Windows operating system

O

oldgrowth

New member
dotnmarty":tvg98g1k said:
By the way, I get this popup window from Norton System Dr. that says "optimazation... 48%". Is this a good thing or not?

Also, while I'm here, how do I post an image in a thread from "my pictures" files?

You guys are really helpful-if anybody is going to Safeway could you pick up a few things for me? Seriously, Thanks for all the considerable help. I appreciate it.
Click to expand...
I thought I would start a new thread on this subject.

Marty –

1. Without knowing which operating system you have and other things you have running in the background, it is hard to tell if it is a bad thing for you. My personal opinion is that it is bad. Most (95+) programs that automatically monitors your system resources or tunes up your computer automatically is like an auto pilot on a boat that has been programmed by the vendor to take you where they want you to go, not necessarily where you want to go.

Seeing as you don’t know what it is, I would guess you do not know what automatically starts up on your computer after the operating system starts. I see many computers that take over a minute to start and sometimes over five minutes to start. That is because of the programs/services starting in the background.

Over 95% of all problems people have with Windows XP are programs starting in the background they are not aware of. Many of these programs/services compete with other programs/services they never use but never the less are running all the time. It is like having two or three engines on your boat and each one being steered by someone else. Many of these programs are installed by the company that sold you the computer and many are installed by users.

Users do it because they don’t understand the install process and the company that wrote the program wants their program or service to run in the background all the time. Vendors or companies that sell the computers want as much software as possible on the computer so they load it down with as much junk as they can.

If your computer takes more than 60 to 90 seconds to start from an off position/un-plugged (not sleep or standby), chances are you have un-necessary services or programs starting in the background.

2. You can’t post an image from your computer. It has to be up loaded to this site or on another web site before it can be posted to a thread.

3. I don’t shop at Safeway but if they have it at West Marine, I may be able to help out.
________
Dave dlt.gif
 
oldgrowth":3d8ds244 said:
<stuff clipped>

...
If your computer takes more than 60 to 90 seconds to start from an off position/un-plugged (not sleep or standby), chances are you....
________
Dave
Click to expand...

ARE RUNNING WINDOWS!
 
Thanks Dave- I have Windows XP and I got the computer from Dell. Please don't spend anymore time on my sillyness, just put that beautiful boat together. Marty
 
You have several programs running during startup. All computers do. Norton is running a Disk opt on your hard drive. To see some of programs running during startup Run msconfig (Start, Run, type msconfig, press OK button) and browse the Startup tab. Now you decide if you need these program(s) on startup if not uncheck the ones you do not need on startup.
Unchecking a few programs will improve PC startup and speed.
They are not gone just not running on startup.

More info posted on the TechNet site
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysint ... fault.mspx

Another article
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,5155,00.asp

I use the Error checking and Defrag tool
To open Disk Defragmenter, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
Reboot and it runs a 5 step process on the hard drive and file system.

BTW I stopped buying any Norton product and easily found free and better software. IMHO

I have both XP and OS 10 PCs and love to tinker with the settings and customize to your needs.
 
Brent's suggestion about removing unneeded programs from the Start Up menu is a great one. That alone will speed things up a great deal.

I would also suggest deleting temporary internet files. This can be done from within Internet Explorer by clicking on Tools, then Internet Options and then on the General tab. There you will find an option to delete the temp files. You don't need them and, over time, they really tend to clutter up the works.

Now, a more personal opinion. Norton anti-virus software has a reputation for gumming up and interfering with LOTS of programs. I used McAfee for a time but, while better than Norton, it still had some "features" that caused things to slow down. At the recommendation of a guy who works for Geek Squad, I purchased Trend Micro's PC Cillin Internet Security Suite. It works great for viruses and spyware as well. $49 per year but you can load the same subscription on up to three different computers.

Spyware/malware is a huge problem and anyone using IE is particularly vulnerable to picking it up from websites/email and having it infect nearly every part of the Windows OS. A pretty good anti spyware/malware program that is free is Ad-Aware SE Personal from Lavasoft. A better one is Webroot's Spy Sweeper at (I think) $50 per year.

NOTHING will screw up a computer worse than malware which inserts itself into the registry and is nearly impossible to locate and remove. It attaches itself to all sorts of programs and does everything from just slowing them down to rendering them un-useable. I've seen instances where it has even caused computers to randomly shut down. Nasty stuff, indeed.

I once helped a friend whose computer had slowed to a crawl. I downloaded Ad-Aware and when I ran the scan, it found 44,000 (Yeah, forty four THOUSAND) infected files that were the result of various malware worms and email viruses. It took four hours just to run the delete function. The fifty or one hundred bucks one spends to protect against this crap is well worth it.

Hope this helps without making you dizzy.

Jim

PS: I might add one note to Brent's suggestion to run Disk Defrag. Programs running in the background access the hard drive from time to time. That will stop the defrag process. To avoid this, reboot your computer and as soon as you see the FIRST thing on your screen (if you get to the Windows logo, you waited too long), press and hold the F8 key. This will put you into the Boot menu which will allow you to select "Boot in Safe Mode'. This is a bare bones startup which does not load all those background program that stop Disk Defrag. Don't worry if the screen resolution looks screwy, it also doesn't load all the video drivers. Running Disk Defrag from the Safe Mode is generally the only way to get it to operate properly.

By the way, it can take several hours to run the defrag program because of the large size of today's hard drives.
 
Oldgrowth nailed it on the head. Norton Antivirus is a resource hog, especially System works. N.A. can be useful but only if you go into the advanced options and disable most of the automatic startup options. Why pay for antivirus software when you can get it for free here:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

If House call does find a virus just Google the name of the virus, chances are that you can download the virus specific removal tool from Nortons for free.

Keep in mind the Start Up folder in your Start menu displays only a small percentage of the programs and services that are set to automatically start upon boot. Here is a valuable tool that will let you view and disable pesky startup programs. Please be careful with it. If you disable the wrong thing you can easily cause your PC to crash.

Click Start Menu
Click Run
Type msconfig
Click OK
This will bring up Your System Configuration Utility
Click the tab Labeled "Startup" AVOID all the other tabs unless you really know what your doing!
Check or uncheck all programs that will automatically start upon system startup.
 
AVG Anti-Virus Free and AVG Anti-Spyware Free is for private, non-commercial, single home computer use only.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! :)

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Instead Adobe Acrobat reader
Foxit Reader 2.0 is a free PDF document viewer and printer, with incredible small size (only 1.5 M download size), breezing-fast launch speed and amazingly rich feature set.
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
 
windows operating system-
sometimes I have to push the window forward a bit to get the mechanical latch to release. I like to clean out the window tracks at least once a year to keep them sliding easy :)
 
I read all the responses and understood Ken's directions the best. I think it helped.
PS Seriously though, It's just amazing to me how helpful this site can be. I do appreciate it.
 
Customer: I'm running Windows OS...
Helpdesk: Yes...
Customer: ...and now my computer stopped working!
Helpdesk: Yes, you already said that.
 
catdogcat":1q6szlq3 said:
Here is a valuable tool that will let you view and disable pesky startup programs. Please be careful with it. If you disable the wrong thing you can easily cause your PC to crash.
Click to expand...

How do you know what the wrong things to disable are? Are there certain things that must be enabled?

Thanks.

Rob
 
Just as long as you stay within the startup tab options you should be OK. If you do disable a critical file you can just restart in safe mode and re enable it. You can really boost your PCs performance greatly when you get rid of all
the non essential background programs. Remember you can start any of the
listed startup programs manually if you need them.
 
Ken- The words are the same but they mean something else. The other day at the VA, where I am a volunteer shuttle driver, I told a kid to be careful of the runningboard. He had no idea what I was talking about. It's OK, I'm trying. I've persevered and made several of the changes suggested on this thread and they all help a lot. Marty :peace:
 
kqzm13nb.jpg


The Norton I knew worked in The Sewer in Brooklyn.


Joe.
 
This whole deal is all too funny!

Your computer takes 5 minute to boot.

The disk churns and chugs even when you are not using the computer.

Programs take a long time to load.

Programs hang.

You get weird error messages about how this program or that has failed to initialize.

You get weird messages how this file or that is corrupt or missing.

You have no clue what all those cryptic filenames in the Startup tab are, what they do or if it is safe to disable them.

Your computer gets slower...and s...l...o...w...e...r in every aspect.

Your computer hangs on shutdown.

And BILL SAYS IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT, you need to take responsibility for anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-gawd knows what.

Honestly, like I said before, the Emperor has no clothes...

Pat (Got Himself a Mac and Put it All Behind Him) Anderson




rogerbum":3nh78ack said:
oldgrowth":3nh78ack said:
<stuff clipped>

...
If your computer takes more than 60 to 90 seconds to start from an off position/un-plugged (not sleep or standby), chances are you....
________
Dave
Click to expand...

ARE RUNNING WINDOWS!
Click to expand...
 
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