[NickKeenan]

I've just come off a lengthy malware session with GTG's Maliprog who's suggestion I've quoted next:

========begin Maliprog quote=============
After all scan I don't think you have problems with malware. This is system problem.

Please open new topic in Windows XP™, 2000, 2003, NT because there are guys that will help you better with this problem. Tell them that we cleaned your PC from malware and post them link to this topic.

I'll leave this topic opened too in case something comes around.
========end quote===============

So I'd like to ask you folks for some assistance in getting my XP/SP3 system back to normal.
As the topic says, my system is running slowly (my slow symptom is: in Tetris, a falling piece pauses momentarily before responding to my arrow keystroke).
And every so often my system crashes on a Stop Error with no memory dump.

About 3 - 4 weeks ago I suffered a disaster that required me to reinstall XP, and I've never recovered the normal speed since.

/nick

Edited by NickKeenan, 28 March 2012 - 11:31 AM.

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Go to Start then to Run
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see you hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply. Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard. It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
Now go to Start and then to All Programs
Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop


Attach it to your next reply






Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:

1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.
5: Go to File then to Export As or Save in some versions.
6: Save AutoRuns.txt file to known location like your Desktop.
7: Attach to your next reply.

[rshaffer61]

Go to Start then to Run
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see you hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply. Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard. It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
Now go to Start and then to All Programs
Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop


Attach it to your next reply






Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:

1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.
5: Go to File then to Export As or Save in some versions.
6: Save AutoRuns.txt file to known location like your Desktop.
7: Attach to your next reply.

[NickKeenan]

Thanks for taking my case.

1. I used Irfanview to create the screenshot jpg - hope that's ok.
2. Might have inadvertently deleted an entry that was NOT marked file not found,
so I ran autoruns.exe a second time, and it showed no entries as file not found.

/nick

Attached Thumbnails

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Attached Files

•  AutoRuns.txt   33.25KB   134 downloads

[rshaffer61]

Open Autoruns, click on "Logon" tab, and UN-check:

+ "Acrobat Assistant 7.0"
+ "Adobe ARM"
+ "Adobe Reader Speed Launcher"
+ "NvCplDaemon"
+ "SunJavaUpdateSched"







When done restart computer and then:



Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged
Please do not run any other Auslogics programs other then this one as they may cause unwanted results.

[NickKeenan]

Did all you suggested.
Did the Tetris test - and no change - still slow.

Was I supposed to upload something to you?

/nick

Edited by NickKeenan, 28 March 2012 - 10:52 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Nothing to upload only the update to how the system is running and I guess we have more work ahead of us still.

Go to

Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y
If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Reboot after your done running chkdsk /r...
then Go to Start...Run and type: eventvwr.msc press Enter
When Event Viewer opens, click on Applications... then scroll down to Winlogon and double-click on it. This is the log created after running Checkdisk...copy and paste the log back here


We will advise after studying the log.

[NickKeenan]

chkdsk /r only ran for about 25 minutes.
I started it and went out.
When I got back an hour later it had finished and rebooted.
I did not boot again.
Instead I ran eventvwr.msc but didn't see Winlogon under Applications
So I shut it down and reran it but this time I saw Winlogon under the Source column.
I double-clicked it, and copy/pasted its results below.
/nick


Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 32 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 32 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 32 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

40957685 KB total disk space.
17574384 KB in 48983 files.
16176 KB in 5405 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
142141 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
23224984 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
10239421 total allocation units on disk.
5806246 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
50 fc 00 00 80 d4 00 00 90 21 01 00 00 00 00 00 P........!......
bb 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 03 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
10 8b 90 01 00 00 00 00 f4 47 ed 1c 00 00 00 00 .........G......
2a 83 3c 07 00 00 00 00 fe 76 21 5e 01 00 00 00 *.<......v!^....
68 aa 77 83 01 00 00 00 1a 94 ea 0e 03 00 00 00 h.w.............
99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 e8 3e 07 00 57 bf 00 00 ..6......>..W...
00 00 00 00 00 c0 a7 30 04 00 00 00 1d 15 00 00 .......0........

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft....ink/events.asp.

[rshaffer61]

Looks good so now we move on to the hard drive and make sure it is setup correctly.

ok I need you to do the following and let me know what it says

For HD only



Let's make sure all drives are using DMA mode

Click the Start and then Right click My Computer
Select Manage and In the Computer Management window, select Device Manager
In the right pane, click to expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
The click on the + sign next to your Hard drive controllers on both the Primary Controller and Secondary Controller
Right click on the drive and select Properties
Click the Advanced Settings tab
In the Transfer Mode box open the drop down menu and select DMA if available
Redo the steps to check each of the Controllers
Click OK and exit all windows
Reboot to make sure all settings take affect. Reply back with your results



You may have a damage paging file, if so here is how to change it.

At Control Panel | System | Advanced, click Settings in the “Performance” Section. On the Advanced page of the result, the current total physical size of all page files that may be in existence is shown. Click Change to make settings for the Virtual memory operation. Here you can select any drive partition and set either ‘Custom’; ‘System Managed’ or ‘No page file’; then always click Set before going on to the next partition.

By defaults your page file is on your drive C: if you have more than one partition or Hard Drives you can set a new page file on them D: E: or...

If you have another partition to put the new page file then you will need to change the one on your C: to NO PAGING FILE

If you only have a C: partition you will need to choose the NO PAGING FILE save it and reboot and after the reboot go back and set a new PAGING FILE on your C:

Take note that if you choose custom then that you should put 1.5 X the total memory of your physical ram: if 2gb ram then put the pagefile at 3gb, if 1,5 gb ram then put it at 2,25gb ect

Hope this will help





Since your Hd doesn't seem to be running low on space, I want to make sure we can get rid of any possible Virtual memory problem. Please follow the next steps:


Go to Start and then Right click on My Computer
Click on Properties and then click on the Advanced Tab
In the Performance area click on the Settings button
When the new Window opens click on the Advanced Tab
In the Virtual Memory area please click on Change
Half way down the window you will see the System Managed Size option
Select this if it isn't already selected
Now click OK, OK, OK. This will now hopefully end the warnings.


Let me know how everything works then.


Alternate Instructions:

Go to Start then to Control Panel
Click on System then click on Advanced tab.
In the Performance Field click on Settings
Now on the Advanced Tab click on Change
Now take a screenshot and include it in your next reply.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard. It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
Now go to Start and then to All Programs
Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop


Attach it to your next reply

[NickKeenan]

1. All primary and secondary drives had DMA if available already set.
2. But I deliberately set them all to DMA if available anyway.
3. I changed the paging file from C: to G: using the same initial and maximum settings - see attached screenshots
4. I have 1.93GB of ram so the size settings were large enough. I rebooted, retested, no change, still slow.
5. I did not follow your next instructions but instead followed the alternative instructions you offered - see screenshot.

Hope I did everything right..
/nick

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[rshaffer61]

OK everything looks good. Now lets check your drivers and programs to make sure they are all up to date.

Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests

Here's how:

You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others). If your machine is running Vista or Windows 7, you must Select IE to “Run as Administrator”. After completing PCPitstop OverDrive you can close your IE browser and re-open it Normally so that you are no longer running as administrator.

Go to: http://www.pcpitstop.com
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)

Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.

The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.

Please post the URL internet address, from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.

Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.

After reviewing the results we will be more informed and may be able to provide better recommendations for you to work towards improving your machine's performance.

While PCPitstop does offer a variety of Paid Products, the PCPitstop OverDrive testing is FREE. Please ignore the references to Paid Products. We prefer to provide manual solution instructions that you can apply directly to your machine.

Best Regards

[NickKeenan]

1. Went to PC Pitstop and created an account
2. Ran IE and selected Scan this system Now button
3. Got message saying it can't run the program
4. It listed several ways to cure this problem
5. But I have to leave the computer for several hours now
6. On return I will try to make the PC Pitstop scan work
7. If I fail to make it work is there an alternative?

/nick

[rshaffer61]

Yep you can go this route:

Download DriverMax and have it scan your system. It will open their website with all the out of date drivers you can update. With the free version you can update only 2 drivers per day so if you have a lot of them it will take a few days to get everything updated. I have been using it for about 4 months now and like it better then any other utility out there for keeping my drivers up to date.

[NickKeenan]

1. Went to DriverMax, got an account, and ran a scan
2. I have 19 outdated drivers, one current, one missing
3. Have to go to my woodworking class now so I didn't try to download any updated drivers
4. I'm attaching 4 screenshots of my outdated driver and hoping you might suggest in which order I install and retest, rather than just start at the top and work down.

At least the first two or three most likely suspects causing a slowdown..

Much appreciated

/nick

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[rshaffer61]

OK after looking at everything I suggest on the first screenshot get the two PCI IDE controller drivers first. From there you will be able to get two a day and we can choose which ones after those are installed.
BTW I have been using DriverMax for 5 months now and I think it is the best for finding drivers and getting them for free.

[NickKeenan]

Back at last..
1. Installed 1st pci ide driver,booted,tested - no change
2. Paid about $10 to become a Pro user for 31 days
3. Installed 2nd pci ide driver,booted,tested - no change

I figured it well worth $10 to get all drivers updated without doing it piecemeal over a week.

Now that I have the Pro account, what do you suggest?

/nick