Comodo Firewall, Spydoctor & slow computer

Hello,

Have a problem with a very slow computer that may be related to some of the programs recently downloaded (per the "How to protect yourself from Malware" thread). Was systematically working down the list, without a problem until I reloaded Spydoctor - and as experienced before, the computer responses slowed. However, due to the recent infection that our old protection software missed, we thought, okay we can handle a little loss in speed.

Today, after installing Comodo Firewall every computer action became very, very slow - typing, screen refresh etc. It's like watching a video on slow motion.

Per Comodo's Summary page - our computer has between 45 and 50 applications running. Something tells me that this volume of applications is a little much and MAY have a little something to do with the slow response. But that's a very uneducated guess!

Anyway, even though I do not understand a hijackthis log - ya'll seem to find it full of kernals of information, so I have attached one for review.

Any help will greatly be appreciated!
Thanks,
Holly

 

How much RAM do you have?

 

I noticed that you have Avira and Kaspersky anti-virus loaded. You can't have two anti-virus or firewalls as they both use the same resources. In this case two is not better than one.

 

EEEEDIOT - we have 512 MB ram


AUGIEDOGGIE - oops, have uninstalled Kapinsky.


Thanks,
Holly

 

Good, that should speed you up just in of itself. As to memory, 512MB is really the bare minimum, you might want to add another 512MB.

 

Augiedoggie,

Yes, it is a little better. Will add additional RAM. Do you have preferred brand / store?

Thanks,
Holly

 

Try crucial.com and run their analyzer and either buy there or go to your favourite store/site armed with the info. I have an old Celeron with 512MB that works fairly well but it's not doing much, mainly a kitchen computer. Maybe check your startup processes to see what you don't need running or rarely use but I don't see much except for several spyware apps which I'm not familiar with. I also see some Symantec stuff in there too which you may want to get rid of. I hope someone can chime in on those spyware apps., I only have SpywareBlaster/SpywareGuard and have had no problems at all.

 

Steve East9,

Per your recommendations, have elimated five items from Startup. Also, uninstalled AVG Anti-rootkit. To be honest, not sure why I loaded it - recommended somehow ... not the best reason but the honest one! rolleyes

I left Asquared as it was one of the programs recommended in Major Geeks thread on avoiding Malware. Had Bitdefender, and a few other "security programs" until yesterday, yet managed to become infected with Privacy Protector, Error Cleaner et al. As MajorGeeks thread on removing these programs worked flawless, follow their security recommendations was probably a good idea!!

BTW another source of malware, besides the usual porn and free software, are sites with used car ads - Craig's List this time. Each time we've had to clean up a problem it was after someone was crusing for a cruiser.

Even as I type this, I notice a vast improvement on the computer performace.

Thank you to everyone who has responded to my request!

Happy New Year Ya'll :wave

Holly