computer help ASAP

[CherryPop22]

Hi,
I have come here for computer help in the past and you guys never have failed me so i come with this question now. My computer when i want to get on my internet it always freezes 5 or 6 times before it lets me get on and then i can only get to a few sites before it freezes again. I have run my virus thing over and over again and nothing turns up and my spywear doesn’t help much. Also when i want to get on AIM or Yahoo it takes such a long time and when i am messaging people it freezes as i am typing sometimes. Please help me i feel like i want to pick up my computer and throw it against the wall.
Thank you

 

[HornyHenry]

Hi,
I have come here for computer help in the past and you guys never have failed me so i come with this question now. My computer when i want to get on my internet it always freezes 5 or 6 times before it lets me get on and then i can only get to a few sites before it freezes again. I have run my virus thing over and over again and nothing turns up and my spywear doesn’t help much. Also when i want to get on AIM or Yahoo it takes such a long time and when i am messaging people it freezes as i am typing sometimes. Please help me i feel like i want to pick up my computer and throw it against the wall.
Thank you

You might have some hardware dying.
Does it run OK except when you get on the internet?
Run Scandisk or chkdsk and defrag if it is needed.

 

[MagicFingers]

Try these:

Get all your "Critical" Windows Updates installed. Update any IE program updates in the optional list. (If you use Interner Explorer)

Update your virus definitions and re-run it.

Download and update Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de
Download and update Spybot and it's updates.
Get the free versions of each.

Run them both and remove any Malware they might find.

Then throw it against the wall!
(or call a local repair guy to look at it.)

 

[Tap-Out]

You could also go into your control pannel, and click on add/remove programs. See what programs are in there that you don't use and get rid of them. Also if you know how see what programs are running at startup and in the background. If you need help doing that PM me or post back here and I'll see what I can do to help you out.

Cheers

Tap

 

[Weird Harold]

Hi,
I have come here for computer help in the past and you guys never have failed me so i come with this question now. My computer when i want to get on my internet it always freezes 5 or 6 times before it lets me get on and then i can only get to a few sites before it freezes again.

"Input! Need More Input!" -- Johny Five.

What kind is your internet connection -- i.e. dial-up, DSL, Cable?

Does your Internet require a special program to acess it -- i.e. SBC/Yahoo, AOL, Juno, etc.

When you say "freezes up" do youmean youhave to use the reset button, or do other windows -- My Computer, My Documents, MSWord, etc -- still work OK?

Can you check the list of tasks with Ctrl-Alt-Del to se which programis listed as "Not Responding" ?

Which version of Windows or Mac OS are you running?

Your symptoms are so very vague that a thousand different things could be causing them. Almost all of them can be given the same name -- "CPU Hogging"-- but determining WHAT is using so much of your CPU time is the problem.

 

[Xt4cY]

if you have some time to spend on it i'd recomend back up important data and reformat always nice to start from scratch

Also make sure to defrag the hard drive.

Also open up the computer and clean out the dust! computers often slow down because of overheating due to the dust containing the heat.

Also do things everyone else suggested

 

[Xt4cY]

if you have some time to spend on it i'd recomend back up important data and reformat always nice to start from scratch

Also make sure to defrag the hard drive.

Also open up the computer and clean out the dust! computers often slow down because of overheating due to the dust containing the heat.

Also do things everyone else suggested

 

[MagicFingers]

Reformatting the hard drive

if you have some time to spend on it i'd recomend back up important data and reformat always nice to start from scratch

Also make sure to defrag the hard drive.

Also open up the computer and clean out the dust! computers often slow down because of overheating due to the dust containing the heat.

Also do things everyone else suggested

Backing up the data is always good to do.
However, REFORMATTING THE HARD drive is NOT one of the first steps you should take, ever! It is a LAST resort only when all else fails. Unless your PC is brand new or your hard drive has crashed, I would not recommend this.

 

[Astrum]

It sounds like you're running out of physical memory. My guess is you have a lot of processes running in the background.

Restet your computer, that should clear up some memory. Chances are that most of the processes running are automatically started wheny ou turn on the PC. I'm not sure what operating system you have, but if you have WinXP you can modify what processes run on startup. This can screw a few things up if you do it wrong though, so it isn't for the novice. I'll try and find an article on it you can follow.

I should think you could add more RAM as well.

 

[Koneko]

Right I think Icould know what's wrong, as long as it only hangs on the internet. When you open a website does a pop-up called 'nitrous-exile' come up?

It's a sod and crashes all the internet and you have to either restart or ctr+alt+delete and end one of the IE windows...of course as soon as you open the IE again gues what pops up? Yup...

Anyway that's what's screwing me up so it could be your problem as well. If it is get a pop-up stopper.

 

[heckle]

Re: Re: computer help ASAP

Does your Internet require a special program to acess it -- i.e. SBC/Yahoo, AOL, Juno, etc.

SBC/Yahoo does not need special software to use. They just give you the cd so you don't have to make teh changes yourself (and bother their tech support).

But yes, more details would be good.
1. How long has this been happening.
2. What version of Windows are you running?
3. Did you load anything just before the symptoms started?
4. Do you have alot of other "helper type" of programs loaded? (things like Norton System Works or other system enhancing programs)
5. Do you have alot of toolbars loaded (google search, hotbar, weatherbug, etc)?

If you have Windows XP, did you load/update to SP2? If so, it may be the built in firewall or the service pack itself.
Empty your temp files, cookies and temporary internet files (those files can grow very large).

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: Re: computer help ASAP

SBC/Yahoo does not need special software to use. They just give you the cd so you don't have to make teh changes yourself (and bother their tech support).

The CD they sent me when they bought out Prodigy certainly had about 300MB of special software (and another 300 MB of "extras") to connect to and interface with their server. Software which incidentally would not run on my computer, and their tech support was worthless -- which is why I do not have an account with SBC/Yahoo.

It may not be necessary to use the cutomized browser provided with that type of service -- it isn't with Juno and wasn't with Prodigy -- but the software is required to connect and comunicate with the servers. It may look like (and be listed as) a normal DUN account, but there is a bunch of software "drivers" sitting in memory all the time waiting for a connection to control.

PS: With both Prodigy and Juno, I had periods when their specialized software caused symptoms like those described. Usually as a result of server problems or server loads, but at least once because the software got corrupted and had to be reloaded for each ISP.

My current ISP works with just a Windows Dial-up Networking profile and I've not had any problems with it in over two years.

 

[MagicFingers]

I second this from WH

I have worked on several computers that had problems because of SBC/Yahoo and all the garbage they make you load and use on your system to connect. It especially seems to have problems running with Win'98. If you have just started using a service like this, then that is a good place to look at first.

I loaded Earthlink's internet software, mainly to get their pop-up blocker and spam filters. They also had an internet accelerator.
Well, everything slowed down! and sometimes froze, like clicking on a post here in Lit. And the internet accelerator only gave me JPEGs in poor resolution, but did not speed up any downloads. The stuff running in the background actually slowed down EVERYTHING! So, I deleted ~120MB of their junk and now am back to my old, faster dialup.

CherryPop22, if you can get on again, please let us know if anything here helped out.

 

[heckle]

Re: Re: Re: Re: computer help ASAP

It may not be necessary to use the cutomized browser provided with that type of service -- it isn't with Juno and wasn't with Prodigy -- but the software is required to connect and comunicate with the servers. It may look like (and be listed as) a normal DUN account, but there is a bunch of software "drivers" sitting in memory all the time waiting for a connection to control.

I use SBC for my Internet. I run a web server, I stream audio and I run a private ftp. I do not use the SBC software (wouldn't run on linux anyway). I have 8 computers that can be online at the same time and normally have three online constantly. I conenct it all through a dsl modem/dsl router setup. I have had SBC (used to be SNET) as my provider since they brought dsl into the area. Never used the software even when I was sharing the connection through my W2K machine. It is just a simple PPOE conenction is all.

As for the SBC tech support, I agree that they are worthless. Even more so since they "streamlined". Last time I called, I was going to report that our local redback was down and they told me that they do not support linux.

 

[Booboo19]

umm i think this was left out, there's always a chance that you have the wrong setting for virtual memory, that happened to me, and then the windows would close automatically, or just freeze, for some money , take it to your local best buy and they will do a diagnostic test, that way you won't worry about messing anything up if computer challenged like me

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: computer help ASAP

I use SBC for my Internet. I run a web server, I stream audio and I run a private ftp. I do not use the SBC software (wouldn't run on linux anyway). I have 8 computers that can be online at the same time and normally have three online constantly. I conenct it all through a dsl modem/dsl router setup.

It sounds like their DSL service is less software dependent than the dial-up service -- which is the only thing I've had contact with (or more precisely told them to shove where the sun doesn't shine because of NO contact with.)

 

[CherryPop22]

Re: Re: computer help ASAP

"Input! Need More Input!" -- Johny Five.

What kind is your internet connection -- i.e. dial-up, DSL, Cable?

i think it is Cable its internet explorer

Does your Internet require a special program to acess it -- i.e. SBC/Yahoo, AOL, Juno, etc.

no not that i know of i dont have to have anything running to get on the net

When you say "freezes up" do youmean youhave to use the reset button, or do other windows -- My Computer, My Documents, MSWord, etc -- still work OK?

other programs still work i have to hit ctrl alt delete to out of the internet

Can you check the list of tasks with Ctrl-Alt-Del to se which programis listed as "Not Responding" ?

when i do that just my internet is not responding

Which version of Windows or Mac OS are you running?

Windows xp

Your symptoms are so very vague that a thousand different things could be causing them. Almost all of them can be given the same name -- "CPU Hogging"-- but determining WHAT is using so much of your CPU time is the problem.

 

[CherryPop22]

Re: Re: Re: computer help ASAP

SBC/Yahoo does not need special software to use. They just give you the cd so you don't have to make teh changes yourself (and bother their tech support).

But yes, more details would be good.
1. How long has this been happening.

Just a few days now

2. What version of Windows are you running?

windows xp

3. Did you load anything just before the symptoms started?
not that i know of
4. Do you have alot of other "helper type" of programs loaded? (things like Norton System Works or other system enhancing programs)

no

5. Do you have alot of toolbars loaded (google search, hotbar, weatherbug, etc)?

i think i have google and weatherbug but dont know

If you have Windows XP, did you load/update to SP2? If so, it may be the built in firewall or the service pack itself.
Empty your temp files, cookies and temporary internet files (those files can grow very large).

i dont think i loaded sp2

 

[CherryPop22]

Thank you all for you help. I did go to windows update and i have no updates to install. I have no idea what some of you are talking about. The only thing i know about computers is how to get on the net and talk to people.


One other problem thats been happening with this is when i want AIM or Yahoo up it seems to take forever to load.

If anyone has a better idea of my problem please please IM me and walk me through the steps i am need of help.

I do feel so loved many of you responded thanks a bunch

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: Re: Re: computer help ASAP

5. Do you have alot of toolbars loaded (google search, hotbar, weatherbug, etc)?

i think i have google and weatherbug but dont know

Either or both of those could be causing your problem. So could a pop-up blocker or a web-trapping virus protection.

As an example, I run FreeSurfer Mk II as my pop-up blocker and it will sometimes cause IE5 to show as "Not responding" -- using ctrl-alt-del to end task on the pop-up blocker usually fres up the locked page.

Try removing the google toolbar first, as that has a somewhat dubious reputation.

If that doesn't fix the problem, try removing the weather bug.

The next time it happens, use Ctrl-Alt-Del to end task on everything except Explorer and your IE window -- remember which program released the IE window.

 

[CherryPop22]

Thank you a lot for help.I just cleared some programs i don't use anymore like imesh and weatherbug and so far today the problem has not happend. I guess now its just wait and see kind of thing

 

[enigmalone]

Alot depends on your resources(how much memory and such your puter has).

A question I would ask is: how do you connect to the net? Modem? cable? dsl?

Your start up menu can effect your performance big-time(the programs that open automatically when you boot up your puter).

Also, do you turn your computer off when your not using it?

simple fixes are: run disc clean up regularly and de frag often....you may simply have a small hardrive and low memory.

I'd look at the start up programs though......

Good luck lil subbie!....

Enigmalone