Software & Driver issues

Hello All-
I started in the Malware forum and have that all squared away so I'm moving on. Don't really know what's going on, computer is sluggish at times, especially after going to sleep and waking.
I do have a yellow error on one of my Microsoft drivers in Device Man. (?) so I guess that goes to the driver forum?
I have Trend Micro, and for a while now it has been telling me the personal firewall is down. Is this bc I use the Windows firewall or is there a problem with the software?
When I check the event log, there are errors there, sometimes the same, sometimes new, but I don't know what to do with them. Internet has gotten increasingly worse over the passed week. I would like to change the browser to FireFox as I have seen it recommended a lot in your forums, but don't know exactly what to do.
Now that you have read my very lengthy explanation, could someone please tell me what where the best place is to start and what issues can actually be worked on in this forum. I'm not real sure what info you need, but I am on an Acer Extensa 4420 with Vista 32 bit. 69.6 GB on Cdrive and an additional 69.6 GB on Ddrive.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

G'day stupid_pc_girl. I see you have been neglecting to take your self-esteem pills lately...

I see you have 2GB RAM (that would be another useful bit of info)

Sounds like me!! :-D
Do you have sufficient storage space left on your hard drive partitions? Things can go slower as the storage fills up. Can you give an idea of what 'sluggish' means (eg, how many seconds it takes to do certain things)?

I think you're OK to talk about that here. Which one is it and what is the flag?

When you start a non-Windows firewall, your Windows Firewall (WFW) turns off automatically. If your WFW is on, it means your T-MFW is off. There may be a problem with your T-M software, or you may just have to enable its firewall through its options. Check the settings first.

Some of these errors don't matter, but you may like to give details, if other steps don't clear things up.

Do you mean it's been slower opening sites? How slow?

You can download Firefox from here:
http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2248
Do you know what to do after downloading it, or do you need step-by-step instructions? Go here for one nicely illustrated list:
http://webuse.info/firefox/

You have posted a lot of questions. The above is only a start in responding, but keep posting.

 

Hello- Good rest and a great cup of Joe does wonders for helping the “sluggishness”. And this place is becoming a great source of self-esteem pills.

Amount of space left-C drive 36.8 free and D drive has nothing on it.

Device Manager error-Under Network adapters- Microsoft 6to 4 Adaptor #6 version 6.0.6002.18005
“This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)” Tells me this is the most up to date version. Just realized this is one of the error messages in the event log.

Hmm….how slow on starting up and internet. Computer has actually done better in the last day since I got rid of the nasty bugs. It seems to only really be slow once the desktop is up. I would say it takes a couple of minutes before I can get online or open up any documents, etc. Internet, not sure on time. Not minutes, but sometimes it won’t load pages at all, even when first opening up IE.

Windows Vista Service Pack- Version 6.0 (Build 6002: Service Pack 2)

Firefox-So if I am using IE, does that mean it is just as good as any other? If so, I’ll just stick with IE.

When I go to download WhatsInStartup, what exactly do I click on? I’ve tried several things and none of them actually let me download it.

Trend, I'll uninstall and re-install and see if that helps. Not sure what settings you are asking about, but when I tell it to turn the firewall on it does, and then when I exit it turns back off. I know you should only use one firewall so it's not that big of a deal as long as it still works for anti-virus.

Thanks again!

 

Got it. Here's the Start up list.

 

Hi again spcg.

Noted.

Disk space isn't a problem then. Out of interest, how did you come to have that partition on your hard drive (total HD capacity is 160 GB according to specs, and you have it split in two - C & D, 70 GB in each... it looks like there might be a third (hidden) partition as well)? Did you inherit this computer, or did it come new with that partition (it seems that it comes with a partition, but not normally split 50/50 like that, from what I've read)? In any case, given that the partition is there, you should either use it or remove it (that could be dealt with later if you need advice - after other things have been cleared up). At the moment, it's just wasting space, whereas it would be good to put your documents and other things in there - it can help if you ever had a big problem with your operating system.

Is this the only Network Adapter listed? What else is there?

You may be able to fix the problem (there are a number of options here) by going to Device manager, RIGHT click on the problem Network Adapter and click on Update Driver... Follow through the instructions (accept the defaults as a first option). Do you have a disk with the Network Adapter driver on it? If you don't know, tell us what disk(s) came with the computer, or just try what disks you have. If you do want to try one, look for "Have Disk" while going through the instructions.
A backup of the driver may also be stored on your computer (came with Windows), in which case you should be able to uninstall the driver (same RIGHT click in Device Manager as above) and reboot to get a new copy installed. If you don't know whether you have a backup copy, let's know - Halo may know, or be able to give better advice (he's not just a pretty face, you know :wave)). Failing that, you will need to get a driver from somewhere else (i.e. the Internet). Further instructions may be required.

Fixing this should have a positive effect on your Internet speed.

It's said to be better than IE from a security viewpoint (this seems to be partly because it is attacked less than IE), but as Halo said, it won't protect you from everything by itself.

Yes, that was the setting I meant. Have you ever had any other firewall installed, other than Windows? There may be something left over that's messing with things. See what happens after re-installing.

I think you might need to try that again . The startup list should look like what Halo showed in his post - several lines of Applications showing Name, Type, Command Line, etc. Make sure you follow his directions closely.

Getting there...

 

Oops! I think this is what you want. :-o

I inherited it from my mom who bought it new. Partition? Does that mean the 2 drives? It was slow in the beginning at boot up so we took it to Best Buy and they said Vista uses so much space that additional memory would help. Personally I don’t think it really has. I have often wondered if it would help to make use of the additional drive, but wouldn’t know where to begin. That’s for a later date though.

There are 2 more drivers listed- Broadcom 802.11g and Marvell Yukon 88E8071 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller. I have tried to update it several times doing the right click and update, but it keeps telling me the driver software is up to date. I'm sure the disks that came with the computer are here so I will try that. Probably will be late tonight or tomorrow.

Trend is the only FW that's been installed. If there was/is one that came loaded on here I am unaware of it. I have seen a reference to Symantic (hope I spelled that right) on here somewhere, but I was affraid to mess with it in case it was for something other than AV/FW protection.:confused

 

Yes, the C & D drives are partitions or two storage spaces on your hard drive. It is divided into two. The short answer to using this (when you're ready) is to move everything that has to do with your own documents and files (as opposed to the Windows operating system and updates) from your C: drive into your D: drive (yo umay need help to choose what to move, eg, Outlook folders). Then work from your D: drive from now on - photos, reports, love letters...
Then, if your Windows operating system dies, you can do a full re-install without losing your documents. I would have thought that half the HD was a bit too much for the OS though - others may like to comment on that. And I'm not sure that you can change it without removing everything - again, others may comment.

Re your Internet Adapter, not surprised that you got the "drivers up to date" message. Just means it couldn't find anything better, in teh places it looked.
Your Internet may be running off a Broadcom adapter, in which case you may not need the 6to4 adapter. To fix the problem though, try this:

1). Make sure you have all the Windows updates installed for Vista, such as, Important and Recommend updates (go to Windows Update site, unless you have Updates regularly installed).
2). [Right Click] my computer icon (on your desktop), and select (properties).
3). Select (Device Manager).
4). [Right Click] on the 6To4 icon, and select (Update Driver Software).
5). Click [Browse my computer for software drivers].
6). Click [Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer].
You should see the Microsoft 6To4 adapter listed?
If not you must uncheck the [] box "show compatible hardware".
7). Then scroll down the list of Manufacturers until you find (Microsoft), NOT Microsoft Corporation!
8). Click on (Microsoft) as the Manufacturer and scroll down about two clicks, you should see 6To4 adapter.
9). [Left Click] on Microsoft 6To4 adapter and click (Next), which should load the drivers as normally.
[from http://social.technet.microsoft.com.../thread/4af4def6-b7ee-4e27-ad74-620bc73135b6]

That might do it.


How much memory do you have now? (Just curious) I would have thought 2 GB would do, unless your playing memory intensive games or something (although I don't have Vista).

You might have had Norton (Symantec) security software installed. Maybe do a search of your C: drive to see if "Norton" or "Symantec" is on there. Let's know what you find.

 

Happy Saturday!

It occurred to me that all disks associated with this computer will be at my mom’s. Won’t make it there for a few days. I did your last instructions for the driver issue and when it was done I got the same error message, so for now I tried uninstalling and re-installing it. Same thing. Is it something that needs to be removed?

Memory-If I look under system in the CP it says 2.0 GB. The additional memory that was added is 69.6 (?) There has never been any “gaming” on this system. It is/has been used for on-line schooling, documents, shopping rolleyes, internet based e-mail and basic “surfing”. I haven’t even been keeping my pics on here or itunes because I thought it would help improve the slowness of the system.

If I did the search correctly, the only thing I came up with for Norton or Symantec is a file from Registry cleaner I did in the Malware forum. Hmm… thought I removed all that stuff.

I uninstalled and re-installed Trend and all is well. :-D

 

Interesting.

Probably not, but let's keep working at this and we'll see.

It took me until late in life to discover that 'memory' is used to refer to RAM (and other associated items, whereas if you're talking about what's on your hard drive, you call it 'storage'. According to teh specifications I read for your computer, it came with 2 GB RAM and 180 GB storage. It doesn't seem to have any more than that now, so I don't know what they did at Best Buy - unless there is an earlier model of that laptop which had less RAM.

Shopping... :-D

That would only be so if things got pretty full. You should be able to do that without any problems - but remember to backup in readiness for that fateful day when your hard drive crashes.

Not sure what you mean here. have you removed it now?

A win. :hyper Halo strikes again!!:wave

 

Hello Again-

I'm trying out this Quote thing. Hope I get it right.

Great Info! Thanks. No, it only has 2 GB RAM, so they added extra storage. (?) There was one drive when we took it in (C) and the D drive when we got it back.


I installed FireFox web browser and un-installed IE. So far I really like it and it seems to be working better. Another win! Woohoo. :-D

Still have the yellow thing next to the Microsoft Adaptor, but if it's not causing a problem then I guess it's not an issue.

I don't really see any other problems with my system, I think it's a little slow when I first start it up, but that might just be me. :confused

Any other advice for my daily self-esteem boost?

 

According to what I have read, it would have originally had 180 GB hard drive storage. If that is so, then they might have just partitioned the hard drive (divided it into two storage sections).

I'm Woohooing with you, except for one minor point... it's not really a good idea to uninstall IE . Some website links only open on IE, and if you don't have it, you'll be stuck. It has other uses as well - Windows Update uses it, for example. Maybe put it back again.

If you can live with it, good. I wouldn't be able to -I'd have to fix it.

Excellent!

Yes! Now that you're so good at all this (including using the quote thing), you have to change your name. How 'bout "Stupendous_pc_girl"?

 

And here I thought I was doing so well by uninstalling IE. Is there anything specific I need to do once it's installed? Like a setting I need to change or anything?

I get like that. This time I think I'll attempt looking the other way. That is until it decides to wake up and start causing problems.

I love it! :-D

Thanks for all your help! :wave

 

Good practice.

No, just install it. You might as well get IE8, if you didn't already. When you first run that (if you ever do), it will ask you if you want to take a tour or something. You could have a look at it then if you wanted, but since you won't be using it much, you wouldn't need to bother. And you wouldn't need to change anything anyway.

Pleased to help. :wave