[NA]PC cleanup[NA]

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
I am thinking you do not have to perform these functions for each user log-in of a computer; do it once under any log in and it will be done for the whole computer:
-malware antimalwarebytes
-defrag
 
Do these PCs have SSD or HDD? if SSD, defrag can be detrimental to the drive. I'd do a malware scan, a full virus scan (booted off of a live USB so nothing loads into memory). What are the symptoms?
 
Yes, i would be willing to bet there's some corruption in that user's profile. I'd log in as that person and scan as well.
 
Is there common malware out there which can escape the scrutiny of MAMB?
If so, does running it in safe mode help?

Even 15 mins following a reboot of the computer, the harddrive is constantly active on this computer. All updates are complete. Have rebooted several times. Have removed unrecognized programs. It has a great antivirus program installed already.

PS its a 2012 ASUS running Win7 Home
 
I'm not sure what that is but found this
we have 320gb/4gb/2.3ghz aboard, does that answer the Q?
 
MAMB found and quarantined 16 items using the fast scan.
Is there any advantage to a full scan? Or, do we suggest never using fast scan?

It is still pretty slow.
Thinking Spybot tool next.
 
Actually, check RAM usage. If it doesn't have enough RAM, it could be swapping to disk
Click to expand...

Let'sgoflying! said:
we have 320gb/4gb/2.3ghz aboard, does that answer the Q?
Click to expand...

I have a hard time believing it is a space problem. This laptop is used by one staffmember to log onto one website at a time, buy something, log off. Little graphics use, no vids/no audio, not even email. Very boring and low-use computer. Do you agree with this?
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
one login is working normally, another is exceedingly slow.
Click to expand...
There may be a certain program running in the background on the 'slow' login. Perhaps something totally useless and unnecessary. You'll have to narrow down what it is.

Try comparing what you see in the 'Task manager' (ctrl-alt-delete) under the "processes" and "startup" tabs, for each login. See what (if anything) is different.

Under the 'Startup' tab, Try disabling items from starting up automatically when Windows starts. That might help.

Worth a try.
 
Something is using resources on one user and not on the other user. Look at the task manager and you should be able to determine which process is using up all the resources on the slow user.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I have a hard time believing it is a space problem. This laptop is used by one staffmember to log onto one website at a time, buy something, log off. Little graphics use, no vids/no audio, not even email. Very boring and low-use computer. Do you agree with this?
Click to expand...

That behavior would not necessarily cause an issue, but something is, as others have stated. Go to task manager and under processes, look and see what the memory usage is and also what processes are using memory. This is probably not an issue that will be solved with a defrag. Many things can cause this, but the fact that it is only happening on one user, points to a process that is only starting for that user. The process may have a generic name or be buried under a system process, but definitely look to see what the total memory usage is and also the swap file usage (this would be under the user that is running slow). If it is just this user, a quick fix might be to delete the users profile and let it recreate.
 
Task manager next.
spybot found 34 things after mamb was done.
After clicking Finish, I cant tell if Spybot fixed them or not; it provides the list of baddies but no 'cleaned' or 'fixed'
 
What browser? I've found the later versions of Firefox to get gummed up and use much more memory than they should after going to a couple of websites.
 
We no longer use spybot, as it reports things that aren't malware, and misses many that are.... Defrag needn't be run often at all, as you'd have to go months before you would notice any difference. BTW, Win 7 and later is automatically set to defrag once a week.
Slowness has to be related to 1-CPU, 2-RAM, 3-Hard drive, or 4-Network or Internet throughput. Using TaskMgr or resource manager you should be able to isolate it down, if nothing else, by eliminating things. I'd check Windows System log, just to make sure you are getting disk errors.
 
Following the spybot cleanup it is a new computer. Thanks
This is Chrome.
 
Inbox
Inbox
Processes; seems pretty benignIMG_5491.JPG
 
Startup; no clue if these are ok or not, or if they are hogging resourcesIMG_5491.JPG
 
still not working right.
Rebooted a few times after the above.
Now, the hard drive light is on continuously, and when I click the start button, nothing happens.
New task manager window appear much as above.

When I click on Users in Task Manager, it has one user showing (and its not admin). That user has 41% of memory 203MB
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
still not working right.
Rebooted a few times after the above.
Now, the hard drive light is on continuously, and when I click the start button, nothing happens.
New task manager window appear much as above.

When I click on Users in Task Manager, it has one user showing (and its not admin). That user has 41% of memory 203MB
Click to expand...
If you can confirm that it doesn't have the issue under another user login, I would delete the profile for the user having the problem.
 
John221us said:
You would need to backup the files from that profile and then copy them back.
Click to expand...
Absolutely! Can't stress that enough.

Also, download and run this little puppy! https://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

You might want to give it a try before resorting to deleting the user profile.
I use the free version just fine and they keep it updated regularly. Cleans up a lot of junk. Then click the 'Registry' tab and run the Registry cleaner (it will prompt you to make a backup before fixing issues.. Click yes). Good idea to back it up to a usb flash drive (or copy it over to one).
Next, click on the 'Tools' tab. Under that, there are a host of goodies.

An uninstaller, where you can get rid of a lot of useless junk. A 'Startup' tab that allows you to choose which programs run on startup and which don't. I like it better than the Windows Task Manager.

A 'Browser Plugins' tab where you can enable/disable a lot of that background crap (not all of it is crap,lol).
A 'Disk Analyzer', and more. Just stay away from the 'Drive Wiper' tab for now! Unless you really intend to 'WIPE' a drive :D.
 
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Sheesh, that's a lot of useless c*ap you have running there. Get rid of what you actually don't need, it just wastes your time and resources.

Also, Performance Monitor will help you determine which application or process are the biggest resource hogs.
I assume you have performance problem right after restart, with no programs running, right? Then you can rule out browsers etc (since they are not running yet).

Again, find the offending application/process/service and solve your problem.
(hint: one candidate is Windblows Update which can be a total ***** and kill your PC performance while it's doing whatever it wants)

Let us know what you find.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I have 20 things in Startup. No idea which are necessary. Hate to remove important stuff. Want the list?
Click to expand...
Which login, the slow one or the normal one?
As stated in my first post, you need to do some comparison and troubleshooting. The 'startup' tabs in CC CLEANER (there are 3 sections) allow you to enable, disable or delete programs that are set to startup when windows start.

I wouldn't delete (remove) anything yet (unless you're absolutely sure it's not needed), but try disabling most, if not all of them and see if it makes a difference. If not, just re-enable them. In my experience, if I attempt to disable something too critical, it will say "access denied".

I'm no expert, but I'd probably disable all of them and then enable one by one until I notice a difference. If no improvement, I'd look for another cause. It has to be something in that particular profile I would think.
 
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Dave,

Keep it simple. If your hard drive is chugging away you need to determine which process is doing that.

Task manager, processes, and sort by disk usage. What process is using up all your disk?
 
I posted a pic of the Processes above.
I have no way to tell which are necessary and which are junk, so I have not removed any! Need more guidance; is there a site which will tell me what is safe to remove?
 
Lots of responses with varying ways to handle it. Give me some time to look your answers all over this weekend. Trying to do this in between hectic activities (or at 4 in the morning).
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I am thinking you do not have to perform these functions for each user log-in of a computer; do it once under any log in and it will be done for the whole computer:
-malware antimalwarebytes
-defrag
Click to expand...

Get and run Spybot search and destroy, it's is very good
 
Remember that some malware will reinstall itself even if you think you delete it. The only way to be sure is to save the data files and reinstall the operating system and programs.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I posted a pic of the Processes above.
I have no way to tell which are necessary and which are junk, so I have not removed any! Need more guidance; is there a site which will tell me what is safe to remove?
Click to expand...

It is a slow process, but put the name of each process into Google. -Skip
 
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