Slow PC UPDATE

[Pghpooh]

HI
I need some help.
2 years ago I bought my daughter and son in law a HP computer for Christmas. Over the past 2 years they have left it go to hell. The desktop on the pc must have over 100 shortcuts installed.. They go into sites looking for ?free stuff? and ?free games? and end up getting cookies and who knows what else loaded into the machine. The latest screw up came last week. My grand daughter got a mouse shaped like a mouse for the pc for her birthday. My son in law plugged the mouse in and I quote,,, The pc went crazy?
A few days before that they switched from Verizon dsl to Comcast cable for the internet service. After the switch the Comcast download speed was super fast. After the mouse episode the download speeds and I quote ? are super slow!?
Their list of complaints goes on and on.
What I want to know and do if I can is as follows.
Since the pc is a HP pc and loaded with the so called pre-installed software, can I remove this ?Free? software and get some of that junk off of the pc? How do I do that??
How do I find out what has been installed and running in the background??? And get rid of that?
If I had my way I would do a system restore and take the pc back to day one!!!
Another question,,,, they never turn the pc off. Does windows create a restore point on a daily basis that I can use?
They have Norton software installed on the machine. When Comcast installes their stuff I think they use McAfee Virus scan. Do you have to turn off Norton and let McAfee run or turn off McAffee and let Norton run?
They never created any backup disks when they got the pc. Is it still possible to create those disks on a 2 year old pc?
And, when you switch from dsl to cable for your internet service,,, do you have to uninstall the pppoe that dsl uses???
I know this is a lot of questions and some could be posted on other forums I wanted to start here first. Thanks for listening.
Pghpooh

 

[xSauronx]

format ftw!

unless theres something on there someone needs to keep. back that up, then format it. from the sound of things, that just sounds easiest

otherwise id start with add/remove programs and remove everything you could. have one of them with you so you dont remove stuff they use regularly, and get rid of everything else.

then id run anti-virus, spybot, ad-aware and install a software firewall. and make sure its secured and up to date. see the security thread in the Software forum. its great, and should help you out tremendously.

id worry about the funky mouse after you did all of that, christ knows that will keep you busy anyway.

 

[mechBgon]

1) get them a router. It serves as a perimeter firewall that doesn't rely on the PC or the user. This should go inbetween the PC and the modem. If the router you buy has wireless capabilities, disable the wireless capabilities so the neighbors don't connect to it (intentionally or otherwise). This is done by going into the router's configuration menu through a web browser; the router's manual will show how.

2) I would remove both Norton and McAfee and then install this and fully configure it for autopilot operation (automatically deleting threats without asking the user). The computer should only have one antivirus software installed at a time.

3) consult John's malware-removal guide, and get your resources lined up in case you need them when you go over there. Make sure you get the Norton and McAfee removal tools that John has listed on that page, since it sounds like you might need them both.

4) remove as much junk as possible via the Add & Remove Programs in Control Panel before letting loose with the removal tools.

5) consider setting them up with Limited user accounts. This is sort of drastic, but also drastically effective... as long as whoever has access to the Admin account uses common sense. So some user education is in order too.

6) if you install Spybot Search & Destroy, update it, click Mode at the top and switch it to Advanced mode, now you can go down the left side to Tools, and there's a Startup tool that shows what-all starts when the computer starts up. If you look at the right edge of the window, there's a pop-out bar that will tell you info on some items. You can disable or altogether remove items.

7) take the system to the Microsoft Update website to check it for missing Windows and Office patches. Make sure that Automatic Updates is turned on :camera: in Control Panel.

8) fully enable the Data Execution Prevention setting like this :camera:. It stops some types of exploits.

9) Uninstall all versions of Sun Java Runtime that are installed (use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel), then install Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 and promptly use it to run Secunia's online checkup. Follow its directions to install security updates for stuff like Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash Player, QuickTime and whatnot.

Hope that helps a little. It sounds like this is not the sort of thing you're super-familiar with, so it might be worth hauling the PC away to a professional shop for the initial cleanup, then do the updates and settings changes afterwards. Might save you some premature hair loss

 

[Lemon law]

To Pghpooh,

As the two previous posters point out----you have two general choices----either totally nuke the hard drive---and then hope your original HP install disks can get you back to two years ago.---or be a stubborn type---and be bound and determined to get rid the malware their PC is probably infested with.

But speaking as someone who bought a used PC on ebay---that arrived with over 3500 pieces of pre-installed malware at no extra charge---I can tell you with almost a certainty---that a clean install may well beat trying to cure what ails you---even if you value your time at fifty cents an hour.

But I can tell you---you can only have one active antivirus at a time running on that PC---or they will conflict---and bring that PC to its knees.---and it sound like McAfee v Norton to me.

So all things considered---if I were you---I would get that PC off the internet---go to add remove programs---and delete the two warring AV's---then follow the steps in John's malware guide to set up a good multi layered defense. And then see where you are at before taking the radical nuke the hard drive step.

But if your daughter and son in law stay stuck on ignorant---its hopeless. Computer security takes education.---and nothing cures ignorant and proud of it.---what me worry is no longer an option in today's internet.

 

[daveybrat]

Originally posted by: Pghpooh
HI
I need some help.
2 years ago I bought my daughter and son in law a HP computer for Christmas. Over the past 2 years they have left it go to hell. The desktop on the pc must have over 100 shortcuts installed.. They go into sites looking for ?free stuff? and ?free games? and end up getting cookies and who knows what else loaded into the machine. The latest screw up came last week. My grand daughter got a mouse shaped like a mouse for the pc for her birthday. My son in law plugged the mouse in and I quote,,, The pc went crazy?
A few days before that they switched from Verizon dsl to Comcast cable for the internet service. After the switch the Comcast download speed was super fast. After the mouse episode the download speeds and I quote ? are super slow!?
Their list of complaints goes on and on.
What I want to know and do if I can is as follows.
Since the pc is a HP pc and loaded with the so called pre-installed software, can I remove this ?Free? software and get some of that junk off of the pc? How do I do that??
How do I find out what has been installed and running in the background??? And get rid of that?
If I had my way I would do a system restore and take the pc back to day one!!!
Another question,,,, they never turn the pc off. Does windows create a restore point on a daily basis that I can use?
They have Norton software installed on the machine. When Comcast installes their stuff I think they use McAfee Virus scan. Do you have to turn off Norton and let McAfee run or turn off McAffee and let Norton run?
They never created any backup disks when they got the pc. Is it still possible to create those disks on a 2 year old pc?
And, when you switch from dsl to cable for your internet service,,, do you have to uninstall the pppoe that dsl uses???
I know this is a lot of questions and some could be posted on other forums I wanted to start here first. Thanks for listening.
Pghpooh

"free stuff" and "free games" almost always equals "free malware/spyware"

Like everyone else here has suggested, i'd either take it to a professional or use the hp recovery disks to reformat and restore the pc back to factory specs.

 

[daniel49]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
1) get them a router. It serves as a perimeter firewall that doesn't rely on the PC or the user. This should go inbetween the PC and the modem. If the router you buy has wireless capabilities, disable the wireless capabilities so the neighbors don't connect to it (intentionally or otherwise). This is done by going into the router's configuration menu through a web browser; the router's manual will show how.

2) I would remove both Norton and McAfee and then install this and fully configure it for autopilot operation (automatically deleting threats without asking the user). The computer should only have one antivirus software installed at a time.

3) consult John's malware-removal guide, and get your resources lined up in case you need them when you go over there. Make sure you get the Norton and McAfee removal tools that John has listed on that page, since it sounds like you might need them both.

4) remove as much junk as possible via the Add & Remove Programs in Control Panel before letting loose with the removal tools.

5) consider setting them up with Limited user accounts. This is sort of drastic, but also drastically effective... as long as whoever has access to the Admin account uses common sense. So some user education is in order too.

6) if you install Spybot Search & Destroy, update it, click Mode at the top and switch it to Advanced mode, now you can go down the left side to Tools, and there's a Startup tool that shows what-all starts when the computer starts up. If you look at the right edge of the window, there's a pop-out bar that will tell you info on some items. You can disable or altogether remove items.

7) take the system to the Microsoft Update website to check it for missing Windows and Office patches. Make sure that Automatic Updates is turned on :camera: in Control Panel.

8) fully enable the Data Execution Prevention setting like this :camera:. It stops some types of exploits.

9) Uninstall all versions of Sun Java Runtime that are installed (use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel), then install Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 and promptly use it to run Secunia's online checkup. Follow its directions to install security updates for stuff like Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash Player, QuickTime and whatnot.

Hope that helps a little. It sounds like this is not the sort of thing you're super-familiar with, so it might be worth hauling the PC away to a professional shop for the initial cleanup, then do the updates and settings changes afterwards. Might save you some premature hair loss

not to thread hijack but I noticed when I ran vista's checker on one of my machines it said it was incompatabile with Kapersky? comments?

to op: educate them if you can. I have cleaned up peoples machines, onl;y to have them screw it up again in a matter of days....explain the diff to them of safe and unsafe practices.

 

[Xsorovan]

To answer some of your questions:
1. I personally would copy files (documents and pictures) somewhere else and then reformat.
2. If reformatting and reinstalling ISN'T An option I would do as was suggested above and go into control panels and add/remove almost everything. (You can google the names of things if you don't know what it is to find out if it's worth keeping)
3. The tool you'll want to use as well is called "msconfig" you type it into the run area under the start command. This will tell you what is loading up when the computer loads. It'll even let you turn them off for the next reboot. (However uninstalling the program first is the best way to get rid of it.)
4. Having 2 virus scanners on your computer is like having 2 very angry people in the same room with each other. They will fight, and they will take up most of the CPU processing time to do it. I would say remove norton, and go with the comcast managed McAfee. (I suggest you uninstall it with everything else when going through add/ remove and then reinstall it after everything else is removed)
5. Don't worry about software firewalls. The Comcast router has a firewall built into it and ou don't need a software firewall because windows has one installed automatically and it is a complete pain in the neck to install a 2nd one.

To summarize if you want to save this without a reformat/reinstall:
1. Go to add/ remove programs in control panels and remove almost everything. Don't be shy, if it's important it shouldn't be that hard to reinstall.
2. After this reboot. Do it more than once just for good measure and make sure that it reboots successfully.
3. Then if everything reboots ok, right click on "my computer" and select properties. Go to the "system restore" tab and check the "Turn off System Restore" checkbox. Click ok. This will remove all the previous saved states. Which very often houses malware/ spyware and viruses. Reboot, then go back and turn it on again.
4. Go to windows update and make sure everything is up to date. (Especially make sure SP2 is installed) Reboot and keep checking this as many times as needed.
5. Reinstall the virus scanner. Run a complete scan.
6. Install some form of spyware scanner (Spybot, Windows Defender, etc) Run it completely.
7. Defrag and Disk Check (double click "my computer" right click on the HD, go to Properties, select the tools tab, and tell the computer to check the disk for errors. (check the boxes) it'll tell you it needs to run the next time windows reboots. Say that's ok. Then defrag the hard drive, then reboot the computer and let disk-check check the disk)

Following that I don't think you'll need to do much more. This could take a long time and be a complete headache. Reformating would be less of a headache. (Not that I personally would go the reformat route, but then again I personally love bringing computer back from the brink without a reformat. =) )

Another quick tool once all this is said and done is called "sfc /scannow" which you type into the run box. This will scan windows/ explorer and look for windows files that have been damaged.

Hope that helps!

 

[mechBgon]

not to thread hijack but I noticed when I ran vista's checker on one of my machines it said it was incompatabile with Kapersky? comments?

Full-version Kaspersky Antivirus 6 is now Vista-ready. There will soon be a Vista-compatible free AOL Kaspersky, too, but it's not available quite yet.

I'm using full-version Kaspersky 6 on Vista 64-bit at the moment, combined with a Standard user account, a disallowed Software Restriction Policy, and Common Sense 2.0 Extra-Paranoid Edition

 

[daniel49]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

not to thread hijack but I noticed when I ran vista's checker on one of my machines it said it was incompatabile with Kapersky? comments?

Full-version Kaspersky Antivirus 6 is now Vista-ready. There will soon be a Vista-compatible free AOL Kaspersky, too, but it's not available quite yet.

I'm using full-version Kaspersky 6 on Vista 64-bit at the moment, combined with a Standard user account, a disallowed Software Restriction Policy, and Common Sense 2.0 Extra-Paranoid Edition

here is what i get on thier upgrade scan.:

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0
Kaspersky Lab 6.0.1.411 Microsoft
This program must be uninstalled before upgrading to Windows Vista. After upgrading, you will not be able to reinstall the program due to compatibility issues. Click here to download an update.

And all i see at thier link appears to be version 6.0?......I'm not upgrading to vista anyway but in case anyone else runs into it.

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
I?m sorry for being so slow getting back to this subject. My grand kids have been here for 2 days and now all this !@#$%^ snow and freezing rain has the Pittsburgh area a mess. Spent 3 hours cleaning driveways and sidewalks and now it?s time to take a break and relax.
Thank to all of you for the help you posted. I will try to clean out the !@#$ computer and get rid of anything that isn?t needed. I?m going to make the backup disks and get the HP manual out and see what and how to restore the machine back to day one.
When you look at the drive you can see a smaller 32 gig partition. I assume that is where the restore files and other info is located. I?ll do things in small steps and just take my time.
This is the third time I have done this for them. Twice on other computers. Next time if they don?t listen they can pay someone a few hundred bucks to fix it. Maybe they will learn something then.
Once again,,, Thank You!!
Pghpooh

 

[ValuedCustomer]

I'll 3rd or 4th the vote for reformattin' that bad-boy.. once a machine is that inundated w/ garbage it'll never be the same. to "fix" it is prolly gonna take you twice as long as if you just start over and in the end it likely won't be "fixed".

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: daniel49

Originally posted by: mechBgon

not to thread hijack but I noticed when I ran vista's checker on one of my machines it said it was incompatabile with Kapersky? comments?

Full-version Kaspersky Antivirus 6 is now Vista-ready. There will soon be a Vista-compatible free AOL Kaspersky, too, but it's not available quite yet.

I'm using full-version Kaspersky 6 on Vista 64-bit at the moment, combined with a Standard user account, a disallowed Software Restriction Policy, and Common Sense 2.0 Extra-Paranoid Edition

here is what i get on thier upgrade scan.:

Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0
Kaspersky Lab 6.0.1.411 Microsoft
This program must be uninstalled before upgrading to Windows Vista. After upgrading, you will not be able to reinstall the program due to compatibility issues. Click here to download an update.

And all i see at thier link appears to be version 6.0?......I'm not upgrading to vista anyway but in case anyone else runs into it.

That is the right place, and if you click the link, it lets you get 6.0.2.614, which is Vista-compatible. That's where I got mine. After installing Vista, I simply downloaded the 6.0.2.614 file, installed it, fed it my Activation key, and that was that (except for configuring Kaspersky the way I like it).

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
I finally got a chance to look at my daughters computer.
What a mess!!! But, so far a easy mess.
First thing I found was somehow Windows updates was running along with Norton updates and another update software.
I let them all install the updates and then re-booted. That took about an hour.
I downloaded Spybot Search and Destroy and updated that. I ran Syybot and it found a lot of stuff that I deleted.
I looked at the software installed and deleted some things and cleaned up the desktop that had many shortcuts to web sites.
I ran Windows Error Check on the hard drive and that was ok.
The last thing I did was to run Windows defrag.
Now, the computer is running without a problem!!!
Oh,,, I installed that so called killer mouse my grand daughter got and that works well.
Nothing like holding a mouse that looks like a mouse!!! LOLOL
I told my daughter to use the computer as usual and I would look at it in a week or two.
There were a few things I wanted to do but felt that it was best to stop while I was ahead.
One big thing it lacks ram. It has 512 meg of ran that is shared by the video and the rest of the machine. I want to add another 512 or maybe another gig. That will help a little when the machine is running several applications.
Thank for all your help!!!
Pghpooh