Windows updates

PROGRAMS RUNNING ON STARTUP
How many programs do you have running on startup? They slow your computer down. Get rid of as many as possible. You can always fetch them out of the indices as you need them. That way they're not running constantly in the background, slowing down your computer.

I have almost no familiarity with Windows 98, so I won't attempt to advise you on other things you can do. Someone who does know will undoubtedly be here shortly. Good luck! :-) [/color]

Prolly wouldn't hurt a bit, after all that updating, to boot into safe mode, start up defrag, and just go to bed. Reboot in the morning, and see if things have improved. I'm guessing they will. Also, as Charli says, trim your startup items to the bare minimum ... Explorer, Systray, and your security software (antivirus and firewall) is all that oughtta be down there with your clock. Most stuff that starts with Windows on bootup doesn't need to be running all the time in the background sucking up resources.

Sorry it took so long for me to get back here. Ok, I see what you're saying. Now I need to know how to stop all these programs from running everytime I boot up my computer. When I do the ctrl-alt-delete there is a bunch of stuff there running and I need to know how to stop that without getting rid of the programs. I appreciate all your help.

Start>run> type "msconfig" (without the quotes) into the dialog box>OK>startup. Unclick everything except explorer, systray, and stuff related to your security software. If it looks unfamiliar, uncheck it. Click "OK" and reboot as prompted. When the machine is fully booted, do ctrl+alt+delete to open task manager and see what's running. Shouldn't be very much, and your machine should be more responsive.

Oh, and definitely do defrag. It'll prolly take a long while, and you oughta do it in safemode. Again, just before going to bed, boot into safemode, start>programs>accessories>system tools>disk defragmenter (or something similar). It'll prolly ask you to select or to confirm the drive to be defragged. Make sure "C" drive is the only one selected, run it, and go to bed. In the morning, you'll see a "Do you want to exit Defragmentation" box, or something similar. Exit and reboot normally.

Montana, this is a handy little tool for closing unneccessary progs with "one click"


http://home.ptd.net/~don5408/toolbox/enditall/

Thanks you guys. You've been very helpful.

Ok, I'm ready to do this, but I don't know what to remove since I don't know what the security programs look like, so here's what's running every time I start my computer.

Explorer
Rnaapp
ymsgr_tray
Aim
Wkcalrem
Loadqm
Msbb
Rundll
Systray
Vsstat32
Vshwin32
Webscanx
Hidserv

That's it in a nutshell. I know I need to keep explorer and systray, but I have no idea what any of the others are and need help from you brilliant people again to let me know what to get rid of. I soooooo appreciate your help.

Explorer, Systray,Vsstat32, Vshwin32, and Webscanx are all you need starting up with Windows. That Rundll might be a problem ... or it might not be.

Download HiJack This[. Save it to a folder on your desktop. When its downloaded, open the folder and unzip the file, then run the app, but do not set it to fix anything. It will run a scan of your system, and give you a log. Copy that log and post it here so we can take a look at it.

Ok great. I just did that. Now lets see if I can get this thing to work right. I just manually got rid of the programs for now until I can read through everything in the hijack this, so I don't do anything stupid. Thanks for the quick response Timber. You're the best ;-)

I'll be back to report how my puter is behaving.

Oh, and the Rnaapp is my internet connection, so I assume I should keep that there?

RNAAPP is Remote Network Access Application, a component of Dialup Networking. It doesn't need to be in the startup folder unless your computer is on dialup and "Listens" for phonecalls. If its not running, Dialup Networking brings it up as soon as you start a dialup connection, It will appear in Task Manager after you dial out, and it will stay on as a background item. It can be a resource hog, and it can cause startup and shutdown problems. It'll come up when your modem initiates a call, but once you're connected, its just along for the ride. I'd remove it from Startup, and I'd kill it once I was connected, or at least before I shut down my machine, but that's up to you. Just disable it in Startup, anyway.

That Rundll could be nothing to be concerned about, or it could indicate a Trojan or "Backdoor" on your machine, or maybe a leftover from an otherwise already removed virus. HiJackThis will show what it is. If your connection isn't "Always On", Backdoors aren't much of a worry, unless they "Call home" once you're connected. I notice you have an antivirus, but no firewall. I'd recommend you at least get the free version of ZoneAlarm

Wow! That HiJack This is pretty cool. I set it so that nothing can be killed yet because I'm still not sure what everything is for, but to have all the other stuff set to close where I can just click one button that closes all the unwanted stuff is great. It looks like there was stuff in there that doesn't even make it to your start up list. Sneaky they are. The best thing about it is it already knows the important stuff and puts a lock on it, so you can't close or kill them. Rnaapp was one of the ones that is locked, so I better not mess with it for now until I understand more about it. It said that I had 26 programs running which includes the hidden ones. I'f I can close everything with one click, then this will help me a great deal. I can't picture myself doing the ctrl-alt-del for every program everytime I reboot. That would just be insane.

Timber
I downloaded that firewall, but I don't see it anywhere on my computer. What will that do? I know people who love them and some who have problems with firewalls.

If you installed it, it should be in "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe". There is an install routine and a configuration routine, which you'd probably remember going through if they'd happened. Maybe you just downloaded it and didn't run the install.exe for it.

Ok, now I just tried to use my paypal and it won't work because it says my browser does not support cookies.

How do I turn on my cookies? I hate to be a pain in the butt, but I am so frustrated it's not funny.

The way to do that is to allow PayPal cookies permission in ZoneAlarm. Go to the Privacy Setting, then to Site List, see if PayPal is there ... if not, add it as www.paypal,com, and grant it full permissions. For more detail, consult ZoneAlarm's user guide, available on the program's start page under "Help" ... look at the section titled "Privacy Protection" ... but in the meanwhile, just disable ZoneAlarm before you go to cookie-dependent favorite sites you trust, and remember to turn it back on before ventiuring out onto the wild web. Don't worry ... you'll get the hang of it. Reading the instructions is a good place to start

Thanks Timber. This stuff is all so overwhelming and tends to drive me nuts. I love learning about these things when I'm in the mood, but I have been far from in the mood, LOL! I did start a thread about this and am all set ;-) Phew!!!