+ST0RM Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 My wife's laptop has been running really poorly. The HD seems to always run. She cant view any photos as thumbnails without it crashing to the desktop. I looked to see what coule be running in the background, but I didnt see anything out of the ordinary. The PF usage was really high though. 460Mbs at the highest and with nothing running, about 250. I ran Spybot to check for malware or spyware. What is a good free one for worms? I'm not sure what else I can do for her. Any tips? Thanks! Quote
+DoctorQuest Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 avast and spybot are my two primary tools for this sort of thing and I have yet to run into an issue. As a techie the first question I ask is: "Did anything change?" Quote
Viggen Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 avast! is a very good program. Although, occasionally (almost every day) a box will pop up above the icons section and a voice will say "Virus Database has been updated" Quote
+Piecemeal Posted January 21, 2009 Posted January 21, 2009 I've got these on my laptop and they're pretty thorough: *Malwarebytes' Anti Malware Scanner *SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition I'd also recommend using good registry cleaners and de-fraggers: *CCleaner *Glary Utilities Once a week I make a point of running a full scan on ALL of the above programs, as well as the default defrag program. BTW, I'd also recommend using a free program called 'Comodo Firewall Pro' Quote
+ST0RM Posted January 21, 2009 Author Posted January 21, 2009 avast and spybot are my two primary tools for this sort of thing and I have yet to run into an issue. As a techie the first question I ask is: "Did anything change?" Did anything change as in new programs being installed? Or after I ran the Spybot/Ad Aware, did anything change? Yes and No. The PF usage went down to 250Mb, but I really havent seen much change, so I think it might be something deeper. Avast, huh? I look for it. Thanks! Jeff Quote
+JediMaster Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 If you use a program that needs a lot of RAM, it will move Windows stuff into the PF and keep it there until it needs it again and the main RAM is free. Are you talking about usage when you first boot, or after it's been on awhile? Quote
+ST0RM Posted January 22, 2009 Author Posted January 22, 2009 The HD stays running for an abnormally long time. More so than my own laptop or any other that I've seen. What she is mainly concerned with is why it will CTD when trying to view photos in a folder. By default, Windows opens a folder with photos displayed as thumbnails. This causes the computer to nearly stroke out and takes 30 minutes for it to load. If you try and view a photo, it will CTD. Not understanding how the PF worked, I assumed that because it was using a large amount, it might be a culprit. It could be simply that Toshiba laptops suck :( Quote
+FLOGGER23 Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Storm my recomentation might be to do a clean install of the OS and THEN, use all the programs to avoid malware and virii (viruses), most of the times even if you remove the treats, the damage is already done, the .dll's are wrecked and the performance will still be low, but this is my humble advise, as a technician, since i see a lot of computer issues (desktops and laptops). regards sir. Quote
+JediMaster Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Yes, Windows will scan every picture in a photo folder and generate a thumbnail for it. This shouldn't be a problem unless you have either A) very little RAM free, B) a googleplex of pictures or pictures that are massive in size (multiple MB each), or C) a horribly fragmented HD. If none of those 3 is the case, I also declare the OS install to be "hosed" and in need of a reload! Quote
+ST0RM Posted January 23, 2009 Author Posted January 23, 2009 Thank you both for the help. Looks like a fresh install of XP will be my chore for the weekend. Jeff Quote
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