OT-Sorry bout that - computer questions

[J Miller]

We are running Windoz XP-Pro.
56K dial up modem
Mozilla Firefox

Recently this silly box has decided it doesn't want to fully load the pages of my forums.
It will load just what shoes on the monitor then say "Done" at the bottom. To read the rest of the thread I have to hit the Reload button.

The other problem is because of the dial up it loads slow, so sometimes I'll want to click on one control button or the other to go somewhere else and I'll find no cursor arrow, just the stupid hour glass.
I'll have to go back to the mouse pointer controls and make it remember that it's supposed to show the cursor arrow with the hourglass.

Anybody got any suggestions on how to help this thing? Please be simple, I'm not computer literate.


Joe

[clubkey]

Hey Joe,

The best thing I ever did for my computer was to get rid of the dial-up and get a high speed connection. The difference is like day and night.

I must admit it took my eldest son a couple of years to convince me to do it though...

[Malamute]

I had some similar troubles, the repair guys told me to dump cookies more often, (daily isnt too often) and dump "temporary internet files" including offline. Also there wasnt enough space dedicated to temporary stuff, they adjusted that (it's simple to do), and its been much better.

To dump the cookies and temp files, click on "tools", then "internet options", then clear cookies and temp files. I also dump history when I do this, I've rarely ever used it to look anything up.

[nemhed]

Joe, I don't think you'll be happy till you get high speed. There are a lot of options now days for high speed, whether thru your phone company, cable,cellular, or satellite. With some of the packages they have for multiple services, high speed might not even cost you any more than you're paying now. With the links, photos, avatars, emoticons, and everything else people post, dial up just ain't going to cut it. I don't have any other advice for you, sorry.

[J Miller]

Malamute,

Will try the cookie and temp files thing.


We've priced the high speed, but right now we just can't afford any more bills. We don't even have cable TV.

Joe

[AJMD429]

Joe, I don't think you'll be happy till you get high speed. There are a lot of options now days for high speed, whether thru your phone company, cable,cellular, or satellite. With some of the packages they have for multiple services, high speed might not even cost you any more than you're paying now. With the links, photos, avatars, emoticons, and everything else people post, dial up just ain't going to cut it. I don't have any other advice for you, sorry.

We don't have DSL in our area, or cable, and I've heard that Satellite is unreliable in bad weather, and costs alot extra if you use too much bandwidth (I have no idea how much I'd use hor how to estimate that). Still, I might consider it if I could install the dish part myself and let the techies come do the rest - they drilled holes through the roof of our neighbor's house and nearly ruined the cathedral ceiling.

[nemhed]

Joe, a couple more things you can try: click on "All Programs" , then open the "Accessories" folder and look for "disk clean up", "disk defragmenter", and "system restore". On a regular basis (like weekly or monthly) you should run the disk clean up and disc defrag, this will help cure some nagging little problems that slow things down. If all else fails, "system restore" can reset your computer to an earlier date, which may fix your problems. I'm basically an untrained computer monkey that just mimicks human beings that know what they're doing, these are the only tricks I know.

[Grizz]

Joe,

the cookies and temp internet files is the best advice so far. I shut off all cookies and just allow the ones I want.

clear the cache also, and limit its size, and stop prefetch.

with firefox go to edit|preferences

under privacy tab uncheck the top three boxes
uncheck cookies, unless you like spys, and then put ones you'll accept in the exceptions like this: levergunscommunity.com <allow> or <allow> I use <allow> with the forums I'm on

check always clear private data, there are exceptions for the cookies and/or logins/passwords you want to keep.

on the advanced tab in the cache input box make the size 0.

this will go a long ways toward keeping junk off your compluter and making it a little more secure.

what size hard drive do you have?
what processor running at what speed?
how much ram do you have?

you could have an issue with the swap file but that's for another segment...

Grizz

[nemhed]

I got high speed thru a deal with my regular phone company, and it still comes in thru the standard phone lines. They just installed a router to connect the computers to. They also offer a cable tv package, but that was going to be more than my current satellite service. I've stopped using my regular phone for long distance because I use my cell phone during off peak call hours for those calls. So going to high speed hasn't cost me any more money, I just had to change some habits.

[don Tomás]

Good ideas all. Here's a couple of other things:

1 - First thing I would do is a "scan disk" (nothing to do with viruses). Sometimes your hard drive(s) gets confused and needs to re-sort things out. Open MY COMPUTER, RIGHT MOUSE CLICK C: DRIVE, select PROPERTIES, select the TOOLS tab, click CHECK NOW, check the AUTOMATICALLY FIX box and the SCAN FOR... box and then click START in that window. Do this for every hard drive listed under MY COMPUTER. It may tell you it will perform these housekeeping actions upon the next restart or it may just do it right then and there.

2 - After checking the health of your drives with the above, do a DISK DEFRAG (next thing listed in the TOOLS list).

If it's been a while since you've done this (never?) your over all performance should be faster and you may find that your "strange problems" may just go away. I would also recommend the following:

3 - Virus protection: The "security suites" (Norton(Symantec), McAfee) have become so bloated that they usually cause more problems than they solve. I would highly recommend that you uninstall (through Control Panels) and install AVG anti-virus (it's free!). I've had great luck with it. Did I mention it was free? AVG FREE (No connection to General Chenault or the Flying Tigers, but how can you go wrong with a name like that??? )

4 - Check for SpyWare by downloading and installing something called SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY. Delete anything it finds after you've installed and updated. It's also free. I'm big on free.

Anyway, this is where I would start. These are procedures I use and they have held me in good stead. Your mileage may vary, of course...
Tom

(PM me if you have questions, Joe.)

[alnitak]

4 - Check for SpyWare by downloading and installing something called SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY. Delete anything it finds after you've installed and updated. It's also free. I'm big on free.

Also AdAware (it's free too) -- use them both (need more than one product to catch everything). I suspect spware has infiltrated your system.

I also agree on the resource hogs of Norton and McAfee, although I didn't find AVG much better in that department.

I can't imagine the patience you must possess trying to surf the net with a 56k dial up. I'm amazed you participate on this forum as much as you do given that!

[don Tomás]

Also AdAware (it's free too) -- use them both (need more than one product to catch everything). I suspect spyware has infiltrated your system.

Yes, I also use ADAWARE but hesitated to mention it as the latest version seems a bit squirrelly on occasion when I try to update.

Another note, Joe. There's a lot of copy cats out there with very similar names if you try to do a Google search. I've provided links to locations that I use and know are safe. Some of the other SpyWare removal tools you find out there are actually spyware themselves or they want a credit card number.

[scr83jp]

We are running Windoz XP-Pro.
56K dial up modem
Mozilla Firefox

Recently this silly box has decided it doesn't want to fully load the pages of my forums.
It will load just what shoes on the monitor then say "Done" at the bottom. To read the rest of the thread I have to hit the Reload button.

The other problem is because of the dial up it loads slow, so sometimes I'll want to click on one control button or the other to go somewhere else and I'll find no cursor arrow, just the stupid hour glass.
I'll have to go back to the mouse pointer controls and make it remember that it's supposed to show the cursor arrow with the hourglass.

Anybody got any suggestions on how to help this thing? Please be simple, I'm not computer literate.


Joe

Install stuff Cleaner & Window Washer they will clean your PC remove excess email

[Rusty]

Thanks guys. I had forgotten about the adaware program. I've been running Search and destroy but it has seemed to have little effect. One round of Adaware after I downloaded it last night and now all is well again.