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General discussion

Vista virus protection

by darkwar89 Jan 7, 2008 5:40PM PST

3 days ago, my internet became slower and slower to the point that I can not load some pages unless I refresh at least twice. It might be spyware, adware, trojans or worms but I have already scanned my laptop with AVG, Windows Defenfer, Spybot and Spydoctor. I even tried Ad-aware and Trojan Remover. Can someone help me find a good free program I can get online to fix this, vista compatible?

Discussion is locked

21 Posts
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Most likely needs
by Dango517 Jan 7, 2008 6:01PM PST
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Problem is still getting worse
by darkwar89 Jan 7, 2008 9:16PM PST

I have tried defragmenting and this problem popped up recently. I've had no problem with my laptop until a few days ago. More information if this helps. Toshiba Satellite A215. Comcast Internet. Linksys router. When I check the bytes received when viewing the status of my connection, the numbers are in the millions and hundred millions within seconds of connecting to the internet.

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test your connection speed here
by Dango517 Jan 7, 2008 10:02PM PST
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Speed test
by darkwar89 Jan 8, 2008 10:15AM PST

My speed keeps jumbling around. My first test said my ping was 107ms now it is 340 ms.

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I don't believe your following through
by Dango517 Jan 8, 2008 1:14PM PST

defrag, check speed at the link I've provided (a kbps/sec link speed, please), follow Grif's suggestion.

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Another Thought...
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Jan 8, 2008 7:27AM PST

Please turn OFF the computer... Then turn OFF the modem and router.. Leave them that way for 10 minutes.. At the end of 10 - 15 minutes, restart the modem, wait 5 minutes for it to initialize. Then start the router, wait five minutes. Then restart the computer...

Hope this helps.

Grif

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thanks but it didnt work
by darkwar89 Jan 9, 2008 8:37AM PST

I tried the resetting modem. I even tried using my other router. Should I just completely delete my HD? I reformatted and it didnt work.

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Next Step...Update Modem & Router Firmware
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Jan 10, 2008 2:03AM PST

We've found that Vista is having problems with many modem/routers which are running old firmware.. Visit the manufacturer's site and install the latest.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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slow internet connection
by bonw Jan 9, 2008 11:15AM PST

I'm not an expert in this matter by no means but I can try to give you some advice. I always start by running ccleaner, which is free
http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=ccleaner&tag=srch
you can also try hijack this also free http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=hijackthis&tag=srch
you could also run registry repair which is not free.I normally stick to freeware but I could not find anything I liked for vista. You would be surprised at how much quicker your computer runs when your registry is cleaned out.
http://www.migosoftware.com/store/registry-repair5.html?SourceID=REGISTRYREPAIR5_productpage
ccleaner will clean the registry also but what one misses the other one seems to get. read the instructions for these programs very carefully.they are to be used with a great deal of caution!! they do allow for backup and system restore points.

hope this helps

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"registry repair which is not free"
by Dango517 Jan 9, 2008 11:38AM PST
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free registry repair
by bonw Jan 10, 2008 9:43AM PST

I'm sorry I did not mean to imply that there were no free software programs for registry cleaning. I didn't find any free ones that I liked. I happened to be walking through my local dept. store and spotted this one from migosoft. Looked pretty good. Was on sale for like $20.00 so I picked it up. But thank you for the link. Pretty much everything else that I run is from download.com. Love the site! Trust the site!

bon

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before
by cmnt Jan 9, 2008 4:56PM PST

how much ram do u have in ur pc ?

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Ram
by darkwar89 Jan 10, 2008 1:29PM PST

1GB. Okay I have no idea what is wrong. I really do not think this is an incompatibility problem because if I have been using this router for months, should the problem start months ago and not just now?

Two points I want to make.

1. This started 5 days ago but I have been using this router for months and there was no problem at all.

2. This isnt the modem or the router either since the internet my PCs are functioning properly.

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Needs RAM at least 2GB
by Dango517 Jan 10, 2008 2:54PM PST
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Wincleaner
by darkwar89 Jan 14, 2008 2:06PM PST

Okay. Wincleaner Memory Optimizer fixed my problem, but today it stopped working and gave me the error "Unable to locate the 'Processor' performance object."

Does this mean I do no have enough RAM? I still do no understand why my laptop acts up now and not four months ago when I got my laptop. I still think it might be spyware.

Should i just buy more RAM for my laptop? or Do I need to install the necessary drivers?

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Ah...You Haven't Updated The Router and Modem Firmware Yet?
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Jan 12, 2008 10:06AM PST

It's a Vista issue with the firmware and other PC's running XP won't show the problem... Only Vista computers will exhibit the issue and some are showing it only after recent Vista updates..

It's too cheap and easy not to try..but that's your choice.

Grif

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Reformatted
by darkwar89 Jan 10, 2008 1:34PM PST

Okay so I reformatted my laptop with the recovery disk, but the problem is still here. Do registries get rewritten when I reformat.

Thanks so much to everyone for the help so far. Very much appreciated.

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See: Perform a clean installation of Windows Vista
by Dango517 Jan 11, 2008 3:22PM PST

within the content of this link. If you did it this way your hard drive maybe failing. This would also explain the very slow performance. Is it noisy.

Installing Windows Vista:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918884

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Router
by cmnt Jan 11, 2008 3:09PM PST

Problem could lies on your router firmware,try updating the latest firmware you can possible get from ur router manufacturer.
I did encounter the similar woes before,slow internet loading etc..
problem turns out to be Norton which seems to slow down my internet speed to crawling speed,after uninstalling and replaced it with Kaspersky,the speed took off again.

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confused
by darkwar89 Jan 14, 2008 3:02PM PST

My internet was finally working fine yesterday but today it is sluggish again. I should have never downloaded and opened that unreliable program.

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About Ram
by mopscare42 Jan 15, 2008 12:23AM PST

A friend of mine has that same computer and it came with 2 gig of ram which should be fine.
He did have the same problem you are having, but eleminated it by doing a disk cleanup every other day to get rid of the temp. internet files and all the other crap that builds up.
If your pings are between 107 and 340ms you need to call Comcast as those are too high.I was told by a Comcast tech. if the pings run over 100 consistently to www.comcast.net, it is cause for concern.
I have Comcast and they run from 30 to 70 ms and I live out in the dingles.
Wayne

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