Slow computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Mishler
  • Start date Start date
M

Michael Mishler

this happened after many many emails came. Now the computer runs slower
than slow. I can't do anything on it! The darn thing is a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz
machine! If I run an antivirus scan (which I've done) it was on it's 83rd
hour and still scanning. I gave up and stopped it. What virus is this and
how do I innoculate it?

Thanks for any suggestions
Michael Mishler
 
this happened after many many emails came. Now the computer runs
slower than slow. I can't do anything on it! The darn thing is a
Pentium 4 2.4Ghz machine! If I run an antivirus scan (which I've
done) it was on it's 83rd hour and still scanning. I gave up and
stopped it. What virus is this and how do I innoculate it?

Thanks for any suggestions
Michael Mishler
Click to expand...

Maybe, your whole HD is being uploaded by a hacker. A friend of a friend
had that happeing as the machine was getting slower and slower. I would
use Active Ports (free) use Google and see if you have unknown IP
connections on some ports.

Duane :)
 
sweet ****ing signature man..( no, seriously) ...
....thats profound on so many different levels it hurts my head...

( I like to imagine some diminutive 1950's robot speaking your signature
while raising a blaster of some sort towards a crowd of crazy humans....)

hey---and I'm only on my second beer.....
--jmnugent
 
hey---and I'm only on my second beer.....
--jmnugent
Click to expand...
Not to start a *pissing match* because you had one too many, call me when
you finish the *case*. I'll provide the tree and that way you can piss the
beer and your brains out on it. :):)

Duane :)
 
Michael said:
this happened after many many emails came. Now the computer runs slower
than slow. I can't do anything on it! The darn thing is a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz
machine! If I run an antivirus scan (which I've done) it was on it's 83rd
hour and still scanning. I gave up and stopped it. What virus is this and
how do I innoculate it?

Thanks for any suggestions
Michael Mishler
Click to expand...

is your firewall enabled?
 
this happened after many many emails came. Now the computer runs slower
than slow. I can't do anything on it! The darn thing is a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz
machine! If I run an antivirus scan (which I've done) it was on it's 83rd
hour and still scanning. I gave up and stopped it. What virus is this and
how do I innoculate it?

Thanks for any suggestions
Michael Mishler
Click to expand...
******************* REPLY SEPARATER ********************
You haven't stated the operating system, but my guess is XP. Right buttom click
on the Task Bar and bring up the Task Manager. Click on the Performance tag and
examine CPU and memory usage. Click on the Appplications tag and end all
Running Applications. Check the Performance tag again to see if one of those
was the culprit. If not, then go to the Processes tag and look for any process
that is consuming great amounts of CPU or Memory (Sysyem Idle Process will
always consume CPU that is not being utilized). End the Process that is causing
the problem, and check the performance again.

If you still can't find the problem, then boot up the computer in Safe Mode (F8
after Windows starts to load). Check the Performance again. If it is OK, then
boot up in Safe Mode with Networking, and check it again.

In Safe Mode, the minimum services that should be running are:
TASKMGR.EXE
EXPLORER.EXE
SVCHOST.EXE
SVCHOST.EXE
LSASS.EXE
SERVICES.EXE
WINLOGON.EXE
CSRSS.EXE
SMSS.EXE
System
System Idle Process

When you find the culprit, let us know and we can advise you what to do next.
 
whop-pee...

____________
moondusterone


jmnugent said:
sweet ****ing signature man..( no, seriously) ...
...thats profound on so many different levels it hurts my head...

( I like to imagine some diminutive 1950's robot speaking your signature
while raising a blaster of some sort towards a crowd of crazy humans....)

hey---and I'm only on my second beer.....
--jmnugent
Click to expand...
 
this happened after many many emails came. Now the computer runs slower
than slow. I can't do anything on it! The darn thing is a Pentium 4 2.4Ghz
machine! If I run an antivirus scan (which I've done) it was on it's 83rd
hour and still scanning. I gave up and stopped it. What virus is this and
how do I innoculate it?
Click to expand...
FWIW, we had a problem with a computer (winME) runnning dead slow -
took about 5mins after desktop appeared for the mouse to stop eggtimer
& then it ran like in treacle.

Problem seemed to be the remains of a AVG virus checker that we had
tried to uninstall (uninstall failed) - one of its tasks was churning
away & using 70-80% of processor - we used START->RUN->"MSCONFIG" to
disable all its startup components - then machine was back running
smoothly.

I think the problem arose cos we installed Norton AV on top of an
incompletely uninstalled AVG - guess there is lots of scope for
conflicts there
 
Problem seemed to be the remains of a AVG virus checker that we had
tried to uninstall (uninstall failed) - one of its tasks was churning
away & using 70-80% of processor - we used START->RUN->"MSCONFIG" to
disable all its startup components - then machine was back running
smoothly.
Click to expand...


You could also go to the registry, START>RUN>REGEDIT, and delete the
reference to those
components and they will no longer show in the startup list. After
deleting them reboot your computer to complete the process.
 
I did what it says below:

I found that in safe mode and safe mode with networking that the problem is
not there, but in normal mode that an svchost.exe is hogging everything and
causing the slowness. I deleted everything in startup, and in the reg keys
that start up (hkey_local_machine/software/microsoft/windows/current
version/run) &
(hkey_current_user/software/microsoft/windows/current version/run) but the
problem is still there..

what is svchost.exe and what makes it hog the cpu? I even tried to take the
network cable out to make sure it's not an outside hacker, but it continues
without it plugged in.

Any ideas?

Michael Mishler
 
On that special day, Michael Mishler, ([email protected])
said...
what is svchost.exe and what makes it hog the cpu? I even tried to take the
network cable out to make sure it's not an outside hacker, but it continues
without it plugged in.
Click to expand...

It might not be the real cause, but somehow it resembles what I read
just yesterday on
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html

Maybe this gives you an idea where to look for.


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)
 
First if you are running a firewall and/or AV software try booting with
these disabled. Sometimes if these get corrupted or misconfigured they will
interfere with some of the machines services.
If the above is not a factor it may be a corrupt file or registry however
some worms and virus' are known that either set up a bogus svchost.exe file
or exploit one of the services that run under svchost.exe. Find which
service is causing the problem and go from there. If you go into the
services control panel you will see more than a dozen services that run
under svchost.exe. You will see entries for path to the executable such as
this: C:\WINNT\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs, where "netsvcs" will be one
of several options. Since the problem does not exist in safe mode with
networking, use that mode and compare which svchost services are run in that
mode vs. normal mode. The most likely culprit will be one of the svchost
services that is set to start automatically however is not actually started
in safe mode with networking however you should also disable the ones like
BITS which are set to run manually.You can then disable these services so
they do not automatically start in normal mode and then enable them one at a
time in normal mode until your problem surfaces again. In any case do not
disable the RPC service since it is necessary. Write down the changes you
make so you can get your set up back to normal after fixing things. What you
do from there depends on whether this finds a problem service or not and if
so which service. Sometimes it will be one of the associated dll files, or
maybe a service related configuration set up. In any case if it is a corrupt
file or configuration for many simply reinstalling windows over itself or
maybe just the latest service pack is often the quickest fix.

You mention this starting to occur after downloading email however if you
didn't open any attachments or view any of them in a preview pane or any
spam as html mail then it is probably not virus related.
 
Coming in from the middle I didn't get the full story but I've encountered
something like this so be very careful. Let's just say things got a bit
messy and I'd rather not deal with this via PC Anywhere.
Do what the others suggest but bear in mind that some of the old school
viruses actually go through an open internet (any) connection and will
activate regardless of whether you've opened the file in question or not is
irrelevant. Once you've downloaded it, it'll run.
Having said that, it's probably not a virus.
In relations to SVCHOST, I've always referred to this site. If I ever meet
the man, I owe him a beer, his choice (after I actually get another job):
http://www.ntfaq.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=20609

Good luck.

Yours truly,

Ka Kwok
 
I discovered that Zone Alarm was the culprit in my case.

I used the shareware program called "Filemon" a.k.a. File Monitor
Version 6.07 from www.sysinternals.com. This software tells you all
the programs that are active and currently "cooking" on your computer.


I noticed that ZoneAlarm Pro was processing and making requests while
I was not logged onto the Internet! So I uninstalled Zone Alarm Pro
and viola! my computer stopped speaking in a slow southern drawl.

I reinstalled ZoneAlarm Pro and haven't had any slowdown since.

Tom WiIlliams
 
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