Originally Posted By: another Todd
Geez guys, I can only do one thing at a time, and as slow as this thing was running each thing I tried took forever. I didn't mean to upset anyone and I value all your advice, because everything was taking forever I wanted to try the easier things first. Sleddriver, you indicated your procedure would take "a Saturday" to complete, on this slow thing it might have taken several days. Now that it's running good, I'll try it.
Anybody who offered a suggestion, thank you, if you send me a PM with your address I'll send you a $10 Starbucks card, or just $10 if you prefer. I really do appreciate your help.
Now then, malware bytes has taken care of the issue, and it's running good. I will still run the other programs suggested as it can't hurt (I hope). Thanks again.
Ignore those jumping on you. That has become the culture on this site lately. Very unfriendly here at times.
Glad MB helped. It usually finds things other programs don't. Keep it installed and run it now and then as preventative maintenance.
Keep your AV up to date or even consider swapping to a different AV than McAfee. I am not a big fan of them. I used to be but they let too much get past these days. I use Norton and I haven't had a virus in years.
As another poster mentioned, take this time now that the system is working properly to back up everything. From your e-mail address book to files you don't want to lose. Do it on a USB thumb drive or some other external device. That way if this is only short lived you have your important info. If the problem does come back the next step is to wipe the hard drive and do a clean reinstallation of your OS.
If I were you at this point I would do the following to finish up the job...
1 - Open Control Panel and go to your Add-Remove Programs feature and look through the list and see if you see any that you didn't install? If you don't recognize what they are look at the date they were added. Things that were added a long time ago are ok to leave usually. Look for anything recent that coincides with your recent issues. Also look for things that may have been added without your knowledge when installing other software like toolbars and stuff from Google. Get rid of any you do not use.
2 - Install and run TweakNow Registry Cleaner( free ). Clean the registry, defrag the registry, clean tracks, and use the disc cleaner. This will most likely remove some left over trace elements.
3 - Go through and delete old files, clean out your e-mail, etc... basically do a bit of house cleaning.
4 - Install and run Defraggler( disc defragmenting software - free )or another top rated 3rd party defragment tool. Do a full or complete defrag of your hard drive vs. a quick defrag. You can use the Windows built in one but better results can be had with a good 3rd party one.
This should really help your overall system performance. Works well for me when I deal with things like you have been.
Good luck with it and hope your problems are over.
