Hello Marc;
There can be many causes for a general slowdown of your computer. Some are
not necessarily security or virus related. You should check all these items
to be sure.
1. Run an updated virus scªn.
Or Scan for Viruses ºnline.
Some Antivirus scanners cannot remove infections because you are online and
they are running on the system when you perform the scªn.
If you have problems with the infection returning you would be best
downloading these scanners and running them in safe mºde.
NOTE: Make certain to update every app before booting into Safe Mode since
you WILL NOT have access to the Internet from Safe Mºde.
Sometimes it is a good idea to run more than one to ensure nothing is missed:
Kaspersky Online Virus Scanner
http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
Choose to "Disinfect automatically," and follow the prompts. Delete any
viruses found, and restart your
computerhttp://
www.pandasoftware.com/about/resp_social/children_internet
Because of the campaign "Children and the Internet"
Panda Software offers 90 day free trial version of one of the best security
softwªre.
Panda Platininum Internet Security 2005 awarded with many prizes
http://www.pandasoftware.com/protected/tips.htm ;
useful tips for protecting cºmputers
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm
Panda Software free Active Scan,where you can check your PC for ALL TYPES of
security threats and clean viruses and wºrms
Trend Micro House Call
http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/consumer/housecall/housecall_launch.php
http://housecall.antivirus.com/
Follow the prompts to scan your hard drive for viruses. Select the
"Autoclean" option so that Housecall will remove any viruses from your system.
When the scan is finished, please restart your cºmputer.
Trend Micro's Damage clean up tool :
http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/products/tsc/tsc.zip
Symantec Security Check
Ewido :
http://www.ewido.net/en/
Install Ewido.
During the installation, under "Additional Options"
uncheck "Install background guard" and "Install scan via context menu".
Launch Ewido
On the left side of the main screen click update.
Click on Start and let it update.
Then Run a Complete System Scan
Once its started scanning it will display an alert window when it finds any
infected files, when you see this first alert check the boxes "Perform action
with all infections" and "Create encrypted backup" before clicking on ºk
When the scan finishes, If ewido finds anything in the scan click on "Save
Report". This will create a text file. Save to desktop or c:drive incase you
need to post it bªck.
While I posting Ewido does say its a 14 day free trial but it still works
fine after the trial has expired, All it does after the 14 days is stop the
real time protection and auto updates but I never advise that to be enabled
at setup anyway as it can interfere with other real time protection programs
plus the updates can be done manually anytime you wish so it may be usefull
to keep it incase you need to use it again in the future.
Ewido will only work on XP/2K systems
2. Download CWShredder.
http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder.html
Be sure to update to the latest version.
3. Run the Microsoft® Windows® Malicious Software Removal Tool
4. Check this link:
Do you have parasites?
http://aumha.org/a/noads.htm
5. Run Ad-Aware (free version)
http://hem.bredband.net/b288305/lavasofts_adaware_quick_start.htm
Update if you already have it.
AND
Spybot (free version)
http://net-integration.net/index.html
Make certain to not to select any of the pernament protection for Spybot and
DO NOT immunize the system, as this can interfere with MSAS' Real-tme
Protectiºn.
Update if you already have it.
You may want to use both of these tools to be sure all spyware is gone.
Make sure ALL above tools are updated within the last few days. Do NOT
assume recently downloaded/installed tools are up to date.
If you still have issues and feel spyware may be involved, go to:
THE PARASITE FIGHT QUICK FIX PROTOCOL. <
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm>
Download HijackThis and install it.
If you do not fully understand what HijackThis suggests to delete, post the
log to the forum referenced on THE PARASITE FIGHT QUICK FIX PROTOCOL.
<
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm>
An expert can analyze the log and give you specific recommendations to clean
your system.
6. Perform Windows Memory Diagnostic
7. Reboot
Search for and delete all files "*.tmp"
Search for all files "temp" Delete the contents of them, do NOT delete the
folder.
Go to Control Panel
Click Internet Options
Click "Delete Cookies", click OK, may take a few minutes
Click "Delete Files"
Check "Delete all offline content" click OK, may take a few minutes
Click "Clear History" click Yes, may also take a few minutes
Perform Disk Cleanup checking all boxes except "Compress old files"
Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Clean-up
8. If you have file sharing software such as Kazaa, disable it.
9. Run Defrag.
Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Defragmenter
If you have problems with any of these, reboot to Safe Mode and try them.
Reboot tapping F8 each second.
Select Safe Mode at the menu.
Not all cookies found by these utilities are bad.
However I always delete everything including cookies that are discovered
unless I determine I want it to remain.
10. This may apply if you recently installed Windows XP Service Pack 1:
Heap Algorithm Update for Atypically Large Heap Requests
11. Sometimes a weak CMOS battery can cause various issues including slow,
locking as well as other unexplained performance issues.
This is fairly rare but the battery is relatively easy to replace, check
your motherboard/computer manual for replacement details.
Usually the battery is a "CR2032" watch battery, about the size of a nickel.
12. This step removed
13. Check this link to identify the running processes and how to stop the
unnecessary ones:
Pacman's Portal Start-up Processes
Full List is a good place to start.
Some will suggest to use MSCONFIG to disable running applications.
Start/Run
Type "msconfig" ENTER
Click "Startup" Tab
And uncheck the undesired processes.
While this can work, it is a poor first choice to disable an application.
A problem with this method is some applications will create another instance
in the Startup tab, eventually you may have many, all but one unchecked.
Once an item is unchecked in the Startup tab, "Selective Startup" is marked
in the General tab.
Ideally "Normal Startup" should be marked in the General tab..
The Start-up tab in MSCONFIG is intended for troubleshooting.
If an application should not be started during boot, the best place to
accomplish that is the application itself.
Open the application.
Then look for something like "Settings" or "Options".
Then look for something similar to "Run at boot" or "Load at start-up"
You need to disable it.
If you have problems determining how to disable an application, you may need
to contact the application manufacturer directly or at their web site.
14. Go to the website of the hard drive manufacturer, download their hard
drive diagnostics and use it to check the integrity of the hard drive.
Good luck Marc.
Engel
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