are using? Firefox and IE are both doing it? If both do it it sounds like what Dakota mentioned previously, you have to many TSR's running, try stripping the start up process like Mrs. C mentioned as well. Or like erthomp143 mentoined, you might have a virus/trojan causing you a problem. Try booting up into safe mode and running your antivirus/spyware programs. Also, if you don't need it, turn off system restore, a trojan or virus may be present in the save file the system restore uses.

Keith, I hate to say it, but that user profile has probably been corrupted in some manner. I've had that happen to my profile on a computer, and all you can do is delete that profile and start over (or at least that was my experience - I'll be happy if others here say there is another way to remedy the situation). You can use Windows Explorer to try to move some items from that profile into another folder (pictures, documents, and such) if they are stored specifically on that desktop or specifically linked to that profile, but you should probably run a scan on the items in case any of them might have been the cause of the corruption. Make a new folder for those items, something like "backup of X's profile"; then you have a place to put them, and can find them easily later.

Good luck!

Mrs. C