Computer Advice Please

In my experience, the immediate cause of most problems on Windows computers is children.
Rob, have you let anyone under the age of 20 use your computer? :)

Slowness is caused by either something hogging the CPU (as I think others have mentioned) or something reading/writing a lot to the hard disk. It's also possible to have so much stuff running at the same time all the RAM gets used up, but that nets out as reading/writing a lot to the hard disk.

So, you need to see which of those it is, and then what is causing it, rather than all the generic antimalware gizmos. I'm sure the ones recommended here are all fine, but I've seen some do more harm than good.

To find out what's going on, press ctrl-shift-escape to get the task manager up.
Select the "performance" tab. This shows how busy your CPU is. If you select 'view' from the menu and check 'show kernel times' it'll show you a split between how much CPU time is going to user processes (green) and how much into kernel time (red).
In general, if your computer is slow, then either the CPU will be 100%, or there'll be a lot of red - kernel time will normally equate to waiting for read/write to the hard disk.
Depending on what you see there then, you can dig deeper:
If the CPU is very busy, and it's mainly green, go look at the 'processes' tab, and click the 'CPU' heading. That'll sort the list of running processes by the amount of CPU they're using - at the top of the list then will be the one or two programs that are hogging the CPU. Bing (or I suppose google...) will tell you if they're friend or foe.
If it wasn't a very busy CPU, then its probably a busy disk.
Back on the 'performance' tab , have a quick check that the memory usage doesn't exceed the physical memory, then hit the 'resource monitor' button to launch the resource monitor. It'll show you the level of read/write activity on your hard disk.
At idle (after it's all settled down after startup, and you've got your browser running), it really should show more or less 0 disk activity. if you've got constant activity in the MB/sec range, then that is your problem - and you can press the down arrow symbol to expand the disk activity section if necessary to see activity by process. If you click on the Read, Write, Total columns it'll order the list by those activities, and you can see which processes are doing all the reading and writing, and again Bing will tell you if they're friend or foe.

I'm happy to talk you through it if you like.
 
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Something also worth mentioning is heat. If you keep your PC in an enclosed space with little airflow or you have pets that leave hair everywhere then things can start getting a bit warm. The CPU will throttle the speed down if it reaches a certain temperature to protect itself from damage. If the heatsink gets clogged with dust and fur or the fan stops working then it will reach that temperature fairly easily.

It might be worth downloading Realtemp to rule out overheating as the cause of the problem: Download Real Temp 3.70 | techPowerUp

The number to watch is distance to Tj Max, if it gets anywhere near 0 then you have a heat problem. Generally it should be 30 or higher for normal operation.
 
Another thing you could try Rob, is to prevent unnecessary programs from loading at start-up.

For example, Adobe reader is set by default to open at start up so that it is ready to open quickly should you click on something that requires it to run. However, if you don't need it very often (which is probably the case), you can disable it from loading every time you switch on the pc to speed the start up process up.

I'm sure you'll find a lot of program's you could get away with disabling.

And just to scare you, do a little research or find some instructions or a program to help first as you can brick the computer if you delete something that is essential to the start up process.

*please note, I'm not a pc engineer or expert of any kind, just passing on things I've picked up* ;)
 
Now run Combofix (about 30mins) - scarey but gritted my teeth!

Next stage is removing Nortons and installing NOD32, if I dare :eek:
 
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I'm on Google Chrome now, IE no longer my browser.

After the changes the PC is a lot quicker - thanks guys!
 
Top tip Rob,
Don't install any of windows updates.
These just add duplicate services which slows your pC down.
With your specs the PC should fly, open the task manager and check CPU usage and memory usage, if these are really high, start stopping services one at a time to see if one is hogging the memory or processor. I have many PCs at work which use Avast anti Virus, Nortons is ***** and onece PC has its initial updates never update again. My PC's don't slow up even after over 2 years use.
 
Next question guys ;)

When I have attachments it asks me what I want to open them with (even just jpg). I then get a file in 'Downloads' called downloader with no image. Why can't it just open them?

Also had a zip file sent of photos from Cadwell but I can't open that either - should I download winzip?
 
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which operating system do you have? If it's Vista or Windows 7 then you can open a zip file just by double clicking on it.
 
Rob Gaskin said:
Windows 7 and no I can't :unsure:
Click to expand...

Oh right, maybe it's only on certain versions :(

In that case then yep, install Winzip or 7-Zip and make sure 'shell integration' is turned on if it asks in the install process. That way you can just right click on a zip file and tell it to unpack into its own folder, it makes things a lot easier.
 
Sometimes it's just better to start again with pc's Rob. I've just done mine and it runs like new again.
Get everything you want off your computer you want to keep and get a windows installation disc if you haven't allready got one and let the disc format your hard drive and reload.
 
Try using Devolo homeplug system they do a wireless adapter that should solve your issues. I use and sell them they are the best Homeplug system out there.
Andrew

malcolmpaul said:
What a great web site this is! Not only can you get advice on your Z but also on your computer. Mine was running slow so downloaded the Malwarebytes removal tool which found 58 problems! On the same subject has anyone had any experience of wi-fi signal boosters? I have quite a large house and the signal is poor or non existent in some areas, usually where I want to use my smartphone or tablet
Click to expand...
 
Yes Steve I can see the funny side but it's out of context. I was referring to folks being a keyboard member rather than a car driver/meeting goer. My computer is working ok these days but I can't open the 'zip' pictures of me enjoying my car at Cadwell.
 
Hey I understand Rob
My wife is clueless with a pc and I tend to get a little frustrated when she can’t even remember Ctrl C and Ctrl V

Either out of context or not Rob it still highlights one of the great issues we face today and that is there is still the greater sector of the population who struggle with PC's.....and that’s not just how to use one but the great benefits that they bring when used correctly.

Re the "ZIP" thing, later versions of MS Windows (once they got court cases out of the way) natively support many forms of file compression (ZIP is just a collective name) so it’s either one of a few things for example

1. Unsupported file compression format (there are many compression formats not all supported)
2. Wrong file extension (without a file extension, windows doesn’t know what program to associate with it)
3. Corrupt zip file (common)
4. Operator error (rarely happens)

On a general note, considering the type of issues you are getting, it might be worth considering a night class or something; some of the local colleges do some excellent foundation courses.

Finally, car club forums rarely give good advice on cars let alone PC issues.
 
Yes Steve a course would be good but my wife already thinks I spend too long on the PC - and she is correct. I do actually think that they are a massive distraction to productivity - but can help too. It's a balance and discipline issue.

I used a PC at work of course (all day sometimes) and went on lots of 'application' courses and learnt how to use them but not how they work. Bit like learning to drive but not understanding the mechanics of a car.

Bear in mind that I never even used a computer until I was 40 (stand alone Compaq 286?), that would be late to learn to drive too. The internet and emails came along in my office when I was about 45.
 
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