[mandbyounge]

First, ever since I downloaded internet explorer 8, I have been having problems staying connected. It says it is a firewall problem, but it doesn't seem to be that. (I have Zone Alarm) Second, my system is soooo slow. I have a wireless connection, ccleaner, pc tools, and I try to clean up everyday. I know I have alot of space taken up with old stuff, and have tried to uninstall and delete what I know I don't need, but it hasn't made a difference. I would like advice on how to safely clean up my computer, deeper than ccleaner and defrag. Once I deleted quite abit of stuff, and had to do a restore point, because it stopped my computer from working correctly. I was told that I had too much protection on my computer, and that will slow it down. I have uninstalled several programs, with no change. There are several programs I don't need, but I can't get rid of them. Any advice?

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Have you tried using firefox? http://download.cnet...efox/?tag=mncol

[Mr. cake]

Have you tried using firefox? http://download.cnet...efox/?tag=mncol

[mandbyounge]

Yes, I have used firefox, and it is slow too; but I would really like to figure out why explorer is acting up when it didn't used to, and how to clean up my hard drive.

[Broni]

Please, post some computer info:
- processor type, amount of RAM (hold Windows logo key, hit Pause/Break key)
- hard drive size/free space (open "My Computer", right click on hard drive letter, click "Properties")
- security programs in use (antivirus, firewall)

[mandbyounge]

Pentium®4 CPU 1.80 GHz 1.79 GHz, 256 MB of Ram.
Free space on local disc C 27,306,549,248 bytes 25.4 GB
Using Avast anti virus, Spybot search and destroy, spyware blaster, zone alarm fire wall.

Hope that makes sense.

I was instructed by avast to use a proxy because of compatability issues betweed zone alarm and avast for internet explorer. I just changed that to automatic, and ie seems to be running a little bit better, but not sure if that solved problem for ie. Computer is slow, and will freeze up occasionally.

[Broni]

25.4 GB free out of how big hard drive?

Your first problem is 256MB of RAM.
For XP to run decently, you need at least 512MB of RAM (1GB preferable).
So, your first step would be to buy more RAM, and this is gonna solve most issues.

For now, I'd uninstall ZA, and turn Windows firewall on. ZA seems to hogging some computers, especially those with lower amount of RAM.

Let's see your startups...

Download Autoruns for Windows: http://technet.micro...s/bb963902.aspx
No installation required.
Simply unzip Autoruns.zip file, and double click on autoruns.exe file to run the program.
Go File>Export As, and save AutoRuns.txt file to know location.
Attach the file to your next reply.

[mandbyounge]

Never mind, fixing proxy didn't work, internet explorer just died on me again

[mandbyounge]

still working on auto runs. may take a little time

[Broni]

No problem.

[mandbyounge]

Hard drive capacity - 55.8 GB
I have alot of start ups, not sure what I can get rid of; I use scotty win patrol, and have had some start ups delayed.I have attached the autorun file.

Attached Files

•  AutoRuns.txt   101.78KB   108 downloads

[Broni]

Disable TeaTimer, as it'll interfere with the cleaning process:
Right click Spybot's TeaTimer System Tray Icon.
Click Exit Spybot-S&D Resident.
TeaTimer closes.

My suggestion is to uninstall Spybot altogether, or at least permanently disable TeaTimer. It's hogging computers with low resources, like yours.

I recommend, you unistall Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is a resource hog, and install FoxIt Reader: http://www.filehippo...download_foxit/, which is much smaller, and faster. It does very same thing.

Open Autoruns, click on Logon tab, and UN-check following entries (no actual programs will be removed):
- HP Software Update
- iTunesHelper
- QAGENT
- SunJavaUpdateSched
- TkBellExe
- HP Digital Imaging Monitor.lnk
- MRC PC Tune-Up (I'd get rid of this program)

Restart computer.

Download Temp File Cleaner (TFC)
Double click on TFC.exe to run the program.
Click on Start button to begin cleaning process.
TFC will close all running programs, and it may ask you to restart computer.

Run defrag.

Plus all advice from my other reply.

That would be pretty much all, we can do, short of getting more RAM.

[mandbyounge]

Thank you so much. I appreciate this site, and your hours spent. Get'n late, so I'll implement tomorrow; let you know how it goes.

[Broni]

You're welcome

[Mr. cake]

Oh I have been looking over ram lately and I found a decent deal on a 1GB ram card. (If your interested in upgrading your ram)

Its a kingston stick for 25$ http://www.bestbuy.c...d=1196470791737

[mandbyounge]

Thank you. I will probably buy that 1GB ran card. Computer runs a little better, but still having issues with internet explorer. It looses it's connection to the internet in the middle of surfing. Says its a firewall issue. I have uninstalled zone alarm and am using windows, but it did happen again once.