New Laptop Freezes

[Sir Guy]

Hello,

I recieved a new laptop 3 days ago. It keeps freezing at startup. I think it's because I have too many startup items. I was looking through them and I dont know which ones to delete. Does anyone know which ones are required and which I can delete? If it's not the startup items causing the problem then is it possible that I've already been infected with malware? :sad2:

-Thanks

These are the startup items:

SynTPEnh
Stsystra
cli
quickset
DVDLauncher
tfswctrl
isuspm
issch
DMXLauncher
mcmnhdlr
oasclnt
mcagent
mcupdate
MSKDetct
GoogleDesktop
MskAgent
Mcvsshld
MpfTray
avgcc
mscifapp
ZcfgSvc
ifrmewrk
netWaiting
DSAgnt
ctfmon
Digital Line Detect

BTW my system is a dell windows XP home edition. I have McAfee and AVG.

[Sir Guy]

I could really use some help with this. So, if anyone knows anything about any one of these processes please post.

-Thanks

[Leonardo]

For starters, why are you running AVG and McAfee? That's redundant software running. Once you get the freezing sorted out, I would recommend completely uninstalling all McAffee programs. It is some of the worst bloatware that can be installed on a computer. For malware protection, install the freeware programs Spybot Search and Destroy, AdAware Personal Edition, and SpywareBlaster. Those three programs are excellent and only leave a small 'footprint' on your system's available resources.

For all the startup programs/services, just perform a Google search on the exact abbreviations and you will get good information on what they are. It should be pretty easy to determine what needs to be running.

If any questions though, of course, come back here and ask!

[Sir Guy]

:aol: ;D Soo.... that's Norton and McAfee? Thanks for the advice. I'll start that ASAP. Just wondering though, is there any non-free anti-virus software that you guys like? :tongue:

And I've done the google searches, but some of the pages that it returns are a bit contradictory. Oh, well. I'll just do more research, and then make some educated guesses.

Thanks for the imput! :wave:

[Leonardo]

is there any non-free anti-virus software that you guys like? ??? In your thread opener you said you were running "AVG." AVG is a freeware anti-virus program, and a very good one at that. Are you sure you are running AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti-virus-free/lng/us/tpl/v5)? If not, download, install, configure it to your needs, and set it to automatic updates. It's an excellent freeware programs, with few rivals in effectiveness - both free and commercial.

Are you running a firewall? A good free one is Zone Alarm. But then, I haven't kept up to date concerning software firewalls because I use a hardware firewall with my wireless router.

[Sir Guy]

I just meant is there any NON-free (something that you have to pay for) software (like norton, McAfee, SpySweeper, etc.) that you guys like? I was just wondering (an idle thought not really important)...

I have windows firewall but i was planning to get one that filters both incoming and outgoing (I'll just do some research on those). And, yes. I am running AVG.

[Leonardo]

Why purchase software when you can get top shelf freeware? If you have cash that you need to spend for some reason, Kaspersky AV is considered by many to be the best.

But to reiterate, keep your AVG running and up to date and completely remove McAfee everything from your computer.

Freeware (other good ones also, but these are tried and true for me for several years):

AV - AVG
Malware/Spyware/Adware - SpywareBlaster, Ad-Aware Personal, SpyBot
Firewall - Zone Alarm

[V|P]

Firewall - Zone Alarm
Use to have the Suite. It's really good protection, but it gets annoying when it keeps asking to allow or reject connections, and slows things down a lot. Going without a firewall at the moment. Havn't had any problems for about 6 months! :Rocker:

[Sir Guy]

OK. I uninstalled McAfee. I'm now using AVG, Spyware Blaster, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, and ZoneAlarm. And I'm also using about 400MB LESS RAM than I was using with McAfee. :thumbsup: Thanks for the info.

@ V|P: Is it really safe to run your computer without a firewall? :scratch: Also, about ZoneAlarm, how much did it slow things down?

[V|P]

OK. I uninstalled McAfee. I'm now using AVG, Spyware Blaster, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware, and ZoneAlarm. And I'm also using about 400MB LESS RAM than I was using with McAfee. :thumbsup: Thanks for the info.

@ V|P: Is it really safe to run your computer without a firewall? :scratch: Also, about ZoneAlarm, how much did it slow things down?
It runs slow after a while, once you start denying access to a lot of things and then run them simultaneously. I wouldn't suggest going without a firewall, but I use firefox, and I keep my visits to suspicious sites :range: very minimal. I haven't had any hits with ad-aware or spyware other than bearshare and windows firewall overrides for over 3 months now, which is an all time record for me. :vimp:

[profdlp]

If you're behind a hardware firewall, like that in a router, you are fine. If not, use a software firewall.

[FatFunkey]

anyone ever use Avast Anti-Virus? its free too and i heard its really good

personally i just use Norton 2003 Professional Edition but its got bugs with XP SP2 So ill prob just buy the newer version once the subsciption goes out again
(and ill never touch McCrappy >_> ugh)

[GnomeWizardd]

Only PC virus protection Id run Is Trend or AVG

Trend is what i bought tho