"My Computer Is Lagging"

[raymac46]

One of my neighbors (aged 80 or so) wants me to clean up her PC because it's "lagging." She's had it about a year so I really doubt it can be that slow in such a short time. She's paranoid about security and has Norton running on the machine. It wasn't a speed burner to begin with:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2373655,00.asp?tab=Specs

 

Aside from a defrag, disk cleanup and malware scan I'm not sure what else to do. She won't use anything but Microsoft so I can't get her to try Chrome or Firefox which might speed up her browsing. I've already advised her not to run two or more malware scanners at once. Any ideas?

[Tushman]

One of my neighbors (aged 80 or so) wants me to clean up her PC because it's "lagging." She's had it about a year so I really doubt it can be that slow in such a short time. She's paranoid about security and has Norton running on the machine. It wasn't a speed burner to begin with:

http://www.pcmag.com...0.asp?tab=Specs

 

Aside from a defrag, disk cleanup and malware scan I'm not sure what else to do. She won't use anything but Microsoft so I can't get her to try Chrome or Firefox which might speed up her browsing. I've already advised her not to run two or more malware scanners at once. Any ideas?

 

Things to check/verify:

 

#1:

The specs according to the link in yoiur post indicates that machine is capable of 3 GB maximum RAM. Have you verified how much is actually installed in the machine? Just because it says 3 GB doesn't mean that the machine was sold/configured that way at the time of sale.

 

#2:

What version of Norton AV is she using? Is it Norton antivirus? or symantec 360? Remember - just because the user says I run "norton" doesn't mean it's just the antivirus - they sell many different products. The user is usually never aware of the variations. Whats the point here? The point is that not all of Symantec's products have the same minimum requirements so I would check that as well.

 

#3:

Run "msconfig" at the run command line and click on the startup tab. Uncheck any unnecessary items from the list - please post back here if you are unsure of which items to uncheck.

 

#4:

User complaints of "computer lagging" doesn't mean the actual computer is at fault. As you well know, regular joe users out there don't know the difference between a computer that's running slow versus their internet connection. If she's referring to something on the internet (e.g. website taking long time to load up), make sure whatever plugins are needed for that website (like adobe flash or java) are upto date on the machine.

 

If you can verify that this so called "lagging" problem only happens when she is on the internet, try clearing out the internet cache folder for IE. If problem persists, download & install a different browser. This will help you to narrow down the problem further so that you can determine whether it's truly the website or the browser.

 

A user of that age will never know the difference between a slow performing computer vs. a slow connection. Try to get her to specify what exactly she is doing at the time this slowness occurrs. I have worked with enough end users (mostly clueless) that I think she will refer to it as a general condition of her computer rather than something specific. Have her show you what she normally does on the computer and try to replicate the problem rather than taking the person's word for it. Most end users simply don't have the lingo down to really describe what's going on.

Edited July 11, 2012 by Tushman

[frapper]

The computer is "in" the monitor? What kind of fans does it have? Are you able to clean or vacuum dust from outside any vent screens? Can you get inside? Win7 should be automatically defragging the machine on a regular basis.

 

I'd do a full scan with MBAM which won't interfere with her beloved Norton. If she doesn't care you could try turning off some of the Win7 eye candy, like Aero if it's still "lagging". It should be running pretty decently with the 3GB of RAM.

[raymac46]

No I know it's Norton because she has the Norton security suite which I actually set up for her. I don't know what she's added since then though. I am going to get the machine in a week or so while she's away on holidays so I'll report back then on what I find. The eye candy/widgets will have to stay though as she loves this stuff. She has the defrag scheduled when the machine is shut down so I doubt that'll do much good. I'll make sure it's defragged when I get it.

Edited July 11, 2012 by raymac46

[zlim]

Tell her Microsoft is asking users to disable widgets because of security concerns.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9228997/Microsoft_urges_death_of_Windows_gadgets_as_researchers_plan_disclosures

If she is that paranoid about security, this might help her to decide the widgets are not worth the risk of infection.

[frapper]

This is the first I've heard of the Gadget vulnerability in Win7. I run the clock and weather one. I'll have to rethink that I guess.

[raymac46]

I'll take advantage of the opportunity with her PC to switch off the gadgets. No point in complicating my life with more security issues.

[sunrat]

I recently cleaned up an XP computer for a friend. Vacuumed out a solid slab of dust and dog hair from between the CPU fan and heatsink, and introduced her to Firefox with Adblock Plus. I received an email the next day thanking me for the amazing increase in speed. Sometimes it's easy!

 

I just read an article where Fred Langa recommended a free program called Soluto for cleaning and optimising PCs. May be worth a try.

[burninbush]

I recently cleaned up an XP computer for a friend. Vacuumed out a solid slab of dust and dog hair from between the CPU fan and heatsink, and introduced her to Firefox with Adblock Plus. I received an email the next day thanking me for the amazing increase in speed. Sometimes it's easy!

 

Ahhh ... not clear what cleaning dust and hair would do to make a computer run faster. Would probably run cooler.

 

Another highly useful Firefox extension is Flashblock -- which will stop all those adverts with flash from running just because you opened the page. IMO, this is one of the worst slowdown problems for those who surf a lot. My slower puter here is an aged AMD64-3000; it is not uncommon to find Firefox spending 50% of cpu on 'plugin-containe' -- which is those autorun flash programs in the ads. Flashblock stops that automatically, while giving you the option to watch them if you want. Weather Channel may require you to temporarily disable Flashblock -- just a couple clicks to disable and restart Firefox.

 

Anybody with windows should periodically check the Task Manager to see what's running -- and then examine Services to see what can be either defeated entirely or set to 'Manual' startup.

 

I'll also suggest, for those who just use the pc as an info appliance; the quickest way to clean and speedup an OS is to reload it from an image file. Much faster than defragging and searching for adware and malware, etc. Obviously, you should make the image when the OS is clean.

[frapper]

 

Another highly useful Firefox extension is Flashblock -- which will stop all those adverts with flash from running just because you opened the page. IMO, this is one of the worst slowdown problems for those who surf a lot. My slower puter here is an aged AMD64-3000; it is not uncommon to find Firefox spending 50% of cpu on 'plugin-containe' -- which is those autorun flash programs in the ads. Flashblock stops that automatically, while giving you the option to watch them if you want. Weather Channel may require you to temporarily disable Flashblock -- just a couple clicks to disable and restart Firefox.

 

 

You shouldn't even be seeing those flash-based ads if you're running the AdblockPlus plugin. And WOT (Web of Trust) is another good one that will give you ratings on the safety of web sites.

[amenditman]

Ahhh ... not clear what cleaning dust and hair would do to make a computer run faster. Would probably run cooler.

 

The cpu has built-in thermal sensors. The BIOS has thermal limit settings that affect fan speed and cpu usage.

On the cpu usage side of things, as the sensors report higher temperatures in the cpu, the system limits the frequency the cpu can run at. The closer the measured temperature gets to the thermal high limit setpoint, the slower the cpu will be allowed to run.

[Guest LilBambi]

Is she all that attached to Norton's Internet Security?

 

If not, since it's not a speed demon to start with, might I suggest removing Norton Internet Security and installing Microsoft Security Essentials and using the Windows 7 two way built in firewall which is considerably better than the anemic one in Windows XP.

 

Also is the memory maxed out yet? If not, I would suggest visiting Crucial.com and running their computer scan to determine the memory status, kind of memory, how many banks and max mem capacity. And if possible, upgrade the memory.

 

Computer programs get more and more bloated over time and additional memory could be needed to keep it working well with the additional program loads.

[crp]

My 2cents -

• is RAM maxed out and is all the RAM working (memtest would help with this)
  
• is latest version of IE installed? Trim the size fo the IE cache.
  
• There are adblockers available for IE, can she afford the $30 or so fee?
  
• Are the performance/reliance patches from Microsoft installed?
  
• What is the status of the pagefile? You can also set the pagefile to 0, reboot, defrag, set pagefile to static recommended size and reboot
  

If it would be possible, setting up a seperate harddrive to hold the various temp and page files would be good.

I would not be so quick to remove the gadgets. Check which ones they are first and if they have any issues attached to them. Then tell her and let her decide if the gain > risk. And see in you can trim down what the Norton is inspecting.

 

Oh , and most important - keep handy a beer.

[raymac46]

I'm sure memory is not maxed out. The all in ones use SODIMMS so I'll check the situation. I'll let her make the call on the gadgets before I do anything. She is totally committed to Norton Security and I would never be able to talk her out of it. She also won't use anything but Internet Explorer. I believe she has IE9 on her machine.

This is a lady who thinks she knows a lot about computers because she was a secretary at one time. It's always a matter of managing expectations with her.

Her husband is a member of our coffee group and he asked me to come and help her set up this machine originally. The store wanted to charge him $100 to set things up.

She bought the machine because she was desperate to escape Vista and use Windows 7. Her son-in-law had previously botched an upgrade to Win 7 on her old machine. She claimed that machine was "slow" as well.

I think she got the newer one because it was a cool looking all in one. The CPU in it isn't much better than her old Dell but the graphics are far better.

When I set it up she had me put back all the gadgets from Vista so I don't see much difference in final appearance frankly.

The old 2007 Dell was given to me in thanks for the setup work. It is a decent enough Pentium Dual Core and I put in a cheap video card and installed Linux Mint. It works great now. I would have done this for her but she can't abide anything but Windows, so...

[sunrat]

Ahhh ... not clear what cleaning dust and hair would do to make a computer run faster. Would probably run cooler.

Exactly.

You shouldn't even be seeing those flash-based ads if you're running the AdblockPlus plugin.

yep, AdblockPlus blocks all ads including Flash. And if any sneak through it's easy to add them to the block list.

[Corrine]

Regarding the Gadgets Security Advisory: It was reported at http://www.dslreport...dvisory-2719662:

 

FYI: Microsoft has switched the Enable and Disable Fix-Its. 50906 enables the Fix It. 50907 disables the Fix It.

The Fix it solution is at KB Article 2719662,

 

Since "She won't use anything but Microsoft", perhaps you can convince her to try Microsoft Security Essentials since it is a Microsoft antivirus product, as is the Windows 7 Firewall.

[Corrine]

Oh, and I forgot. Here's instructions for a great temp file cleaner:

 

Download TFC to your desktop

• Open the file and close any other windows.
  
• It will close all programs itself when run, make sure to let it run uninterrupted.
  
• Click the Start button to begin the process. The program should not take long to finish its job
  
• Once its finished it should reboot your machine, if not, do this yourself to ensure a complete clean

 

More info:

TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot% emp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs). It shows the amount removed for each location found (in bytes) and the total removed (in MB).

 

Before running, it will stop Explorer and all other running applications. When finished, if a reboot is required the user must reboot to finish clearing any in-use temp files.

-- TFC only cleans temp folders.

-- TFC will not clean URL history, prefetch, or cookies. Depending on how often someone cleans their temp folders, their system hardware, and how many accounts are present, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or more. TFC will completely clear all temp files where other temp file cleaners may fail.

 

TFC requires a reboot immediately after running. Be sure to save any unsaved work before running TFC.

[abarbarian]

http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

 

Have been using CC Cleaner for a number of years. Always use the backup facility if using the reg cleaner.

Edited July 13, 2012 by abarbarian

[raymac46]

I appreciate all the suggestions. I'll report back next week when I have the machine here.

[goretsky]

Hello,

 

The first thing I would suggest doing is located all personal data on the computer, and then making a backup (or two) of that. That way, if there's a catastrophic problem, the data is still stored safely elsewhere.

 

You may find an article I wrote in my blog a while ago of interest: Windows XP Optimization Tips I. It explains how to manually perform many of the cleaning operations, as opposed to having a third-party program do them for you. I like to keep an eye on such things, which is why I perform the operations manually.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[zlim]

Thanks for the link to your blog. I printed it out because it is a concise way to clean a computer of those people I help when I do not want to add additional software which will confuse them and they will not use.

[burninbush]

You shouldn't even be seeing those flash-based ads if you're running the AdblockPlus plugin. And WOT (Web of Trust) is another good one that will give you ratings on the safety of web sites. >frapper

 

+++++++++++++

 

Yes, agreed -- but ads in general don't cause the 50% cpu usage that flash causes. And adblock causes a general slowdown just because FF then has to scan all the ads on every new page to see if they are listed in that giant subscription file. I useta use adblock, but gave it up after finally deciding it was more trouble than it was worth.

 

There are replacement Hosts files that work in similar manner, and cause similar slowdowns. Probably made sense 15 years ago, but now is just cumbersome. The last one I used had 500+ entries.

 

Anyway, adverts are what keeps the web free -- I think we need to play that game to some degree, so I choose to only block those I consider most offensive.

[Tushman]

Disabling gadgets will do no good in terms of yielding any significant or any noticeable improvement. The sidebar process does not take up much memory or resources for that matter. You can check it for yourself in the task manager and resource manager built into Widnows 7. (sidebar.exe). Currently it's taking up 20 MB RAM on my system. As long as you keep your operating system upto date, the so called security vulnerabilities post very minimal (non-existent) risks. Mostly just hype. I've never heard of anyone being "hacked" or system being infected with malware through some kind of trojan infecting the sidebar process.

 

If you are certain the system is maxed out on RAM, 3 GB system RAM is more than sufficient for just about any version of Norton Antivirus. Again all we have at this point is a very vague & non-descript problem "computer lagging". What's the issue here? A website taking a long time to load up or is she referring more to the general condition of her computer even when she's doing something that's not browser related?

[burninbush]

@ Temmu -- thanks for the reminder. Things move around.

[Guest LilBambi]

raymac, Corrine has some good advice to do that can help quite a bit, even if there are other issues.

[raymac46]

Well I got the machine here now. It's got gobs of RAM for what it's being used for - 4 GB. The processsor is an Athlon II dual core 260u - not the speediest I admit but the machine has a pretty good AMD graphics card.

I scanned for malware with Malware Bytes - clean. Cleaned up the hard disk, defragged and uninstalled a couple of programs she doesn't need (PC Tools Registry Mechanic and McAfee Security scan.) Also got rid of a couple of junk toolbars. I installed Adblock Plus in both Firefox and Chrome. It seems to work just fine to me. My wife tried it and she thinks it's pretty fast. The machine also has IE9 and it seems to be OK as well.

[Guest LilBambi]

Great job there raymac!

 

Have you installed CCleaner? Or used the cleaner that Corrine mentioned at least as a one time cleaner (it requires a reboot is why I say one time, or maybe periodic cleaner) ? For day to day cleaning if you set up CCleaner right and just right click on the Recycle Bin, it's easy and painless to do as often as one likes. I do it at least once a day.

 

What antivirus does it have? Microsoft Security Essentials? That would likely be the best choice for a home user these days. It's free and since Microsoft is part of the problem, they should be part of the solution imho. And Microsoft Security Essentials is a worthy contender for antivirus programs.

 

As a secondary virus/rootkit check, maybe before you give it back, you could run Stinger (it's a standalone and doesn't have to remain after running it).

[frapper]

You could also use CCleaner or something else to check for unnecessary startup items.

[Tushman]

o great and might burningbush and tush, you are ghosts of your former selves...

or at least your avatars are...

 

o? were we having a pc discussion here? sowwy...

 

The link got broken after the forum upgrade. I thought about reinserting the link in my profile but I was never satisfied with the avvy in the first place. Obviously, nothing has inspired me yet.

[raymac46]

As I said before, this lady knows too much for her own good. She has a complete Norton Internet Security suite and a complete set of Norton Utilities. I just used that to clean things up and optimize the disks. She has a bunch of widget crapware all over her desktop and that would be the first thing I would get rid of - but it's not my machine. She also has this stupid HP Support Assistant running but I disabled a lot of its functions. Otherwise not a lot of startup items I'd get rid of.

There's no point in mentioning any other security solution to her. All she knows is Norton.

With both a Malware Bytes scan and Norton working full time I do not think she has any malware to worry about. I have upgraded both Firefox and Chrome and as mentioned before added Adblock Plus and I'll encourage her to use them. However I'm not optimistic that she'll use anything but IE9.

This HP all-in-one is really a large screen notebook of sorts. It has SODIMM memory modules, a low wattage and fairly slow CPU, wifi connections. You cannot expect performance like a quad core i7 here. To me the machine is performing well within its capabilities and her concerns are the stuff of urban legend. If I were a professional getting paid for this I'd feel guilty about taking a fee but as she's getting service for free I'm not overly concerned.

Edited July 19, 2012 by raymac46