I have a little problem

[proxus]

Hi there !

I was wondering if anyone would like to share some of your wisdom pearls on me ?.

My computer has now started to behave strangely.
It seems as it plays all video/wav/or generally all files that have to do with audio/video to slow. Not by much but it is very noticable. Even the 'click' you hear when you click on a web link and the chime you hear when windows promps you to save when you close f.ex. a word document.

What can be the problem ??:confused:

Ok this must be some kind of a joke... I just played a cd on this cra%p and it also played to slow.. how can that be??

please help

Proxus

p.s. I have IBM Thinkpad R31 pentium 3, win2K

[flynverted]

Do you defrag regularily?

[fobotcso]

Sounds like a RAM problem. Or something is eating up your processor resources.

From another thread: Right-click the Task Bar. left click "Task Manager", on the tab "Process" under Mem Usage look for an application where figure is slowly increasing and identify the Process or Application. Indicates a "leaky application".

So how much RAM do you have? What other application (program) have you loaded recently? Have you done the Windows Update routine discussed on the thread "XP slowing down". Sounds similar.

[proxus]

My RAM is 256mb. I check regularly for memory leak by monitoring task manager. I also scan regularly with a spyware remover and have an active antivirus. This started just some days ago. One possibility is that I threw out my new EasyShare program, which is for my Kodak digital camera, and installed the old version again.
However, that's not the first time I do that.

Proxus

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Proxus,

When was the last time you installed Win2k? Was a fresh install or an upgrade?

Take Care,

Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.
Custom Computers of Naples, Inc.

[proxus]

It's just the setup that came with the lap when it was new ( appr. 1 yr ago)

Can this be some kind of a spyware or a virus ?

I hate to install windows again 'cos then I'll loose all my upgrades, besides, I do not have cd burner.

Proxus

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Proxus,

Lets start with a Virus Scan:

Tend Micro's Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com)

If you have a network connection, it might be worth installing your OS again. You can transfer your Data to another comp on your network.

With Win2k and WinXP you can do an install of your OS and only lose the files in your Windows Directory. All your Data would be untouched. It is not a bad idea to do a fresh install of your OS since your current install is over a year old.

Take Care,

Richard

[proxus]

First I would like to thank you for your time.

Is there a simple way to do a fresh install without losing any of my data ?. A fresh install sounds tempting.

Just scanned my lap with Norton AV with the latest update and I also ran my ad aware. Nothing much, just a few cookies that needed deleting.

Exacly what kind of info would I lose from windows directory ?
Would you be kind enough to guide me so I can do a fresh install without losing too much.

Thanks in advance

Proxus

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Proxus,

If you use anything like OL or OLE for email, you will need to use the OL or OLE backup program and save your data.

To do a fresh install of Win2k you need to boot from the Win2k CD (or with the Win2k Floppy's). When it gives you the option, tell it to do a new install. Then use the current partition, when it asks to format tell it to use current file system instead of formatting. (Very Important. If you format, all your data will be destroyed.) When it asks which directory to install in, tell it to use the current one your OS is in. It will warn you that you are installing over your old OS, you say ok and do the install.

That way only your Windows Directory will be overwritten and all the rest of your data will still be there.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. It would be a good idea to copy any data in your My Documents Folder, just in case.

[proxus]

Hehe Just my luck...
I thought it was strange when I bought the lap, that the usual cd's that come with new computers wasn't in the box.
When I asked a friend about it, he told me that he thought that one part of the HD was for the OS and that would probably stay intact if you formated the drive. Well I'm not going to find out.

It seems I'll have to make an expensive visit to the dealer's shop. This lack of cd's was probably intended for this alone.
>> hey, if there's a problem.. come talk to us...WE DON'T WANT YOU TO FIXE IT YOURSELF!..<<<

This is like owning a BMW, every little tweak is expensive.

Well, at least I'll now what to do, if I'd had the cd, just thought that the common practice was to restore the OS from this part of the HD and voila, fresh OS.

Thanks a bunch for your help and time..

Proxus

[Sultan Ismail]

This is the thread I need, as I also have a little problem.

I'm running NT4 on a Digital laptop and recently all action slowed down, like an A4 page required about 3 minutes to print and files took a long time to open after selection.

I checked the Task Manager yesterday and found 2 processes that are using up 98-100%of the CPU, one is FOO.EXE and the other is ~2.EXE.

I have no idea what they are for but they are presumably the culprits.

Anyone got an idea, I'm not a computer fundi and don't want to poke about in the dark.


Thank you

Sultan Ismail

[ORAC]

The R31 has, apparently, a 1 GB hidden restore partition and "In the event of a software error, the Rapid Restore utility is launched by just pressing the F11 key."

You might want to see if you have Rapid Restore before making the trip to the shop.

[proxus]

This is a virus!

Just look at this description (http://www.computing.net/security/wwwboard/forum/4791.html) .

Here's an examle from the site:
Reply:

hi
i just now discover the virus you are identifying here. its is maxxinf out my cpu to 100%. i think it has cloaked itself with an mIRC chat icon. the icon is popping up at variuos times especiall when booting. i first noticed it serveral months ago and did a full recovery of windows 2000 pro and thought i had gotten rid of
it. iam not sure that the mIRC icons is the same as ~2.exe but i found the icon in my files and folders the other day and tried to delete it ,only to watch it continually reappear and a participle was dicovered in the files and folders under url rotocol which was greyedout and could not be deleted. since trying to delete it i've noticed things really slowing down and i am about to wash the whole thing out and do a complete recovery. i looked into process in task manager and found the ~2.exe using 99% of my cpu. would be interested in learning anything that you all know about it.


Foo.exe seems to be harmless windows file. Just do a Goggle search when in doubt.


Regards
proxus

[Sultan Ismail]

Hi guys

this has been a most useful thread.

I followed the advice of Naples Air Center and and did a virus check with Housecall, it worked, 51 viruses. All but 5 of them were deleted after the Housecall scan but the other 5 were active and had to be turned off in Task Manager before they could also be deleted.

Needless to say the laptop is now singing and my A4 page of closely typed script is printing in 3 seconds.

Thanks Proxus for the specific advice, I also found -24.exe and -27.exe viruses. I deleted the FOO.exe application, nothing has happened yet.

Thank you all

Sultan Ismail

[proxus]

Well.. at last I managed to fix my problem and all is ok..

Don't know how I did it but it included defragging as 319cpt suggested.

ORAC ! Can you please comment further about this hidden feature, just for future reference. Does this delete all your updates but saves data ?

Thank you all for your time.

Proxus