Slow PC

[GlosRFC]

Did the merge thing and it came up with the Notepad box again

Just noticed something. If I open an excel file from excel itself it is instant. Yet if I double click the icon in the folder where it's stored it takes ages even if excel is already open.

Should that happen?

No, it should still be pretty instantaneous which is why I think there's something else that's causing the problem with your PC. My initial thoughts are that your file associations could be corrupt.

NTL has more than its fair share of faults but I don't think it can be blamed for this one. You can narrow down the causes:

1. Are you experiencing the same slow-down when you visit other media-rich sites, e.g. news.bbc.co.uk? If you are then the problem is either your PC or your connection.

2. Are you only experiencing the problem with Betfair? If so, then the problem is their end.

3. Are you able to use another ISP to connect and are you experiencing the same symptoms? If so, then the problem is with your PC.

4. Does a tracert or ping identify any connection problems? If so, the problem is as highlighted in the tracert.

5. Has the problem always occurred? If not, it's something you've installed - either software or hardware.

From what you've said, I'm sure you'll answer 1. Yes, 2. No, 3. Yes, 4. No, and 5. No

I've got to dash off to a BBQ now but I'll give it some thought and post back later.

[sparkyminer]

I've got to dash off to a BBQ now but I'll give it some thought and post back later.

Sorry Bulldog, this is of no assistance to you whatsoever, but I've just got this image in my mind of Glos at the barbie sat in a corner, with limp burger in hand, pondering your problem, whilst everyone else is getting laruped out their trees.:D

[Fadetoblack]

[wb]

Which AV is asking that?? I suspect the reason they're asking is because the two programs give you the option to "quarantine" suspicious files rather than simply removing them. .

Hi Glos. Its called " F-Secure anti virus 2006" (a free one from the MS recommendation list)

I'm going to try re-install the other two when I get time, I'll let you know how it goes

[GlosRFC]

wbailey:
Had a look at their site and found this http://support.f-secure.fr/enu/corpo...03070900.shtml
That explains why they remove Ad-aware and Spybot. However, I also found this http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home...owadware.shtml which suggests that Ad-aware is okay to use.

In a nutshell, F-secure uses Backweb technology to update the virus definition lists. Unfortunately, Backweb is also used by many spyware programs http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...tasklist_b.htm

F-secure uses both fsbwlan.exe and fsbwsys.exe to perform automated updates. http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...tasklist_f.htm
The good news is that both fsbwlan.exe and fsbwsys.exe are registered to F-Secure on the Spy Bot database.

The 2006 build of F-Secure also uses the same software that Lavasoft uses for Ad-aware Lite so this is another reason why it's uninstalled. However, if I'd paid for the full version of Ad-aware, I'd be quite narked about that. In fact, I'm pretty dubious about any software that insists I remove programs I've previously installed. However, the F-Secure support people seem to suggest that it's okay to reinstall Ad-Aware after installing their product.

So it should be okay to use Spybot and Ad-Aware by reinstalling them after you've installed F-Secure. Just make sure you don't delete/quarantine fsbwlan.exe and fsbwsys.exe or the files IADhide.dll and IADhide3.dll.

Finally, it's worth commenting that F-Secure provides little protection that you can't download free from the web anyway - all it seems to do is provide a "one-stop shop". So if you encounter major problems, you can either look for another AV suite or go back to using all the free stuff again.

[GlosRFC]

And before Sparky says anything, I got well laruped myself yesterday!

Anyway, more thoughts on Bulldog's problem - I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with NTL or your connection but identifying the root cause is difficult without being sat at your PC. The delay you've mentioned opening Excel files shouldn't be happening (nor should you be using 100% of available resources when opening a web page).

XP seems to be having a problem either identifying the correct program to associate with particular files, allocating memory to those programs, or it's trying to load up some other unknown processes in the background.

In the latter case, it could be some kind of virus/spyware but I'm assuming that you've run all the normal checks to discount that. Some of the Windows services such as Windows Imaging Acquistion (WIA) can also cause this kind of delay - a common symptom is if you see the torch icon for a long time when you try to open up your My Documents folder.

Other things that could be causing the problem are having Outlook running at the same time, or issues with Windows datestamping files or folders. What would really help to narrow it down is a list of all the processes that are running on your PC when the problem occurs. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to bring up the Task Manager, click the Processes tab, and record the names. That will help narrow it down.

If the problem is allocating memory then it might be that when you upgraded you didn't ensure that your new memory modules matched the ones already installed in your PC. Again, that would be apparent as the delays would've started to occur from the time you made upgrade.

If it's the first problem, I'd probably start thinking about either reinstalling Windows or doing a fresh installation.

[Bulldog]

Thanks Glos

I always close down as much as possible before racing starts, including Outlook Express. I tend to just have Betfair, Sporting Life and William Hill running in 3 browser windows and that's it.

I checked the memory compatability at crucial .com

For a while it speeded some things up quite noticeably.

I'm starting to think I need to wipe the whole thing clean and start again. I have done this before with the kids' computer but that had all the original hardware on it. Would it be a problem that I have changed the DVD drive, CD drive, Motherboard, processor, memory, hell, most of it bar the case and keyboard?

It didn't come with an XP CD as the op system is in a recovery partition on the drive. To restore to delivery state I believe I have to hit F10 just after startup and follow the options. Just worried about the changes to the hardware getting in the way. If I need drivers or anything from the internet will I be able to get Broadband back on and get what I need?

One point to bear in mind is that it was the last PC left when I bought it and was a display model. For that reason alone I was not prepared to buy it at full price but I got it at a discount with a free 5 year warranty. I've certainly had my worth out of the warranty as most of the changes have been carried out under that.

It just seems to have deteriorated over time and I wonder if it needs to start again. My neighbour who has just moved in reckons it may be worth trying a new hard disk and seeing how it fares then or that the cable for the hard disk is the same as for the DVD or CD drive and that might caise a problem.

Seems to be all going a bit beyond my limiited knowledge

[Bulldog]

I do have a script that I sometimes turn on when using Betfair. It refreshes the current market every secodn.

Could it be that I have this running more than once and it's conflicting with itself sometimes?

[GlosRFC]

Shouldn't be a problem with the hardware - if you've got all of the drivers that would help but XP is pretty good at loading generic drivers for devices. You'll need to take a note of all your connection settings - passwords,usernames, etc which you can get by looking at your accounts in OE or Start, Connect to, Show all connections.

The script may be the cause although it's hard to see why. Simple answer would be to try running without the script to see if it makes any appreciable difference. If it does, then that's the cause.

[Bulldog]

Turning the script off doesn't help. I was just wondering whether it was throwing too many pages into my Temp Internet Files but even clearing those doesn't help.

[GlosRFC]

Like I said, I don't think it's anything to do with your connection and so it won't affect your temp files. Did you check out the processes that are running in the background? It's worth giving that a shot before you try a clean install.

[Bulldog]

I can look at them in the Task Manager but I don't really know what half of them are.

I have a thing called System Mechanic which I've used to check for anything that it thinks shouldn't be there but the result always comes up as OK.

I currently have 33 running processes, none of which it perceives to be dangerous and memory usage is 334 MB

One thing I can't do is click on links in my e-mail client. Something to do with AOL apparently that was on the PC when I got it.

Would AOL be conflicting with my current internet set up?

[GlosRFC]

I can look at them in the Task Manager but I don't really know what half of them are. Go to http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm and check them out there.

I have a thing called System Mechanic which I've used to check for anything that it thinks shouldn't be there but the result always comes up as OK.

I currently have 33 running processes, none of which it perceives to be dangerous and memory usage is 334 MB

One thing I can't do is click on links in my e-mail client. Something to do with AOL apparently that was on the PC when I got it. No surprise there seeing as how AOL hs been voted the worst technological product of all time

Would AOL be conflicting with my current internet set up? Quite possibly but I still don't think it's a problem with your internet connection

.

[Bulldog]

Is it right that the speed tests I've been running should have such a variance (onspeed tests came back anything from 2 meg to nearly 8 meg)

[Bulldog]

Can't see any processes that shouldn't be there.

[Bulldog]

Seems to get slower inthe afternoon and worst of all in the evening. This is what makes me wonder if it's some kind of capacity problem on the internet.

Juat taken nearly 40 seconds to open Betfair homepage.

Documents are opening fairly quickly as I have just restartd the PC but I know that they will soon slow down as well. Almost as though the longer I am on the internet the worse everything gets

[Bulldog]

Just opened Betfair again and it was almost instant as it should be with Broadband.

I really can't understand why it can vary so much in the space of a minute.

I think I need to get rat arsed tonight and leave everyone alone on here.

Bye for a while