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General discussion

2 questions re: slow laptop, and what is Otto?

Feb 21, 2010 10:43AM PST

Hello all,

I'm trying to speed up my Toshiba laptop running XP. When i boot it up, it's impossibly slow once I get to the desktop (takes forever to open a program & firefox).

Looking for tips on how to remedy this.

Also, in looking for programs to delete, hoping to speed up things, I found "Otto" in my programs list. What is it?

thanks very much! _Cara

Toshiba Satellite
XP SP3
Centrino Duo processor

Discussion is locked

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How much RAM ...
Feb 21, 2010 11:35AM PST

is installed on the laptop?

How many services and startup applications are running under the processes tab in Task Manager?

What is "a program and firefox"? A humongus database and firefox (which is notoriously slow to load in the first place)?

Give us some specifics to work with.

Regarding Otto, it is generally found to be a games related application connected to Wild Tnagent and is often found on Dell computers (don't know about how common it is with Toshiba but if you or someone else has ever installed anything connected with Wild Tangent that would explain its presence). Here is a link to assist in your research regarding Otto -

Information concerning Otto and Wild Tangent including removal

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ram etc
Feb 21, 2010 12:10PM PST

RAM= 1.66 GHz, .99 GB
77 processes listed in Processes tab

By "programs" I mean when I click on a program to open it, such as Word, or Firefox (that is pretty much all I do aside from downloading music occasionally).

I run Avira Antivir, Ad-aware, CCcleaner, Comodo Firewall, to make sure there's no malware. Never found anything. Also ran NTREGOPT.

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RAM
Feb 22, 2010 5:14AM PST

You would probably see a sizable performance improvement if you added another GB of RAM.

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Avira is Slowing Your PC
Mar 6, 2011 8:03AM PST

Source: http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2011/speeding-up-your-pc.asp

"Geeks.com - Ten Tips to Speed Up Your PC"

Excerpt from Item #5:
"...If you don't want to have your system hijacked by a Trojan, pick up Malwarebytes' Antimalware which can find and quickly eliminate programs such as "Avira AV" which auto-install and trick the unsuspecting victim that he/she is infected. (Then it will try to collect payment from "product activation" but it's really just a hijacking program) Bottom line, your computer will run faster and much more efficient without these kinds of infections."

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Avira Can Be A Legitmate Antivirus Program
Mar 7, 2011 12:32AM PST

It don't think the issue here is an infection with Avira. Although there is a fake antivirus/spyware out there by the name you've mentioned, the "Avira Antivir Personal" program is an excellent FREE antivirus program which is used successfully by many computer users. It appears like the original poster has the legitimate version, not the malware you speak of. In fact, there are a number of fake antivirus malware types which use legitimate antivirus as "come on" to get you to download their malware.. Be sure of what you're installing..

Hope this helps.

Grif