Computer problem

My computer is giving me trouble and I'm hoping someone here knows how to fix or at least has an idea about what needs to be done.

My computer as running slower than it should. Example: internet explorer is very slow and choppy, although this is confined mostly to long web pages like forums, roms of my SNES emulator are running slower than they should and some games don't seem to be running right, although Morrowind ran just fine. . The problem with internet explorer just came up recenlty, about 3-4 days ago.

Here's what I have tried: I deleted my temporary internet files, I scanned for virus and ads, I turned the computer on and off, and I've checked to make sure everything in my computer is connected right. But nothing I have done has fixed the problem.

If anyone can help please post here!!

I had this problem before, but it was just an oversight on my part when my computer was new. MY virus scanning program was set to continually scan the hard drive, and that brought my computer down to a virtual crawl. Perhaps that's what's happening to you? Check your virus scanners properties.

I'm running Norton Antivirus and as far as I can tell it's not doing that.

Update: I tried Morrowind and Warcraft 3 and both ran as smooth as they should have. And that was without changing the setting from what they were.

This is very strange. Some things seem much slower than they should be while other things work just fine. Example: Several games I tried ran just fine, but SNES roms I tried ran slow. I had about seven explorer open with no slowdown, but when I went to a forum page it ran slow. Programs like Winamp and Windows Media Player run just fine. This is all very confusing.

Defrag.

It hasn't been that long since the last time I defragged, maybe a month.

Anyway, I'll try that tonight and hopefully it fixes the problem.

Buy a Mac.

How many programs do you have running in the background? Have you recently added an extra background ap (or as I call them, useless resource stealers)? I would suggest getting it down to only the speaker, clock, and antivirus utility.

Well, I ran defrag but it doesn't seem to have helped any.

I close all of the thins in the background that weren't necessary but it's still running slow.

I don't know if this is important or not, but under "performance" on the Windows Task Manager it shows Page File Usage History is at 150MB.

My comp runs slow. A lot. Like whenever I leave it on for a few hours. If I leave it on it also magically chews up harddrive space that reappears when I reboot... along with my system stability, and everything else... (when its running badly... its SLOW. The mouse will sometimes just freeze and music will skip for sometime several seconds until it decides to start working again... and it does that regularly...

Sure, I could reboot, and that usually helps, unless my comp's being really annoying, in which case I turn it off and hope it improves.

I blame it all on WinME...

Sure you've deleted everything that's got to do with internet memory? Clear everything, cookies and all... mebbe get AdAware and scan for spyware and stuff that might be leeching off you if that doesn't work...

I got rid of all the spyware on my comp when the problem started so that's not it. I'll try deleting all the cookies.

Use sbybot search & destroy. It catches things that ad aware won't.

If that doesn't work then do a system restore from a date before the problem started.

That "aren't neccesary"? What do you consider neccesary? Tell me, do you ONLY have the speaker, clock, and antivirus activated, or is there ANYTHING ELSE IN THE UNIVERSE running besides that?

Yeah... I like to have some things running while my comp is on! Its not like I could just shut everything down... and anyway, by the time my comp's running badly, that doesn't seem to help much...

I did an experiment last night and this is what I found:

I opened 7 pages from N-Philes.com and they all ran smooth.

I opened 2 pages from Tendocity and it ran slow.

I've also noticed that it runs slow when I go to other forums, too.

It makes your whole computer run slow? I definitely notice that TC loads slowly when compared to most of the rest of the sites I visit very often, but slowing down your whole comp? The site shouldn't matter, just whether you're running the browser (or for bad browsers, how many windows you have open).

GR, what operating system do you use? If it's Windows XP, I have an idea of what the problem may be.

Yes, I'm running WinXP.

It makes your whole computer run slow?

No, it's the browsers themselves that run slow. Maybe I should have specified that earlier...

...just take an axe to it, already.

I'd do that to my computer, but I don't have the money to replace it... :)

Originally posted by N-Man
...just take an axe to it, already.

Taking into conideration that I don't have the kind of money it would take to buy a new one and the fact that it's less than two years old, I don't think that would be a good idea.

Well, it seems as though I have resolved the problem. The cause? Internet Explorer is a smoldering hunk of junk which I will never use again. Netscape forever!!

Its always a good day when someone abandons that worthless browser known as IE...

Try out Mozilla Firebird. That's the best PC browser in my opinion.

Netscape seems to run animations slowly. Anyone know how to fix that?

Try out Mozilla Firebird. That's the best PC browser in my opinion.

I think I will, although Netscape seems as though it will serve my purposes.

I am running Mozilla as we speak. Good. Tabbed browsing. No pop-ups. And more. *annoying music*

Mozilla Firebird has some very cool features, true... but I like Netscape's nicer-looking interface. And none of those features are truly needed...

I tried Mozilla and it's a good browser, but I think I'll stay with Netscape.

But Netscape IS Mozilla, just with a few modifications and some added stuff... :)

I do believe you have some plugins installed. That's exactly what it sounds like. It's STILL your fault that IE broke like it did :D. If it didn't ALWAYS do it, it's because you changed something. Computers don't just dissolve, contrary to popular belief. If you aren't careful, you may just end up slowing down Netscape as well. Don't just install every single media player you can find.

I just went to IE one day it was like that. To my knowledge I hadn't changed anything from the last time I used it when it worked just fine.


...


I blame Clinton.

Don't just install every single media player you can find.

I only have two. Windows Media Player and Quicktime, and I had both of those for a long time.

Did you recently upgrade Quicktime? I find Quicktime has some spyware like qualities and an "upgrade" may have improoved upon them. If you really didn't change anything, then some sort of virus could have infected your machine, one that your virus checker didn't detect. That seems unlikely. Now I must ask, are you the ONLY user of your computer? If you aren't, who wants to kick some arse until they find an answer as to who did what to your machine?

Did you recently upgrade Quicktime?

No, it's been a while since I upgraded it.

then some sort of virus could have infected your machine, one that your virus checker didn't detect.

I'm running Norton Antivirus and it's only been a couple of week since I downloaded the latest virus definitions.

Now I must ask, are you the ONLY user of your computer? If you aren't, who wants to kick some arse until they find an answer as to who did what to your machine?

My little sister uses my computer and it's altogether possible she did something to mess it up, but I don't think asking her would do any good.

Well, I do believe that's the prob right there.

Wait, read some more posts. Did you ever use spybot? Use that.

It's only for forums, not other pages? You do realize sometimes message boards have slow times right? Try IE during the times Netscape is doing fine. It might not even be on your end.

Wait, read some more posts. Did you ever use spybot? Use that.

No, but I did use AdAware.

It's only for forums, not other pages? You do realize sometimes message boards have slow times right? Try IE during the times Netscape is doing fine. It might not even be on your end.

It did it the worst on forums.

It was most definitely the browser. I went to forums multiple times during the course of several days and always was like that, once I got Netscape it never came up again.

I just loaded up both. Netscape ran just fine, while Internet Explorer ran slow.

I still suggest you use spybot. AdAware, believe it or not, IS spyware!

Just give up and live with your computer running badly... that's what I did. I can't find any specific thing slowing it down... it just is. :(

It could be that your computer is running too hot. I've recently learned that if the processor or motherboard get too hot, things can tend to slow down, lock up, or throw the Blue Screen of Death at you. Maybe your fan(s) are clogged up with dust and hair, so they aren't cooling enough.

Huh, interesting theory... don't think I've heard that one.

That means you need to spray its insides with cool water.

That's a great idea! And while I'm at it I could try kicking the side of my computer! It might make the processor go faster!

You really do need to stop using Ad Aware and get Spybot Search & Destroy instead.

Yeah, I didn't know that either ABF. But I'm building a new computer, so I've been researching like crazy. And I have found many, many places emphasize how important it is to keep your fans clear and have enough quality, well-placed fans to begin with. Especially with the faster processors.

They said the signs to look for are that it seems to work real good when you first turn it on, but after time begins to slow down and crash. If you turn it off for a few hours it works well again, but soon starts acting buggy. Does that sound like what your computer is doing?

Yeah, its okay when I turn it on, but leave it on for a few hours and stability drops and mouse-freeze/sound-skipping gradually increases...

You might want to think about picking up a couple fans for the inside. Panaflo (http://www.directron.com/panaflo.html) (from Panasonic) has great, quiet fans. They are pretty cheap too.

Its got two fans on the back, one in the power supply and one on the back under the CPU/heatsink's giant green shield thing... and one on the graphics card, I think.

Oh, but there was a lot of dust in the thing... I tried to get as much of it out as I could, but I don't know if that'll actually help any...