I'm pulling my hair out!

[JoanGICE]

Help!
My system is running very, very slow and start up and shut down takes up to 5 minutes. I cannot get Internet Explorer to even work, so I used Firefox to get on this site.

I completed all the steps in outlined in the sticky note and only Ad-aware found 9 critical objects that have been removed. It has not made a difference.

My log is attached and I would appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks in advance!

[jholland1964]

Hi Joan,
First of all, do you know this Domain? kwplymouth.com

Did you add these two entries to your Trusted Zones?
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.instanetforms.com
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.transactiondesk.com

You are using msconfig to disable some programs from starting up when the computer boots up. I need you to go back to msconfig and put the checkmarks back into all those you have disabled so that we can see for sure what programs are on the computer.

BUT I also want you to disable some unnecessary programs that you DO have running at start, and can easily be run manually, by first going into each program itself and checking the options in each one and tell that program NOT to start when the computer boots up;

Microsoft Money
QuickTime Task
HP Software Update
TrojanHunter 4.6
CCleaner
Olympus\DeviceDetector (this one may be the key. This program detects the active connection of a speech device (voice recorder, etc) to a USB port then runs specific client software used to access that device. The DevDtct2 process has a "high" priority level which can negatively impact system resources)
Microsoft Office
Spy Sweeper
NONE of these programs are necessary for the running of the computer and ALL can be run manually.

I also see that you are using Trend Micro Anti-virus program, which is fine BUT I also see, running in Service is SymWMI Service which is related to Symantec/Norton Anti-virus program. If you previously had Norton Antivirus program on the computer but have uninstalled it this is a file and a running service left behind. Go to Start, Search, Files and Folders and search for all files named Symantec. Delete any of them found. Next search for any files named Norton and delete any of them found.

I would also check your Security Settings on Internet Explorer. Maybe they are set too high or have many sites you normally visit set into the restricted zones area. What happens with IE? Does it not even open? Or do you get error notices or what exactly.

Once you have done all of this I want you to reboot the system, and then run a NEW HJT scan and we will see what is showing once these steps have been taken. Right off hand I really don't see anything nasty in your log, depending on your answers to my questions of course. Your problems may be related to the items you have running on Auto-Start and disabling some of these may make a difference.
We also need some info about your computer; hard drive size, how much RAM is installed, how long have you been experiencing these problems? Did you install any new hardware or programs just prior to these problems beginning?
Judy

[JoanGICE]

Hey Judy!
Thanks for your help, you guys are great!

I do know the domain kwplymouth.com and I did not add those trusted zones. I'm wondering if the realtors office added that to this computer. Either way I never go there, so I can remove them from the trusted zones.

I went into msconfig and checked normal startup on the General tab which looks like it added all the check marks on the start up tab. The systems32 folder still pops up when I reboot, so I may still be missing something.

I disabled QuickTime task, CCleaner from the startup menu. I went into the HP Software update program and it doesn't give me an option to remove it from start up. When I look at C:/document & settings/all users/startmenu/programs/startup file, I see a HP Digital Imaging Monitor there. should I just remove that from the start up menu? I went into this file and removed Microsoft Office and Device Detector because I couldn't determine how to do it in the applications.

This Olympus Device Detector/Media Player is not something I use so I was going to delete it. However, I don't see it when I look into the add/delete programs, or even in the start/programs area. If I removed the files from the C:/program folder, will it delete the application off my system?

I deleted the Trojan Hunter files because I only had an evaluation copy and it has expired.

Yesterday, IE would open, but it wouldn't take me anywhere, it would just keep looping without ever opening anything, nor give me any error pages. Now today I got to your website from IE, so whatever was causing that problem seemed to go away.

My system is 2.12GHz with 448Mb of RAM. I've rebooted a few times today after removing those programs and it is working better. I've attached a new log for your review. My husband uses this laptop and hasn't loaded any new programs. The problem started about 6 months ago and just gradually got worse. I got tired of hearing him whine (and felt sorry for him), so I told him to give it to me and I would try and get it working again. (His early Christmas gift!)

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

[jholland1964]

Glad things have improved. We "probably" can make it somewhat faster but first a question or two;
The two Trusted Zone sites ARE legitimate, I only asked because I wanted to know if you knew what they were, you state they were probably added by the Realty Office but since you never go there they probably can be removed.
Do you mean you never go to those actual websites or go to the Realty Office?
Is this computer owned by you and your husband or by the realty office?
If it is actually owned by the realty office then I would not remove those two sites, if it is owned by you then you can remove them but they are not hurting anything being there. Go to those two sites and see if you do know them and use them, if so then leave them alone.

Your log really doesn't show anything bad that would be causing problems as far as I can see though there are still some items running which don't have to run.

To help easily disable unnecessary Start Up items I recommend Mike Lin's StartUp Control Panel
A nice little program, easy to use and makes it easy to control what programs run when you start the computer.

There are also some auto-starts in XP which are set in the original configuration of XP but are not required for the running of the computer and can easily be run manually if need be;

Go to Start, Control Panel, Adminstrative Services, Services;
Scroll through the list. Double click on each item noted here and change settings to those noted, making a note of the original setting;
Alerter>>>Disable
Clipbook>>>disable
Computer Browser>>>Manual
Fast User Switching>>>Disable
Human Interface Access Devices>>>Disable
Messenger>>>disable
SSDP Discovery Service (this is for the utterly pointless "Universal P'n'P", & leaves TCP Port 5000 wide open) >>>disable
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper>>>disable
Universal Plug and Play Device Host>>>Manual

Once complete click Ok and close out Services. Reboot the computer. If you notice a difference which causes a problem with running something on the computer just go back in a reset the entries to the way they were before.

How to Speedup Browsing Folders
You may have noticed that everytime you open my computer to browse folders that there is a slight delay. This is because Windows XP automatically searches for network files and printers when you open Windows explorer. To stop XP from doing this follow the instructions below.
Open My Computer
Click on Tools menu
Click on Folder Options
Click on the View tab.
Uncheck the Automatically search for network folders and printers check box
Click Apply
Click Ok
Reboot your computer.

I also notice you are running Windows Defender and Webroot Spysweeper all the time. They are both excellent programs, however, at times running too many protection programs in the background will also slow a computer. If you have actually purchased Spysweeper it is ok for it to run in the background but it you downloaded the trial version just for the purpose of scanning for problems then this background scanning will only work for two weeks and then become disabled, though the program will still start at boot up.
Both of these items are really users choice. If you wish to let them continue to start, that is fine, but as I said above they can slow the computer somewhat.
I don't use Windows Defender but I do use Spysweeper but I only use it for weekly scanning, I don't enable it's running all the time.
The security programs I use and have really great luck with are of course my anti-virus program, AdAwareSE and Spybot S & D...These two I only use for scanning and I DO NOT keep them running in the background. My favorite of all is SpywareBlaster and it is FREE as are AdAwareSE and Spybot. To quote from their website;

Prevent the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted software.
Block spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox.
Restrict the actions of potentially unwanted sites in Internet Explorer.

SpywareBlaster can help keep your system spyware-free and secure, without interfering with the "good side" of the web.
And unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background.

Just keep it updated weekly is all that is necessary.

I also see that the programs you tried to turn off at boot are still running in the background. These programs will often "resist" having their auto-start turned off. This is where the StartUp Control panel comes into play. Turn these off via StartUp Control Panel and they will turn off.
These programs running are the following;
HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe
QuickTime\qttask.exe
Messenger\msmsgs.exe
Microsoft Money\System\mnyexpr.exe

All of these suggestions are optional, try them and see if it speeds up the computer. Also, I have all of my updates set to manual, EXCEPT my anti-virus program sometimes these background schedulers can also slow a computer. If you are able to weekly check for updates and would not forget then I recommend doing so...except as I said, for the anti-virus program.
Keep us posted and let us know how all works out.
Judy

[JoanGICE]

The steps above did improve my system for a few weeks, however, a new problem has cropped up. Upon bootup, I'm getting the following message:
"Smart failure on hard disk 0:Toshiba MK4025GAS.
1720 - S.M.A.R.T. hard drive detects imminent failure (failing ATTR:05H)
Please back up the contents of the hard drive and run HDD self test in F2 set up"

This doesn't sound good and my system is operating very slow, especially outlook. Other than finishing up the back up, is there something else I need to do? Thanks

[jholland1964]

Honestly? Probably not. You should contact your computer manufacturer for another hard drive or at least the price of one and/or look online for other deals. Of course if the computer is still under warranty then get one from the computer manufacturer. Contact their tech support first. If it is NOT under warranty then Tiger Direct
usually has pretty good deals. A hard drive is NOT hard to replace, basically opening the case, unplugging the old one and removing, plug the new one in and installing and setting up the operating system and you are good to go. Really just a few hours work. Depends of course on the age of the computer, etc. If it is too old you are better off just getting a new computer.

[JoanGICE]

Thanks for the advice and the link!