Please Please Help!!!!!?

Question

I use my computer for work and lately it is not working properly. When I try to get online it will have the hour glass then say "program not responding". I have ran adware spyware software and really don't know what else to do. Please help me.

I have Windows XP

I don't usually have a problem connecting. It is when I try to click on a link.

Serenity- You are awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me!!! thanks so much!!

Answer 1

Get spybot.
Or
Reload your operating system, takes about 45 minutes.
Depending on what computer you have it should be the f8 key during start up.

Answer 2

you didnt mention about your system configuration, operating system etc. i guess its windows98. there could be some serious problem. change to windowsXP. for more help give details of ur sytem

Answer 3

This could be any number of issues dear. How long have you had the computer, what type of computer is it, how much RAM does it have, how much hard drive and how full is it, have you downloaded any items lately, opened any suspicious mail, or attachments, have you defragmented your drive lately, emptied out your browsers cache and cookies, or done any type of maintainace at all?

I first would have you look into your Disk Management Utility and see how much free hard drive space you currently have. If it is getting full, it makes it difficult for programs to access and open or function properly. Everything slows way down, so slow it can come to a complete stop.

Now, go into your browser and empty your temporary cache. Go to Tools-Internet Options and then, depending on the version of IE you are currently using, most now have IE7, empty your temp web cache. On the General Tab, under Browsing History, click the Delete button. Dont worry, it won't do anything as of yet, a new dialog window will open giving you options of what you wish to delete. Now, delete everything except your cookies. You need some of those cookies for logging into sites, and if you have saved passwords you don't want to have to enter those all over again, right? Right!

Ok, now, I am going to have you download and install a great little utility which is free and many people use it and just love it. It is called CCleaner which stands for Crap Cleaner, OK? lol Yep, a great name for it as that is what it does, clean crap off of your system and out of all sorts of areas on it too!

It does more than one thing too. This is a small but powerfull utility. It is simple to use which is just wonderfull. Go here:

http;//www.cnet.com/downloads

At the upper right hand corner of this page is a search box to search for programs on this site. Put CCleaner in and click search or go, whichever wording is used to start the search. A new page will open up with several simular utilities, just scroll down untill you locate CCleaner, click on it and a downlaod page will appear. If you wish, read some of the hundreds of Reviews available on the page via the Reviews links. Also, please note how many downloads have been done here, and this is just one site which provides the link to the utilty! Hundreds of thousands of people are using this utility. Can you imagine how much money the programmer would have made if he had even just charged ten dollars? Yeah, a whole bunch!!

Anyway, download the file to your desktop. Now, scan it with your Virus Scanner, by right clicking the file and selecting Scan with whatever solution you are using. This is not really needed, it is just something everyone should get into the habit of doing whenever anything is downloaded to their system. It is just the safe thing to do.

Now, run the program and install it.Once it is installed click on it to open it. Now, the first thing I want you to do is configure a couple of options. The first one is to make sure you are prompted each time you do a Registry Clean. Click on the Options button. On the screen to the right, place a check box in the items you want the program to do automatically, but make sure the one that says "Show prompt to back up Registry Issues". Then, whenever you are ready to delete Registry Keys, you will be prompted to backup the Registry. This is very easy to do, so don't worry. After you scan for issues, you will have the option to delete the keys the program found which are no longer valid. The Registry is vital to the Windows OS, it has every single setting and configuration of the system, all the software program and settings, and all of the OS configurations and instructions. However, when we remove software using the Add/Remove applet in Windows, the applet leaves behind a bunch of invalid keys, broken links, orphaned files, orphaned icons, invalid extensions, etc, which over time add up considerably and gunk up the Registry which slows down the system horrifically. This tool fixes that in a few clicks of the mouse. It is invaluable and very safe to use.

Not only does this program get rid of uneeded files, and clean up the registry, it also has a Software Removal utility which works much better than the Windows Add/Remove applet. It also has a Cookie Manager, which allows you to keep the cookies that you need and get rid of all the rest which junk up your browser and system. It also has a StartUp Manager which assists users in controlling what programs startup when they turn the computer on and/or log on to their account.

Whenever you download a program, open and save an attachment from your e-mail program, open and close compressed folders inside the programs which origanally created them and numerous other user actions, temp folders and files are left behind which are hidden from view and unknown to the user but they junk up they system. This tool allows you to remove them very easily and simply without having to do a hunt and peck search of the hard drive to locate them and try to figure out what is junk and what is not junk.

Now, the first operation to perform is getting rid of uneeded files on your system. Keep the settings of the default, don't change anything until you learn more how to use the program. Click the Cleaner icon, then click the Anylize button. Allow the program to finish the search of your hard drive, this could take a few moments up to ten or twenty minutes depending on how fast your system is, and how junked up it is. When it is finished just click the delete button.

Now, run the Registry Cleaner by clicking the Issues icon and then click the Scan for Issues button. This will take a bit of time, just be patient and allow it to finish. When it is done, click the button to start the removal process, click Yes to the backup prompt, browse to your My Documents and then click Save, then back in the program click "Delete all issues" click Yes to the prompt "Are you sure" and it will delete those issues. Now, you need to run this scan until it comes up without any issues. As this is the first time you use it, it could take three, four, or five times, depending on how junked up the Registry is. Make sure you click Yes to the backup prompt each time and save it to your My Documents. You see, the utility cleans off the end Keys and when they are off, the next scan takes off the next available key which was on that particular branch, it has to do it in order, from bottom to top, it can't take an entire key branch off at one time, this is why you have to run it a couple of times.

Now, when you checked your hard disk space how full was it? Go back and check again now you have run this utility for the junk files and junk registry keys. You are not yet finished but lets see how much room has been made. Ok, now go back to the CCleaner program. You should have just minimized the program not closed it out completely, but if you closed it just open it once again.

Now, go to the Options Icon again, then click on Cookies. What you want to do is go down the list and select any cookies from sites you have logon and passwords for such as Yahoo! Inc and MSN, and other websites you are a member of or receive services for. There should not be too many you keep, just keep the ones you use consistantly, like at least once per week. If you don't use them at least once a week, it is not a big deal to put your user name and password in now and again for those sites, as keeping the cookies just takes up space. When you see a cookie you think you want to keep, select it by clicking on it and then click the arrow in the middle of the two panes pointing to the empty pane and that cookie will be added to the list of those you wish to keep. Keep doing this until you have gone through the entire list. Ere on the side of caution and only save those cookies you really believe you need. If you accidenlty delete a cookie you wanted to keep, it is easy to put it into the list the next time you return to that site. After you logon to the site, just open CCleaner, go to this tab and select and save the cookie to your saved list. Then you have it for future use. It is not a big deal if you delete one now.

Ok, now that this is finished, open your browser and go to the Tool-Internet Options again. I want you to access the Temp file options so under Browser History click on the Settings button. A new dialog box will open with these settings. What you want to do is to set a smaller temp file maximum cache. Put a green dot in the radial button next to Automatically under "Check for New Versions of Stored pages", Then in the box to put in the amount put in 20mb. that is large enough to hold a couple days webpages in the cache and will keep it down so it does not fill up your already burdened hard drive, if in fact that is an issue.

Ok, depending on how full your hard drive is you may need to remove some unused programs to clear up more space. Open the Add/Remove applet and look in that list of items for programs you have never used or use very rarely. Don't take the words on the program when it is highlighted as it is very misleading, use your own memory of how often if at all you have used a program. Most ssytems now come bundled with a lot of junk software programs, trials and whatnot. Many people keep them due to the idea of not much liking to give up something which was "free". Well, if you don't use it, what use is it especally if your hard drive is getting maxed out? They are good for nothing more than taking up much needed hard drive space and for causing problems when trying to use the programs you do use often. It just doesn't make any sense to keep something you don't ever use and which is most likely causing problems on your system. So, while I don't want you to remove them from this applet, just write them down and then open up CCleaner again and go to the Tools icon, click it then click Uninstall. Locate each program on your ist and remove it via the remove button on the right of the window.

When you have removed the last program, it is time to do the Cleaner Scan again, and the Issues Scan. This will finish up clearing the gunk that removing leaves behind. However, using CCleanrer to remove software leaves behind a whole lot less garbage than the Add/Remove applet does and shortens your work here. Run the Cleaner first, then scan for issues until it comes up empty.

Now, you will need to defrag your hard drive(s). This is easy but can take some time if you have not done it in a while and if it is pretty full. It would be a good idea to do it when you do not need to use your computer for a bit. It can take up to an hour or longer, and as you will also be doing a DiskCheck, which is completed after the defrag and and a reboot, it can be time consuming, but well worth the trouble and time.

As you use your computer, the ssytem places the files all over your hard drive, not just in nice tidy little piles or lines. I know, it seems really odd to me too, but this is just how it is in a Windows OS. Which is why Windows provides the defrag tool and the diskclean tool and the checkdisk tool.

To do this, go into Disk Management. Click Start-place your mouse over My Computer and right click. On the shortcut menu select Manage. The Computer Management Console will open. Click the + sign in front of Storage, which opens the submenu. Click on Disk Defragmenter. Click Anylyze. Once the anylyzing is finished, click defrag, but make sure you select "Check Disk after defragmentation", which will set your system up to do the Disk Check following the defragmentation. I am unsure if you have to reboot or if the system does it for you following the finish of defragmentaion, as I have not had to defrag my system since I started using the CCleaner utility. I still anylyze it to see if it needs it, but it always comes up with a defrag uneeded. Which is a direct result of my using the CCleaner utility. See how usefull it is?

Now, for maintainance, run the CCleaner Cleaner, Issues, and Cookie manager at least weekly and following any download of any item, and the removal of any software even if you intend to re-install it. You don't want junk left behind after a routine task which requires the removal of sofware, or if a software program gets currupted and needs removal and re-installation to fix the issue. It is best to always clean up after such jobs, and before re-installing a different instance of the software from the web, or from the CD or DVD ROM.

I hope this helps you get your system back to health. It certainly won't hurt that is for sure! lol It may seem like a lot of work, but you can actually do this faily quickly. The first time is most difficult as you will not be familar with the CCleaner program, but with the directions I provided, and the ones from the CCleaner webiste which you can access after you install the utility you will do fine. Even if the major problem turns out to be something different, this will work wonders on your system, speeding it up quiet a bit.

Now, If your browser still has problems after this, you may need to remove it and either do a repair or a different instance install. If you do remove it be sure to run CCleaner before downloading and installing a new instance of the browser. Sometimes a single file becoming currupt can cause huge problems in any program and make it not work properly or behave as it should. However, before you remove your browser do the above steps first, as it sounds like your system is in great need of this cleaning up.

I am sorry this is so long, but it was not an easy issue and it takes some explanation of the steps involved and why they are needed and in what order. I hope this gets you back up and running better so you can get to your work without such hassles in the future.

Good luck and I wish you a great day!

Answer 4

please be specific..........