The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Tyler Durden on March 03, 2010, 06:47:48 PM
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Pardon my rant, but this computer is annoying....err aggravating >:(
I will do the CTRL+ALT+DEL thing to get the windows task manager thingey to pop up. Then I will click on the processes tab and take a look at what is running.
But in all honesty, looking at that....pffft! I might as well be looking at Mandarin Chinese.
I really can't make heads or tails out of it.
Do ya'll have any advice?
It is an HP computer running Windows XP .
Thanks!
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Pardon my rant, but this computer is annoying....err aggravating >:(
I will do the CTRL+ALT+DEL thing to get the windows task manager thingey to pop up. Then I will click on the processes tab and take a look at what is running.
But in all honesty, looking at that....pffft! I might as well be looking at Mandarin Chinese.
I really can't make heads or tails out of it.
Do ya'll have any advice?
It is an HP computer running Windows XP .
Thanks!
Computer virus. To double check, open task manager, go to processes, sort by CPU, then find out what the top three most expensive processes are, go by the 'image name'. Feel free to post or check the Goggle on your results.
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Huh???
I never knew that the CPU column at the Windows Task Manager processes tab actually did anything. All I used to see were "00" .
Now, watching it more closely, I notice that something like iexplore.ex will start out at "05" then go "03", and then go to "02", and lastly back to "00".
Something like the "system idle process" will start at "97", then go to "95" and then "93"....then back to "97".
pretty much everything stays at "00" still.
Norton is installed on this computer, so I wll run that in a bit. Then Ad-Aware, and then Spybot Search and Destroy.
Thanks for your reply.
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Norton is installed on this computer, so I wll run that in a bit. Then Ad-Aware, and then Spybot Search and Destroy.
Norton is a virus it's self
un install it and try Avast ( it is free as well )
http://www.avast.com/en-au/index
Avast for the Virus
Malwarebytes for anti spyware
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Concur on Norton! not good. AVG is another free and excellent anti-virus program.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
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How much "stuff" do you have running? Programs like Napster or the DVD players that stay in the system tray (the icons in the lower right corner) are using memory to remain active even if you aren't actively using them. Sometimes Java will fail to close properly and remain an open process that the computer is trying to shut down but can't. You have to force it from Task Manager. That's where the Processes tab comes in. If there is a program hung up or that you know you aren't running look for it there and shut it down. Most of the time it's pretty obvious. DO NOT shut down explorer.exe!!!!! That runs the whole show. iexplore.exe is Internet Explorer and would be OK to stop if it's hung up. Look at the memory column. If you have 3GB of RAM but you're running 6GB worth of processes the computer has to use the hard drive for the extra space. Loook at the Performance Tab and see what the difference is between Physical Memory and the Available Memory and Cache together. They should never be close or equal. If the drive is running constantly and performance sucks the easiest solution, add more memory. Some machine can do that others can't, no physical space for more or the board can't process it. Windows Vista Home is limited to 3GB no matter how much is on the board, at least the earlier versions.
Only run one anti-virus at a time. Adding an additional Spyware is ok but if it does both tasks it may compete and crash the system.
Also be aware that most computers, especially Dell and HP/Compaq, have what's known as "bloatware." Almost all of the HP service or "system health" programs are extra and use a lot of processor power. They can be deleted but you have to be careful some are cross linked to other stuff to actaully run better.
Some programs that automatically update can drain a system while getting the update. If it doesn't complete the task it will keep trying until it does. Anti-Virus software is bad for it but the absolute worst I have seen is Google Toolbar. My wife's machine loads it every couple of months from Facebook and the following week it has crashed the machine. I delete it and things are back to normal until the next time. If I could only block MySpace and Facebook life would be grand! (Well I could but the wife and kids would be unlivable after that >:()
Dammit!!! I'm sounding like one of THEM. I'm not a programmer. I'm not a programmer. I'm NOT a programmer. I AM a Programmer Herder! Like herding cats, only more stressful
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Dammit!!! I'm sounding like one of THEM. I'm not a programmer. I'm not a programmer. I'm NOT a programmer. I AM a Programmer Herder! Like herding cats, only more stressful
Exactly how I feel. I had a fire department laptop for 3 years and never ever had a problem with anything. Give it back to the department and it has crashed twice in a year. My new laptop no problems with anything. My parents computer and sister... always something they are calling me with. >:(
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I got fed up and repartitioned and reformated the hard drive yesterday on my laptop. It runs better now than it ever did but I loaded the bare minimum off of the driver discs. I thought I had a bad hard drive, turned out to be internet gonorrhea...
Wear a condom when you do the reformat and hopfully, you've already backed up your important stuff..
Next time, it's target practice for the 1911..
And yes, I've had McAfee running on it since the beginning. Worthless at any price...
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McAfee and Norton have turned into the worst of the anti-virus/spyware game. I can't believe how a company can go from best to worst in such record time. I use Webroot products Anti-spyware/virus and windows washer. Daily sweeps keep things running good on my laptops.
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Concur on Norton! not good. AVG is another free and excellent anti-virus program.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
+1 on the AVG, Haz........I've been running it on my new machine since you told me about it a few months back...so far so good and no complaints. The first free version I had didn't have a virus scanner...but they have updated the free version with all the normal bells and whistles.
I ran DefenderPro for several years with great success until their newest update back in july clashed horribly with Firefox...it basically shut my system down...that and the combination of a 5 year old machine... ;D
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Concur on Norton! not good. AVG is another free and excellent anti-virus program.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
What am I missing here? I downloaded the "free" version which scanned the system, found 48 virus' and then asked for $40.00 to remove them. The free version just identified the problem but didn't offer any solution.
I ain't knocking it, just curious....McAfee cost me 80 bucks a year for my network and it blows so money ain't the issue.
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majorgeeks.com
down the left hand column, AVG free edition is there. However, if you have another antivirus/spyware program getting AVG can conflict and set one against the other.
I use Avira, with Ad-Aware, (agree Norton is no longer the service it used to be)....
For 29.99 on my desk top, I have Black Ice ....very good as well.
My laptop hold up with Avira anti virus, malware/spyware,...etc,...
check the site above, keep it simple.
Oh, BTW, Bill Gates is the devil....
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The problem is trying to get rid of Norton or McAfee in it's entirety. Like AOL, it's nearly impossible to remove it all.
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Now I know this is gonna tick some folks off... ;D
I have my Mom's old computer: A Gateway from '02 or '03. All I've done is replace the hard drive and added some RAM and only use it for a glorified word processor and the interwebs. I don't use any Internet explorer. I use either:
firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/upgrade.html (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/upgrade.html)
or
Opera: http://www.opera.com/ (http://www.opera.com/)
I also use the Mozilla Thunderbird for email. And, as a Cox subscriber, I am provided a McAfee suite as part of the whole hi speed deal. I have never had a problem (knocking on wood). As I type this, I am reminded of a certain .22LR Sig that has gone the same way. I may lead a charmed life. :D
Tyler, another option depending on how you use your computer and how easy it is to jump through the prescribed hoops, you could switch to a LINUX based OS and it's free to boot: Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/ (http://www.ubuntu.com/) Its supposed to be a lot more stable. It is definitely worth a look-see.
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the other option is just get a Mac
no issues then ;) ;D ;D
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the other option is just get a Mac
no issues then ;) ;D ;D
What difference would that make for the average casual user like me ?
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What difference would that make for the average casual user like me ?
firstly you don't need all that security crap there are only a couple of virus and to get them you need to be either watching porn or downloading illegal software
a lot easier to use and programs like iPhoto make managing your images soo much easier same for emailing pics just a couple of clicks and you can email picks and have them re-sized for email ( or upload to facebook )
if there are "Winblows" apps you need to run you can still do that by installing parallels on the mac and then windows to run them
there are soo many more things I could say but the best one is The Shooting Gallery TBD and TBD-S Cowboys + anything else they make here is ALL done on Macs :)
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Thanks Phil ?
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Some of us do more than slide shows Phil. ;) Mac are overprice, jive as Hell, and practically useless. The only time I've needed one was to port something to an iPhone from a game engine, the engine was built for Mac, ported to PC, and even its creators have admitted that they made a mistake building it first for Mac. But you boys do make some fancy mp3 players, I give them that. ;D And the web devs across the way love them. No body ever accused them of being all that smart though...
We need a thread called 'Nerd Fight' where we can argue all our petty nonsensicals.
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Some of us do more than slide shows Phil. ;) Mac are overprice, jive as Hell, and practically useless. The only time I've needed one was to port something to an iPhone from a game engine, the engine was built for Mac, ported to PC, and even its creators have admitted that they made a mistake building it first for Mac. But you boys do make some fancy mp3 players, I give them that. ;D And the web devs across the way love them. No body ever accused them of being all that smart though...
We need a thread called 'Nerd Fight' where we can argue all our petty nonsensicals.
hehehe TB 1 - Phil 0 ;D
Arent macs those things poms wear to keep their soap from getting wet?
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If your hard drive is constantly being accessed, you could have a bad hard drive.
If you look in your event viewer, see if you see any disc errors.
Run a chkdsk and scan for bad sectors too.
HP should also have some hard drive diagnostics in the BIOS.
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Some of us do more than slide shows Phil. ;) Mac are overprice, jive as Hell, and practically useless. The only time I've needed one was to port something to an iPhone from a game engine, the engine was built for Mac, ported to PC, and even its creators have admitted that they made a mistake building it first for Mac. But you boys do make some fancy mp3 players, I give them that. ;D And the web devs across the way love them. No body ever accused them of being all that smart though...
We need a thread called 'Nerd Fight' where we can argue all our petty nonsensicals.
Nerd fight on!
Allow me to draw some parallels. The PC vs. Mac argument is akin to the AR15 vs. AK47 argument or possibly a Glock vs. 1911.
Macs are plug and play. You don't need a degree to operate them: simple
PCs require a bit more maintenance.
You can plug in the gun parallels. Now, I'm not saying throw your Mac in the mud etc., i.e. some Glock torture test, but you should be able to see what I'm talking about. It's personal preference. To attach a mental deficiency to one side or the other would be silly. They both get the job done.
In a side note: Wouldn't it suck if your gun could get a virus?
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A Kel Tec sneezing in your pocket is a really gross image :o
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Yeah, and just imagine how much the "snot" would hurt? :'( ;D
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Macs are plug and play. You don't need a degree to operate them: simple
PCs require a bit more maintenance.
PC's are very simple as well. It just does more so it appears to require more maintenance when it doesn't.
If Mac's had a larger market share and did everything that a windows PC could, it wouldn't be "simple" anymore.
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PC's are very simple as well. It just does more so it appears to require more maintenance when it doesn't.
If Mac's had a larger market share and did everything that a windows PC could, it wouldn't be "simple" anymore.
Is that like when Windows 95 was heralded as "new" when those simple Macs had been doing the same thing since '88? Just askin'
You talk market share. That would be like arguing BMW and Chevy market share. They are different, but they get the job done.
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Now, I'm not saying throw your Mac in the mud etc.
Don't discourage them :D :D :D
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Is that like when Windows 95 was heralded as "new" when those simple Macs had been doing the same thing since '88? Just askin'
You talk market share. That would be like arguing BMW and Chevy market share. They are different, but they get the job done.
Boy, you're really diggin if you want to go to Windows 95 to show that Macs are simpler.
I stopped using that OS when Windows 98 came out, even using the new one, you might've heard about it, Windows 7.
The BMW and Chevy market share analogy does not work either unless you're talkiing about lets say, a passanger car which takes me to the store to buy groceries, then yes, you are correct, but that's not the point.
PC's Rule! Macs Suck!
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Hey, I'm just having fun. Most of it's passing you in both lanes.
You may dislike Macs. It's still America (at least for the time being). You may love PCs. You are loyal to the brand you find serves your needs/wants the best.
The point I was making is they both get the job done. Yours is a silly circular argument that has no end. We could have the same argument about guns, beer, women, et. al. The only stone cold facts here are that I'm gonna shut down my PC, take my carry gun off and walk up to the bar for a beer or two and talk to some women...
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Don't let your wife find out ;D
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I say they all suck!
Bill Gates is the Anti Christ, Steve Jobs couldn't get laid with a fistful of 100's until he got rich, Wazniak STILL can't get laid and he can't dance either. Somewhere there is drunken bum on skid row wishing he hadn't told his IBM boss that "NO ONE would EVER need a computer in their home", and .45 ACP beats 9mm every day of the week!
OH! YEA.....1911's rule and Glocks suck!
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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What about a Glock 21 vs. say a Para LDA in 9mm?
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What about a Glock 21 vs. say a Para LDA in 9mm?
Kinda partial to Para, I'll go LDA! :)
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Must be Windows, Bill left too many Gates open. Try Ubuntu 8.04, they send regular updates and no problems in twwo years. Fire fox rocks.
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Did any of you guys actually get lucky last night?
:P
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Seriously, now, thanks for all the replies.
I figured out it was Ad-Aware that was updating on its own.
I wish these programs were smart enough to ask you if you wanted to update now, before they bog everything down.
Yep, I have heard that Norton sucks, but this isn't my computer, so I have to live with it...for now.
Trust me, I made my recommendations pretty clear to go with something else besides Norton...like AVG instead.
::)