Soooo Sssssllllloooooowwww!

[BOAC]

Help from the resident experts please!

Today (W2000 SP4, 512mb memory, Zone Alarm, 12hrly update cycle for virus prog) was like walking through syrup. My machine crawled. Broadband took 3 minutes to connect and web pages changed v slowly.

I WAS (better now!) showing constant 100% CPU useage. Now it is running normally and only occasionally going to 100%. I have run Trend House Call, Spybot and Adaware - and nothing significant, nor were there any obviously erratic processes running. I have changed nothing lately. ZA is still blocking a load of incoming, however.

If anyone knows what I should be trying to track down in the machine I would be most grateful.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

BOAC,

CPU of 100% and/or slow Internet access with high traffic on your NIC usually means a pest in the system with a DoS being launched from your computer.

It might be worth looking to see if you have high activity on your Internet connection while you have the 100% CPU activity.

Also check to see that your hard drive is not full, etc.

Take Care,

Richard

[BOAC]

Thank you Richard - I did fear some sort of infection at the time but when 'House Call' found nothing?....................

How do I find out? BTW, Hard drives are fine and have reasonable spare capacity, and nothing changed today on them.

[FlyUK]

Sounds very much like a virus to me. Could be sasser by the sounds of it. Try going to the microsoft website and getting the free virus scanning software. just search on their site for sasser and i'm sure it will give you some results. If not then it may be worth getting hold of a different anti virus package. Personally i don't use zone alarm as it slows the machine and my anti virus software aswell as my router has a firewall to stop the nasties! Hope this helps a bit. If not, just get back to me and i will rack the brains for some more tips. :ok:

[BTDT]

Your critical updates are up to date ?
If so either disable ‘IPSEC Policy Agent” from Services.
Or Uninstall ‘Windows 2000 Hotfix KB835732’ from control panel. If its that slow start in safe mode to do these tasks.
This is a known problem in some pc. (i.e. Dell & Compaq laptops)
If you can’t live without update MS04-011 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=841382 upgrade to Windows XP.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

BOAC,

If the Hot Fix does not work, then look at removing and reinstalling your network protocols. (They have been known to cause the same CPU usage problem.)

Take Care,

Richard

[BOAC]

Thanks all - busy for a few days, will come back.

[BOAC]

Thanks again to all - to close this - no virus that I can find, similarly no spyware, and today I removed and re-installed AOL following advice from their help line (at least it is free!) all is back to normal again. ( Yes, OK, AOL........... I know)

Another MS mystery!

BTW, yes, all 'MS critical updates' installed - on 'automatic'

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

BOAC,

AOL along with Norton are the two items that by removing them, fix many an ailing computer. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

[a is dum]

On that subject,
When removing and installing AOL (I know, but it does great service to all the family and is not bad at all) how do you keep you files and favorites?
Mines are lost everytime, avan if I extract the 'organize' file and swap it with the new one.

Can anybody advise?

Thanks!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

a is dum,

Are you looking for Favorites in AOL or in IE?

Take Care,

Richard

[BOAC]

a is d - there is a choice somewhere in the uninstall regime to save the PFC

[a is dum]

Richard,

In AOL; as I will re-install AOL due to freezing action of system when using AOL. Seems to be the solution judging by the above but from past experiences I stand to loose all mails and favorites.

BOAC,
"there is a choice somewhere in the uninstall regime" unfortunately means little to me. Can you expand a bit for sake. I am not very PC oriented apart from using it.

Thanks all, sofar.

[BOAC]

a is d - I have not spent a lot of time on AOL's 'system' as I only use it for internet access and run OE and IE through it quite successfully, so I'm not too au fait with the bits and pieces.

If you type uninstall into the AOL help search box it will show you how to save the files and emails. As to 'favourites' I'm not sure. I have a feeling they are kept too.

If there is an option to print the help file off I would recommend it if you are unsure!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

a is dum,

It might be worth to check with the Members Support on AOL (I do not have access to it.) to see what files they say to backup in order to save your preferences. I am sure they have something on moving from one computer to another while keeping your settings.

Take Care,

Richard