Uninstalled Spyware Doctor STILL is killing my computer's memory! Help!?

Question

Many months ago, I installed Spyware Doctor into my computer. Back then, after startup, my RAM-usage was only about 210,000/632,696K according to my Task Manager. Not only did the product take too long to load, it also slowed down my PC significantly. Finding that it was too strenuous for my computer, I uninstalled it.

Yet, my computer was still (and still is) slow after the uninstallation. Ever since I installed it, my PC is always slow and always using at least 310,000/632,696K, a 100,000K difference! Thinking that some part is still there and operating, I have tried reinstalling and uninstalling, manual ununstallaition, System Restore, Spybot, Windows Defender. None have worked in fixing it.

Please help! Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

I used to use Spyware Doctor also and even though I have 3G of RAM installed, I didn't like the slow boot up and shut down times, so I simply stopped it from running at start up. I run Spyware Doctor occasionally, so I do leave it installed on the PC so I can use it when I want.

You may be running into a situation whereby you're PC is starting up several programs that you don't need running in the back-ground at all. I found that even Microsoft Office sneaked in a ".exe" file and was using about 7M of RAM just so Office would initiate a little faster. I'm just not in that big of a hurry for a Word or Excel file to open so I stopped it from launching. That is quite common for programs to install a ".exe" file so their program will initiate a little quicker. Even Adobe Acrobat does it. Go figure.... Check out the Autoruns program I mention and give it a shot. It does help.

Here are my tips for helping out a slow PC. Give them a shot and I think you'll find your computer will run a bit more efficiently.

A major cause of slow PC's is fragmentation of the hard drive. You need to defragment the HD at least once a week if not more depending on how much you use your computer, and what you do with it.

One way is to use the defragment utility built into Windows XP. It is slow but does the job rather well. Go to:
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and then click on System Defrag to run the tool. It may take several hours, so let it run overnight or simply walk away from your PC for a few hours.
A great program for defragging automatically is Diskeeper Home. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to http://www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the Editor and User reviews. It can be scheduled to run automatically as the program deems necessary, and if you are using your PC and the program launches itself, it will take a backseat to whatever you are doing and give you the priority for CPU usage. I think you'll agree it's a good program to have. It precludes your needing to remember to defrag at regular intervals.

Another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Software manufacturers write ".exe" files that help launch a program faster when you click on the icon. These .exe files are running all the time unless you shut them down, and they eat up your RAM and can leave you with precious little RAM to run your PC. The best thing to do is to shut down all the unnecessary programs that are running unless you specifically NEED them to be running "in the background". If you can wait another 2 or 3 seconds for a program like Word, or Adobe, or whatever to open then don't allow some of these ".exe" files to run. Each one you shut down, saves you RAM to help run your PC more efficiently. The following program, Autoruns, will allow you to control what runs when you boot up your PC.

Here's a really good Microsoft tool. It’s called Autoruns and it was written by SysInternals who were recently bought up by Microsoft. Before you download the program create a folder under program files called Autoruns. Leave Windows Explore open. Launch Internet Explorer and go to the following Microsoft web page. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx
Go to the bottom of the page and download the Autoruns program. After it downloads unzip the file (You'll need WinZip or WinRAR to do so). You will see 4 files. Drag and drop those 4 files to the Autoruns folder you created under Program Files.
Once you have the 4 files in the C:\Program Files\Autoruns folder you can double click on the file titled “autoruns.exe” (not the autorunsc.exe) to launch the program.
This will bring up a window with several tabs at the top. Click on the “Logon” tab. It will list the programs that are running on your PC and eating up resources. Look them over carefully and turn off any that don’t absolutely have to be running. Simply click on the “check mark” in the little box beside the program name. Clicking on it will remove the check mark. Look for any program that your are not using at this moment that has a check mark in the box. Look for programs such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, etc. Once you have edited the Startup list, click on Apply and then on OK.
NOTE: Look in the publisher column and leave items that show Windows; System 32; Program Files; etc. alone. Also leave things that mention Audio, video, etc. alone. Shutting them off may cause some things not to work. Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.
WARNING: Don’t go into the other tabs and start deleting/unchecking things. You will probably give yourself major headaches if you do that. Stay focused on the “Logon” List only. If you happen to shut off something that you didn't intend to, you can relaunch the Autoruns program and simply put the check mark back in the appropriate box, and then reboot the PC. The "program" will be reinstated to run at boot up.

Regularly clean up your browsing history, files, cookies, temp files, etc. A good program to use is Ccleaner and it is FREE. Get it here: http://www.download.com

Also, you need a “registry cleaner”. The registry can get “defragmented and clogged” with various data that you simply don’t need. The only effective way to clean this massive list is to use an automated cleaner. Go to http://www.download.com and you can search for Registry Cleaners. There should be several FREE ones there for you to use. One I've found to do a good job is named Registry Distiller.

Another good thing to have is a little program called FreeRAM XP Pro. It is free and is available from http://www.download.com This program puts a little RAM meter on the System Tray and shows how much RAM you have remaining that you are not using at any given time. I think you may be surprised at how little RAM you have to run other programs. Also, once it is installed you can right click on the little meter, then click on RESTORE and it will open the RAM display window. You can tweak the settings so it will display your CPU usage also. Then just click “Minimize” and then “To System Tray” to return it to the Task Bar.

What happens when you run out of or run real low on RAM is that the OS recognizes the low or no RAM situation and starts using a section of your hard drive as memory. This is called virtual memory, or a swap file. The PC is constantly writing and reading from your HD. Comparitively, it is a very slow process. Check your motherboard manual and determine how much RAM each slot can hold. It will also tell you what type of RAM you need. You can also go to http://www.crucial.com or http://www.4allmemory.com and run their analysis utility to determine what kind and how much RAM is installed in your PC. Depend on your MoBo manual to determine the RAM limits of each slot though.
Hope this helps!!!

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

Install Microsoft live one care I guarantee it will fix all your computer problems and it will run better than new.You can install it on tree computers and it takes care of viruses spy ware ,tunes up your computer and justs does a great job.Its the best thing I have ever installed for all that stuff.I also had the doctor and about 4 other programs that took all the memory.You wont even know that one care is running in the back round.

Answer 4

i could first look utilizing the beginning up menu>courses, and see if secret agent ware regular practitioner has an uninstall selection there, it does use that. If no longer pass to the beginning up menu>administration panel>upload/do away with courses and choose secret agent ware regular practitioner. on occasion this technique has records in different folders, if so it ought to no longer decide to do away with it, or a minimum of all of it. consequently, you should seek for secret agent ware and pass to all the folders and seek for each record and delete them (hard job) or you're able to would desire to delete Norton, then reinstall it without the secret agent ware regular practitioner.

Answer 5

Try defraging the hdd.

Answer 6

search in your registry then delete