? PC Fatigue

[KeithD]

Righty.... You're not the first I know with TT issues.... change providers to PlusNet it's easily done these days, and you won't lose connection.

Install Spyware Doctor free with Google Pack , and run a FULL SCAN. Delete anything it comes up with.

Now clean up you're computer. In Accessories>SYSTEM TOOLS .... find DISK CLEANUP and run that... delete everything it comes up with. Then before you go to bed run the DISK DEFRAGGER ... and let it run over night.

Putting an extra 1GB of memory in can help speed it up, how many do you have now?

[Arthur Little]

Righty.... You're not the first I know with TT issues.... change providers to PlusNet it's easily done these days, and you won't lose connection.

Install Spyware Doctor free with Google Pack , and run a FULL SCAN. Delete anything it comes up with.

Now clean up you're computer. In Accessories>SYSTEM TOOLS .... find DISK CLEANUP and run that... delete everything it comes up with. Then before you go to bed run the DISK DEFRAGGER ... and let it run over night.

for your helpful advice. Have to confess though, I know next to nothing about the "guts" of computer functioning; however my nephew - an IT graduate - will be coming through from Glasgow to visit his mum & dad next weekend so, hopefully, I'll be able to "pick his brains"!!!

[Arthur Little]

... however, I HAVE taken on board, your suggestion about changing over to PlusNet ... and am, in fact, looking into it right now ... since the sluggishness, in particular, is driving me !

[Arthur Little]

Putting an extra 1GB of memory in can help speed it up, how many do you have now?

That's worth knowing ... but ... ... not sure how it's done. And, I realise this must seem ... well ... daft, to an experienced computer buff like yourself ... but ... to be honest ... I don't even have a clue as to how to check the number of ?'gegabites' there are at the moment ...

[somebody]

Righty.... You're not the first I know with TT issues.... change providers to PlusNet it's easily done these days, and you won't lose connection.

Install Spyware Doctor free with Google Pack , and run a FULL SCAN. Delete anything it comes up with.

Now clean up you're computer. In Accessories>SYSTEM TOOLS .... find DISK CLEANUP and run that... delete everything it comes up with. Then before you go to bed run the DISK DEFRAGGER ... and let it run over night.

Putting an extra 1GB of memory in can help speed it up, how many do you have now?

On top of that I would ask Arthur Sir what AV and anti spyware do you use at present?

Do you run updates for Vista automatically or have you checked if upto date?

Also Especially this site I would ask what Browser yo use? If its IE 8 then have a look at FIrefox, Google chrome or Opera all free and all far better at least for browsing this particular website and most mainstream websites.

Also I find far quick is ASUS defrag rather than the bulit in defrag option.

As well as Spyware DOctor which is very handy worth downloading anti malware again free for the basic version and very handy.

If your not a computer Whizz or even if you are your most useful tool is a pen and notepad. to record each step you make.

When you say its a Micosoft windows vista machine what device is it from PC world? Not all brands are the same it seems and some add there own software to the mix.

Have you added many programs over the time of ownership? DO you have programs running at start up and in the background a good place to look is in the bottom right hand corner at all the icons. Its amazing how many programs can be added over a period of time.

Also press ctrl alt del keys and go to task manger whats click on the performance section and what is it saying.? Are the graphs full or? I always advise people to look at the processes as well click on cpu and it should put up the processes taking the most resources from this people have discovered they have software good or bad running which is slowing the device down. I take it you get no error messages or any messages appearing at all on the screen you dont remember seeing until recently?

All it needs is a spring clean and possible a bit of a malware hunt and it will be most likely as good as gold.

[Arthur Little]

If your not a computer Whizz

Ah ... now, therein lies the the problem! If you look a wee bit further back on this thread, you'll see that Keith asked me earlier if it was the computer or the *browser. And I don't quite know how to answer this question, because I'm able to "browse" the site okay ... I'm just not sure of the technical definition of the *word in terms of it being a noun! But the trouble I have, is when - midway through typing a post and/or reply - it suddenly "freezes" ... starting with the 'smilies' [which I have a habit of using proliferously] followed by a clouding over of the monitor screen on which the typescript is still visible but hazy and, seconds later, vanishes irretrievably. What frustrates me most about these "shenanigans" is that I tend to THINK as I type ... since it inspires my train of thought ... and if I lose it all ... well .. it's back to square 1 - which, of course, can be extremely time consuming.

All it needs is a spring clean and possible a bit of a malware hunt and it will be most likely as good as gold

I WISH ... oh, if only! Many's the time lately, I've felt like

for your helpful suggestions, though, my friend.

[JimOttley]

Ah ... now, therein lies the the problem! If you look a wee bit further back on this thread, you'll see that Keith asked me earlier if it was the computer or the *browser. And I don't quite know how to answer this question, because I'm able to "browse" the site okay ... I'm just not sure of the technical definition of the *word in terms of it being a noun! But the trouble I have, is when - midway through typing a post and/or reply - it suddenly "freezes" ... starting with the 'smilies' [which I have a habit of using proliferously] followed by a clouding over of the monitor screen on which the typescript is still visible but hazy and, seconds later, vanishes irretrievably. What frustrates me most about these "shenanigans" is that I tend to THINK as I type ... since it inspires my train of thought ... and if I lose it all ... well .. it's back to square 1 - which, of course, can be extremely time consuming.



I WISH ... oh, if only! Many's the time lately, I've felt like

for your helpful suggestions, though, my friend.

Hi Arthur, I hope you got this sorted out in the end, I'm a bit late commenting on this one.

The "Browser" as a noun is the computer program which provides the window which you use to view this site.

The problem you are experiencing is a freezing of that program, the "clouding over" effect is either a temporary lockup of the programs internals or it is the death throws of the current instance of the program.

When it disappears from the screen that means the program did something that it should not do and the operating system (the computer) decided to terminate the Program and it's Window.

You can of course restart the program but the chances are it will do the same thing again.

From your earlier responses I am pretty sure you are only using the computer for Browsing so I doubt you have many other programs installed, so chances are that it is just your Browser that is acting up.

I use multiple browsers both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome and recently I have found that Internet Explorer has been pretty flaky, Microsoft sometimes make things worse rather than better when they release "fixes" that get automatically installed on your computer.

I am guessing from what you have said that you are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer if you are still having problems the easiest thing to do would be to install another Browser and as Keith recommends Firefox you should go with that.

All Browsers and indeed all programs can crash like this, it is ultimately always the fault of a programmer like me somewhere occasionally it can be the hardware at fault but it's usually the programmer


Jim

[Arthur Little]

Hi Arthur, I hope you got this sorted out in the end, I'm a bit late commenting on this one.

Jim

Don't worry, Jim ... "better late than never", as the saying goes! Things SEEM to have greatly improved ... your diagnosis turned out to be SPOT-ON ... as you will note from my next response below! But I'm still a bit wary, and don't want to risk becoming too "complacent" at this stage.

[Arthur Little]

The problem you are experiencing is a freezing of that program, the "clouding over" effect is either a temporary lockup of the programs internals or it is the death throws of the current instance of the program.

When it disappears from the screen that means the program did something that it should not do and the operating system (the computer) decided to terminate the Program and it's Window.

You can of course restart the program but the chances are it will do the same thing again.

From your earlier responses I am pretty sure you are only using the computer for Browsing so I doubt you have many other programs installed, so chances are that it is just your Browser that is acting up.

I use multiple browsers both Internet Explorer and Google Chrome and recently I have found that Internet Explorer has been pretty flaky, Microsoft sometimes make things worse rather than better when they release "fixes" that get automatically installed on your computer.

I am guessing from what you have said that you are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer if you are still having problems the easiest thing to do would be to install another Browser and as Keith recommends Firefox you should go with that.

All Browsers and indeed all programs can crash like this, it is ultimately always the fault of a programmer like me somewhere occasionally it can be the hardware at fault but it's usually the programmer


Jim

Jim ... ... it's ME that's late this time - with my promised follow-up! Anyway, the story IS - as luck would have it - I discovered that my equipment is still covered by an extended warranty until September 9. So I called in the 'Tech Guys' ... who sent round an engineer one Saturday forenoon recently. And d'you know what ...? As far as I can remember [from my limited knowledge of computers] HE came up with an explanation that (to my inexperienced ears) sounded like something along the lines of what you've mentioned in your post ... hence my comment about your diagnosis being spot-on!

It's good to know, therefore, that - in the event of any further problems - all I need do is refer back to the helpful suggestions you've shared with me here.
a million, Jim!