Wikiposts
Search
Computer/Internet Issues & Troubleshooting Anyone with questions about the terribly complex world of computers or the internet should try here. NOT FOR REPORTING ISSUES WITH PPRuNe FORUMS! Please use the subforum "PPRuNe Problems or Queries."

Sudden computer slow down.

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 22nd Mar 2007, 10:37
  #1 (permalink)  
Cool Mod
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: 18nm N of LGW
Posts: 6,185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sudden computer slow down.

Detected this about three days ago. Things like "cannot find server" was the main one, OE stopped functioning properly. Restarts would correct the problem before it went into slow mode again.

Used Housecall this morning and it detected a piece of "grayware" that looks for XP ID and product keys however many you have.

It cleared the infection and its fizzing again!

If you have similar problems I suggest you use it.

PPP
PPRuNe Pop is offline  
Old 22nd Mar 2007, 17:13
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: glasgow
Posts: 386
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My PC has been a bit slow this week,so on seeing your message I ran Spybot which has been clear for months.
This time it found 19 items!
renfrew is offline  
Old 22nd Mar 2007, 18:15
  #3 (permalink)  
Cool Mod
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: 18nm N of LGW
Posts: 6,185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Just an update to give the critter's name:

CRCK_XPPROKEY.C

Enters via the browser I understand.
PPRuNe Pop is offline  
Old 24th Mar 2007, 12:45
  #4 (permalink)  

Official PPRuNe Chaplain
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Witnesham, Suffolk
Age: 80
Posts: 3,498
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Hmmm.

My laptop has been getting slower and slower recently. It runs AVG, and ZoneAlarm, and there's a NAT firewall on both the routers it connects to, but why not do a Housecall again...

Nope, won't work.

I had to enable Java for it, but then I get an error message from the Housecall site telling me
Warning - the HouseCall API did not define a native binding.
It asks me to say that's OK, so I do.

Nothing further happens, but there's an error message (shown by Firebug in Firefox), which tells me:
this.delegate.bindDelegate is not a function

Do I have too much security for Housecall, or do I have a nasty that's trying to keep it out?
Keef is offline  
Old 24th Mar 2007, 14:13
  #5 (permalink)  
Cool Mod
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: 18nm N of LGW
Posts: 6,185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Keefy, I found it a little irritating getting Housecall to run but after clicking on a different button here and there it worked OK. It can take quite a while to complete but it's worth it.

PPP
PPRuNe Pop is offline  
Old 24th Mar 2007, 14:45
  #6 (permalink)  

Official PPRuNe Chaplain
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Witnesham, Suffolk
Age: 80
Posts: 3,498
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks, PPP.

No way would it work with Firefox, but I enabled IE7 and that seemed happy to run it.

It's been running for half an hour now, with no messages of any kind other than that my Internet connection is very slow (it's ADSLmax and usually achieves around 5.5meg from here).

Summat's adrift, clearly. It'll be interesting to see what it comes up with after all this faffing about
Keef is offline  
Old 6th May 2007, 17:05
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: glasgow
Posts: 386
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Spybot had been clear for months.Now when run it picks up 10 or 12 items every time.(AVG is clear)
I only visit a very limited number of sites.Can someone explain in simple terms how these things get into the PC and what I can do to stop it happening.
renfrew is offline  
Old 6th May 2007, 17:43
  #8 (permalink)  
Spoon PPRuNerist & Mad Inistrator
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Twickenham, home of rugby
Posts: 7,394
Received 251 Likes on 168 Posts
The vast majority of the things that adware programs find are tracking cookies - at least this is my experience.

You can do a number of things, such as disable cookies or prompt to allow cookies in your browser.

However 1) will stop most sites from working and 2) will drive you mad.

Another approach is to block the domain on your firewall (e.g. block adbureau.net or tribalfusion.net etc.).

A similar effect can be gained by adding lines in your hosts file (that's c\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) linking the server.domain name to the loopback address of your own PC.

However, this is limited to specific servers, rather than entire domains, so is much more tedious to populate - and maintain.

Another approach is to kill the cookies as they arrive, or on startup / shutdown with an adware program - though frequently you actually have to pay for this functionality.

SD
Saab Dastard is offline  
Old 7th May 2007, 08:09
  #9 (permalink)  
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 18,579
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re 'Housecall' - the 'slow connection warning' now appears to be a regular event. I also often need to kick-start the process a few times. They have obviously changed something since a few years back it used to run faultlessly.
BOAC is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.