Amy's misbehaving computer!

Amy · Post by **Amy** » May Mon 03, 2010 12:46 pm

Well, since Jacca kindly offered... Our computer is an HP, about 3 years old. It perodically freezes up, won't connect to the internet, runs slow, etc. We have Verizon DSL, and use Google Chrome to connect. My Mom has defragged the hard drive, run every virus program we know, and still we have problems. When it is acting up the hard drive makes a sound like "chk, chk, shhhshck" and then keeps doing that. Shockwave also crashes here and there. The weird thing is it works fine for a while and then is horrible. Turning it off, and restarting it sometimes helps but not always. I've asked my brother in Cali, an electronics engineer, for help via email and we've done everything he suggested but it still isn't right. Any assistance would be awesome!

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » May Mon 03, 2010 1:02 pm

Try downloading Adaware from Lavasoft. It's a free anti spyware/malware/root kit program. Also download CCleaner it will remove all the trash from your registry.

I know you stated you tried anti virus software, have you tried AVG?

None of the programs I have mentioned cost a dime!! If you go to download any of them and the download site want s money, LEAVE THE SITE!! All of the these sites have there own homepages. OH well here are the sites:

Adaware:

http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

CCleaner:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

AVG:

http://free.avg.com/ww-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free

JUST DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAMS I'VE SHOWED YOU!! DON'T DOWNLOAD ANYTHING THAT WANTS MONEY!! THE FREE PROGRAMS WORK VERY GOOD!! DON'T BE IMPRESSED WITH THE ADS!!

If you have any question PM me. If you want I'll give you my phone number and help you walk through it.

It sounds like your computer has malware on it and you registry is clogged.

Jacca

MadEye · Post by **MadEye** » May Mon 03, 2010 1:03 pm

First problem: You are using DSL. Cable is 1000000X better. Second problem: You are using Verizon. If your cable company offers internet, I would get it. I have yet to have any major problems with any of the companies that I have had cable internet from. DSL on the other hand I had problems with from day one and barely had it for a month.

How many programs, videos, songs do you have on the computer? The more you have, the less your computer will run smoothly. Defragging and disck clean up can only do so much.

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » May Mon 03, 2010 1:17 pm

Or you could try a Verizon Wireless Modem. I have one for laptop, but I can also use it on my computer. It has actually been quite reliable (compared to my brother's COMCAST internet). Each provider has it pro's and con's.

Amy · Post by **Amy** » May Mon 03, 2010 1:17 pm

Thank for the inItial help guys. My Mom said CCcleaner is new to her and she will try that one. Would malware cause it to have problems only periodically? That is what is truly confusing us! We have dumped everything we don't use but still have lots of photos on it - trying to get those on an external hard drive - My Book 750 gb from Western Digital but there weren't any instuctions in the box. Shortly after I posted the first post about this problem it kicked off-line and I haven't got it going again (i-phone to the rescue!)
So... She will try CCcleaner after we get it going again (she does hardware, I am software and design and operations only

stay tuned...
Cable isn't an option...dsl only recently became available in our neck of the woods and trust me, we were doing backflips to upgrade from dial-up

Post by **Len90** » May Mon 03, 2010 1:31 pm

If the computer is three years old and that was the original hard drive, it most likely is/was on its last leg. Hard drives (from my experiences) are only good for about 3 years. You should really always back up EVERYTHING. I have been burnt way too many times that I now back everything up and keep important documents on thumb drives.

Is the computer currently working where you can boot it up?

mindflipper · Post by **mindflipper** » May Mon 03, 2010 1:34 pm

I once had a bad RAM chip in my laptop that caused problems. The guy at the repair place told me what to do and didn't charge me anything (rare not to be taken advantaged of!). I went to Circuity City (before it closed forever) and bought/upgraded my 1/2 GB RAM to 2 GB RAM and that solved my problems. I was able to buy the new RAM dirt cheap (but then again, they did declare bankruptcy 3 weeks later).

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » May Mon 03, 2010 1:35 pm

I deal with this sort of thing all the time. I don't believe you problems are because of DSL vs Cable. I could go on all day about why I feel DSL is better (Throttling, band usage, slow downs cause by how many people are during peek). Also even though how full your hard drive is will affect speed, your symptoms don't seem to fit that. I have aprox 540 GB of hard drive on my computer (3 drives) and only have aprox 15% clear on my system drive, my computer runs quicker then the day I built it.

It sounds like you have something on it. From the way you describe it, it sounds like you may have a spybot on you drive or some other type NASTY working. Yes the would account for how it only seems to be there sometimes.

Lets take it step by step and try Addaware first. It might take over 12 hours to run the first time. You can use your computer while it's running. Remember when ever you do something to your computer make a restore point.

PS My computer is over 5 years old and I haven't lost a drive. It does take a lot of maintenance. I do about 5 to 10 hours a month on mine. I don't think yours on it's last leg. I think it needs a lot of TLC! Oh, it is always a good idea to max out on RAM!

I have a collection of towers that work in my basement of computers that people where told were gone. My boys gaming computer was built from these.

NaCler · Post by **NaCler** » May Mon 03, 2010 2:45 pm

Can I throw in a problem as well or would that be going off-topic?

Lately at work I have been getting a blue screen error at least once per week. Any clue what usually causes these? I have to reboot, then it works fine for about a week, then bang, it happens again. Is it due to too much posting during work hours???

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » May Mon 03, 2010 2:59 pm

NaCler wrote:Can I throw in a problem as well or would that be going off-topic?

Lately at work I have been getting a blue screen error at least once per week. Any clue what usually causes these? I have to reboot, then it works fine for about a week, then bang, it happens again. Is it due to too much posting during work hours???

Sounds like either a virus or malware! I have things I need to do right now, but IM me later and we'll see if we can kill!

NaCler · Post by **NaCler** » May Mon 03, 2010 3:21 pm

Jacca5660 wrote:Sounds like either a virus or malware! I have things I need to do right now, but IM me later and we'll see if we can kill!

That's what I thought, but I run virus/malware scans on it each week. There is an .exe file that I don't think should be there that I cannot seem to delete. It's called pronon.exe does that sound familiar to anyone?

MadEye · Post by **MadEye** » May Mon 03, 2010 3:34 pm

NaCler wrote:That's what I thought, but I run virus/malware scans on it each week. There is an .exe file that I don't think should be there that I cannot seem to delete. It's called pronon.exe does that sound familiar to anyone?

Try this:http://www.malwarebytes.org/

It got a ton of crap off my laptop and it's free. And that was just the free version!!!

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » May Mon 03, 2010 3:34 pm

NaCler wrote:
Jacca5660 wrote:Sounds like either a virus or malware! I have things I need to do right now, but IM me later and we'll see if we can kill!
That's what I thought, but I run virus/malware scans on it each week. There is an .exe file that I don't think should be there that I cannot seem to delete. It's called pronon.exe does that sound familiar to anyone?

DO you have a firewall??

PS Check the spelling. Read this:

http://www.what-is-exe.com/filenames/promon-exe.html

Post by **Len90** » May Mon 03, 2010 4:18 pm

Lucky that you got 5 years on your drive Jacca. I blew a hard drive within a year on my big toshiba. Computer never goes anywhere and isn't used that much. Cause for the hard drive to go bad: Windows Vista (according to BestBuy). As for my mac, I have been able to avoid all those issues. Still runs just as fast as the day I took it out of the box.

Jacca what do you think of kaspersky? I run that on my PC. I definitely think I need to clean it up as well. I

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » May Mon 03, 2010 4:25 pm

Len90 wrote:Lucky that you got 5 years on your drive Jacca. I blew a hard drive within a year on my big toshiba. Computer never goes anywhere and isn't used that much. Cause for the hard drive to go bad: Windows Vista (according to BestBuy). As for my mac, I have been able to avoid all those issues. Still runs just as fast as the day I took it out of the box.

Jacca what do you think of kaspersky? I run that on my PC. I definitely think I need to clean it up as well. I

Len I have a problem with any anti viral program that wants to charge you for a basic version. Unless you are running high end corporate software and have intellectual property on your computer. Most programs like AVG are better. Now if you need high end security, you need somebody who can run a port based security on your system.

The life of a hard drive is based on how you treaty your drives. there is no expiration date on a hard drive.