topic Re: suddenly slow in PCs & Accessories

suddenly slow

vaioaddict — Sat, 23 Oct 2004 14:27:42 GMT

I purchased my vaio last month, was working fine. Last two days, the Microsoft word is not responding. ( I have installed Microsoft Office 2003 package). When I try to make a Power Point slide, and type in a letter, its appearing after 10 sec, the hourglass sign remains for an awful long time . The letters do not appear clear for a long time.
Even my old computer with half the speed and memory never did like that!
I do not know if this is a coincidence, happened after I made Vaio back up discs. Please help! Thanks very much

Re: suddenly slow

TygerTyger — Sat, 23 Oct 2004 17:32:49 GMT

Head over to http://www.download.com and get yourself a copy of Spybot and Ad-aware SE. Give your computer a scan and see if it's adware slowing it down. Try a thorough scan for viruses as well just to be on the safe side. I'd also recommend trimming down thr programs running on startup just in case you're running something heavy you don't need.

Re: suddenly slow

vaioaddict — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 17:45:03 GMT

Thank you for your response. I did not have many programs open. I am not using the laptop tp connect to internet. I have not tried the virus scan yet. Is the installed Norton anti virus not enough? Sorry, I am not very computer literate. Cheers. Bye

Re: suddenly slow

kee-lo_ — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:24:52 GMT

Running a full scan every month is always recomended.

Re: suddenly slow

Twisted-Rizla — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:00:01 GMT

 Is the installed Norton anti virus not enough?

Most definately not! To be safe you have to play safe. As TT and Kee-Lo have advised, you need to get additional security. Get the two progs and run them every few days. I don't rely on Norton contacting me to inform me of an automatic update, I hit the liveupdate option regularly and there are ivariably a couple of upgrades to download. Keep up to date. Do the same when you have Spybot and Ad-Aware loaded. Hit the 'check for updates' button regularly. A firewall is also a need-to-have. If you don't have one with your Norton there's one on XP. I use them both.
Happy surfing:smileygrin:

(Did I sound like a cop?)

Re: suddenly slow

stevep-4 — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:15:02 GMT

If you are running XP, it may be worth doing CTRL ALT DEL and looking at the task manager.
Possibly there is a program (such as a anti virus program) which is running flat out and using the majority of system resourses.

Look at the processes tab. With the system idle, the CPU usage should only be around 2 %.

Re: suddenly slow

jammold — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:18:05 GMT

(Did I sound like a cop?)

Lol - just a little there TR.
You are right about those programs you mentioned - I have all of them on my system, I find that once every week for Adware/Spyware is enough and viruses every two weeks to one month normally keeps thinks squeeky-clean.

NIS 2005 should hopefully make my firewall experience a more pleasant pill to swallow - waiting for the form to be processed, then I will get my hands on the CD...

Re: suddenly slow

Twisted-Rizla — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 20:28:36 GMT

Yeah, and I'm always amazed what they find.
Thing that always worries me is that by the time the sweepers have detected spayware on your computer has the damage already been done? In other words have any of the programs already have transmitted the information they have been sent to get. Know what I mean?

Re: suddenly slow

jammold — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 22:07:16 GMT

TR - this does scare me I must admit. I found "Blaze" the other week but nothing since. I wonder what they do...

Re: suddenly slow

TygerTyger — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 22:13:29 GMT

I've found keyloggers and backdoors, but nothing has ever come of them. I dont get caught out anymore cos you get savvy eventually. I have however been seriously molested by a much cleverer method, one which to this day I never managed to work out so I guess sometimes you just can't win if someone takes a real 'liking' to you.

Re: suddenly slow

jammold — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 22:45:05 GMT

I have however been seriously molested by a much cleverer method, one which to this day I never managed to work out so I guess sometimes you just can't win if someone takes a real 'liking' to you

That really does scare me Tyger - its "digital stalking" in a way...

*shudder*

Re: suddenly slow

TygerTyger — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 22:48:52 GMT

Yeah well I won't go into details cos I don't wanna make internet-newbies nervous but it was pretty much a digital stalker, and it lasted over a couple of years. And they knew some personal stuff. Say no more. And yes, it makes you very.........very..........worried.

Re: suddenly slow

kee-lo_ — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 23:05:14 GMT

Woah TT that sounds really bad.
Did you ever get the police on to the case or did it just stop one day?

Re: suddenly slow

danstijl — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 23:08:32 GMT

ok..... that makes me nervous indeed. Want to buy spy sweeper from webroot, good option????

Re: suddenly slow

TygerTyger — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 23:11:15 GMT

*Shrug* realistically going to the police wouldn't have achieved a lot. They only really have a chance of doing anything if they are in the same country as you, and then it has to be a sufficiently severe case. What with all this phishing and stealing from banks and industrial espionage etc, major stuff, do the police really have time for one guy who gets freaked out? Not really. It's a mammoth task to keep up, I don't see how it's effectively possible.
Anyway I learned not to leave any sensitive emails online, was very careful what I said in chatrooms, kept records of everything etc etc and more importantly just acted like I didn't care anymore and just shut down whenever they turned up. I guess they just got bored and went away, although they could certainly just carry on if they wanted to.

Re: suddenly slow

kee-lo_ — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 23:11:35 GMT

A good option is not giving your details to strangers....

Re: suddenly slow

TygerTyger — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 11:01:52 GMT

Hey I don't give my details to nobody. When somebody can walk into your webmail accounts like it's Tesco it's a little hard to stop them.

Re: suddenly slow

Twisted-Rizla — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 11:19:43 GMT

You're right about that TT. If a thief wants to pinch your car and is determined to do so, there's little any of us can do about it.

Although I'm as concerned as the next person about cyber trespassing at least I have some knowlede about what is going on and what to do about it. I feel more for people like my mum and dad who are complete novices when it comes to PCs and are unaware of the threats that face them. Ignorance is no longer bliss when it comes to net security.

Re: suddenly slow

DAZZA — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 11:24:25 GMT

this happened to me with msn messenger
somebody got my hotmail details, and lost me a couple of friends

firewalls and spybot are a must

Re: suddenly slow

Twisted-Rizla — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 11:49:31 GMT

ok..... that makes me nervous indeed. Want to buy spy sweeper from webroot, good option????

The jury is still out on whether to buy or just use the free resources that are available from companies such as Spybot and Ad-Aware. I've asked the same question myself but opinion seems to favour the free versions. I think if you've got the two mentioned you should be OK.