hard drive activity

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Jones
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Jones

I don't know whether this is a hardware or software problem, but for the
last few days, my hard drive never stops thrashing away with its activity
light permanently lit. As a result everything slows down to a crawl. My
operating system is XP home edition, no background scans are scheduled
(Norton antivirus) and the task manager shows nothing running that shouldn't
be. A full virus scan shows no problems, and 'Ad-aware' comes up with
nothing. I don't know where to go from here. Any suggestions would be
gratefully received. Thanks in advance. Jim
 
| I don't know whether this is a hardware or software problem, but for
the
| last few days, my hard drive never stops thrashing away with its
activity
| light permanently lit. As a result everything slows down to a crawl.
My
| operating system is XP home edition, no background scans are scheduled
| (Norton antivirus) and the task manager shows nothing running that
shouldn't
| be. A full virus scan shows no problems, and 'Ad-aware' comes up with
| nothing. I don't know where to go from here. Any suggestions would
be
| gratefully received. Thanks in advance. Jim
|
|

Are you running a anti-trojan software such as Moosoft's "The Cleaner",
TrojanHunter or TD-3? Are you running a firewall? How old is the HDD?
After 4 years mine started clicking and clacking and ran when I thought
it shouldn't. Just replaced it with 2 new ones that are quiet and
faster.
 
Dumpster said:
Are you running a anti-trojan software such as Moosoft's "The
Cleaner", TrojanHunter or TD-3? Are you running a firewall? How old
is the HDD? After 4 years mine started clicking and clacking and ran
when I thought it shouldn't. Just replaced it with 2 new ones that
are quiet and faster.
Click to expand...

Hey Dumpster, sorry for the subject change but, if you had to recommend one
of those anti-trojan proggies which would it be? I get called out to check
on people's (friends, family) PCs all the time that are 'having problems'. I
need an anti-trojan tool and/or a trojan scan/remove tool.

Thanks,
 
Get a new hard drive.
They are really sheap
now days. Sounds like
your virtual memory is
in a resizing endless loop.
I have had the same thing
start happening right before
the drive fails. Old hard
drive can slow you down
90%. Old or new when they
grind its time to get rid of
it.
 
Hey Dumpster, sorry for the subject change but, if you had to recommend one
of those anti-trojan proggies which would it be? I get called out to check
on people's (friends, family) PCs all the time that are 'having problems'. I
need an anti-trojan tool and/or a trojan scan/remove tool.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it's not easy to keep an up-to-date set of
Anti-virus/Trojan disks as they are being updated so often.Better to
get the users educated,
Try here,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/secure.html

HTH :)



--
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email shepATpartyheld.de
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http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm
 
I'm running no anti-trojan software. My firewall is the one that comes with
XP and is on for my dial-up connection (no broadband). The HDD is just 2
years old. I'm backing everything up in case of failure. Jim
 
| Dumpster wrote:
| > | >> I don't know whether this is a hardware or software problem, but
for
| >> the last few days, my hard drive never stops thrashing away with
its
| >> activity light permanently lit. As a result everything slows down
| >> to a crawl. My operating system is XP home edition, no background
| >> scans are scheduled (Norton antivirus) and the task manager shows
| >> nothing running that shouldn't be. A full virus scan shows no
| >> problems, and 'Ad-aware' comes up with nothing. I don't know where
| >> to go from here. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
| >> Thanks in advance. Jim
| >>
| >>
| >
| > Are you running a anti-trojan software such as Moosoft's "The
| > Cleaner", TrojanHunter or TD-3? Are you running a firewall? How old
| > is the HDD? After 4 years mine started clicking and clacking and ran
| > when I thought it shouldn't. Just replaced it with 2 new ones that
| > are quiet and faster.
|
| Hey Dumpster, sorry for the subject change but, if you had to
recommend one
| of those anti-trojan proggies which would it be? I get called out to
check
| on people's (friends, family) PCs all the time that are 'having
problems'. I
| need an anti-trojan tool and/or a trojan scan/remove tool.
|
| Thanks,
| --
| ~misfit~
|
|
I am back to running "The Cleaner" after trying the others when Moosoft
wasn't updating as much as he used to do. He brought out version 4.1 and
is updating the data base sometimes twice a day. You can download it for
a 30 day trial before you buy it.
 
| I'm running no anti-trojan software. My firewall is the one that
comes with
| XP and is on for my dial-up connection (no broadband). The HDD is
just 2
| years old. I'm backing everything up in case of failure. Jim
|
|
Some say that you don't need a firewall when using dial-up, We found
that we needed it after picking up a couple of trojans soon after
getting on line. According to those I know that are running the built in
firewall that comes with XP, it is only half a firewall at best.
ZoneAlarm has a free version here:
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=home_zainfo

To try The Cleaner anti-trojan software go here: http://www.moosoft.com/

Also, you should be able to download software to test your hard drive
from the drive manufacturer's web site. (A Google search returned
2,180,000 results for Hard+Drive+Testing+Search in .27 seconds) Here is
one site: http://www.disk-utility.com/hard-drive-test-software.html
 
Dumpster said:
I am back to running "The Cleaner" after trying the others when
Moosoft wasn't updating as much as he used to do. He brought out
version 4.1 and is updating the data base sometimes twice a day. You
can download it for a 30 day trial before you buy it.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
I don't know whether this is a hardware or software problem, but for the
last few days, my hard drive never stops thrashing away with its activity
light permanently lit. As a result everything slows down to a crawl. My
operating system is XP home edition, no background scans are scheduled
(Norton antivirus) and the task manager shows nothing running that shouldn't
be. A full virus scan shows no problems, and 'Ad-aware' comes up with
nothing. I don't know where to go from here. Any suggestions would be
gratefully received. Thanks in advance. Jim
Click to expand...

How much memory is in use? (Task Manager, Performance,
Commit Charge Total/Peak) How much physical memory do
you have installed?

Sounds like it could be as simple as not having enough
memory.
 
Toshi1873
I have 512Mb RAM and task manager reports figures of the order171/181 for
Total/peak. These figures don't mean much to me. Do they tell you
anything? Jim
 
Toshi1873
I have 512Mb RAM and task manager reports figures of the order171/181 for
Total/peak. These figures don't mean much to me. Do they tell you
anything? Jim
Click to expand...

Just means that you're not running out of memory... so
the HD activity is not paging activity.
 
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