Another thing to try the next time your computer is running slowly, is to right click the taskbar and select 'task manager'.
That should tell you what is using up the CPU and RAM, and if it's not a Windows process you could consider uninstalling it.
One thing notorious for making the computer very slow is the Trusteer Rapport security software that the banks try to force you to install. It made my Windows 7 P4 2GB RAM machine almost unusable when I tried it.
However it's likely that you'll find the RAM is at 90% or higher usage during the slow boot up, and the only real solution may be to get another 1 GB of RAM, as others have said.
A motherboard that can take a P4 at 3.4GHz should be able to run 2GB RAM, although obviously you'd have to check before you bought anything.
hmmmmm ..... Did it just progressively get slower and slower (sugggesting disk and memory problems) or did this noticably happen quite suddenly (suggesting malware)? And it could be both .......
no the boot issues kicked off on monday when my daughter dicided to download a sims 4 game from the internet. after starting up the icons took nearly two hours to appear .the anti viruses i got on the pc are superanti spyware(spybot) MB ,& avast all being used to clear up the issue ,however now by sure luck the icons appear to have come back full time as in returned to normal so no issues there now but the scans still showing trojans that is the super anti spyware was 112 originally to just 1 which is proving hard to get rid of.
no the boot issues kicked off on monday when my daughter dicided to download a sims 4 game from the internet. after starting up the icons took nearly two hours to appear .the anti viruses i got on the pc are superanti spyware(spybot) MB ,& avast all being used to clear up the issue ,however now by sure luck the icons appear to have come back full time as in returned to normal so no issues there now but the scans still showing trojans that is the super anti spyware was 112 originally to just 1 which is proving hard to get rid of.
Perhaps your daughter downloaded some nasties as well, but Malwarebytes is usually very good at spotting them, so if MB and Avast both say your computer is clear, then it likely is.
Just check in 'Programs and settings' that nothing has been installed that shouldn't have been.
One thing notorious for making the computer very slow is the Trusteer Rapport security software that the banks try to force you to install. It made my Windows 7 P4 2GB RAM machine almost unusable when I tried it.
I was unlucky enough to get a banking virus (think it was Zeus). It was not detected by my AV or Malwarebytes, but was detected by RBS when I tried to logon one day - 'account locked due to suspicious activity' or similar. I had visions of my life savings disappearing to China, Russia etc. The call centre was no use, but the next day I got on to IT security at RBS and the guy explained that format/re-install or Rapport was the only answer. Since I use 6 pc's, I chose the second option and put Rapport on all the machines. One by one I logged onto RBS until one of them flagged up 'Zeus detected'. Rapport cleaned the virus, and after a reboot I had access to my hard-earned dosh again.
Sure Rapport slows down Firefox a bit, but I'd rather wait a few milliseconds than lose all my cash. I use o/c i7s so Rapport isn't a problem for me, but I can appreciate that the guy above with an old P4 could see a slow down.
BTW as well as RBS, I have Rapport set to activate when using Amazon, Ebay, Tesco etc.
Perhaps your daughter downloaded some nasties as well, but Malwarebytes is usually very good at spotting them, so if MB and Avast both say your computer is clear, then it likely is.
Just check in 'Programs and settings' that nothing has been installed that shouldn't have been.
I was unlucky enough to get a banking virus (think it was Zeus). It was not detected by my AV or Malwarebytes, but was detected by RBS when I tried to logon one day - 'account locked due to suspicious activity' or similar. I had visions of my life savings disappearing to China, Russia etc. The call centre was no use, but the next day I got on to IT security at RBS and the guy explained that format/re-install or Rapport was the only answer. Since I use 6 pc's, I chose the second option and put Rapport on all the machines. One by one I logged onto RBS until one of them flagged up 'Zeus detected'. Rapport cleaned the virus, and after a reboot I had access to my hard-earned dosh again.
Sure Rapport slows down Firefox a bit, but I'd rather wait a few milliseconds than lose all my cash. I use o/c i7s so Rapport isn't a problem for me, but I can appreciate that the guy above with an old P4 could see a slow down.
BTW as well as RBS, I have Rapport set to activate when using Amazon, Ebay, Tesco etc.
> my $0.02
That's interesting, other opinions I have read have said it is basically useless.
Perhaps it is effective after all?
But as I said, it's too much for my old P4 machine, although I tried to persevere with it for a while.
Mind you, I don't use that machine for general browsing, so it's less likely to pick up a nasty.
hi my pc is taking up to an hour & 15mins before it allows pc desktop icons to appear . i have been trying hard to scan the pc using spybot to rid of viruses ,key threat is a trojan .though it is clearing up,through continusous repeat scans. what else can i do to speed up the icons time to appear on desktop?
I had a similar problem wy previous lappy:- it booted up alright andI had to wait twenty minutes before I could use it.
Have you tried clearing the hard drive/rebooting?
I had a similar problem wy previous lappy:- it booted up alright andI had to wait twenty minutes before I could use it.
Have you tried clearing the hard drive/rebooting?
If the OP literally 'cleared the hard drive' and 'rebooted' they would get an error message that there was no operating system present. So, I guess you don't mean that.
If you mean that they should reinstall Windows; that's not a bad suggestion considering it sounds like the PC has been riddled with malware and is perhaps badly corrupted.
I had a similar problem wy previous lappy:- it booted up alright andI had to wait twenty minutes before I could use it.
Have you tried clearing the hard drive/rebooting?
the pc for which i am now to write on this forum appears to be ok now & boots almost amediately yes there is still a trojan on it which is dificult to get rid of but the pc ots self is behaving mostly ok, for now, the pc is being regulay scanned.:)
the pc for which i am now to write on this forum appears to be ok now & boots almost amediately yes there is still a trojan on it which is dificult to get rid of but the pc ots self is behaving mostly ok, for now, the pc is being regulay scanned.:)
Perhaps you might be able to help me get games up and running on Dosbox 0.74.
I can mount the required drive and download the games but actually getting the games up and running's the stopping point .
Perhaps you might be able to help me get games up and running on Dosbox 0.74.
I can mount the required drive and download the games but actually getting the games up and running's the stopping point .
You've asked a few times and i've tried to help but without knowing the game etc its impossible to properly help
Comments
That should tell you what is using up the CPU and RAM, and if it's not a Windows process you could consider uninstalling it.
One thing notorious for making the computer very slow is the Trusteer Rapport security software that the banks try to force you to install. It made my Windows 7 P4 2GB RAM machine almost unusable when I tried it.
However it's likely that you'll find the RAM is at 90% or higher usage during the slow boot up, and the only real solution may be to get another 1 GB of RAM, as others have said.
A motherboard that can take a P4 at 3.4GHz should be able to run 2GB RAM, although obviously you'd have to check before you bought anything.
no the boot issues kicked off on monday when my daughter dicided to download a sims 4 game from the internet. after starting up the icons took nearly two hours to appear .the anti viruses i got on the pc are superanti spyware(spybot) MB ,& avast all being used to clear up the issue ,however now by sure luck the icons appear to have come back full time as in returned to normal so no issues there now but the scans still showing trojans that is the super anti spyware was 112 originally to just 1 which is proving hard to get rid of.
I doubt that computer is up to running Sims 4, judging by the minimum requirements.
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri?gameName=the-sims-4&itemId=12305&p=r
Perhaps your daughter downloaded some nasties as well, but Malwarebytes is usually very good at spotting them, so if MB and Avast both say your computer is clear, then it likely is.
Just check in 'Programs and settings' that nothing has been installed that shouldn't have been.
I was unlucky enough to get a banking virus (think it was Zeus). It was not detected by my AV or Malwarebytes, but was detected by RBS when I tried to logon one day - 'account locked due to suspicious activity' or similar. I had visions of my life savings disappearing to China, Russia etc. The call centre was no use, but the next day I got on to IT security at RBS and the guy explained that format/re-install or Rapport was the only answer. Since I use 6 pc's, I chose the second option and put Rapport on all the machines. One by one I logged onto RBS until one of them flagged up 'Zeus detected'. Rapport cleaned the virus, and after a reboot I had access to my hard-earned dosh again.
Sure Rapport slows down Firefox a bit, but I'd rather wait a few milliseconds than lose all my cash. I use o/c i7s so Rapport isn't a problem for me, but I can appreciate that the guy above with an old P4 could see a slow down.
BTW as well as RBS, I have Rapport set to activate when using Amazon, Ebay, Tesco etc.
> my $0.02
have done that & all is clear
That's interesting, other opinions I have read have said it is basically useless.
Perhaps it is effective after all?
But as I said, it's too much for my old P4 machine, although I tried to persevere with it for a while.
Mind you, I don't use that machine for general browsing, so it's less likely to pick up a nasty.
I had a similar problem wy previous lappy:- it booted up alright andI had to wait twenty minutes before I could use it.
Have you tried clearing the hard drive/rebooting?
If the OP literally 'cleared the hard drive' and 'rebooted' they would get an error message that there was no operating system present. So, I guess you don't mean that.
If you mean that they should reinstall Windows; that's not a bad suggestion considering it sounds like the PC has been riddled with malware and is perhaps badly corrupted.
the pc for which i am now to write on this forum appears to be ok now & boots almost amediately yes there is still a trojan on it which is dificult to get rid of but the pc ots self is behaving mostly ok, for now, the pc is being regulay scanned.:)
Perhaps you might be able to help me get games up and running on Dosbox 0.74.
I can mount the required drive and download the games but actually getting the games up and running's the stopping point .
^^^
That's what I meant.
If it's FUBAR then the OP should start looking at getting a new lappy.
You've asked a few times and i've tried to help but without knowing the game etc its impossible to properly help
A game called BLOOD but I want to try other games as well.
every dos game is different so you'll need to spend some time editing files and for those who never learned the dark arts of DOS it can be a real pain