Computer Problems part Two

Last week my 8 year old HP desktop died
and I got advice on buying a new one. On a
whim I went into safe mode and downloaded
a virus program and ran it from safe mode.

I can now boot up but it takes 45 min to do so.
In safe mode I got rid all the stuff that usually
boots, like Weatherbug and Yahoo Messenger,
so there's really not much left. After 45min, it
takes another 15min to load Firefox. But once
thats done, everything works at regular speed,
if I only do one thing at a time. The hard drive
is 80% empty, so its not that I have a lot on
the computer.

Any ideas what it could be.

Try downloading Spybot for viruses and Ccleaner for removing search details etc and cleaning the registry.

Spybot

Ccleaner

It might also be the first phase of the hard drive starting to crash. I've seen that as the symptom in the past.

Quote: EvenBob

Last week my 8 year old HP desktop died
and I got advice on buying a new one. On a
whim I went into safe mode and downloaded
a virus program and ran it from safe mode.

I can now boot up but it takes 45 min to do so.
In safe mode I got rid all the stuff that usually
boots, like Weatherbug and Yahoo Messenger,
so there's really not much left. After 45min, it
takes another 15min to load Firefox. But once
thats done, everything works at regular speed,
if I only do one thing at a time. The hard drive
is 80% empty, so its not that I have a lot on
the computer.

Any ideas what it could be.

Hi Bob, PM me and I can give you a basic run-down. Sounds like your computer got infected with spyware. It may not be dead. Your virus program may be a fake, and therefore you might have gotten yourself reinfected.

You'll need a ton of scanning software.

First, you'll need MBAM or MalwareBytes.
Second, you'll probably need ESET online scanner.

If after scanning you find something, save the log and remove it. If you scan again and it pops up again, your screwed. Then I or someone will have to do mega-tech support for you.

Run those two, as well as Norton, AVG, and/or McCafee Antivirus. If you pick up something, post your results and we'll see how bad it is.

Your problem is:....it's an 8 year old computer.

Now a days, programs are designed to run on the quad core processors with 8 gigs of ram.

Those luxuries didn't exist 8 years ago. Your computer likely runs windows xp, which could run on 512mb of ram and a 1 ghz processor.

Sure, it could probably still "run" for a few more years, but I'd recommend biting the bullet and getting some up to date hardware.

Processor is 2.6 Intel, 2 gigs of ram, 120 gb hard drive.

Quote: EvenBob

Processor is 2.6 Intel, 2 gigs of ram, 120 gb hard drive.

There is a lot more factors than just the values: For instance, I have an old computer from 2005 that still runs that has a 3.06 ghz processor with 2 gb ram. I also need to mention it's intel celeron(which is likely intel's worst processor) Newer processors are more efficient to the fact that more instructions can be processed at slower clock speeds.

I still stand by the fact that your computer is simply dated.

Sounds like a virus infection but at some point in time you probably are going to have to evaluate the "cleaning costs" with the much lowered purchase prices and find that dis-infecting the start up bloatware costs a great deal of time and money and just leaves you with an eight year old desktop.

I can run him through the cleaning procedure either off-line or online here. Not an issue. It can be saved, the question is if you want it saved.

I know 8 yrs is ancient in dog computer years, but I also am someone who takes perverse pleasure in getting my money's worth - excessively so - out of an old desktop type.

One trick is to go back to the settings of a previous date. This assumes something happened, that the computer is actually fine. Worked for me once.

Quote: odiousgambit

I know 8 yrs is ancient in dog computer years, but I also am someone who takes perverse pleasure in getting my money's worth - excessively so - out of an old desktop type.

Agreed. If you know what you are doing you can get long life out of things but its often at an expense of too much time and frustration.

One shareware distribution of a professional calendaring system gives you two years to buy the manual, after that they start incrementing a few seconds to your boot time until eventually its taking forever for your computer to boot but you don't associate it with any particular computer program.

Come on guys, who cares how old it is. It's not like computers suddenly start taking 45 minutes to boot on their 8th birthday.
Bob was using his computer just fine when it was 7.5 years old, and has not upgraded it to the newest microtrash version or anything like that. This is either a hardware failure or a virus/spyware infestation.

Bob:

1. Go to the control panel and check the amount of memory it thinks it has, make sure it matches what you think it should be. It is possible, that one of memory chips went bad for example.
2. I think, there is also a way to test both memory and harddrive from there, ask it to run the ests and see what it finds.
3. Get a memtest86. Download the image, burn it on CD, then boot from that CD. It will extensively test all of your memory for failures.
4. Get a hddscan, and run it to test your hard drive. See what it finds.
4. If nothing helps, format your hard drive, and reinstall windoze. That will take care of any possible malware, and also clean up the loads of junk windoze leaves around when it is installed for a while (it's not just the amount of stuff on the hard drive that matters, it screws up system data beyond comprehension).
5. If after reinstalling, it is still bad, it is probably your motherboard going south. At this point, you are better off getting a new computer. One last thing you might want to try is buying a new hard drive first, and seeing if that helps. You can get one for like 60 bucks, and, if you end up buying a new machine after all, you can plug it in there, so, it is not a waste. If you are willing to spend about 60 bucks more, get an SSD, as P90 suggested earlier. I still don't think it is worth it, but to each their own.

Quote: weaselman

5. If after reinstalling, it is still bad, it is probably your motherboard going south. At this point, you are better off getting a new computer. One last thing you might want to try is buying a new hard drive first, and seeing if that helps. You can get one for like 60 bucks, and, if you end up buying a new machine after all, you can plug it in there, so, it is not a waste. If you are willing to spend about 60 bucks more, get an SSD, as P90 suggested earlier. I still don't think it is worth it, but to each their own.

Weaselman,

Pretty good advice, but at 8 years old, I am betting the hard drive technology he has, is not compatible to the drives that are in use today. I stopped messing with the hardware about 5 years ago, but I think this would be a valid assumption. If I am correct, while he could get a drive to see if it fixes the old computer, I doubt it would be useful if he ended up needing to buy a new computer.............

Bob, I am certainly no expert. However these days you can buy an extremely good and functional laptop for about $350-$400. My parents finally gave in after having a seven year computer keep messing up. Their computer now runs great for the basic things they need. Shop around you will be able to find a nice new basic computer for a very reasonable price and you will have one tenth the headaches.

Quote: RaleighCraps

Weaselman,

Pretty good advice, but at 8 years old, I am betting the hard drive technology he has, is not compatible to the drives that are in use today.

What technology are you referring to? SATA was around 8 years ago, although, it is possible, that Bob's machine does not have it, but most if not all modern computers still have IDE interfaces as well.

Even if he only has SCSI on his motherboard (very unlikely), the problem is easily solved with a $10 adaptor cable.
Same goes for IDE to SATA btw, if he wants a SATA drive (e.g., an SSD), but only has IDE connectors, the going rate for an adaptor is $2 a piece.

Bob's computer has confirmed massive spyware infection. Since he needs to recover data from the drive, and would like to salvage the computer, I've sent him the cleaning instructions. It'll take awhile.

Hope you don't mind if he chooses to post the scan logs here.

Quote: EvenBob

On a whim I went into safe mode and downloaded a virus program and ran it from safe mode.

I guess I wasn't completely clear on this from the original post. Did you deliberately download a virus? Assuming that you did and that this was the "whim" thing, it doesn't sound so much as if "safe mode" really is.

Quote: odiousgambit

I know 8 yrs is ancient in dog computer years, but I also am someone who takes perverse pleasure in getting my money's worth - excessively so - out of an old desktop type.

Hold on to that Cathode Ray Tube monitor for ever and ever, they will never make another :)