Slow browser, Facebook plug-ins?

[Jimmy9190]

This is about the computer I use. It's an HP Pavilion desktop, 4GB memory, 1TB hard drive, A-4 Vision processor, OS is Windows 7, set to auto download and install all updates and security patches from Microsoft. It's not super fancy, not super modern, may not be the best processor or computer there is but it is good enough to suit me. Or at least it was until yesterday.

I run the free versions of MWB, SAS and the paid version of Norton Internet Security 2012. I bought the computer a few months ago after my old XP machine picked up a bad root kit. I noticed yesterday that now when I browse the web, search for info on Google or spend any time on the web sites I use such as BITOG, Dodge Forum, the Yahoo business section and a few other sites, I get the little circle next to my mouse pointer arrow. It just sits there spinning and down in the lower left corner of the screen I see a tab that says "waiting for Yieldmanager" or waiting for "loadus.excelator" or any number of other spam/spyware tracking garbage. Usually it runs through a handful of sites it says it is waiting for then it will say in the tab "waiting for www.facebook.com". That tab will stay like that for a long time and all the while, I have the little green circle spinning next to the pointer arrow. It also seems my internet browsing speed is not quite as fast as it was before I noticed this problem yesterday. I do have a Facebook account. I use it to keep up with my daughter who is away at college. Sometimes Facebook is easier to catch up with her than a phone call. That is the only reason I have a Facebook account. I tried logging out of Facebook and still get that "waiting for Facebook.com" tab and green circle.

I am assuming this is some kind of spyware or tracking gimmick. How can I get rid of it or block it from my computer? It was never there before and I got this computer back in March. Computer seems to be working OK, no unauthorized changes have been made that I can see anyway.

I did try a Google search but did not come up with much of anything that was of any help. I appreciate any help you guys may have on this. It is driving me batty.

 

[antiqueshell]

Which IE version are you using?

I would start using Google Chrome, Opera, or FireFox browsers.

I currently have Chrome and Opera, and both seem to be quicker and more secure than IE 8 or 9.

You should try and use your MS MRT scanner to scan with it for any malware. Also perhaps your internet service is having problems. Try unplugging the modem from the wall for at least 5 minutes (with the PC off) then plug the modem back in...any difference?

To use the MS Malicious Removal Tool simply go to the "run" selelction in the start menu type in MRT and allow the PC to run it.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am using Chrome, sorry I left that off. Up until now it has worked fine. Wife's laptop runs Chrome and Windows 7 too, she is not having this problem so it has to be something I picked up somewhere. I have run scans with Norton, SAS and MWB, all they found was tracking cookies.

I just ran the quick scan with the MS MRT. It didn't find anything either. After typing this reply I still have the facebook tab in the bottom left corner of my screen and the green circle by the pointer. This is getting old.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Thanks for the quick reply. I am using Chrome, sorry I left that off. Up until now it has worked fine. Wife's laptop runs Chrome and Windows 7 too, she is not having this problem so it has to be something I picked up somewhere. I have run scans with Norton, SAS and MWB, all they found was tracking cookies.

I just ran the quick scan with the MS MRT. It didn't find anything either. After typing this reply I still have the facebook tab in the bottom left corner of my screen and the green circle by the pointer. This is getting old.


Another suggestion, try running the FULL scan of Malwarbytes and full scan of MRT with the computer in safe mode WITH THE PC DISCONNECTED FROM THE MODEM.

Very important to run FULL SCANS with all those you mentioned with the modem disconnected from the PC you don't want to be online.

 

[DemoFly]

At the top right of chrome click on the wrench.

>Settings>History>Clear browsing history from the beginning of time.

>Extensions>Disable all unwanted add-ons.

>Settings>Appearance>Reset to default theme.

Clear DNS cache
http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/AllDocumentation/ClearingBrowserCache

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: DemoFly
At the top right of chrome click on the wrench.

>Settings>History>Clear browsing history from the beginning of time.

>Extensions>Disable all unwanted add-ons.

>Settings>Appearance>Reset to default theme.

Clear DNS cache
http://docs.cpanel.net/twiki/bin/view/AllDocumentation/ClearingBrowserCache


Good suggestions! DemoFly...To me those are the first things I would do, so I figured that anyone else probably knows that as well. Sometimes geeks are not the most helpful. LOL

@Jimmy9190:

Try using IE. Do you have the same issues?

 

[Jeffy_D]

in chrome, click on the "wrench" button on the top right of the browser, then click on "tools", then click on "extensions" and remove all extensions and see if that helps.

also make sure that java and shockwave are updated.

its also possible that you need to clear out your browser cache, i would run ccleaner to do this.It also has an option to clean the dns cache.

its also possible that you need to defrag your hard drive , especially if it hasnt ever been done since purchase.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks again. I cleared the history in the Chrome settings menu, I still have the plug-in tabs at the bottom of the screen and the green circle by the arrow but maybe it will go away afterI re-start. I am about to download CCleaner and run it. I will post back when it is done. I appreciate your help here.

 

[DemoFly]

Originally Posted By: Jeffy_D


its also possible that you need to defrag your hard drive , especially if it hasnt ever been done since purchase.

Windows 7 has a default weekly defrag regimen.

 

[Jeffy_D]

Originally Posted By: DemoFly
Originally Posted By: Jeffy_D


its also possible that you need to defrag your hard drive , especially if it hasnt ever been done since purchase.

Windows 7 has a default weekly defrag regimen.


I install a third party defragger on every system i touch , so i have little knowledge of the behavior of the built in disk defragmenter.

Even if its been running each week , windows has traditionally done a terrible job at compressing and relocating files in an efficient way. i always use defraggler or mydefrag.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks for your help guys!

CCleaner, clearing the browsing history and a restart seems to have put things back to normal now. I still get the rapid list of tracking cookies that were always present before when I visit web sites, Dodge Forum has a lot of those, and they also have a lot of ads on their site too. But the list is really brief again now, just like it used to be and so far the "waiting for www.facebook.com" tab has not come back since I restarted. The green circle is not stuck on next to the mouse pointer arrow any more and the computer appears to be back up to normal operating speed again too.

I suppose I will need to do this same procedure every so often. I used to just clear my temp files about every day on my old XP machine to keep it running at a regular speed.

Thank you for all of your help on this. I appreciate it. I had no idea how to fix this problem.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I use Chrome and have AdBlock and Better Pop Up Blocker, and they take care of most unwanted ads.

And if you run anything Flash intensive, try manually stopping it once in a while. I have 8 GB of RAM on my laptop and the Shockwave plug-in runs wild. Doesn't matter if it's Chrome or Safari. Sometimes it consumes somewhere around 5-600 MB of memory. Stopping it once in a while helps a lot. And another thing that slow things down is the anti-virus. Norton and McAfee seems to be the worst offenders. That's why I stick with Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows machines.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
Thanks for your help guys!

CCleaner, clearing the browsing history and a restart seems to have put things back to normal now. I still get the rapid list of tracking cookies that were always present before when I visit web sites, Dodge Forum has a lot of those, and they also have a lot of ads on their site too. But the list is really brief again now, just like it used to be and so far the "waiting for www.facebook.com" tab has not come back since I restarted. The green circle is not stuck on next to the mouse pointer arrow any more and the computer appears to be back up to normal operating speed again too.

I suppose I will need to do this same procedure every so often. I used to just clear my temp files about every day on my old XP machine to keep it running at a regular speed.

Thank you for all of your help on this. I appreciate it. I had no idea how to fix this problem.


Temp files and junk pile up real quick, I purge mine once a day. I just fixed a machine for a friend who was complaining about things slowing down. I installed CCleaner and removed 1285MB of junk. I installed an after market defrag program and she was at 18% fragmentation according to that software. No virus's or malware, just a machine in need of a good tune up.

 

[DemoFly]

1285mb is nothing

I remove about 2000mb every week.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: DemoFly
1285mb is nothing

I remove about 2000mb every week.


I pull about 250 a day or more. My point is junk can slow a computer, and a lot of people are clueless as to why.

 

[Jimmy9190]

I guess I spoke too soon. The same problem is back again this morning. Even as I type this reply, down in the left corner fo the screenI have a gray tab that says waiting for www.facebook.com and the little green timer circle is stuck spinning next o my mouse pointer again....I did sign back into facebook today, last night when I thought I had the problem solved I was logged out of facebook. Maybe I need to get rid of facebook altogether and just send regular emails back and forth with my daughter.

If anyone has any idea or help, I am all ears. Thanks.

Edit: Now the problem seems to be gone again, here I am typing a reply and the tab and circle are both gone, but they were here just a couple minutes ago. I have no idea what is happening here..

 

[DemoFly]

Are you sure there isn't a facebook extension still causing a problem?

At the top right of chrome click on the wrench.

Settings>Extensions>Disable all unwanted add-ons.

 

[Jeffy_D]

Version 20 was recently released. Click on the wrench , then click on "about google chrome". See what version its on, should be on 20.0.1132.47 m . If its not it should at that point start updating automatically, thier updater is notoriously slow and consumes alot if ram in the process. If it wont automatically update, something is corrupt, go download the latest version, it will fix any registry errors and youll for sure be updated. You might try defragging with defraggler too.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks once again for your help. I went to settings-extensions and it does not have an option there for disabling unwanted add-ons. It only says Norton Identity Protection is enabled and has a link to get more options from Google. I clicked that and it took me to the Google page to download a bunch of apps.

I did update to the current version. When I clicked the About Google Chrome it said I had been running version 19.0.1084.56 m and automatically started updating, now I have version 20.0.1132.47 m. I have tested a couple of web sites and so far I have not seen the green circle or the waiting for facebook.com tab. Computer seems to be working normally now. I will continue on clearing the history every so often now though and keep the chrome version up to date.

Thanks very much for all of your help on this. I appreciate it very much.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
And another thing that slow things down is the anti-virus. Norton and McAfee seems to be the worst offenders. That's why I stick with Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows machines.


No offense intended toward you or anyone else but I was running MSE when I picked up that root kit back in March. I was also running MSE when I got hit with the Fake Anti Virus 2012 malware garbage back in December. I got that Fake AV junk when I went on imageshack.com to upload a picture of an oil change pan I had bought. I guess imageshack may be OK but on that day I got hit with that malware. As soon as I went on image shack that was when the fake AV started on my computer.

I got the root kit when I wen to a recommended site to download a zip file program. The site was brothersoft.com and I was trying to get a zip file program to help install a stripped down version of Itunes. I have since learned that brothersoft is a known haven for malware.

I got both of those malware infections on my old XP computer. Norton is the only AV security program I have ever used that actually alerted me to malicious garbage and kept me from going on the malicious site. I don't surf porn or go on any unsavory sites. I have learned the hard way that you need a good solid AV and security program. There are too many online crooks and dirtbag thieves that want to rip people off, and there are too many pimple faced punks that will damage your computer just because they can. My new computer came with a free trial of Norton. When it ended I used a paid version of AVG for a while, I liked Norton a lot better and it seems to me to be much more thorough and offer better protection.

My computer runs plenty fast for me, Norton really does not seem to be slowing it down at all. I run Chrome and Norton on my wife's laptop too, she has had no problems with it either. She has not had the waiting for facebook.com problem but now if it does happen we will know what to do. Thanks again everybody. I think we got it whooped this time.