Computer help

[heavyg]

Ok my computer is opening up programs very slow. It can take up to 45 seconds for word or explorer to open. I have done all the normal maintenance to it such as virus scan, spyware scan, scan disk, disk defrag and a reg scan. Found some problems and they were fixed. But it still opens the programs far to slow. Once I get the program open they seem to run fine.

What am I missing? :bang2:


Computer is a DELL 2.5 gig processor 512 meg of ram

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

You might have too many programs running in the background.

Do you have nortons SYSTEM works program or just a virus scan. I had to remove nortons SYSTEM works from more than one computer because it was causing things to load up too slow.

Also do you have Limewire on your computer? If you do you need to go through and set up the option so it does not automatically load on windows startup. Also if you use it, when you are done, you have to chose the exit option and not just hit the X on the window to close it completely.

Another thing could be, if it is slow just starting up, could be your computer looking for the network connection if you are on cable and or wireless network.

 

[heavyg]

You might have too many programs running in the background.

Do you have nortons SYSTEM works program or just a virus scan. I had to remove nortons SYSTEM works from more than one computer because it was causing things to load up too slow.

Also do you have Limewire on your computer? If you do you need to go through and set up the option so it does not automatically load on windows startup. Also if you use it, when you are done, you have to chose the exit option and not just hit the X on the window to close it completely.

Another thing could be, if it is slow just starting up, could be your computer looking for the network connection if you are on cable and or wireless network.

Yeah i do have alot of processes running but most of them show zero on CPU usage. I do have one agent.exe that takes up alot CPU but when I click on end process it just pops back up.

 

[the kid 05]

what BP said. but if you dont trust other anti-virus programs (i suguest avg http://free.avg.com/ works like a charm and not a memory hog) and want to keep norton id sugguest upping your ram the recommended min now adays is at least 1 gig of ram

Yeah i do have alot of processes running but most of them show zero on CPU usage. I do have one agent.exe that takes up alot CPU but when I click on end process it just pops back up.

zero cpu usage doesn't mean its not taking up memory space which will cause slow downs as well

 

[heavyg]

what BP said. but if you dont trust other anti-virus programs (i suguest avg http://free.avg.com/ works like a charm and not a memory hog) and want to keep norton id sugguest upping your ram the recommended min now adays is at least 1 gig of ram



zero cpu usage doesn't mean its not taking up memory space which will cause slow downs as well

Yeah I need to upgrade my ram for sure. I am using AVG and love it.

What processes are save to shut down? If I remember correctly if they say system they are needed for the computer to run. Is that the case?

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Yeah I need to upgrade my ram for sure. I am using AVG and love it.

What processes are save to shut down? If I remember correctly if they say system they are needed for the computer to run. Is that the case?

Is your AVG setup to run a scan daily?

I had some trouble with AVG with some of our work computers because they were scanning every day which made some things run slow.

 

[heavyg]

Is your AVG setup to run a scan daily?

I had some trouble with AVG with some of our work computers because they were scanning every day which made some things run slow.

Yes but it is set to run at 2 am while I am asleep. And I do not get on the computer until after 4 pm (after work)

 

[the kid 05]

Yeah I need to upgrade my ram for sure. I am using AVG and love it.

What processes are save to shut down? If I remember correctly if they say system they are needed for the computer to run. Is that the case?

there are some "system" that are safe to kill. some of em are brought about by programs that run at start up by the system. I dont know which ones off hand are safe to kill or not. i always did the click and watch with it if my old computer was running slow...click end task...watch and see if it turns off basically (i dont recommend this lol)

 

[heavyg]

there are some "system" that are safe to kill. some of em are brought about by programs that run at start up by the system. I dont know which ones off hand are safe to kill or not. i always did the click and watch with it if my old computer was running slow...click end task...watch and see if it turns off basically (i dont recommend this lol)

I think my problem is coming from the agent.exe it takes up 100% of the CPU at times. But when I click on end task it just pops back up in the processes

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

I think my problem is coming from the agent.exe it takes up 100% of the CPU at times. But when I click on end task it just pops back up in the processes

Right click on it and copy and paste the properties here please.

 

[the kid 05]

I think my problem is coming from the agent.exe it takes up 100% of the CPU at times. But when I click on end task it just pops back up in the processes

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt-2000-xp/561399-solved-agent-exe.html

apparently its a virus of some sorts? the link provides a safe removal

edit: not a virus but something thats constantly checking for upgrades/send out data (spyware)

http://www.processlibrary.com/directory/files/agent/

http://www.spywareremove.com/removeagentexe.html

 

[heavyg]

Right click on it and copy and paste the properties here please.

ok will have to do that this afternoon when I get home.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt-2000-xp/561399-solved-agent-exe.html

apparently its a virus of some sorts? the link provides a safe removal

It does not always have to be a virus...that's why I want to see what the properties are.

Sometimes it is an update program for a program on your computer that is trying to connect to the internet to get the updates...if that makes sense.:laugh2:

 

[Meat-O-Rama]

Agent.exe is not a Windows system process, so it's safe to not have it run.

Click Start
Click Run
Type msconfig - hit enter
There will be several tabs listed, go to the startup tab and uncheck agent.exe if it's listed. If you want to list the other entries here, I can let you know which ones are safe to remove and which ones should stay.
Click OK and restart when prompted.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Try downloading and running this program.

http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=mncol;pop

I have had very good success with it. It found spyware my antivirus missed and it's free.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Agent.exe is not a Windows system process, so it's safe to not have it run.

Click Start
Click Run
Type msconfig - hit enter
There will be several tabs listed, go to the startup tab and uncheck agent.exe if it's listed. If you want to list the other entries here, I can let you know which ones are safe to remove and which ones should stay.
Click OK and restart when prompted.

However if it is a program on his computer that needs an update, that he may use, he can just do the updates and be done with it. Although one would wonder why it keeps trying instead of doing the update. Might be an issue that he turned off his computer in mid update and it screwed it up.

 

[heavyg]

Agent.exe is not a Windows system process, so it's safe to not have it run.

Click Start
Click Run
Type msconfig - hit enter
There will be several tabs listed, go to the startup tab and uncheck agent.exe if it's listed. If you want to list the other entries here, I can let you know which ones are safe to remove and which ones should stay.
Click OK and restart when prompted.

That is what i was looking for. I want to shut down some of the things running. I could not remember how to get there

Thank you

 

[heavyg]

However if it is a program on his computer that needs an update, that he may use, he can just do the updates and be done with it. Although one would wonder why it keeps trying instead of doing the update. Might be an issue that he turned off his computer in mid update and it screwed it up.

That could be a problem. For some reason I keep getting the little gold shield down in the bottom right corner telling me updates are available but it never seems to update when I click on it.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

That could be a problem. For some reason I keep getting the little gold shield down in the bottom right corner telling me updates are available but it never seems to update when I click on it.

That is your problem :laugh2:

That gold shield is normally the Windows Update shield. I say normally because there are some bad programs out there that try to look like it to lure people into using it.

Go to start
Windows Update
Express install

See if it installs the high priority updates.

If at any time you wind up getting a message to the effect of Windows failed to install (insert name here). Then you have a problem.

Sometimes what happens is someone is doing an updates install and for whatever reason they turn off their computer in the middle of it and that can cause troubles like this.

I have had troubles with copied windows disks also causing this. Or when installing SP3 update on XP because it goes so slow.

So...try that. Install all of the updates by using the start and windows update and high priorities one. If that works, restart your computer and see if that shield shows up again. If you get errors saying windows could not install or failed to install (insert name here) let us know.

Sometimes you have to go through some validation processes and sometimes you have to manually download some things and install them from the desktop.

If it is the update shield from windows you really don't want to turn it off, although I guess if you were diligent about doing your updates on a regular basis you could.

 

[the kid 05]

It does not always have to be a virus...that's why I want to see what the properties are.

Sometimes it is an update program for a program on your computer that is trying to connect to the internet to get the updates...if that makes sense.:laugh2:

yup yup its what i found after further diggin for information on it, amazing how this stuff works at times and makes us scratch our heads