what's wrong with my computer?

Question

my computer is a HP, it is very slow, so I tried to restore it to another date, it wont restore to an earlier time. I uninstalled some things, one screensaver though, wont uninstall. When you start up, there are 2 icons, one with my name and one with my son's.
When i go under my name, is where I have all the trouble. I have the most stuff on mine. My son's is fine. It won't restore to an earlier time either. I have Norton security. I don't know what's going on... Help

Answer 1

Norton is a big resource hog. It is not something you should use, unless you have 512MB or higher RAM. You may also skim through my enormous answer to pick up points, which may be useful for you.

1.Download CCleaner from http://www.ccleaner.com/ and run it’s Cleaner section, once daily, before shutting down your computer. It removes all the trash files that are created while surfing through the net. Use its Issues section once every 2 weeks to delete all the unused registry keys. If you have a lot of Auto Start entries, then you can remove them from its Tools > Startup. But keep the important ones like firewall and the real-time protection shields of your anti-virus and anti-spyware. Another good cleaner, Disk Cleaner, can be used along with CCleaner for even better results. http://www.diskcleaner.nl/download.php

2.Keep a decent anti-virus, a strong firewall and at least two anti-spywares in your computer. Always keep the real time protection shield (or resident shield) of the anti-virus and one of the anti-spyware active. Update them and scan your computer once every week with both the anti-spyware and once every 2 weeks with anti-virus. I have given the links to some free and good anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall; get them all:
AVG (Download this: avg75free_432a904.exe): http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5#avg-anti-virus-free
AdAware SE: http://www.download.com/ad-aware-se-pers...
SpyBot Search and Destroy: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/spy...
Comodo Personal Firewall: http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
Never keep two anti-virus or firewall on a single system. If you are already using a good anti-virus or firewall, then you need not download the corresponding one. You can, however, use as many anti-spywares as you want, provided you use the real-shield of only one of these.

3.Only for those with 256MB or less RAM: Keep a virtual memory booster as an auto-start entry. It frees the clogged RAM. I use RAM Booster, which is very effective. Here is the link to download it:
http://www.download.com/rambooster/3000-...
After downloading it, follow the steps:
* Click on Edit > Options and tick the follow options:
(a) Set auto optimisation on
(b) Show CPU usage
(c) Start minimised
(d) Launch automatically at start up
Also, change the ‘Auto Optimisation Level’ and 'MB of RAM to free at auto level' as per your requirement.

4.Keep at least 35% of your C: free. Transfer all the music, image and video files to other drives.

5.Defragment the hard drives (especially C:) once every month. To defrag, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Defragment. It takes a lot of time (50 minutes or over) so don’t become impatient. It’s for your computer’s good.

6.Optional: You may get the free Google Web Accelerator to boost up your Internet speed.
http://webaccelerator.google.com/

7.Keep your Recycle Bin empty.

8.Use minimum possible shortcut icons on your desktop.

9.If you have genuine Windows, then keep it updated every month.

10.Trim down the number of games if you have way too many.

11.You will hate this suggestion, but believe me; blank wallpaper helps a faster startup.

12.Only for those with strong memory: Turn off the automatic updating features of all the software that you have got and manually check for updates once in a while, BUT ONLY IF YOU CAN REMEMBER TO DO SO. For example, if your anti-virus got updated daily, then manually check for updates daily and if it got updated weekly, then check for updates every 3-4 days. Only for genuine Windows XP users: I will also recommend turning off Automatic Update feature and check manually for Windows patches once or twice every month (again only if you can remember to do so). To turn off Automatic Updates, go to Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates > Turn off Automatic Updates. But the Security Center will show a warning if you do so, so in order to stop it from badgering your head, go to Start > Control Panel > Security Center > Change the way Security Center alerts me. Untick the box next to Automatic Updates. That’s all!!

13. Windows has some highly vulnerable features, which are hardly ever used, but are turned on by default. From the link, you can download a pack of free and absolutely small software (all less than 60KB), which you can use to disable these features. I will recommend downloading “Unplug n’ Pray” (disables Universal Plug n’ Play) and “Shoot the Messenger”. Those who don’t have any Service Pack in their Windows XP (pirated copies) can download “XPDite” to patch up a few vulnerabilities. To test the efficiency of your firewall, you can grab “Leaktest”. All these may seem unrelated to your question, but they do indeed help in speeding up your computer indirectly.
http://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm

If nothing of what I have mentioned works, then its time you upgrade your RAM. For computers connected to the Internet, you should preferably have 512MB or higher RAM. For gaming computers, the minimum should be 1024MB or 1GB of RAM. If your statistics reads less than the values mentioned, then better upgrade. Also, the processor should be at least a Pentium 4 or its equivalent, AMD Athlon. Reformatting the hard drives once every year is also recommended.

Answer 2

If you know someone that is good with computers, have them over for supper. They can show you all that is written in these answers. Most of which may be more confusing for you.

To me it sounds as if your computer is full of tempoary files and needs to have the hard drive defragmented. It might have a virus or spyware. It might be updating programs when you are on and not when your son is logged on. Norton is a problem only if you let it be one.

Answer 3

You have to be care-full with some screensaver downloads. Sometime they contain spyware/adaware. Try going into safe mode to try to uninstall the screensaver. Then run the 2 scans below to rid your machine of spyware/adaware.

Download, update and run Spybot---http://www.safer-networking.org/ . Don't forget to use the Immunize feature.


Download, update and run Adaware---http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/products/select_your_product.php

Answer 4

You may have to go to "my computer" and set up the restore points. They may have been turned off or someone is deleting it. Also, it is running slow? This may be due to low ram. how much do you have? I would say for present programs to run, it is best to have at least a gig of ram...

Answer 5

try using a recovery disk if you have one...if nothing works copy the important stuff to a USB drive or burn it onto a DVD and try a reinstall...Normally the windows registry tends to get cramped with useless stale data left over from software uninstalls and this makes the PC run slower over time...try a disk defragment if you have a FAT32 disk or maybe a registry cleaner...wish ur PC well...

Answer 6

Norton security . lol you need to remove any virus or trojan or spyware . use .avg antispyware... spybot . if you can't then use the system recovery on start up .when starting up computer press the F10 key then when at the recovery screen click on start recovery . it will take 3 hours for the recovery tobe done. and your computer will be back to manufacture settings if you are going to use the system recovery set up .. back up your saved files frist too cd

manufacture settings recovery

system recovery on start up .when starting up computer press the F10 key then when at the recovery screen click on start recovery

Answer 7

u might just have some spyware or adaware. download Adaware (google it) or spyware search and destroy.

the thing about recovery you might not have any recovery points saved. so you would have to reformat the computer.

do a diskcleanup defrag and all that good stuff ;)

Answer 8

Please give the following particulars:
Speed of the processor
ram size
free space in c drive.
OS used.
The above details will help to solve the problem
immediatly.
How ever though so many software available, we have to install the nessary software only.
The more number of softwares installed will make the system slow. Please remove unwanted softwares.

Answer 9

it depends on the stuff you put on it HP computers dont work well with downloaded stuff