I need to speed my computer up and get rid of all the stuff I don't use

[Lunora]

With my computer newly uninfected, it's still slow and I need help figuring out which programs I can remove and which I have to keep. Also, I have some folders floating around like Limewire and Sony Vegas--even though I deleted them. And there is a plethora of stuff I never use on here:

• Napster
  
• Sonic DLA
  
• Sonic RecordNow!
  
• Zonealarm (which wants me to renew it anytime I open it)
  
• Usb Storage Adaptor (gift from friend trying to give me Wifi)
  
• Windows Easy Transfer (when I got a vista laptop and tried to transfer files)
  
• Xvid
  
• AC3 Filter
  

And those are just some of them. I never use any of the Microsoft stuff either because my computer can't read CD/DVD's.

My computer is prone to freezing just while typing, even if I only have MSN and Firefox open. Whereas before it could run GIMP, Firefox (with multiple tabs), Itunes, MSN, and paint all at the same time without freezing. It also takes a long time to turn on.

I was also wondering if I could have help with figuring out which protection programs would be best from here:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.p...ost&p=54318

And my Bitdefender trial is gonna run out in 10 days, but I was thinking about getting the free version. But, I don't know how it'll go with any of this stuff and need my computer to majorly speed up and remove programs before adding anything else.

Please help?

[Insomniac]

Although it's kinda a big task (I just did it on our good pc this weekend) perhaps a format would be your best option. It will take a while but will be worth it.

[Lunora]

Format?

[Lunora]

I need help-help. Not do it on my own stuff cause I don't understand that ^^;

...because my computer can't read CD/DVD's...

Wow. I can edit now! Anyhoo, my friend just told me what formatting means so I'm afraid that isn't even an option.

; Like I said there.

[AdvancedSetup]

Until someone has time to review and provide detailed help you may want to see if this site might be able to help some.

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

[Lunora]

http://www.ccleaner.com/

I ran that one because at least 2 of my friends--one my bf and the other a computer-nerdish type guy--knew how this one worked and could talk me through it. It removed a lot of stuff but my comp is still running slow. And I still need help deciding which protection to get out of the suggested stuff; though Im starting to wonder if BitDefender is too much for my comp, even though I like how good it is.

[exile360]

As far as security software goes, I use Kaspersky and it's light on resources, Avira is an excellent free choice and they offer a paid version which offers more protection.

I also use and recommend Spywareblaster and Spybot Search & Destroy (just use it's immunize function, not TeaTimer).

For a firewall, Comodo (free) just don't install the Defense+ antivirus component.

And of course, I recommend Malwarebytes'. If you don't want to purchase a license for Malwarebytes' you should still keep the free version installed and update it regularly and do a quick scan as a second opinion (once every week or two would be best).

As far as speeding things up, you might take a look at this tool: Startuplite It's made by the developers of Malwarebytes and will check for unnecessary startup items and allow you to remove them.

[Insomniac]

@exile360:

Not sure if you knew this, but you can install Comodo 3.5 without the AV component but still install the Defence+ HIPS. I haven't noticed any real performance issues with Defence+ on, although it can be a bit annoying at times.

[exile360]

I mainly disable it due to conflicts with resident AV's, but this may have changed with their latest version.

[Insomniac]

Bah... meant to reply yesterday (wrote out my reply and all) but must have closed the tab before hitting post. Anyway, can you recall any particular conflicts Defence+ would cause? (what would it do to the system, and with what AV?) I'm running it alongside AVG free, and it seems to be working fine. I had heard bad things about the earlier versions of Defence+ but v3.5 seems to be ok.

[exile360]

From what I'd heard/experienced (at least with some AV's) is that it would cause serious system lag and lockups, but the architecture of CIS is far different now than the standalone firewall, so they may have moved off a lot of the functions that were built into defense+ over to the AV component (which you don't have installed).

[Insomniac]

Then why does Defence+ work without the AV?

When you install it you get three main options: Firewall, Defence+ and AV, Firewall and Defence+, or the Firewall by itself. I chose Firewall and Defence+, so if CIS's Defence+ caused problems I would probably have seen them.

EDIT: Oh right, I think I've got it now. Some of the features that used to be counted under Defence+ have been moved to the antivirus part. I thought you meant that I didn't have all of Defence+'s features because I didn't have the AV.

[AdvancedSetup]

Hey guys... please don't go off topic on the user. If you want to discuss other software please start your own thread about it.

Thanks.

[Lunora]

Uhm. Yea. CCleaner did that thing for what opens at start up. Still an incredibly slow computer. Some actual help would be nice.

I'm getting rid of Bitdefender. I'm sick and tired of how slow it makes my computer and how it always has errors. I'm going for Avast, and I honestly don't understand why my computer is so [sorry..angry moment] slow if before viruses it was running normal.

Edits:// With the removal of Bitdefender and replacing it with Avast and Online Armor, Firefox takes only a few minutes to open as opposed to 10+ minutes and MSN opens a lot faster as well. I'm doing the 'Wizard' part of Online Armor and have some questions.

It's at the 'AUTO RUNS Checking Startup objects' part, and I was wondering what exactly do these 5 things do:

• Apple Mobile Device Service
  
• Ituneshelper.exe
  
• Qttask.exe
  
• ViewpointService.exe
  
• Wanmpsvc.exe
  

I know the first 3 are tied in with Itunes, and possibly the second with my adding the itunes to the toolbar when it minimizes, but do they need to run at Startup? And what about the last two??

Edited February 13, 2009 by Lunora
removed foul language

[Lunora]

Sorry for the double post, but I need a bit of a bump here with some help on Online Armor *pokes above post*

[YoKenny1]

What is your CPU type and speed and how much RAM does the system have?

Go to start then Control Panel then System then copy down the information that will look something like mine:

Intel®

Pentium® 4 CPU 2.8GHZ

2.79GHZ 768MB of RAM

[Lunora]

Well after removing Bitdefender it speed up quiet a bit. But I do know my computer is old. Here you go:

Toshiba

Satellite

Intel® Pentium ® M

processor 1.50GHz

1.50 GHz, 496 MB of Ram

[exile360]

AppleMobileDevice service doesn't need to run unless you have an iPod.

Qttask can be disabled as it's the tray application for quicktime

wanmpsvc.exe is related to your network card so I'd leave it alone.

Another good idea would be to defragment your hard drive if it hasn't been done in a while.

If you really want to dig in and disable even more unnecessary stuff (things that not even ccleaner can see) you can use Sysinternals Autoruns: Autoruns

Save it to your desktop then run it (if using Vista, right click on it and select Run as administrator)

Once it finishes scanning, click on File and select Save

Save the AutoRuns.arn file to your desktop then upload it as an attachment to your next post and we can take a look and see if there's anything else you can safely get rid of.

[AdvancedSetup]

You can also run this tool and post the results if there are less than 400 entries.

This tool will list all the items in the Add/Remove along with the uninstall strings.

It will save a text file log in C:\AS_XYZ

Add Remove Entries

If there are more than 400 entries listed please ATTACH the file DO NOT post it direclty into the post.

[Lunora]

I was surfing the web looking up Mystic Topaz in the images, when Avast! popped up with a warning saying I almost got a trojan. I clicked the abort thing. But, now in the real time scan part for Web it shows infected count. What does that mean?? Am I infected or not??

[YoKenny1]

I was surfing the web looking up Mystic Topaz in the images, when Avast! when Avast! popped up with a warning

I use avast! as well and read the avast forum where there is a rampage of sites being infested by hackers embedding malicious code that is being detected by avast! and a small window in the lower right opens for a short while indicating that the site is infected and either the whole site is blocked or just the infected part.

avast! is great!

By the way, adding RAM to your system will really enhance its performance and RAM is real inexpensive now so at least another 256MB RAM that probably would cost about $10.00 would make your surfing faster.

[Lunora]

Bump.

Ok. Weird my Malwarebytes wont open. It prompts an error. '440'

[Lunora]

I use avast! as well and read the avast forum where there is a rampage of sites being infested by hackers embedding malicious code that is being detected by avast! and a small window in the lower right opens for a short while indicating that the site is infected and either the whole site is blocked or just the infected part.

avast! is great!

Hrm? I'm sorry I really don't understand other than hackers... ^^; It's happened twice today and Avast blocked it -nods- Now the count is back down to 0.

But, after rebooting my Malwarebyte's still prompts the same error =/

Oh, also my Avast! wont open the log until my computer is being turned off

[AdvancedSetup]

Lunora, maybe you need to do another alternate scan again. I wouldn't think so, but maybe you did get some infection, or maybe you just have some incompatibility between the current software on your system.

Please disable your BitDefender and run this AV scanner.

Download to the desktop: Dr.Web CureIt

• Doubleclick the drweb-cureit.exe file and Allow to run the express scan
  
• This will scan the files currently running in memory and when something is found, click the yes button when it asks you if you want to cure it. This is only a short scan.
  
• Once the short scan has finished, Click Options > Change settings
  
• Choose the "Scan"-tab, remove the mark at "Heuristic analysis".
  
• Back at the main window, mark the drives that you want to scan.
  
• Select all drives. A red dot shows which drives have been chosen.
  
• Click the green arrow at the right, and the scan will start.
  
• Click 'Yes to all' if it asks if you want to cure/move the file.
  
• When the scan has finished, look if you can click next icon next to the files found:
  
  If so, click it and then click the next icon right below and select Move incurable as you'll see in next image:
  
  This will move it to the %userprofile%\DoctorWeb\quarantaine-folder if it can't be cured. (this in case if we need samples)
  
• After selecting, in the Dr.Web CureIt menu on top, click file and choose save report list
  
• Save the report to your desktop. The report will be called DrWeb.csv
  
• Close Dr.Web Cureit.
  
• Reboot your computer!! Because it could be possible that files in use will be moved/deleted during reboot.
  
• After reboot, post the contents of the log from Dr.Web you saved previously in your next reply with a new hijackthis log.
  

[Lunora]

@_@ I could be infected /again/? Oh. I have Avast! and Online Armor now -nods-