slugggiisshh but clean pc

Hey There,
I've been working on my friends Dell pc as she complained about it being slow. Here's a brief on what the situation.(I may have left info out so feel free to remind/ask me)
I told of the 2 things that I knew would make it slow,1. Dial Up and 2. Aol(that's from my personal experiences). When I got there at her place to check it I found it had not been up dated for at least a year.(mind you this is a person in their 80s who's only concern is to read and send mail, and occasionally search for something on the web). I took it home(cable) and started right in. The first thig was the up dates then downloaded MBAM,AVIRA and SPYBOT. It took 4-5scans of avira 2 of mbam and 1 of spbt and between the scans and the still continuing help from avira we've managed to clean all the nasties out. I then updated aol and that's when it got worse. It may have run Slow before now it barely runs. I have uninstalled some unwanted/never used programs and disabled some of her unnecessarily start ups.The start up seems a little faster but not what I expected.I did the aol twice thinking that because the first time I TRIED to customize it forgetting AOL does what it wants,so I reinstalled it with the recommended version. I just loaded JAVA not realizing she did not have it.
So if there is anything you guys know of that might be causing this sluggishness I welcome feed back but remember I'm just learning the "HOW-TO'S" so I may ask for it to brook down in layman's terms. Thank You in advance.

 

A few ideas

Run CCleaner available here at MG's
http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

Have you defragged the hd
you can use the built in one but I like this one called Defraggler also available here at MG's
http://majorgeeks.com/Defraggler_d5777.html



P

 

I used the Ccleaner on my pc and was informed that it wasn't a very safe product so I'm a little Leary now.

I have used the pc's defrag and the disk cleaner No difference in performance. I will try the defraggler though.

A moderator in AVIRA told me to try and uninstall AOL all together then back up, which I did a sys.restore point 03\26\09, and then Go off line and really give the registry a good clean out and also the services folder.(what is and where do I find services folder)

 

Is it the same as this one. (the moderator showed this site)
She had 9.0 and I up dated to the 9.5 hoping that would solve the problem.NOT!:guns
http://help.aol.co.uk/technical/how-do-i-uninstall-my-aol/article/20060802092109990002

 

CCleaner is a good tool IF you don't use the Registry option. Go there and uncheck all boxes so the registry is ignored.

 

ok which one should I do first or does it matter?

 

btw: should I turn off system restore. before I do this?

 

not sure about the system restore suggestion..

but one thing i do know from dealing with AOL PC's, is there software REALLY sucks

so instead of removing - then putting it all back on again, i recommend you just remove it all together, then all you do is set the PC to dial AOL (using her credentials) it should be a lot quicker.

oh, and FYI - the built in defragger program is terrible, use a standalone one - personally i recommend Diskeeper

 

If you don't stop the Registry cleaner first, may assume it is OK and remove things.
Do that BEFORE analyzing.

 

I'm wiith you 100% about AOL. Been There Done That!!! Never again.
If you could walk me through to set the pc to dial AOL only.PLEASE:hyper:hyper
I didn't know that could be done or it would have at the very beginning.

 

Sorry,
what I meant was which task; uninstall cclean......

 

1 Remove AOL crap.
2 Run CCleaner( without Registry)
3 Defrag with a good defragger.

 

Can you PLEASE walk ne through on how to set the pc to dial AOL????

 

The first thig was the up dates then downloaded MBAM,AVIRA and SPYBOT. It took 4-5scans of avira 2 of mbam and 1 of spbt and between the scans and the still continuing help from avira we've managed to clean all the nasties out.

 

I'll run them but it may take a while. The pc is really that slow. I'm using my lap to communicate and her pc to download and run things. Hopefully there will be someone here to help late tonight when it's done. If not that's ok too!

 

OK this is not good went to the malware removal and happen to see "about:Blank .I can not believe that in the other forums I have asked several helpers about THAT particular screen popping up on occasion.Of course no one responded so I just assumed it was an AOL issue. So if I run the SuperAntiSpyware it will detect it, because AVIRA, MBAM, and SPYBOT did not detect it .

 

Hey the mekanic
You'll have to give me a few to get that info as I told the Major I'm using my lap to communicate because the friends is that slow. Thanks.

 

Do I uninstall spybot before installing super. I do know too many are not a good thing.

 

Quick Question. Now as you've read she is in her 80s eyesight "not there" So she had someone enlarge the text as well as the windows to the point that when you click on the start in the task bar a message pops up telling you that some of the items can not be viewed. (I was trying to get an exact saying but of course it won't do it when you want it too. (just like a motor that has a noise until you take it to the mechanics than there is no noise). Anywho would that slow it any?

 

Frankly, I wouldn't go crazy on the upgrades, but for functionality, I would also recommend at least 512MB. How many slots are on the motherboard, and what type of memory does this PC require? I'll guess PC2100 at least, maybe PC3200.

If all she does is read mail, and the basics, and has no data to lose (or back it up to CD/DVD), you could always start over with a format and fresh re-install. Especially if you have a ton of malware to deal with.

Just my opinion, but I've found it easier to start over sometimes, than screw around for hours trying to ferret out every little byte of malware.

The oversized graphics would probably not really make a difference at this point, that PC probably has at least a 64MB card onboard, rough guess.

The outstanding issue would be installed memory. Know any fellow geeks with good junk laying around?
256MB sticks often came OEM from the factory in those days. If you could come up with two, you'd be doing better than you are at present.

 

SNAPP! All I have on me is a 256MB and I'm not sure that"s going to work.

 

What you can do is, go to Dell's website, and under support, enter the service tag. That will give you the info on that particular PC. Or you could search the model with a search engine (e.g. Dimension 3250 specifications) and look at the links for the Dell page which lists the specifications. The second option will be a bit more general information.

That way you will be able to tell if the stick you have is compatible.

If you add the memory, and you get ANY errors after the BIOS screen, DO NOT load Windows. Shut it down, and pull the stick. Chances are that means it is no good, which does happen now and again.

The preferable way would be to burn a Memtest86 CD ROM, and run that at startup, before you even run Windows once.

 

Funny you should mention that aas this is what my son suggested a few days ago. The thought is becoming stronger the more I find things out. This still does not solve the AOL situation. I really would like to know how to set up the pc to just dialing the AOL as BlackPhoenix mention.

 

Just make sure there isn't any data that needs to be saved. Once you format that drive, kiss it goodbye...

 

I here that.

 

Dells site calls for PC2100.

 

Hey the mekanic
you got my curiosity about what was in here, so I started peeking through the device manager and came across 2 motherboard resources. One had three (3) types of settings and the other just one (1) Is it suppose to have two(2)?

 

not too interrupt too much - just posting the AOL stuff

i did this a few years ago on a neighbors PC and it improved her no end - i can't remember exactly how i did it, but i do remember all i basically did was set up her computer to do a manual dial-up using the 'modem' options. but if your friend has a separate modem, and not just the one inside the pc then this guide may help a lot:

its an old forum post - but whats true then should be true now, if it doesn't work for you i apologise - but everythings worth a try =D

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8276526

 

That's a little vague in description, could you Print screen, and use mspaint to attach a screenshot to your post?

You could use an old floppy (3.5" 1.44MB) to transfer the jpg to your PC...

 

Not really on the print.I just hooked the essentals to her pc from mine.Too much plug and unplug of cables.
let see if this helps:
I'm in the Device Manager Window
I clicked on System Device and then there is a list ie
ACPI Fixed Feature Botton,
Direct Memory access controller....and so on
About half way sown the list is where I spotted the two Motherboard Resources
That's when I right click, Properties and one came up with resource settings of just one and the had several. I did scroll down far enough and thought there was only three.
Does that help any?

 

I believe that is normal for that old Celeron, but it's been a while since I played with that particular toy.

 

What and where would I find the "services folder". A Moderator in Avira said to clean reg and this folder. Does Ccleaner take care of that?