Slow & jerky IE6

IE has been really slow & jerky recently: scrolling with the mouse wheel jerks around rather than being smooth, when I pass over a link it takes a second for it to highlight (like it's lagged), it takes another second or two after clicking on a link for it to actually register, highlighting text takes a second until the highlight actually shows up and then it takes another second when I click elsewhere to unhighlight a selection, typing on a page (forms, this message, etc.) hiccups so that I'm still typing but it doesn't register until a second or two later, buttons on a page (like "Save Changes" down on this page) take a second to register, and pages with a lot of images scroll ridiculously slowly. Unless I'm mistaken, this seemed to coincide with my move into a new apartment and cable Internet. Before we had DSL at the house where I was and I never had this problem.

I've tried running Norton, checking for viruses, defragging, getting all the latest windows updates, and nothing seems to make a difference: there's still a terrible lag in the activities I mentioned above. What could it be? I've tried testing it on a loaded webpage while the computer's disconnected (physically) from the Internet and it's still jerky, so I don't think it's the connection itself. As far as I can tell the rest of Windows is working fine... Sifting through directories in My Computer and Explorer seem to scroll fine.

I tested typing, highlighting text, and rolling over links on the main Google page and it's nice and fast. But on a page with lots of "stuff" on it, like Blue's News, I get the jerky scrolling and delayed links, highlighting, and typing.

Could it be my videocard failing, and is there any way to test it? Maybe it got knocked a little out of the AGP slot during the move? Could it be a bad windows update or possibly the new DirectX? I'm running WinXP Pro with the latest updates, IE6, a GF4 Ti4200 vidcard, Athlon 1.2Ghz Tbird, and 1 GB of RAM, so I don't think it's for a lack of hardware... And besides, like I mentioned before, this only started in the past couple months.

I've also noticed that sometimes iexplore.exe will stay active in the Task Manager even after I've closed all instanaces of it, making me shut down that one instance manually. Might that have something to do with it, too?

m19

 

Morgan,

My sympathies.

About a thousand possibilities run through my mind, and you're on the way to most of them way ahead of me:

Get out the screwdrivers, open 'er up, and check to make sure that all cards and cables are securely seated since the move.

If you have Aida32, run it and read it, especially on memory.

But the most interesting of the "usual suspects" that comes to mind is your network settings involved in the switch from DSL to cable modem. There should be significant differences in settings for the two, and since you seem to have your problems ONLY when on the Net (and thus ONLY when you're using your cable actively), I'd look to those settings.

There are a number of sites available that will help you figure the right re-sets for yourself if you're comfy with regediting and such, or they'll offer you free or cheap sware that will give you a one-size-fits-most solution for your type of hookup to the Net. Speedguide is one of the best, I think. Try it. Everything you do to get a better response on the Net is reversable.

Speedguide on the Web

 

his speed most likely has nothing to do with it. if the page is loaded and it take for ever for it to light up when he mouse overs, then I'm likely to lean towards SpyWare on his box.

 

I'll check inside the box whenever I get a chance this week. It actually looks like it does it whether I'm online or not: I can load a page online, then disconnect the connection (either soft-ly or physically unplugging the cables), and it'll still be jerky without the connection. =\

Running Aida32 (and SiSoft, since I had that already) it looks like memory usage is at about 30% right now with three IE windows, an Explorer window, Aida, and things like Sygate, Norton, and Refresh Lock running. Should I be reading anything else from it?

I've run both AdAware (every week) and tried out Spybot as well with no difference in performance...

Someone at another message board suggested I post a "Hijack This!" log file, and that it might have some useful info in it. In case you guys can read anything into this, here it is, too:
----------------------------------------------
Logfile of HijackThis v1.96.0
Scan saved at 11:24:56 AM, on 8/11/2003
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Program Files\Sygate\SPF\Smc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
D:\Tools- Graphics\RefreshLock\RefreshLock.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Norton\NORTON~1\navapw32.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Hardware\Mouse\point32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\devldr32.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
D:\Download_D\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = about:blank
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = about:mozilla
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = about:blank
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = about:blank
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = about:blank
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch = about:blank
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = about:blank
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch = about:blank
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant = about:blank
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,HomeOldSP = http://www.coolwwwsearch.com/z/a/x1.cgi?101 (obfuscated)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.ocx
O2 - BHO: Popup Manager - {08E74C67-99A6-45C7-94DA-A397A8FD8082} - C:\Program Files\Popup Manager\PopupMgr_1.0.1.1.dll
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - (no file)
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RefreshLock] D:\Tools- Graphics\RefreshLock\RefreshLock.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SmcService] C:\PROGRA~1\Sygate\SPF\Smc.exe -startgui
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NAV Agent] C:\PROGRA~1\Norton\NORTON~1\navapw32.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [POINTER] C:\Program Files\IntelliPoint\Mouse\SETUP\MSH\Mouse\point32.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions present
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: AIM (HKLM)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger (HKLM)
O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.msn.com
O19 - User stylesheet: C:\WINDOWS\Web\oslogo.bmp
----------------------------------------------
m19

 

Check your CPU usage when you do this.

 

No need for any more posts, although thanks for the tips. It turns out that somehow the O19 - User stylesheet: C:\WINDOWS\Web\oslogo.bmp bit was inserted in there and that was slowing everything down... Nothing to do with CPU, memory, or spyware problems at all! Although I'm not sure how it got there in the first place (looking into it now), I suspect it was a nasty program or website that did it, because I know I didn't set any styles up.

m19

 

pls help

i have a similiar problem. It involves for instance when im typing this repy i cant read it for another two to three seconds. I dont know whats slowing it down but i doubt its hardware or cpu.
Pls help D

 

Did you read my last post...? It has an answer, might work for you...

m19

 

thanks

yes thank u so much it was a usersheet java file that was the cause. Anyway i got the hijackthis software and removed it. Everything is much better. This was a better aide than microsofts knowledge base crap.

 

Morgan, etal: I'm having the same problem, but didn't fully understand your fix. Would you mind elaborating? My typing shows up 5 seconds after keystroke only when using Internet Explorer. Thus far all usual fixes have failed (Spybot, antivirus, etc.) Thx.

 

try searching for this on the front page

hijackthis

 

Acktom– Like Kodo said, get hijackthis and run it, then post your results and someone here will look through them and tell you what's gone nutso.

m19

 

Thanks for the help. I had run Spybot Search and Destroy previously which had not completely fixxed the prob. Downloaded and ran Ad Aware which appears to have found more spyware and fixxed the problem. Thanks again for your help, this site is top notch!