Confabulous

It's been a while since my last visit, but I need some serious help. My computer slows to a snail's pace while online (the computer, not the net connection, although that's only dialup at the moment) - I've gotten rid of all the startup programs, any optionals in msconfig, I've AVG'd it... I've a suspicion it's spyware but don't know how to check. It's really, really annoying and I desperately need a working PC for the weekend - got to keep prooning!

Any ideas? I'm running XP SP1, plenty of RAM, HD space, temp files are clean, cookies deleted.. the list goes on!

frostbite

Just might be your ISP.

Some of them have been diabolical last few days - wrong kind of heat, or something.

Saab Dastard

Can you run HIJACK-THIS and post the output - or use the on-line analyser?

Links in the FAQ thread.

SD

__________________
You can't have everything - where would you put it?

four_two

Do you mean Service Pack 1? I think most of us are on SP2 now which is needed for the latest security updates.

Tarq57

Do you have any type of spyware scanner/killer?
If you suspect spyware but don't know how to get rid of it, I suspect not. http://www.lavasoft.com/software/adaware/ Is one of the faster programs to download free, that's also effective.
You might want to also try Ewido, (free trial, excellent cleanup) Spybot S&D, and Microsofts own Windows Defender.These last 3 are free also.
Sometimes changing your AV can help, AVG's good, but each of them catch stuff the others sometimes miss, or have problems dealing with. (Same with the spyware programs. That's why the experts recommend using more than one.)
Good Luck.

Tarq57

Now why didn't that hyperlink?
www.lavasoft.com/software/adaware/
Not a total dummy. Really.

BOAC

Mine is pretty slow too, at times. Hijackthis, spy&adware and virus all clean. Any ideas why ISPs are affected? Is BT 'interfering'?

ExSimGuy

I frequently bring up "Task Manager" (hit "control-alt-delete", once only) and open the "networking" tab.

Then I can see an indication of "how much is coming in and how much is going out"

If I am downloading, I expect to see a fairly constant stream of traffic, at 50% or more of the bandwidth capability (say, at 30kb+ on a good dial-up) as long as the site I am downloading from is well connected.

When Windoze Update is running (mine runs automatically) I can see this activity, so I know to expect my aplications to access the web a bit slower.

But if neither of the above scenarios are present, and I still see a lot of internet activity, I would suspect that my computer is running a "Trojan", and possibly being used to attack a web site, under someone else's control. (Which would also seriously degrade my own applications access to the internet)