A new problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Menno Hershberger
  • Start date Start date
M

Menno Hershberger

I really don't know what I'd Google for, so I'll just explain this one.
I'm working on a computer that was all bogged down + had a moderate amount
of spyware. I took a pile of stuff out of startup and now it's running
pretty snappy-like.
It's an older Dell, 1.8Ghz with 256Mb ram. XP Home, SP2 up to date.
I downloaded free Avast with IE from download.com. It came reasonably fast.
I installed it and then went to their registration page. The page only
partially loaded and then just sat there. Well, sometime that page is slow
so I decided to try later.
I had installed Adaware earlier, but couldn't get the updates. That happens
too sometimes, so I installed SuperAntispyware and it balked before I got
all the updates as well.
Then I discovered that if I go to *any* webpage that has a lot of stuff on
it, the whole page won't load. And when it stops, it stops. It'll stay at
that point forever.
Installed Firefox. Same thing.
This guy uses Outlook for email. I had to start Outlook three times before
I finally got his 6 or so messages downloaded.
I can copy big files from one of my computers at lightning speed, but I
tried a different network card anyway. No help. I tried different memory.
Finally I threw in another hard drive and installed XP on it with his
restore disk. The problem went away on the new install. That pretty well
rules out the computer itself.
Unfortunately, it is unfeasible to go with a new install since he has too
much stuff installed that he doesn't have the CD's for.
What might be wrong?

--
--- Long live Fat32! ---
 
This is gonna be hard to get by, once a machine gets infected like that,
everything on it gets messed up. About his applications, might try to copy
files and see if works...



"Menno Hershberger" wrote:

> I really don't know what I'd Google for, so I'll just explain this one.
> I'm working on a computer that was all bogged down + had a moderate amount
> of spyware. I took a pile of stuff out of startup and now it's running
> pretty snappy-like.
> It's an older Dell, 1.8Ghz with 256Mb ram. XP Home, SP2 up to date.
> I downloaded free Avast with IE from download.com. It came reasonably fast.
> I installed it and then went to their registration page. The page only
> partially loaded and then just sat there. Well, sometime that page is slow
> so I decided to try later.
> I had installed Adaware earlier, but couldn't get the updates. That happens
> too sometimes, so I installed SuperAntispyware and it balked before I got
> all the updates as well.
> Then I discovered that if I go to *any* webpage that has a lot of stuff on
> it, the whole page won't load. And when it stops, it stops. It'll stay at
> that point forever.
> Installed Firefox. Same thing.
> This guy uses Outlook for email. I had to start Outlook three times before
> I finally got his 6 or so messages downloaded.
> I can copy big files from one of my computers at lightning speed, but I
> tried a different network card anyway. No help. I tried different memory.
> Finally I threw in another hard drive and installed XP on it with his
> restore disk. The problem went away on the new install. That pretty well
> rules out the computer itself.
> Unfortunately, it is unfeasible to go with a new install since he has too
> much stuff installed that he doesn't have the CD's for.
> What might be wrong?
>
> --
> --- Long live Fat32! ---
>
 
Repair Install?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Menno Hershberger" <mhersh22@nosuchplace.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9965BC7B53DA5butter@wefb973cbe498...
>I really don't know what I'd Google for, so I'll just explain this one.
> I'm working on a computer that was all bogged down + had a moderate amount
> of spyware. I took a pile of stuff out of startup and now it's running
> pretty snappy-like.
> It's an older Dell, 1.8Ghz with 256Mb ram. XP Home, SP2 up to date.
> I downloaded free Avast with IE from download.com. It came reasonably
> fast.
> I installed it and then went to their registration page. The page only
> partially loaded and then just sat there. Well, sometime that page is slow
> so I decided to try later.
> I had installed Adaware earlier, but couldn't get the updates. That
> happens
> too sometimes, so I installed SuperAntispyware and it balked before I got
> all the updates as well.
> Then I discovered that if I go to *any* webpage that has a lot of stuff on
> it, the whole page won't load. And when it stops, it stops. It'll stay at
> that point forever.
> Installed Firefox. Same thing.
> This guy uses Outlook for email. I had to start Outlook three times before
> I finally got his 6 or so messages downloaded.
> I can copy big files from one of my computers at lightning speed, but I
> tried a different network card anyway. No help. I tried different memory.
> Finally I threw in another hard drive and installed XP on it with his
> restore disk. The problem went away on the new install. That pretty well
> rules out the computer itself.
> Unfortunately, it is unfeasible to go with a new install since he has too
> much stuff installed that he doesn't have the CD's for.
> What might be wrong?
>
> --
> --- Long live Fat32! ---
 
Can't hurt. I've already cloned the drive, so if I get in trouble, I won't
have lost anything.
I'll try it and let you know.
Somehow I have the feeling that that's one of those things a repair install
won't fix.
Thanks for the suggestion.

"Gary S. Terhune" <none> wrote in news:unbJoyCwHHA.4528
@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl:

> Repair Install?
>



--
--- Long live Fat32! ---
 
Good Luck... I've seen 'em perform miracles.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Menno Hershberger" <mhersh22@nosuchplace.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9965CA48B96D5butter@wefb973cbe498...
> Can't hurt. I've already cloned the drive, so if I get in trouble, I won't
> have lost anything.
> I'll try it and let you know.
> Somehow I have the feeling that that's one of those things a repair
> install
> won't fix.
> Thanks for the suggestion.
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" <none> wrote in news:unbJoyCwHHA.4528
> @TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl:
>
>> Repair Install?
>>
>
>
>
> --
> --- Long live Fat32! ---
 
Menno Hershberger wrote:
> I really don't know what I'd Google for, so I'll just explain this one.
> I'm working on a computer that was all bogged down + had a moderate amount
> of spyware. I took a pile of stuff out of startup and now it's running
> pretty snappy-like.
> It's an older Dell, 1.8Ghz with 256Mb ram. XP Home, SP2 up to date.
> I downloaded free Avast with IE from download.com. It came reasonably fast.
> I installed it and then went to their registration page. The page only
> partially loaded and then just sat there.

You don't need to register Avast! to run a boot scan. You might try
that. Also try running in Safe Mode with Networking. You might have
better luck downloading updates for Adaware, etc. there.

--
Joe =o)
 
It turned out to be Avast. I did the repair install and the problem was
still there. The installation file for Avast was the last thing I remember
downloading at decent speed. I remember when I installed it, I got a
message about it not mixing with Zone Alarm too well, and allowed it to
change whatever it was that it needed to. One of the first things I did
when it started acting up was to turn Zone Alarm off which didn't help.
Then I tried to uninstall Avast and it wouldn't uninstall. I finally
downloaded their uninstall utility on another computer and was finally able
to get rid of it. And everything started working again.
I imagine it was the Avast/Zone Alarm mix. I've installed Avast on at least
2 dozen computers with no problems at all.
Thanks for following along with me... :-)

"Gary S. Terhune" <none> wrote in news:OJUUwYDwHHA.1208
@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl:

> Good Luck... I've seen 'em perform miracles.
>



--
--- Long live Fat32! ---
 
Elmo <elmogeek@iglou.invalid> wrote in
news:#$FbBFEwHHA.3684@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl:

> Menno Hershberger wrote:
>> I really don't know what I'd Google for, so I'll just explain this
>> one. I'm working on a computer that was all bogged down + had a
>> moderate amount of spyware. I took a pile of stuff out of startup and
>> now it's running pretty snappy-like.
>> It's an older Dell, 1.8Ghz with 256Mb ram. XP Home, SP2 up to date.
>> I downloaded free Avast with IE from download.com. It came reasonably
>> fast. I installed it and then went to their registration page. The
>> page only partially loaded and then just sat there.
>
> You don't need to register Avast! to run a boot scan. You might try
> that. Also try running in Safe Mode with Networking. You might have
> better luck downloading updates for Adaware, etc. there.

I had tried that. Couldn't do anything in Safe Mode either. It turned out
to be Avast itself or a combination of it and Zone Alarm. See my reply to
Gary.
And thanks for your input.

--
--- Long live Fat32! ---
 
Thanks for reporting. First I've ever heard about such a reaction to those
two apps mixing (or rather, not mixing.)

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"Menno Hershberger" <mhersh22@nosuchplace.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9965E04F3E8B6butter@wefb973cbe498...
> It turned out to be Avast. I did the repair install and the problem was
> still there. The installation file for Avast was the last thing I remember
> downloading at decent speed. I remember when I installed it, I got a
> message about it not mixing with Zone Alarm too well, and allowed it to
> change whatever it was that it needed to. One of the first things I did
> when it started acting up was to turn Zone Alarm off which didn't help.
> Then I tried to uninstall Avast and it wouldn't uninstall. I finally
> downloaded their uninstall utility on another computer and was finally
> able
> to get rid of it. And everything started working again.
> I imagine it was the Avast/Zone Alarm mix. I've installed Avast on at
> least
> 2 dozen computers with no problems at all.
> Thanks for following along with me... :-)
>
> "Gary S. Terhune" <none> wrote in news:OJUUwYDwHHA.1208
> @TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl:
>
>> Good Luck... I've seen 'em perform miracles.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> --- Long live Fat32! ---
 
On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:03:01 -0700, Menno Hershberger wrote:

> It turned out to be Avast. I did the repair install and the problem was
> still there. The installation file for Avast was the last thing I remember
> downloading at decent speed. I remember when I installed it, I got a
> message about it not mixing with Zone Alarm too well, and allowed it to
> change whatever it was that it needed to. One of the first things I did
> when it started acting up was to turn Zone Alarm off which didn't help.
> Then I tried to uninstall Avast and it wouldn't uninstall. I finally
> downloaded their uninstall utility on another computer and was finally able
> to get rid of it. And everything started working again.
> I imagine it was the Avast/Zone Alarm mix. I've installed Avast on at least
> 2 dozen computers with no problems at all.
> Thanks for following along with me... :-)
>

I use Avast and ZoneAlarm Pro with no problems.

Perhaps the issue is the 256MB RAM on the system. A friend of mine had an
older system running XP with only 256MB RAM and he complained to me that
his system was running very slow these days. He told me he had scanned
from malware and defragmented, but still had the same problem. I suggested
upgrading RAM which he did (he replaced the 256MB with 1GB). Next time I
spoke with him, he told me it was like having a new system.

I'm wondering if the combination of ZoneAlarm and Avast used up too much
memory.

Patty
 
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