Batboard

Hi all,
Here's today's problem, actually it's been going on for about a week. I'm using a Dell Desktop running win. XP. After the computer goes thru boot up it for some reason displays the System 32 folder, OK no bid deal I X the window and it closes. But at the same time that this glitch started the machines been running real slow and to open that 1st program after Xing the System 32 folder I have to leftt click the mouse about 20X to get an acknowledgment. Also the machine seems to be having trouble running more than 1 program at a time, where it used to run 2 no problem. I've run Anti-Virus, Spyware with no hits and I've de-fraged the drive and run AOL checkup which says all is OK. I would also run ScanDisk but the machine doesn't have it installed ? Did they stop putting that in with XP ? Any ideas for a computer illiterate ?

Give it the ol' "Three finger salute" (Control + Alt + Delete) and bring up the task manager, click on the 'processes' tab, and list what is there as well as the percentages of CPU time they are using. You probably have a program hanging, or some something that is hogging the CPU, slowing it down...which is making the system borderline unresponsive.

you definately have something running that shouldn't be. you need to find what is causing the system folder to pop up, that shouldn't happen. find out what is causing that and fix it and you should see an improvement.

The Sys 32 folder coming up is an easy one! I come across that all the time. The problem is a bad software uninstall or the most common is using a spyware removal tool that leaves a bad registry entry. The file is gone, but the startup (run) entry still points to System 32, so windows not knowing what else to do just opens the Sys 32 folder.

Click Start, then Run
Type regedit in the run box then click ok
Then just dig down to the following location

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

With "Run" selected you will see all the entries in the right pane. Look for anything that has a value of

""
**
"Default"

Any incomplete or bad entries will cause the System 32 folder on boot.

Also, you might want to download and run a tool called Hijack This. You can get it here:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

It doesn't install its just a tool that you can run whenever you want. When you run it select Scan Only. Now go through that list with an evil eye and select, check the box, on anything that shouldn't be running. If you see any entries that say file missing, unknown, etc. Get rid of them. This shows you everything that starts at boot, but also everything set to run when you open internet explorer.

Also get a good anti-spyware program. I recommend and urgently suggest that if your not using something top of the line already to go get Spy Sweeper.

http://www.webroot.com/land/freescan-30 ... .mc_id=417

Only $29.95 and it closes a lot of holes. It's not just a removal tool, it prevents things from automatically installing from internet explorer, blocks malicious scripts on websites, and prevents hijackers that change your home page and add to your favorites. $30 is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the computer and the loss of time and money reinstalling windows or repairing problems caused by spyware!

Any progress?

You mentioned you did a virus scan but which AV did you use? If your using Norton or McAfee try downloading the free version of AVG.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Update until it says there is no updates available then do a full system scan. Norton and McAfee have been compromised so many times lately its nuts. Another reason why i purchased AVG instead. I had Norton telling me a customers computer had nothing infected, blah blah.. Installed AVG and rebooted and it popped up a virus warning before i even had it fully updated. There's a big difference between malicious and virus, Norton just calls them all infected files. AVG tells you which is which, and man that computer was loaded. Three different Trojan's on boot, a keylogger and a couple backdoors which were actively sending data back and forth to an unknown address and getting a response, from which it would download and install more crap by itself. It was insane! I finally had to remove the network card and modem so Windows didn't see any available communications devices. Then it would boot fully to the desktop, albeit slower than heck, but then i could remove the infections one by one.

Another note.. Since you have XP... Once you do fix the problem and its running normally go in and disable XP Restore, it will nag about deleting all your restore points, say yes, than reboot when its done. Then go back in and enable Restore and Create a restore point and name it something to tell you what it is. Like "Fixed Computer" or "Virus Removed" etc. Now you have a point to roll back to if it gets messed up in the week or so to follow until eventually there is enough checkpoints again to restore too. If you don't do this and run Restore in the future you could end up restoring the virus, spyware, adware, errors, if you ever restored to a point before you repaired the problem.

Couldn't get machine online most of day, guess it was unresponsive as mentioned. On about the 10th attempt was finally able to get AOL going.
Here's what's occured:
On the 3 finger salute 55 processes come up almost all showing CPU 0
aol and taskmanager running between 3 and 10
the BIG user here is system idle process in the 90's, up to 98 at one point.
On the regedit one item shows:
name type data
AB Default Reg-52 Vallue not set

I tried to delete AB Default but get an error message 'unable to delete all specified values'. Still get that System 32 folder showing on boot-up.

And yes, AVG was run with no results (installed that on the tin mans suggestion when I had a stubborn trojan which it neutralized a few weeks ago, worked like a charm).

Try booting up in safe mode instead and then go back into regedit and delete that bad entry.

System Idle Process is just that.. The AVAILABLE system resources. Everyone confuses the percentage on this item as in use, when in reality it's the percentage FREE.

So no problem there..

How much are you against just nuking the hard drive and starting over? It might be time for a fresh install.

I dug out the disks that came with the machine, not sure if I have what's needed. The HP I had previously had a set of 5 quick-restore disks. With the Dell I only seem to have 2. One is a operating system re-install CD,
the other is a drivers and utilities CD. I did have the drivers and utilities
CD in the machine to run diagnostics, all went well on that except my combo CD player/burner came up kaput.
Gotta get to the store tomorrow for a AOL disc, the Acer didn't come with AOL loaded, looks like the machine I picked up basically for trips is going to do double duty until I get the Dell working right.
But yeah, the machines marginally usable at this point so a nuke and re-install doesn't look bad, doesn't seem like Dell included the disks.

Unfortunately Dell just gives you the O/S restore CD, they hide the actual copy of windows on a hard drive partition.

Just boot from the re-install CD and follow the prompts.

Appreciate the help, I'll give it a whirl.

Or you can try Ad-Aware;
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware

Or Spybot S&D:
http://www.safer-networking.org/


Both are free and work extremely well. That's usually what I run on most people's computers before I do a physical check when they call me. Most of the time it's just bogged down by Spyware and Malware.

I think you mentioned your problem already

.....................A O L..................................

Hah. Definately agree. That stuff will make your computer slow, definately. I remember going over to Comcast and deleting AOL. The computer sped up. Just way too much extra stuff in AOL.

Yep, no too keen on AOL with all the advertizing which seems to dog my machine which usually only connects at 28.8 to begin with.
Anyway, I've done a re-format and everything is working much better with the exception of screen resolution and size. AOL gives me an error message telling me resolution is not set optimally I go thru their auto fix and I get a message that the auto fix cannot correct the problem. I go thru their manual instructions (control panel, settings, advanced, monitor)then I get to a window where I'm supposed to click properties to check monitor type, the properties tab isn't clickable though and the listed monitor is default, with no way to change it. I'm presently running 640x480 with a very large window size. Any ideas ?

You need to update your video driver!

Go to Dell's website and then put in the service tag number, usually found on a barcode label on the back of the computer. That will id your system to Dell and tell you which driver downloads match your system.

http://support.dell.com/

Also, you can run Windows Update, a lot of the prebuilt systems will get driver recommendations, but you have to watch out because it's not always exact on getting you the right version of a hardware driver. It's always better to use the manufacturer's suggested driver.

Thanks ! Now able to change resolution, and windows are now properly sized. Is there a all around resolution that most use ? (Using a Dell 15"
Ultra Sharp LCD).

lookup the specs of that monitor idealy you want to run the flat at the "native" resoltion (where it looks the best). its more than likely the native is 1042x768 but i would double check

With a 15" LCD i would run either 800x600 or 1024x768, any higher, if the monitor even supports it, and everything is too friggin small for me to see.

I run 1280x1024 on my 19" LCD and that looks ultra sharp!

Thanks guys, found native resolution at 1024x768 where it looked OK but a bit small. Only other setting is for 800x600, much larger and windows seem to fit screen perfectly with acceptable resolution.

On a 15" 800x600 is going to be your best bet. You might also want to check the refresh rate, if it's set to 60Hz set it up higher, 70 or 75. If you select a setting to high for the monitor just wait till the desktop comes back after 15 seconds.