Slow computer

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Comments

  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009
    The same error message popped up "error opening file for writing: C:\program files\bitlord\bitlord.exe" So apparently I cannot download programs to my computer. Thanks!

    Bitlord being a peer2peer sharing client? I will leave the copyright legalities of p2p sharing out of this as it does have legitimate uses. However P2P does pretty much render all the security measures you had in place useless. a P2P will just bypass all the software you had an the only check you have is a real-time AV scan when you try and run the files.

    Anyway... Back to your system. I seriously think your core OS is fubared. It sounds like you have a whole cocktail of corrupted software installations and if you have been using p2p there is the possibility of some form of malware.

    The only way that I can see to fix this is to reformat and re-install.
  • edited March 2009
    well, in my defense with bit lord. I have a 13 minute video I filmed for a friend back home in the states (I'm in Lithuania now). It's too big for me to put on youtube and far too big for any file hosting site. He said I could send it through bitlord. I did not previously have bitlord installed.

    About the corrupted software installations...how did that happen? There's no way to go back and fix them up? If starting all over again is truly my last resort, how can I make sure to not have this problem again?
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009
    well, in my defense with bit lord. I have a 13 minute video I filmed for a friend back home in the states (I'm in Lithuania now). It's too big for me to put on youtube and far too big for any file hosting site. QUOTE]

    As I said it has legit uses. ;). Have a look at "you send it" or "send space". Both of these can be used to transfer large files.

    Again, when I say this I am talking about my own experiences and not judgeing or making assumptions about you or your use of computers.

    I used to use p2p to download softare and cracked software etc. and I found I had to re-format my PC every 12 months or so because the cracked software caused more problems than it was worth. I then bought a legit copy of windows to give me a stable platform to build upon and from there I have been buying the software I need or looking for open source free software. By their nature they are free from malware etc.

    The only payed software I have is My OS and some other Music production software. everything else is open source.

    Sinse then I haven't had any problems with needing to format.

    Like I say. I'm not saying that you partake in any that stuff. AV software is notoious for being difficult to uninstall.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    While my opinions on the reasons for your computer's disarray greatly differ from RichD's, I am in complete agreement that your PC would take vastly more time to fix in vitro than it would to delete the whole shebang and start over. That is, if it was fixable in its current state at all. I do not believe that it is.

    In the future, follow these guidelines:
    • Don't wander past page 3 or 4 of Google
    • Active spyware protection does not work: open the program to scan when you think you have a problem. Don't let it run on startup.
    • Free anti-virus solutions (Avast!) are better than all paid solutions EXCEPT for ESET NOD32.
    • You only need one registry cleaner: CCleaner.
    • If you can avoid it, never let anything run at startup. This is the most insipid thing you can do to your PC's speed. There's basically no need for any program but anti-virus or an instant messenger to run at startup.

    That's about it.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009
    ^Seconded^
  • edited March 2009
    Sigh...so I'm definately resigned to reformatting? Like I said earlier I don't have CD's for things I have on my computer so is there a way to get the installation files online? (namely my webcam and ipod and so on). Also, the DVD drive I have installed now did not come with the computer. Is this going to be ok when I reformat it? I don't know how to take it out if I need to...Is there anything else I should know before I take the plunge? Also, I don't have my windows CD that came with the computer or any other original computer CDs. One last thing...real stupid question...how do I reformat my computer?

    Thanks for your help. I gotta say I'm dreading this...lol. Hopefully I get everything right this time though.

    Just one question out of curiousity...if you don't think its a whacked registry what do you think is wrong Thrax?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Wait, you don't have any sort of Windows CD at all?

    That seriously, really impacts your ability to fix this problem.

    What I think it is:
    Numerous problems that are orchestrating into one big problem. Too many startup programs, too many added/removed programs, and damaged system files. Windows should be able to uninstall any application you installed, unless the OS is damaged in some way. It's impossible to describe exactly how it's damaged, but you can see the effects for yourself.

    I can't know everything you did on the PC, but you and I can agree that something is seriously amiss. All the remedies we have provided that would tune up an otherwise functioning computer have failed to yield positive results. That means something bigger and more important has gone astray.

    That "bigger" something can only be core system files.

    However, without a Windows CD there's nothing you can do to fix this problem. Damaged files can't be repaired, either because there's too many of them or because you have no valid source to replace them from.

    You also used a system restore, which does not uninstall applications. All it does is reset the registry to a prior state and completely bungles installation/uninstallation routines because they can no longer find their registry entries.

    It's pretty much the worst feature on earth, but you have many system-embedded applications that are fouled up because the rollback feature is terrible.
  • edited March 2009
    Yes...I have done System restore at least 5 times. When my old DVD drive crashed on me I tried to restore it to about 5 different points to see if it would work.

    So basically I'm screwed unless I can get the disc my computer came with?

    Thanks for taking the time for what seems to be a losing battle.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Yeah, the restore function is bad because it never seems to back up any files that matter.

    It copies the registry: cool.
    It copies some system files: er, cool. What ones? Nobody knows.

    So why does it never seem to work? Because it's like trying to patch brand new doors onto a car with engine troubles. Now you have a pretty car that still runs like shit, because nothing has been fixed.

    I hate the feature, and I hate that Microsoft has so capably brought so many people to believe that it's effective.
  • edited March 2009
    Thrax wrote:
    I hate the feature, and I hate that Microsoft has so capably brought so many people to believe that it's effective.

    Well truth is i dont know enuf to believe whether or not its effective. I just do what I'm told...lol. I only use my computer for a few things so I can't believe i got it going this good...lol.

    About the window cd business...can I reformat still or no? I have a compaq presario laptop and there is a drive on here that says "Presario RP" and it has something in the folder called "recovery." Do you think this is it?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Say, yeah. When your computer boots, does it ask you to hit some key to start the recovery process? Does hitting a key like F2, F10 or F11 when your computer is starting bring up a hidden recovery menu?
  • edited March 2009
    hmmm...i have no idea. I'll have to check this out tomorrow. I think something comes up when I hit f10 because I thought that was safe mode before. I don't know what it was now that I think about it. I don't know about f2 or f11...like I said I'll look tomorrow. Will it reformat just from me pressing it though? I don't want to do that yet. I think I'm going to have CDs sent out to me. Thanks.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    No, it won't automatically reformat. It'll ask you 3-4 times if you want to, though. :D
  • edited March 2009
    http://wer.microsoft.com/responses/Response.aspx/13804/en-us/5.1.2600.2.00010300.3.0?SGD=40a1aa4f-60d8-4cfb-80bf-f690c39c0d86

    This page just came up. It's a blue screen error that I guess means windows restarted. Said it was something with my USB port. This usually happens when I try to play video on my computer from my Ipod but i only had the connection for my internet plugged in teh USB. Don't really understand this one.

    F10 prompted me with a "PhoenixBios setup utility" I ran the hard disk tests there and they passed. F2 does nothing, and F11 is the reformat thing I presume. It said that everything would be like it was in teh beginning aside from user created Data files. Does that mean that all the word documents I have I won't have to back up?
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009

    To me, it depends where you saved them. If they are on the same logical drive as your OS you will loose them.

    Rule number 1, before you start any work back up anything you can't afford to loose. If you do loose it you have a copy if you dont you have two copies!
  • edited March 2009
    I just got another one of those blue screen errors about my USB Bios whatever. My computer got a weeks hiatus as I was travelling a bit. Going to have to reformat it today i think. Everythings starting to come to a head. Thanks for the help. Is there anything else I should make ware of?
  • edited March 2009
    I reformatted my computer. I have a question about what is left. In my program files it has all the old programs I had installed. When i tried to run them they did not work. It is like my computers old shell is still here. There are two user files on my C drive. One is my old account before the reformat, and the other is the name with the computer name next to it. I'm confused. How can I clear this up? Also, is it safe to just delete the files from before the reformat? They were not on Add/Remove programs list.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009
    You haven't re-formatted the drive you have only re-installed the OS over the top of the old one. You need to re-install the OS and when you install there is an option to format the drive. It will warn you that all the data will be lost.
  • edited March 2009
    Well I can't access what is there. Things have reinstalled ok though so I think the problem is fixed indeed.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009
    I dont understand what you mean by "I can't access what is there."

    OK as Thax said in one of his last post your core OS was totally fubared hence why you were having all the problems. What you have done is to overight your old OS with a fresh copy from the CD. This means that you have a clean registry and OS. However, because you did not do a format your HD is still littered with the remnance of your old programmes and your old profile. Non of these old programmes will work because they have not been registered correctly with the OS. In theory you could just delete these folders now because all of the registry entries have been cleened as you have replaced the OS. My only issue with you doing this is that programme installers often put files in several locations so the chances of you deleting all the junk without deleting something that is critical to the system is pretty slim.

    Let me use an analogy of a car. Your car has done 200,000 miles and the head gasket has blown. It will cost you £1000 to repair the gasket but you still have the same engine that has still done 200,000 miles. Pretty soon that engine will die again and you will have another expensive repair job. But for £1100 you could have a brand new engine with no milage that will last you another 200,000 miles.

    What I would do if I was in your situation is to go back, reformat and re-install from scratch. When you boot from your XP/Vista CD you are given the option to re-install on a current partition without formatting or to completely erase and reformat the disk. You need to do the second. If you wipe the disk you have a nice clean OS and an HD with no crap on it. Look at your Hard Disk usage now and after a reformat and re-install.
  • edited March 2009
    yeaaa...my harddrive space is 41%. I just got everything back and running for the most part so its hard to go ahead and do it again. Once I settle in I'll have to do it. I have to say though, I did not see more than one option though. I don't know.
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