Jambo Hud316 Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Looking for some help from people with a bit more computer savvy than myself. I am currently experiencing problems with my PC. It seems to be running very slowly, even on hotmail when I am moving from one email to another. This seems to have happened since my McAfee virus protection thing ran out and I replaced it with the AVG 8 protection. I remoed the McAfee from my comuter as the free years trial had expired and replaed it with AVG 8. I'm not very good when it comes to the technical jargon of what you need to get the best of your computer. My current set up is with Sky Broadband, I use internet explorer to get internet access, I have AVG as my security thing and I delete my internet cookies/history and defrag my computer every few weeks or so. I don;t know what my connection speed etc is but I have a wireless router if that means anything to anyone. Don't have any big programs like Limewire/Google Earth running etc Has anyone got any idea of how I can get my computer to run quicker, should I download any other programs etc or what to look for that may be causing my computer to turn as fast as Christian Nade. Thanks in advance for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig_ Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Installed AVG myself a few weeks back, and it was making my computer slower than a week in Saughton! Whipped it off the computer and it went back to its original speed again. Now I'm not condoning running your computer without anti-virus protection, but if you were to maybe use Firefox as your browser and occasionally download a virus/spyware checker purely for scanning your computer, you might find it running a hell of a lot faster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolk Jambo Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Try Avast Anti Virus. There is a free version available from here. Also, try running CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) as this can clear out more than just your cookies. Have you scanned for Spyware recently? There are many different programs available. I am currently using Spyware Terminator and it seems to be doing the job. Finally, install Firefox 'cos IE is pish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tynie1874 Posted July 28, 2008 Share Posted July 28, 2008 Try Avast Anti Virus. There is a free version available from here. Also, try running CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) as this can clear out more than just your cookies. Have you scanned for Spyware recently? There are many different programs available. I am currently using Spyware Terminator and it seems to be doing the job. Finally, install Firefox 'cos IE is pish. Firefox 3 would do u fine and u should have no problems at all , me personally i don't use any anti virus or registry cleaners. unless i feel the need too. i had avg 8 and it was fine didn't slow down my computer at all. erm one more thing are u on windows xp? if so are u on service pack 2 or 3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartsfc_fan Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Also...to the OP. What spec is your PC? If you have anything less than a Pentium 3 and/or less than 512MB of RAM it will struggle in this day and age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo Hud316 Posted July 29, 2008 Author Share Posted July 29, 2008 Cheers for the tips so far...a few questions/answers to your responses 1 - Is the Avast anti virus free download link a virus/spyware checker? 2 - If I download and install the Avast thing am I better removing my AVG before this or keeping both on my computer 3 - No idea if I have scanned for spyware, the AVG does a daily scan thing..not sure if this is scanning for spyware...will try the spyware terminator thing if that is what you would recommend! 4 - Have heard a few people say IE is knickers...firefox is the way forward then..yeah? 5 - It is a packard bell computer with windows XP its got intel inside and only had the computer for 2 years, no idea if its service pack 2 or 3 (how do I check) and not sure what spec it is...how do I check that? Once again, apologies if I'm being a total dumbass but all help is well appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Puppeteer Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Firefox 3 would do u fine and u should have no problems at all , me personally i don't use any anti virus or registry cleaners. unless i feel the need too.i had avg 8 and it was fine didn't slow down my computer at all. erm one more thing are u on windows xp? if so are u on service pack 2 or 3? Anti virus programs generally slow down your pc, I don't use one. Reg cleaners speed it up so are highly recommended. Keeping your pc clean in general should mean it runs smoothly - so defragment, clear temporary folders, run anti spyware and use reg cleaners on a regular basis. If you want to use an anti virus program I'd advise you to use it on a purely manual basis i.e. set it up so it is not constantly monitoring your pc and you run a manual scan every once in a while or just scan a particular file you suspect may be dodgy. You should be able to do so with AVG or another i've used in the past is called clamwin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolk Jambo Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Cheers for the tips so far...a few questions/answers to your responses 1 - Is the Avast anti virus free download link a virus/spyware checker? 2 - If I download and install the Avast thing am I better removing my AVG before this or keeping both on my computer 3 - No idea if I have scanned for spyware, the AVG does a daily scan thing..not sure if this is scanning for spyware...will try the spyware terminator thing if that is what you would recommend! 4 - Have heard a few people say IE is knickers...firefox is the way forward then..yeah? 5 - It is a packard bell computer with windows XP its got intel inside and only had the computer for 2 years, no idea if its service pack 2 or 3 (how do I check) and not sure what spec it is...how do I check that? Once again, apologies if I'm being a total dumbass but all help is well appreciated 1. Avast is just a Virus checker. It's a really small program and will not slow down your PC. 2. If you install Avast, uninstall AVG first. Only run one virus checker at a time. 5. The best way to get detailed specs of your PC is install and run Belarc's adviser. Install, run, save the report (html format) then uninstall again. The report will detail all your software, drivers, specs and tell you if you need to install any Microsoft patches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiltedjedi Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Anti virus programs generally slow down your pc, I don't use one. Reg cleaners speed it up so are highly recommended. Keeping your pc clean in general should mean it runs smoothly - so defragment, clear temporary folders, run anti spyware and use reg cleaners on a regular basis. If you want to use an anti virus program I'd advise you to use it on a purely manual basis i.e. set it up so it is not constantly monitoring your pc and you run a manual scan every once in a while or just scan a particular file you suspect may be dodgy. You should be able to do so with AVG or another i've used in the past is called clamwin... Not half as much as viruses do though. I would not recommend connecting a windows PC to the internet without some form of virus protection. I agree with systems jambo, only run 1 anti virus at a time, they will spew as they try to scan each other. Firefox is good, although the recent updates to it have been a bit hit and miss, bookmarks going missing and passwords not being saved / being saved almost on a whim. It's still better than IE, but don't believe it will solve world hunger I haven't had any problems with AVG, so perhaps there is something else wrong. Be very careful of reg cleaners as well, unless you understand how the registry works I would steer clear, it's be far to easy to make the PC a paperweight. What exactly is slow? Is it just when browsing the internet or do you get speed issues playing games / working with documents etc? Have you ran a virus scan? I would suggest getting hold of a program called Hijackthis and posting the log file from it to somewhere like the tech support guy forums, where there are a few experts at reading those logs that seem to be very helpful and knowledgable. Hijack this link http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis/download Tech support guy http://forums.techguy.org/f54-s.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Lithuania Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Defragment your discs frequently, at least once a month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rab Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 Not half as much as viruses do though. I would not recommend connecting a windows PC to the internet without some form of virus protection. I agree with systems jambo, only run 1 anti virus at a time, they will spew as they try to scan each other. Firefox is good, although the recent updates to it have been a bit hit and miss, bookmarks going missing and passwords not being saved / being saved almost on a whim. It's still better than IE, but don't believe it will solve world hunger I haven't had any problems with AVG, so perhaps there is something else wrong. Be very careful of reg cleaners as well, unless you understand how the registry works I would steer clear, it's be far to easy to make the PC a paperweight. What exactly is slow? Is it just when browsing the internet or do you get speed issues playing games / working with documents etc? Have you ran a virus scan? I would suggest getting hold of a program called Hijackthis and posting the log file from it to somewhere like the tech support guy forums, where there are a few experts at reading those logs that seem to be very helpful and knowledgable. Hijack this link http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis/download Tech support guy http://forums.techguy.org/f54-s.html Most sensible post of the thread. Don't run a Windows PC without virus protection unless you're prepared to (and capable of) deal with the consequences yourself. Ditto for running registry cleaners. I'm sure lots of you script kiddies do just fine, but look at the OP, he's not one of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiltedjedi Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 Most sensible post of the thread. Don't run a Windows PC without virus protection unless you're prepared to (and capable of) deal with the consequences yourself. Ditto for running registry cleaners. I'm sure lots of you script kiddies do just fine, but look at the OP, he's not one of you. Why thanks Rab. I was being polite because what I really thought was that running a reg cleaner and having no anti virus on a windows box was 2 of the most irresponsibly stupid pieces of advice I've seen on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Nobody Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 I wondered why my computer was running slower. Right after I installed AVG8. Hadn't connected the 2 before and thought maybe I had picked up a virus or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jambo Hud316 Posted July 31, 2008 Author Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thanks for everyones input via this topic and the people who sent me private messages with various tips on what o do. Defragged both my C and H drives which seems to have speeded it up considerably. Have kept the AVG8 on my computer for the time being as it seems to be of the general opinion that it is a decent thing to have. One more very minor thing...on my google toolbar I have the po ups blocked icon activated, but I still get the occasional pop up or advert coming up on an internet page...like I said, not a major problem bt is there a simple solution to stop this Once again CHEERS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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