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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 2:39 pm
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There has probably been an earlier thread for this but I've opened this for people to share or ask for technical help. I didn't want to hijack Wilma's because that was too specific.

My comp freezes. It started doing it last September. I have to reboot and half the time the reboot fails too at the initial 'rolling dot' stage. (I have Windows XP). Sometimes I've had to reboot half a dozen times before it gets to start up. It will slow then freeze after 15 minutes of use but not consistently so. Sometimes it doesn't do it. It currently freezes after a couple of minutes of playing a You Tube. I can almost guarantee to freeze it doing that. I suspected that the first freezes were from playing Bejewelled Blitz on Facebook in the autumn but am not sure.

Now I'm no expert. I cleared my cache and Internet history. I cleared the Start up. (Right click Start Up for properties, go to Advanced, clear list. It can take quite a few minutes) I've defragged and gone to restore points. When it freezes I can't get Task Manager but afterwards in Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance/event viewer I get errors at Service Control Manager (????)
I have Avira antivirus, Malwarebytes Anti Malware, Windows Defender Firewall. When I run scans i get nothing infected.
I'm tempted to throw in the towel and buy a new one with Windows 7 but while not top of the range my spec is good enough for my current needs and it annoys me to have to do that when some clever jiggling might easily mend it.
I haven't deleted old programs because I am always uncertain what is superfluous and what is essential.
I expect I'll get asked all sorts of technical questions from people who want to help. If so, bear with an ignoramus.

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LalaithUrwen
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 3:13 pm
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I really don't know what's happening, but, as a guess, I'd wonder if your computer is overheating. You could try running it without the case on the CPU to see if that helps. If it does, then you might just need to replace a fan or something.

But that's just a very uneducated guess. :shrug:

The brand new $2000+ computer (PC) we have in the sound booth is having issues (mostly related to booting). I'm absolutely flabbergasted at this. :bang: I think we need to perform an exorcism in the sound booth to rid it of the demons of anti-technology. I'm also seriously considering sticking a big Apple sticker on it to boost its self-esteem.

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elfshadow
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 7:06 pm
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If your computer is constantly shutting down completely, it could be overheating. If it's freezing, I don't think that has to do so much with temperature. Sounds like you might need more RAM, because your computer is unable to even play a Youtube video without overloading. It could be a combination of both problems too. Or I could be totally off the mark! Alatar will know more about this, I imagine.


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Ara-anna
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Wed 27 Jan , 2010 7:43 pm
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I don't know much, but I do know paying my friend Ed money to fix things was worth it. Not having a computer for a few days was nice also.

I don't know what to tell you about fixing yours except it sounds like it is out of memory, perhaps a new memory card or one of those external memory things (can't remember the name) would help. Both are a lot more cost efficient than buying a whole new computer. If it's a PC not lap top you can open it up by taking the outside sleeve off and looking to see if another memory card can be added. If your not comfortable doing that, have someone else look.

It all depends on how old your computer is, if you want to spend a few hundred to fix or spend a few hundred more to buy new.

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nienna
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Thu 28 Jan , 2010 9:34 pm
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Tosh

Hubby (IT support specialist) suggests you start up Task Manager first, and leave it running in the corner, before using Youtube, and that way you will be able to see if the CPU or memory is maxing out...

do that by clicking on the performance tab, leave it running and twhen your pc freezes check to see if the CPU or memory is very high. If it is the CPU that maxes, then click on the processes tab, click on "show processes from all users" click continue. Click on the column labelled CPU to show process use in descending order (ie highest percentage at top of list) and this will idetify which process is hogging the CPU.

You can check the memory column in the same way.

Worth a try...

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Alatar
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Thu 28 Jan , 2010 11:18 pm
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Ok Tosh, a few things.


First off, go to your start/run box and type in "msconfig" without the quotes. Untick everything in the "Startup" tab you don't recognise as being essential and reboot. It should come up pretty clean and fast on the next reboot. If it does, start going through them and just take out the ones you're pretty sure you don't want.

You may also have faulty memory. Download SciSoft Sandra, or one of these:

* Microsoft Memory Tester
* MemTest
* Crucial
(Google them) and run a memory test.

Of course, the absolute best way to do all this and to rule out hardware/memory issues is to simply back up your data and reinstall Windows. Depending where you got your PC there may be a clean install on a hidden partition, or on a "Rescue Disk".

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vison
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Fri 29 Jan , 2010 4:40 am
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I went through this and wound up having to buy a new computer. The old one was actually physically deteriorating.

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*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R*
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Fri 29 Jan , 2010 5:33 am
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Good thread, Tosh. The few times I've had to show up with my tail between my legs asking for tech help, I just re-used the same thread I'd been asking other questions in, which may have started out as someone's thread for a similar problem I was having the first time I bugged y'all. :P

Off the top of my head, my computer likes to give the blue screen of death after I eject blank discs I've saved files onto. It's not a 404 error and I forget the exact text, but basically "there was a problem, please restart". Except I can't do anything to change the screen except unplug the computer entirely. The discs are dvd-sized and can hold 4+ gigabytes. The blue screen comes up whether I've clicked on any of the disc's files, or copied them onto the hard drive or not. Are they just too big for the computer to process or what?

Also, I just got an external drive and find it makes the whole computer pretty slow. I moved maybe 40G of music and picture files onto the external thing, so my hard drive now only has 20G of 70 used up. I don't get how this stuff works, is it supposed to make things slower cuz more files are being shot through a smaller wire than if they were in the main tower? I JUST WANT TO SAVE PRETTY PICTURES AND PLAY ALBUMS OK. :rage:

No rush. Luckily the comp only gives me minor annoyances these days, knock on wood. But they are still st00pfid.




*E*

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Alatar
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Fri 29 Jan , 2010 10:35 am
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Pretty much the same advice I gave Tosh *E*.

Computers slow down. For a power user, I recommend a clean reinstall once a year, for less intensive users, maybe every 2 or 3 years.

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ToshoftheWuffingas
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Fri 29 Jan , 2010 9:00 pm
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For nienna
From Task Manager
CPU
System Idle Process 98 to 99


Memory usage: (the first major memory figures)

firefox exe 50K
MsMpEng exe 37K
sychost exe 24K
explorer exe 18K

For Alatar:
I tried msconfig. I unchecked things like BT Broadband help, Kodak photo software and Nero editing but most of them were either security software or had names that weren't self evident like ctfmon exe, Ymsgr tray exe, MsMpEng exe etc etc.
Anyway, I've done a few things and will check the memory a bit later. Thanks for the advice. I'll see how it works.

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nienna
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Fri 29 Jan , 2010 10:54 pm
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Okay, Tosh...so are those the figures you get when the pc freezes? If they are, it looks pretty normal, nothing particularly stands out, and it sounds like the problem could be hardware related instead.

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*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R*
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Sat 13 Feb , 2010 11:13 pm
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Alatar wrote:
Pretty much the same advice I gave Tosh *E*.

Computers slow down. For a power user, I recommend a clean reinstall once a year, for less intensive users, maybe every 2 or 3 years.
We did get the computer wiped this time last year. Before and after, I did have that problem with getting files from DVD discs, though!


Right now, I have no antivirus because the old one was using up 99% of the memory. :roll: I bought another just now, but can't run it because all .exe files, I'm told are not "valid Win32 applications". Was trying to use advice from this page: http://www.computing.net/..........cant-run-any-files/2005.html but in addition to it being Greek to me, I got the same prompt when trying to click on my .exe file.

Granted, I'm putting off another system-wide reboot for as long as possible, but surely there is a solution for this one issue. Thanks again.




*E*

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Jude
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Sun 14 Feb , 2010 12:11 am
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Why did you buy an AntiVirus? AVG AntiVirus is a free download - I'm perfectly happy with it.

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*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R*
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Sun 14 Feb , 2010 12:47 am
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That's the one that was giving me issues. Windows already comes with it installed, but I forget why I deleted it the first time. :P When I tried to find the free version, I couldn't find the same one, but it was giving me issues in recent months. The 99% memory usage, I couldn't send message from Outlook Express, the .exe files crapped out... figured I had nothing to lose, so I uninstalled it again. And bought the same program, I guess to make it official in case it was only just telling me the computer had trojans, instead of actually deleting them.

So apparently neither time was I satisfied with the AVG program.

But I'll try it again if I can just get it installed. :P




*E*

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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Sun 14 Feb , 2010 7:29 am
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I would not be surprised if this was hardware related, like a bad video card, or the memory on the video card going bad, especially if it happens a lot with video. The idea of overheating is also a possibility, or the motherboard backup battery could be going bad and need to be replaced. Other issues could include damage due to static or voltage surges. I had similar symptoms with a desktop after a number of power outages struck in rapid succession.

Have you run CHKDSK with the option to repair? Maybe there are bad sectors in the area where the computer's swap file is stored. This is used for virtual memory, If you have a lot of processes going on that are memory intensive, like video, virtual memory gets more usage.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

The other possibility is something like a root-kit. I was hit with one of those once, but Malwarebytes took care of it, and since you said you have that, I do not expect that would be the issue.

You may want to check that all of your software is up-to-date.

Try PSI (Personal Security Inspector) from Secunia for making sure that you are at the minimum release for all of your programs for any security issues that could be getting exploited and causing problems.

While things like anti-virus and Malwarebytes will fix problems for things that have been exploited, it is better to close the holes that allow you to be exploited than to keep fixing the problems that crop up due to these holes.

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

This will check not only if your Microsoft Windows software is up-to-date, it will check most significant 3rd party software, but you have to tell it to scan all, otherwise it just does the most common programs.

You can also use something like File Hippo to make sure that you are completely up-to-date, even apart from the minimum required for security issues.

http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

An alternative (or complement) to File Hippo is Cleansoft's Update Notifier:

http://cleansofts.org/view/update-notifier.html

I do find that File Hippo gives me less false positives. Cleansoft's product will occasionally recommend that I "upgrade" to a version that is a lower release that what I already have, if they do not update their database quickly enough. As long as you are conscious of this, and know how to check your release level by looking at Properties or Help/About if you have questions, you should be OK.

You may also have things like old copies of Java etc etc that you might want to clean up. If you have Java, you need only the latest release and run-time. These are often left installed when Java upgrades, and they need to be manually removed through Add/Remove programs (and/or via the add-ons function in Firefox or whatever other browser you are using etc).

In any case, at least try PSI and File Hippo. They're easy to use and quite helpful. These are excellent programs even for people who do not have problems, to make sure that you have the latest releases. Some things can be ignored, if you don't use them.

If you are uncertain about the recommendations that these programs make, post what they suggest here, and we can take a look.

BrianIs :) AtYou

PS

Microsoft MBSA is also a great thing to run to check for other issues.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

This will tell you about things like missing updates and service packs, which you should already be up to date on if you are running Microsoft update, but MBSA does more. Office product updates. Password vulnerabilities. Policy checks. etc etc be patient. It takes a while to run.

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*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R*
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Fri 19 Feb , 2010 2:12 am
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Brian, thanks so much for that information, I really appreciate it. Nitty gritty computer stuff terrifies me. I did try to download from Secunia, but am still unable to access .exe files, so I'm pretty much up the creek and must make do with whatever programs I got now... whether I'm needing to use them or delete them. :roll:

EDIT: another dead end with http://filext.com/faq/broken_exe_association.php. Something is seriously wrong when reading the Twilight series is the less obnoxious activity...




*E*

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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Sat 20 Feb , 2010 5:35 am
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*E*, when did the problem with .EXE files start?

Did you try the solution in the FAQ for using folder option to edit or restore the EXE file association? It looks pretty straightforward.

Otherwise, if it was recent enough, and you have system restore running, you should be able to do a system restore. Note that this will only work if a system restore point prior to the date when the problem started is still available.

BTW I wonder if the program using 99% of CPU was due to the problem with EXE files.

To restore to a System Restore Point...

* Open the Start menu

* Open the Programs menu

* Open the Accessories menu

* Open the System Tools menu

* Finally, start System Restore

Select the last system restore point from the date before the problem started, and request to restore to that point.

If you have installed anything after that date, you may have to reinstall it (since the system restore will set things back the way they used to be).

BrianIs :) AtYou

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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Sat 20 Feb , 2010 5:47 am
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One thing to note when upgrading certain programs and using update checkers is that some install programs do not delete old versions and this will still show up as needing a fix in Secunia or File Hippo etc. From a security standpoint, it is a good idea to delete the old versions, since malware could still conceivably engage in an exploit if the old software had a vulnerability.

This is common with old versions of the java and the java run-time environment. You only need the latest version. At one point after successive upgrades of java, where the install did not remove the old version. I had like 5 versions out there. This easily cleaned up using add/remove programs and the add-on manager in my browser to remove the reference to the old run-times add-ons.

The same problems exists with Adobe Flash. Their install program does not remove the old versions of the .ocx files and these have to be remove from the FLASH directory under program files. If you are using Secunia PSI, it gives you the path where the old version lives. Just go and delete it after upgrading to the new version.

BrianIs :) AtYou

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*E*V*E*N*S*T*A*R*
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Sun 21 Feb , 2010 6:36 am
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BrianIsSmilingAtYou wrote:
*E*, when did the problem with .EXE files start?
I'm gonna guess about a month. I downloaded a game that wouldn't open, so figured it was a bad file or just incompatible with my computer. No biggie. But once I made the effort to look and pay for a new antivirus, and that .exe file wouldn't open, then I caught on.
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Did you try the solution in the FAQ for using folder option to edit or restore the EXE file association? It looks pretty straightforward.
I did! Will try again, though.

I just did a system restore (picking a random date in January) but it said it couldn't and so no changes were made. Maybe I need to restore it from a date further back? I've never set a restore point, I just used one of the system checkpoints listed. It wasn't a computer function I knew about previously.

90% of my messages on outlook express seem to have disappeared. Oh, the rainbows and sunshine around here. ;)

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Many thanks for talking me through this silliness. :Wooper:




EDIT: no luck with the file types thing, adding EXE and making it an application. There was no restore button unless they meant "restore to default" in the other tab. I pressed that anyway, and still nothing. One thing I forgot to mention is that I changed one exe file into an MS-DOS program, but clicking on it just makes the black screen show up for a nanosecond before disappearing again. Dunno what that means. But I think the DOS stuff is from the first link I posted, about adding html for the registry keys or something. Maybe I should keep moving forward. :roll:




*E*

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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
Post subject: Re: Computer woes/help/rant etc Enter here
Posted: Mon 22 Feb , 2010 4:47 am
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If you have a local technician that can help you, let them do so and let them know about the specific things you have looked out; this should be something that is readily resolvable, despite the consternation that it is causing you.

Good luck

BrianIs :) AtYou

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