J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Have been brought a HP PC thats on its knees, everything takes ages, it freezes, things fail. Its a P4 Pavillion, 256 mb ram running XP home. Typically I get these heaps dumped on me because I am an Oracle DBA, why that qualifies me to be a pc tech I dont know, I do a bit but PC World I am not, I am however cheaper, people expect you to return them a fully working pc having spent a week of pissing about with it and then furnish you with a bottle of 2.99 plonk if you are lucky, they then ring you to tell you its not working, at which point you explain how to set up Zone Alarm to a complete nobvice. They then tell other people that you sent it back broken ?

I want to return this running like **** through a Goose.

So, what do you reckon, I suspect its virus related, my plan of attack.

1/ Run Spybot S and D and see what that turns up

2/ Reinstall latest version of AVG

3/ Switch to Firefox as the internet browser

4/ Reinstall latest version of Zone Alarm

5 Fit at least another 256 MB of ram, why people are so tight when buying a pc, they ask my advice and then buy whatever they want, I can clearly remember saying, if nothing else make sure it has 512 ram or above !

6/ Windows tweaking, turn off anything not required like animated crap.

7/ Anything you lot suggest

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

Yep u've got it covered, do these as well;

Chkdsk
Defrag
Delete temp files
Clean up any loose files
Delete net cache n resize if necessary
Turn off disk indexing
Check swap file settings
Check msconfig/registry/startup for unwanted crap
Check for latest mobo, gfx drivers, settings

Ram upgrade definately

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Things got a lot better when I switched Zone Alarm off, its not connected to the net and fooked anyway so no harm done, I can at least get it to respond, there is so much crap on there Zone Alarm didnt know whether it was coming or going !

Hanslow

Format it, give it them back and then say 'There you go, start from scratch, it'll be much better' and leave them to it

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Also check and apply latest Service Pack (Service Pack 2 for Win XP) and install where possible any windows updates it needs from Microsofts windows update site.

I would also look at the inventory of Programs installed and where possible remove any that are no longer required. Make sure that the latest AV DAT is installed. Could also be worth a look in the registry to see what starts up when logged on. Best place to look in regedit or reged32 would be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> MICROSOFT -> WINDOWS -> RUN

As a warning if your not sure what to get rid of then leave well alone.

tershman

iTrader: (1)

Download Hi-Jack This and run the scan good for a clear out.
Check all the boxes to clear all and click ok on the warnings.
You will need to re enter the Home Page address again in Internet Explorer.

Mark00024

get rid of zone alarm and turn windows firwall on. run Microsofts antyspyware and trend micro do a good run only one. Make sure its fully updated with windows update. AVG is good too. If its a dodgy copy of windows then sometimes probs can occur if not and all else fails wipe it and start again. That doesnt work its faulty.

Lum

The only difference between you and a typical PC World tech is that you are prepared to admit you don't really know what you're doing. You'll probably do a better job than if you'd taken it there.

I've given up fixing home PCs these days. On XP machines it's nearly always spyware crap, it gets tedious.

Format it and install OS/2, that'll stop it getting infected again.

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Nah. Go with a Linux install instead

Lum

No, that would actually be useful. The point is to stop them coming back and bothering you again.

I have a full set of Windows 3.11 disks if you're interested.

Dracoro

Give it back to them with just dos 4.1 (not 5.1, it's too advanced ) with wordstar and lotus 123. Tell them it'll do most of what they want and reliably .

If they say they want the internet, tell them to wait for the next version as the current one is too buggy

Lum

wattcp for DOS would like a word with you.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Ha, love those suggestions, OS/2 !

Its running well now, I will give it him back today, he is under instructions to only use Firefox, not crap free but a lot better than IE. The challenging bit will be getting him to stump up the thirty quid he owes me for the ram, 256 meg was 30 quid from PC World, then again I want going to use my petrol to go trawling around to save a tenner for him, have already spent several hours on it, thats not counting the phone calls over the last year or so as it clogged up, kept suggesting he gave it me to sort out.