Post Read & Run Me slowness, problems

Hi Guys!

I am posting here in the software section b/c I was not having malware problems, even though I found one of the trojan.zlob's in AVG virus vault and deleted it. I also posted in the malware section in case that is actually the appropriate area.




Windows XP Pro SP3
Intel Celeron 2.4GHz
2.00 GB RAM

I found one of the zlobs in my avg vault so removed it, then thought it would be a good idea to do some maintenance. My machine has always run like lightning until now.

I followed all of the steps on Read & Run Me First and Windows XP Cleaning procedures threads.

Now when opening Excel I get an alert "This application has failed to start because MSCTF.dll was not be found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem". Clicking OK closes the alert and Excel runs normally.

Logging in to Windows is extremely slow.

Opening Outlook Express takes a minute or longer. ( Not normal. I empty the INBOX monthly.)

Firefox takes forever to open. There are often significant delays using Firefox. Typing this message, it is like the inputs get put into a buffer while the CPU is busy with other tasks. Using the browser scroll bars sometimes causes the appearance of the hour glass. A lot of delay is apparent in doing just about any task.

The script http://forums.majorgeeks.com/newatt...312&posthash=c9f028dcf10209f834604e3f3c30c7ac prohibits me from attaching the logs in this post b/c they are in the other post.

Here is a link to the other post.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=177064

Many thanks for all you guys do.

Ted S.

 

How much free hard drive space do you have?

 

37.3 GB free
74.5 GB Total

 

I may add, I was not having any slowness or problems prior to running through the steps posted on Read and Run Me First.

 

Thanks.

 

Just wanted to follow up on this for anyone who may read it.

My logs were reviewed and clean. It is likely that I caused my own difficulty in banging through the steps in the Read and Run Me, Windows Cleaning pages. One of the steps is to uninstall software you don't recognize or use. When uninstalling it is common to get an alert box saying something like "SomeFile.dll is a shared file. Do you want to remove it?". In my haste I likely chose yes.

My system was running so slowly, it was unbearable. As well, the cooling fan on my power supply had started running at full RPM constantly, sounding like the machine was under a heavy load. I had just about resigned myself to reformatting the disk, getting a copy of XP Pro burned for me with the license number of XP Pro that was on my machine, when I remembered that I had backed up my full system two months ago.

In October I purchased a Western Digital 500 GB USB hard drive and done the full system backup. Restore was done by Start ->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Backup and following the prompts. One note, I had to do the restore twice. One of the prompts asks whether to keep copies of files if they are newer copies. I chose that and no success. Tried again with the radio button choice set to 'Replace Existing Files'.

Worked like a charm. Re-updated all of my software afterward and done.

Big believer in backups, especially since the drives are down around $150-$200 now.

Happy Holidays all!
Ted S