[ontheropes]

Hi, new here so hope I'm posting in the right forum, I have searched and found a little info but not quite sure what to do.

I am running Xp Home on a P4 with 1Gb RAM, the pc has been getting slower and slower over the last few months, XP was re-installed clean a couple of years ago.
I have scanned for virus's, scanned for malware and removed any present I have done a clean up with ccleaner and removed and done a registry clean.
I am fairly confident a virus is not the problem.
As an example booting up takes an age, eventually the wallpaper displays but the taskmanager and desktop icons take up to another minute to display.
I have tried running an old game that only requires 32Mb RAM to run and it is slow and clunky this pc could run fairly high end games at one time.

After cleaning everything up the first time with clean up and ccleaner etc the old game ran smoother for a very short while but has gone slow again already. Subsequent clean ups seem to make no difference. Also the other day the game icon dissappeared and does not appear in 'All Programs' it has vanished.

Anyway I have come to thinking this must be hardware related, either a memory or hard disk on its way out and I could do with finding out before it gives up all together.

I am about to start my first PC Build so once this is running I will be able to mess with this older computer and use it for learning on but as I am going to run the new one on XP 64 bit it may be a while until its ready.

Anyway, sorry for rambling, just trying to give the full picture, I am thinking I need to run diagnostics but no idea how.


Thanks for looking at this.

Edited by ontheropes, 09 January 2011 - 06:15 AM.

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Hi ontheropes
You need to provide information about your computer, this includes is it
a laptop or desktop, is it a custom build or brand name such as Dell or HP
and if it is provide the model name or series number, motherboard , PSU
and any add on card details would also help others to help you better.

I am running Xp Home on a P4 with 1Gb RAM,

1GB of Ram by todays standards is minimal anw will not be helping the issue.

the pc has been getting slower and slower over the last few months, XP was
re-installed clean a couple of years ago.

This may simply be the pc showing its age, they do not last forever but their life
can be prolonged by regular maintenance such as defragging the HDD/s and cleaning
out the dust from inside the case etc.

As an example booting up takes an age, eventually the wallpaper displays but the task manager and desktop icons take up to another minute to display.

Programmes that are set to run on start up need to be checked, press Control/Alt/Del on start up to see what is running, anything that is not necessary should be disabled, if you dont know what something is please leave it be and ask here for further advice.

After cleaning everything up the first time with clean up and ccleaner etc the old game ran smoother for a very short while but has gone slow again already. Subsequent clean ups seem to make no difference. Also the other day the game icon disappeared and does not appear in 'All Programs' it has vanished.

Using CCcleaner can do this as I found out the 1st time I used it, I had to re-enter all my passwords etc.

Anyway I have come to thinking this must be hardware related, either a memory or hard disk on its way out and I could do with finding out before it gives up all together.

As you are building a new computer I can`t imagine you intend upgrading this system only improve its performance and protect the data on the HDD, with this in mind I suggest the 1st thing you do is back up anything you wish to keep that is on your HDD in case it fails, burn to disk, copy across to an external USB HDD or thumb drive/s, slave the HDD in another computer or use a HDD enclosure.
Once you have backed the data up you could then format the HDD and install a fresh OS, another option is to simply tidy up what is on the HDD, see below;
Download Autoruns from here http://technet.micro...s/bb963902.aspx
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.
If you see anything that you are unsure of follow steps 5, 6, 7.
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.

Once you have completed the Autoruns procedure use TFC by Old Timer http://www.geekstogo...ds&showfile=187
If the computer does not auto reboot on completion of TFC do it manually.
A final question, what is the storage capacity of the HDD and how much available storage space is there, you must have a minimum of 10 to 15% of the total storage capacity of the HDD at all times or you will get issues such as system instability, slowness, crashes and eventually system failure.
I hope you find the above helpful and keep us posted on your progress but a quick FYI

removed and done a registry clean

I am not aware of any Tech or other member recommending registry fixes or cleaners, quite the opposite in fact as they can do more harm than good and they usually end up requiring a payment to put things right.

[phillpower2]

Hi ontheropes
You need to provide information about your computer, this includes is it
a laptop or desktop, is it a custom build or brand name such as Dell or HP
and if it is provide the model name or series number, motherboard , PSU
and any add on card details would also help others to help you better.

I am running Xp Home on a P4 with 1Gb RAM,

1GB of Ram by todays standards is minimal anw will not be helping the issue.

the pc has been getting slower and slower over the last few months, XP was
re-installed clean a couple of years ago.

This may simply be the pc showing its age, they do not last forever but their life
can be prolonged by regular maintenance such as defragging the HDD/s and cleaning
out the dust from inside the case etc.

As an example booting up takes an age, eventually the wallpaper displays but the task manager and desktop icons take up to another minute to display.

Programmes that are set to run on start up need to be checked, press Control/Alt/Del on start up to see what is running, anything that is not necessary should be disabled, if you dont know what something is please leave it be and ask here for further advice.

After cleaning everything up the first time with clean up and ccleaner etc the old game ran smoother for a very short while but has gone slow again already. Subsequent clean ups seem to make no difference. Also the other day the game icon disappeared and does not appear in 'All Programs' it has vanished.

Using CCcleaner can do this as I found out the 1st time I used it, I had to re-enter all my passwords etc.

Anyway I have come to thinking this must be hardware related, either a memory or hard disk on its way out and I could do with finding out before it gives up all together.

As you are building a new computer I can`t imagine you intend upgrading this system only improve its performance and protect the data on the HDD, with this in mind I suggest the 1st thing you do is back up anything you wish to keep that is on your HDD in case it fails, burn to disk, copy across to an external USB HDD or thumb drive/s, slave the HDD in another computer or use a HDD enclosure.
Once you have backed the data up you could then format the HDD and install a fresh OS, another option is to simply tidy up what is on the HDD, see below;
Download Autoruns from here http://technet.micro...s/bb963902.aspx
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.
If you see anything that you are unsure of follow steps 5, 6, 7.
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.

Once you have completed the Autoruns procedure use TFC by Old Timer http://www.geekstogo...ds&showfile=187
If the computer does not auto reboot on completion of TFC do it manually.
A final question, what is the storage capacity of the HDD and how much available storage space is there, you must have a minimum of 10 to 15% of the total storage capacity of the HDD at all times or you will get issues such as system instability, slowness, crashes and eventually system failure.
I hope you find the above helpful and keep us posted on your progress but a quick FYI

removed and done a registry clean

I am not aware of any Tech or other member recommending registry fixes or cleaners, quite the opposite in fact as they can do more harm than good and they usually end up requiring a payment to put things right.

[ontheropes]

Hi Phillpower2 and thanks for taking the trouble to reply to my post.
I shall try and answer as many questions as I can.

It is a desktop
Advent 3417
I accept IGb RAM is pretty low, it was 512Mb when I bought it.
Motherboard according to http://www.uktsuppor...ent/pc/3417.htm is TriGem IT865GE (MS 6743)

I have recently defragged the HDD (Samsung SP1604N) using xp defrag and also MyDefrag
I have never cleaned out the dust, consider that on my ASAP list

There are very few applications running in device Manager just what Im using really, in msconfig / startup I just have avgtray, firewall gui, NvCpl and ctfmon running, obviously loads running in services but I have not changed anything here.

You are right I will not spend loads upgrading, I may install anew HDD if this one is dodgy and I may stick another Gb of ram but not a lot else, I may use it as a machine to learn on and play with BIOS etc. in the short term.

All data is backed up to a usb HD

It has a 160Gb HDD of which there is 53.2Gb free space

[phillpower2]

What do you use NvCpl and ctfmon for? I ask because whilst they can both be legitimate programmes they can also be associated with malware and if they are I cannot help you with cleansing them, have a look at the attached links;
http://www.computing...cpl-/19320.html
http://en.kioskea.ne...-exe-at-startup
Follow the self help cleaning guide here http://www.geekstogo...cleaning-guide/
If your system is infected and you cannot resolve the issue yourself you need to start a new topic on the malware forum and not post the information here as we are unable to assist you with it, provide the malware forum with a link to this topic so that any steps you may have taken can be checked.
Have you done the Autoruns and TFC and if so how did it go.

[rshaffer61]

Hey guys you can turn that ctfmon off since it is not needed if you don't use multi languages on your system.


To turn off just ctfmon.exe go to:


Control Panel then to Regional and Language Options

Click on the Languages Tab then click the Details button

Click on the Advanced tab

Check the box that says Turn off advanced text services option

Click A and then OK

[ontheropes]

rashaffer61 - Thank you I had just googled and done that and you posted here so thanks.

Also I found this:

"NvCpl.exe is a legitimate file, it is a running service that is
installed by NVIDIA whenever you install a driver. However,
any malware can be named anything and thus the Yanz. B Worm could be
masking as the legitimate nvcpl.exe. Here is how to tell whether it is
the legitimate file or a disguised virus: Check where the files of the
running processes are located on your disk. If a "non-Microsoft" .exe
file is located in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder, then
there is a high risk for a virus, spyware, trojan or worm infection!

If it is the legitimate nvcpl.exe running service then you can locate
it via your Windows Services.

Go to: start>run>services.msc

and look for the "NVIDIA Display Driver Service". If you see it listed
there and it is Enabled then that is service that is generating your
running nvcpl.exe process. If you wish you can safely disable the
NVIDIA Display Driver Service as it will have no effect on the
performance of your NVIDIA driver. I have had this service disabled
for years with no effect on my NVIDIA video card or driver performance."

So I have disabled it in services and it as disabled in applications.

Not made any difference to performance though

[ontheropes]

Having re-read the above quote I have a lot of .exe files in C//: WINDOWS and C//:WINDOWS/SYSTEM32
I have no idea if they are non microsoft or not though, should I post in malware forum?

[ontheropes]

Phil I have run Autoruns.exe (whats autorunsc.exe?) have deleted all file not found and am working my way through the files, I will post here whe Im done cheers

[phillpower2]

Ok when you are ready but do the TFC also.
I asked about NvCpl and ctfmon so you could confirm the validity of them, RonShaffer61 is better qualified to check out anything dubious in the Autoruns, so I will just watch and learn if there is an issue with them.

[rshaffer61]

Once you have done the steps to rid the File Not Found entries in autoruns then post the log and Phillpower2 and I can look through it.
I am here simply to assist him with this and to add to it if needed.
Deleting entries other then what is the autoruns that can safely be unchecked could cause your system to become unstable if not nonbootable. There is a very short part of the list that needs to be worked on so Please just include the log and we will instruct the next steps.

Having re-read the above quote I have a lot of .exe files in C//: WINDOWS and C//:WINDOWS/SYSTEM32

Do not delete anything here as these are system files and you could potentially delete something which is tied to other programs and cause the system to completely shutdown.

[ontheropes]

Not sure if I did this correctly. I could see no Export in the file menu so I just went to save and the attached file is what i got.

Attached Files

•  AutoRuns.zip   87KB   193 downloads

[rshaffer61]

Try it this way.
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.

[ontheropes]

Sorry for delay but I have had big problems. I uninstalled Rapport and also had PCTools firewall giving me a message that an outside source was trying to alter firewall settings and to run a antispyware program. Anyway I had everything lock up and although on every reboot I got the desktop all programs were freezing so I have just done a system restore.

The reason my logs were wrong last time was because it was trying to save it as the wrong kind of file.

Anyway here it is. Thanks again

Attached Files

•  AutoRuns.txt   49.8KB   161 downloads

[rshaffer61]

Autoruns look good so you did a good job of cleaning all that up.

Lets move on to the next stepp.


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.

[ontheropes]

Okay - TFC and defrag complete