Laptop recently started taking FOREVER to boot and restart/shut down. I suspect some Adware/Spyware/Malware as the culprit, but not sure where to start, or what to look at. Appreciate any input or suggestions. Thanks in advance.
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Laptop recently started taking FOREVER to boot and restart/shut down. I suspect some Adware/Spyware/Malware as the culprit, but not sure where to start, or what to look at. Appreciate any input or suggestions. Thanks in advance.
Scan it with an ad-aware and/or AntiVirus as a first step ... Just search the Spyware / Adware forum, you'll find all the tools you need !
like Ad-aware SE , Spybot and AVG for an Antivirus or the free housecall from tendmicro ...
[edit]Quote:
Originally posted here by foxyloxley
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...418#post790418
AdAware = http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
SpyBot S+D = http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
If you don't run anything, try these.
They should find and neutralize almost everything out there.
If you DO run protection, it might help if you post your routine:
What do you use ?
How often do you update / use them ?
How many 'baddies' have you removed recently ?
Also details of your OS and PC set up can help.
Get a firewall on PERMANENTLY.
Free ones include:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...s+free&spell=1
Get Anti-Virus running, update it regular.
keep the above FREE tools on the system, USE THEM. Update them weekly as well
The above FREE items are easy to install and run.
If you are experiencing difficulties in downloading any of these tools, then use a friends, and burn them to CD.
But you have to have SOMETHING running to help protect your system.
Leaving it to chance is no longer an option.
And 'Security through Obscurity' has passed its sell by date.
Nowadays, there are laws going through that will make YOU responsible, if your system is compromised, and it is used to compromise others.
When you have these tools ready. DISCONNECT from the WWW :eek:
Turn OFF your computer :eek: :eek:
On re-booting, go into 'safe mode' [hit F8 as the PC goes into its routine] Safe mode will only allow certain parts of the software to work, drivers and peripherals are disabled.
Run the tools now, clean up after yourself, get the PC to re-boot as normal, come back to AO and repost your findings here.
Remember all that you are doing, and use it religiously, when someone else comes here with a similar problem, then YOU will be able to help, as we are trying to help you.
thought it would be quicker to post it as a quote........
next time I'll know better.
[edit2]
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=262601
this is a link to a sticky that gives you a template to give us the required info for a more detailed response.
Please use it..........
Before blaming the problem on adware / spyware, consider what else might have happened around the same time.
Did you drop the laptop? Was there a power surge sometime? Did you recently install a large applicataion / game which is now taking up most disk space?
Adware / spyware is not the only cause of compter slowdowns.
However, that said, I assume you are intelligent enough to rule most other things out, if not all of them, leaving spyware as the suspected cause.
Ad-Aware is good for removing spyware.
Spybot Search and Destroy is just as good.
In my experience, each misses some things that the other catches. Run them both.
Run a virus-checker to determine if some sort of trojan or virus could be causing the problem. AVG is almost as effective as commercial alternatives, and is free.
If you want more help, you need to be a lot more specific as to what else happened around the same time you started noticing these problems.
Make sure to run these in safe mode.
<edit>
Dammit! ©opy®ight AND Foxyloxley both beat me to it.
</edit>
Don't what OS you are running, but Scan Disk and Defrag (if applicable) also!
cheers
Hi,
Since you know have quite a lot of sugesstions... I have not much to say but u can make an attemp to check scheduled tasks .. whether there is a bat file running that is asking for shut down or reboot... (remote possibility of this ) but u might want to give it a try ... but first u might have to use F8 key to log in to the safe mode.
MRG.
And for it starting slow, go to start-> run ..type in msconfig, click the startup tabd and uncheck every program you don't want to load itself at startup !
I run ad-aware and spybot frequently, and update often as well. Antivirus -
I'm using a commercial package of Kaspersky, set to update and run every day. I ran all of the aforementioned in safe mode, did a scandisc and defrag, and still, slow boot and shut down.
Nothing has been loaded recently, running XP Pro SP2 - all completely updated.
Machine is a 2 Ghz, Pentium 4 with 256MB RAM. Never been dropped, always surge protected.
Usually have Sygate personal firewall running, although I disabled it several months ago. (conflicted with another program)
My apologies for not elaborating on the steps I had already taken. I took it for granted that it was assumed.
I cannot think of any real big recent changes that may have caused the issue. Anyway, any further insight is appreciated.
Thanks.
I have always found that Scan Disk / or Check Disk to be one of the most valuable tools that I have, and run it when ever I notice any thing off with the perfomance of my systems. But, I have been told (often) that Windows XP does not have one.....But it does. Its just hidden a little bit.Quote:
Originally posted here by Relyt
Don't what OS you are running, but Scan Disk and Defrag (if applicable) also!
cheers
1. Start button
2. My Computer
3. right click on c:/ main storage
4. select tools
5. select 'Automatically fix file system errors'
6. A popup will appear asking you if you want to schedual this at boot-up.....click yes
7. reboot to run
I don't know why MS has chosen to hide this feature from the Assecories-tools menue, but it is still available from the methode above........and could cure your slow down problems.
Try Norton System Scan That May Help and if it is a desktop Format reload that will be fresh
He mentioned it is a laptop, and you can format laptops too...i just did :-DQuote:
Try Norton System Scan That May Help and if it is a desktop Format reload that will be fresh
-z3