Sick Computer

[AlanHo]

I might be missing from the Forum for a couple of days - I am off to a friends house tomorrow for as long as necessary.

He called me for some help with his computer. He told me it has got slower and slower and is now taking about 20 minutes to boot. Although on broadband - when he tries to open a page in IE6 it takes at least a minute to open - and sometimes just sits there until IE6 freeezes and the only way out is a hard reboot.

He can send Emails using Outlook Express but has not received any for a couple of months and suspects that there might be something wrong with his Email programme.

He is getting dozens of pop-ups - some which he cannot get rid of - they just keep coming back. MS Word will no longer open consistently - sometimes it will show the splash page but then the computer shuts down.

That is just a few of the problems he listed.

I asked him when he last did a full virus and malware scan of his computer - to be told that he had never done one. It wasn't necessary because the salesman at PC World, from where he bought the computer two years ago, told him it came with a special firewall and expensive anti virus programs were not needed.

He reckons he has a CD called a recovery disc - I suspect I will just cut to the chase and do a clean reinstall of Windows and his software after I save his documents onto a spare USB external hard drive which I will take with me. I will not transfer back his documents until I have ensured he is properly protected by courtesy of AVG and our other malware favourites - I am taking the latest versions with me on a CD so that I can install them before making his broadband connection.

Have I forgotten anything.......?

[andsome]

Exactly the same as happened with a friend over the road. I would sue PC World. :lol: Best of luck.

[D4\/!d]

Have I forgotten anything.......?

Prolly not. You're good at this sort of thing :)

If yer away from home, I would take this:

portable apps

And if your pal is on XP, then I would make use of the windows thingy called FAST - Files and Settings Transfer Wizard :)

And take yer own os disc, rather than use the pc world one. But use his validation code that's on the sticker on his pc. After all it's the os licence he bought not the disc.

Do Have Fun... :P

[AlanHo]

Progress report

When I switched it on, the computer took 32 minutes to boot up. I first installed crap Cleaner and let it check both the register and files. There were 187 registry entries and 87 Mb of files to be corrected.

AVG virus scan took just over 2 hours to process 67,000 files - I lost count of the problems it found and corrected.

AVG anti spyware took just over one hour to scan and found 19 trojans.

I then tried loading and closing down various programmes but it was clear the computer was unbelievably slow to respond to any mouse action - so I decided to re-install windows.

He had a full XP Home disc - to my surprise the computer booted up from it without me having to amend BIOS boot settings and the format and new windows installation went normally - with one major exception. It took 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete - the count-down minute timer on the screen took just under 5 minutes to process and change each minute on the counter.

After the new Windows was installed the boot time still took 24 minutes and opening Explorer took more than 3 minutes so there is obviously something wrong that needs urgent attention.

My knoweldge of hardware is rather limited - but since the newly installed Windows still runs slower than watching paint dry - is it possible we have a hardware problem like dicky memory - or what...?

[Boris]

Is the Primary IDE Channel set to DMA if available ?

What mode is in running in ?

it should look like the attachment below.

Make sure its set to "DMA if available"

[AlanHo]

I went back to his house for another go yesterday and checked all he settings again - including the DMA - which was set as you advise Boris.

Yet again the machine took more than 30 minutes to boot.

One strange event was that after the desktop wallpaper appeared, the Windows boot music was played for the second time (It usually is heard when the Windows splash screen is on during boot-up). The egg timer stayed on screen for about four minutes after the music and before the start button and task bar appeared.

I selected control panel and it took about 5 minutes for it to load - then roughly the same time as I made each selection in control panel before I was able to check the DMA setting.

When I clicked out of control panel it seemed to operate at normal speed - so I clicked on control panel and it loaded instantly. I checked all the device drivers etc and found nothing abnormal.

Being on a roll - I tried opening explorer - which loaded straight away and I was able to browse the drives, folders and files at normal speed - yet I had made no changes.

Thinking that somehow the problem had resolved itself I decided to re-boot.

The computer shut down normally - but the reboot took nearly 40 minutes before I could use the start button.

At this point I resigned from the task - it is quite beyond me - and he will take his box to a local computer repair company who will diagnose the problem for a quoted £15. It will be interesting to learn what they find - my betting is that he will get a further bill for some hardware, whether needed or not.

[andsome]

At least you had a damned good try. Well done.

[AlanHo]

My friends computer is back from "hospital".

They diagnosed a failing hard drive and he agreed to pay £90 for a new, but much bigger one, which included them reloading windows. It's a pity he was not able to contact me when he was at the shop making the decision - I could have saved him quite a bit. I wont mention this however and have let him believe he got value for money.

I'm now off to his house to partion the disc (C: for the OS and programs - D: for My Documents etc), load anti malware programmes, get him connected to the internet and transfer back all his files which I had managed to save onto a spare USB external hard drive I keep for such eventualities.

It's gonna cost him a couple of pints at least.

[P;3]

I asked him when he last did a full virus and malware scan of his computer - to be told that he had never done one.

(at which point ones heart went into ones boots perhaps?)

It wasn't necessary because the salesman at PC World, from where he bought the computer two years ago, told him it came with a special firewall and expensive anti virus programs were not needed.

faScinating thread

ermmm

what "special firewall" might one be thinking of?

and AVG is a free anticvirus so...what "expensive" AV might one have had in mind?

( I suspect the dear old Norton!!)

beggars the question too as to what training the PC world techs /advisors have?

also; if this came from PC world, as a "new" computer(?), why the failing drive? unless of course it has had so much crap thrown at it since bought that it is now literally worn out

[andsome]

I have mentioned this on here before. I once saw an advert in a local paper for keen salespeople for P.C.World. the advert stated that no computer experience was necessary, just a strong desire to SELL. That as far as I'm concerned said it all.

[P;3]

I am sure I saw an ad on the TV only last night from the pc world, and , in view of this thread's content, pricked up my ears; PC world is fine for some things but not for others

:(

maybe you need to have SOME computer know- how and what the pc should have on it and be aware of mis- information or completley WRONG information and prepared to challenge it

HOWEVER; if you knew NOWT about a pc and its basic needs then you might well accept as true all that is said to you;after all, with what have you to compare the information given you?

and the sick computer? now all clean and up and running properly protected? and WHY a failing drive when it is so young?