Slow PC

All of the above. And yes, the person who wiped the hard drive for me installed avast! Antivirus. He said it was a very good viral protection program.
I've been wondering if it may be the reason I've been "laggy" all this time.
I've been thinking of unistalling it, but that would leave me unprotected ya know?
But this antivirus program has about four or five programs running in the task manager that use (to me anyway) quite a bit of memory. So I was wondering if you might know of another antivirus program that may be as good but doesn't use so much memory when in use?
I'd hate to think that all my problems stemmed from this program, though I wouldn't be surprised.
 
Ok, let's try another AV in place of Avast and see if that makes any difference/fixes the slowdown problem.

The new AV is a free one like Avast and its a good one as well.

First, download the setup file for the new AV:

1)Antivir PersonalEdition Classic

Once that is downloaded, disconnect your computer from the Internet. Then uninstall Avast. Then reboot your computer.

Once the computer boots back up, install the new AV. Then reconnect to the Internet so that you can download the latest updates for Avira Antivir.

Let the computer run for a bit (a few hours or so) with the new AV installed and let me know if things change.
 
This AV program seems a lot better than the previous one. I noticed right away that the lag I was exoeriencing was much more less than it was before. I'm still getting "lag spikes" every now and then however.
I had some serious trouble updating the new av program for the first few tries, but finally succeeding this morning.
I think unistalling avast! was for the better, however I'd like to keep this thread opened just in case something comes up that needs attending.
Avira is doing a good job so far, but I've become paranoid over the months so I'll post back with anything that may or may not be linked to it or the pc.
 
If you have problems updating Avira in the future, you can manually update Avira by following the instructions at the following website:

http://www.avira.com/en/support/kbdetails.php?id=95


We can keep this thread open for another 3-5 days. If nothing serious comes up by Friday of this week (Nov 20th) we can go ahead and close the thread. And if you are still experiencing the small lag spikes by then, I'll go ahead and give you some links to some general troubleshooting forums. I've been looking over your logs and posts and it doesn't seem like your lag problem is malware related (as you said when you changed AV's, your lag was much more less than what you had been experiencing before). Those forums would better equipped to help with the problem than I would. :)
 
Compared to before, it's a lot better.
But still getting a moderate amount of lag after either closing iexploer.exe or playing online games.
When downloading something it takes about 3 to 4 minutes sometimes, but keep in mind that this pc has a high speed connection so it should only take a few seconds to download anything.
I'm not sure if that has anything to do with previous problems or not.

So in a nutshell: Lag has been reduce a lot but still has its moments of coming back causing 20% to 15% memory usage for reasons unknown to me.
 
Good to hear that the computer is doing a lot better. :)

There could be various reasons why your downloads are slow/slowing down and some of these reasons could be on your ISP's side. You can try contacting them to see if they are having any trouble(s) lately.

Also, since we're done here you can clean/free up a lot more Hard Drive space to see if that helps any.

The best thing to do now would have you go to a general troubleshooting forum. There they would be better able to help you diagnose and solve your lag problems.

I'll also be giving you some cleanup to do and some tips to help keep your computer clean in the future.


Here are some forums that can provide additional help:

Computer Trouble here: http://forum.computertrouble.co.uk/index.php
or
TechSupportGuy here : http://forums.techguy.org/21-windows-nt-2000-xp/
or
VirtualDr here: http://discussions.virtualdr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48
or
PCPitStop here : http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.php?showforum=3

All may require free registration before posting for help.


You can delete the following off of your computer:

DDS.scr
The two DDS Logs
GMER.zip
GMER.exe
The GMER Log

To remove ComboFix, do the following:

Go to Start > Run - type in ComboFix /Uninstall & click OK


Please follow these simple steps in order to keep your computer clean and secure:

This is a good time to clear your existing system restore points and establish a new clean restore point

  • Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore
  • Select Create a restore point, and Ok it.
  • Next, go to Start > Run and type in cleanmgr
  • Make sure the C:\ drive is selected and click OK. If your computer's Hard Drive is not located on C:, change it to the correct drive letter then click OK.
  • Select the More options tab
  • Choose the option to clean up system restore and OK it.
  • This will remove all restore points except the new one you just created.
.

Clearing your restore points is not something you should do on a regular basis. Normally, this process only needs to be done after clearing out an infestation of malware.


Make your Internet Explorer more secure This can be done by following these simple instructions:
  • From within Internet Explorer click on the Tools menu and then click on Options.
  • Click once on the Security tab
  • Click once on the Internet icon so it becomes highlighted.
  • Click once on the Custom Level button.
    • Change the Download signed ActiveX controls to Prompt
    • Change the Download unsigned ActiveX controls to Disable
    • Change the Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe to Disable
    • Change the Installation of desktop items to Prompt
    • Change the Launching programs and files in an IFRAME to Prompt
    • Change the Navigate sub frames across different domains to Prompt
  • When all these settings have been made, click on the OK button.
  • If it asks you if you want to save the settings, press the Yes button.
  • Next press the Apply button and then the OK to exit the Internet Properties page.
Set correct settings for files that should be hidden in Windows XP
  • Click Start > My Computer > Tools menu (at top of page) > Folder Options > View tab.
  • Under "Hidden files and folders" if necessary select Do not show hidden files and folders.
  • If unchecked please checkHide protected operating system files (Recommended)
  • If necessary check "Display content of system folders"
  • If necessary Uncheck Hide file extensions for known file types.
  • Click OK
  • Use An Antivirus Software and Keep It Updated - It is very important that your computer has an antivirus software running on your machine. This alone can save you a lot of trouble with malware in the future. It is imperative that you update your antivirus software at least once a day. If you do not update your antivirus software, then it will not be able to catch any of the new variants that may come out.
  • Visit Microsoft's Update Site Frequently It is important that you visit Microsoft Updates regularly. This will ensure your computer has the latest security updates available installed on your computer. If there are new updates to install, install them immediately, reboot your computer, and revisit the site until there are no more critical updates.
  • Install SpywareBlaster SpywareBlaster will add a large list of programs and sites into your Internet Explorer settings that will protect you from running and downloading known malicious programs. An article on anti-malware products with links for this program and others can be found here:
    Computer Safety on line Anti Malware
  • Use the hosts file: Every version of windows has a hosts file as part of them. In a very basic sense, they are used to locate web pages. We can customize a hosts file so that it blocks certain web pages. However, it can slow down certain computers. This is why using a hosts file is optional. Download mvps hosts file Make sure you read the instructions on how to install the hosts file. There is a good tutorial HERE If you decide to download the hosts file, the slowdown problems can usually be avoided by following these steps:
    • Click the start button on the task bar at the bottom of your screen
    • Click run
    • In the dialog box, type services.msc
    • hit enter, then locate dns client
    • Highlight it, then doubleclick it.
    • On the dropdown box, change the setting from automatic to manual.
    • Click ok..
  • Use an alternative instant messenger program.Trillian and Miranda IM These are Malware free Instant Messenger programs which allow you to connect to multiple IM services in one program! (AOL, Yahoo, ICQ, IRC, MSN)
  • Please read Tony Klein's excellent article: How I got Infected in the First Place
  • Please read Understanding Spyware, Browser Hijackers, and Dialers
  • Please read Simple and easy ways to keep your computer safe and secure on the Internet
  • If you are using Internet Explorer, please consider using an alternate browser: Mozilla's Firefox or
    Opera.
    If you decide to use either FireFox or Opera, it is very important that you keep them up to date and check frequently for updates of the browser of your choice.
  • Update all these programs regularly Make sure you update all the programs I have listed regularly. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new malicious programs are released.
  • If your computer was infected by a website, a program, IM, MSN, or p2p, check this site because it is Time To Fight Back.
Follow these steps and your potential for being infected again will reduce dramatically.

Here's a good website to read about Malware prevention:

http://users.telenet.be/bluepatchy/miekiemoes/prevention.html

If your computer is running slow, click here for instructions on how to help speed up your computer.

Good luck!

Please reply one last time so that I know you have read my post and this thread can be closed.
 
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