Re: Internet Explorer slow to fall!

[Deberosa]

How much RAM does your computer have? Do you have a full time connection or not?

Mine got really slow and I got a new computer with 2 gigs of ram. My old computer was over 5 years old. I think it was just churning trading out buffer with the disk.

There are hackers that take over computers and this is a characteristic of those take overs also if you have your computer on all the time but more likely it's not enough ram. Although I am a software engineer and know little about hardware!

[edward_4576]

Watch out for add on programs. Firefox has lots of add on programs and the more you use the slower it gets. If your running Vista remember to empty your recyle bin as it gets backed up too.

Check your startup menu and see if programs are being started unnecessarily. There are many programs that automatically start, usually these are updating programs. Check the settings on your seecurity software. Is it doing continual files searches for virisus? With so many files to be checked it can take a long while. I would also suggest that perhaps your hard drive needs to be defragmented.

[12vman]

Turn off your anti virus and spyware programs and tell us what happens.. 8)

[AlchemyAcres]

My startup window (start,programs,startup) is empty.

That doens't mean much, there's likely still a buncha garbage running in the background.
Click Start > Run > type msconfig into the text box>Click the start up tab...that'll lead to a list of stuff that'sset to run at startup> uncheck any unnecessary programs ,likely most of what's listed > click ok > restart computer.

Download and install Lavasoft's Ad-Aware...the free version...run that and Spybot search and destroy again,

~Martin :)

[WileyCoyote]

Thank You, Martin! My startup has been taking 30 minutes every time. When I saw all the garbage that had attached to it, BOY was I glad to bump it!
<Bows down before common sense and knowledge>

[MadTripper]

Martin hit it on the head. I use both of those programs for clients on a regular basis. Also, there is a free utility called Startup Control Panel. You can get it from www.mlin.net
It is basically a gui for the portion of your registry that enables startup programs and services. Worse case, you can use HiJack This to remove some nasty's but be cautious.
256 M of RAM isn't exactly a lot but you should be able to chug along. Memory is cheap right now if you are interested go to Newegg.com and grab 512 or 1G. You will notice a big difference. Of course you should ensure your system is fairly clean anyways.
Additionally, I'd remove any other spyware programs other than Lavasoft and Search and Destroy. Most of the others have hidden agendas that add slowness to your pc. McAfee is a resource hog as well as Norton. If you are going to pay for something, look into Trend Micro's product or Kaspersky. Stay on the light side however and just get their antivirus products, not the internet security suites and so on. Last I knew, Norton added about 20 processes in the interest of protecting your computer. I guess they consider protection by redering it useless.

Tripper

[bee_pipes]

Laptops, still in this day an age, are custom beasties. The mfgs will release new models every 4-6 months. It's like the car industry gone wild. Finding ram for an old laptop can be tricky. If you can find it, you can't go wrong by adding it. When you get a laptop, it's good to max out ram when you buy it, or soon afterwards, before models march on an leave you behind.

Firefox and Mozilla are alternative browsers to internet explorer. They are free and not too shabby. The browser handles a little differently from explorer, if you used netscape back when you'll find it familliar, but it's not too difficult to make the change. Started using them years ago and haven't regretted it. My wife still uses explorer and when we look something up using one of her bookmarks I am amazed at how slow it is compared to mozilla.

There's some good advice here - adaware and spybot are excellent programs, all you have to watch for is false triggers. After a few runs you know what to watch out for. The real solution is to switch to unix/linux. We had to replace an old windows '98 box and tried to make the transition then, but encountered modem problems with a winmodem. One of these days I'm going to break down and get a linux compatible and make the change. So far windows hasn't pissed me off enough recently to provide the incentive. I used to work with these things for a living, and am now retired. I prefer being a user to having to be the one finding the solutions.

Regards,
Pat

[edward_4576]

One of the reasons I like Firefox is that it's a more secure browser. I also like anything that's not Microsloth ;D

One nice feature is that being open source there's alot of nce little add ons. I've one that puts a little radar icon on the bottom of the browser and all you do is scroll overtop and poof instant radar map. Another puts an Icon of a flag that the webpage comes from and another actually will google a map to the owners and the servers physical location.

They have spell checkers, tranlators and so many other add ons it's like customizing a car.

[MadTripper]

Post the make and model of your computer and I'll get you a link to some memory. Laptop memory follows desktop pretty much with the exception of its footprint so odds are you can find it. I just added 1G of memory to a Dell a week ago for about 60 bucks. Made a world of difference for the end user. I'm sure if you haven't done much to your laptop there is an extra slot available. It is typically accessed by removing a panel from the bottom of the unit, maybe a phillips head or two.

Like I said, post the info and I'll get you some links.

Tripper

[MadTripper]

Maximum memory is 1024 M in your system. Apparently it has 2 slots, one is occupied by your 256 stick at this point unless by some remote chance, there are two 128 modules installed but I doubt that.
The model of memory is DDR PC2700, 200 Pin SO-DIMM.
You can pick the 512M modules up for about $50.00 a piece. You can get one and add it so you would bring your total to about 768M or you can get two, get rid of the 256 by selling it on Ebay or the like and have a full 1G. Personally, I'd drop the extra money and go for the 1G, you won't regret it.

I order most of my hardware from Newegg.com. They have some of the best prices and their service is outstanding on top of lightning fast shipping. You'd think I worked for them but honestly, I have just ordered from them for about 6 years and don't stray very often. They have 512M sticks for about $30.00 with $5.00 for shipping. This would bring your total to about $70.00 for 1G of decent memory. If you aren't familiar with brands, I would stick with Crucial, Corsair, or Kingston for your particular setup. Here is a direct link so you can investigate for yourself.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010260381%201052907 864%201309221120%201309121111&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Again, take the time to thoroughly clean your computer. You might even want to consider backing up and reinstalling windows. I normally do this about once a year just to keep things in order and toss items I don't really need to keep.

Let us know if you need any other help!

Tripper

[DavidOH]

Here is a very small program that I use to stop those programs that automaticly start up with windows.

http://www.download.com/Startup-Control-Panel/3000-2094_4-10524672.html?tag=lst-2

Startup Control Panel 2.8
(57.3K) Tested spyware free

License: Free
Editor's Rating: ***
Average User Rating: ****1/2 (out of 231 votes) Downloads: 358,518
Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
Limitations: No limitations

I also run Spybot, and Ad-Aware.