My Computer is Possessed

When's the last time you did any housecleaning - cleared out old, no-longer-used programs, junk files, old emails, pictures and music you haven't accessed for a long while and prolly never will again, that sorta thing, and then defragmented your hard drive?

All done. Defragged it yesterday. Cleaned out emails and compacted all the folders, deleted pictures, etc. What about the stuff on start up, Timber? If I have too many things opening on start up could that be it?

I can't figure out how to find where the start up folder is though.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I keep running out of memory and can't open stuff up! I have to keep rebooting. Can someone tell me how to find the start up menu so I can see what things I can take out of there? Do I have to have Quick Time running when I boot up? I have 11 icons at the bottom of my screen depicting the things that start up when my computer boots up.

I'm getting desperate here! I really don't know much about how all this works. Ran virus scan and spyware scan and defragged again. Got rid of everything I don't and won't need. I'm lost!

hmmm, that doesn't sound like that would be it. could you have shrunk your virtual, or paging memory by clicking something by mistake? (i'm talking outta my arse here, but i know that that's the memory that you need for those kind of things). you can go to "System" folder in your Control Panel, and find "Performance" under "advanced tab" (it says "visual effect, processor scheduling, memory, virtual memory"). There you can increase the amount you want your computer to spend on virtual memory. I tricked my old computer that way when I wanted to play a computer game.

Or, if all else fails, restore your computer to an earlier time when it was running smoothly. Sometimes one program or operating system upgrade may not agree with some other program you have on the computer and they start battling. Happened to a friend with an Earthlink mailbox update....

Hope you work it out.

Oh, you do not need quick time running when you boot up. I hate quick time, and i try to avoid using it. I use itunes for all audio, and windows media player for all video. never use quicktime unless i absolutely must. play with the settings in quick time, there is a way how to not make it start up as soon as the computer is booted.

Hi Momma,
You can go to START and select ALL PROGRAMS then select STARTUP.

You could also close those programs by right clicking on the icon and select EXIT or CLOSE

oh, coool! who knew?

Ok, dagmaraka, I'm going to do what you suggested in the first post. If I could find this friggin start up folder wherever it is I could take Quick Time and some other junk out of it but I can't seem to find it. Driving me nuts here!!!!!!!!!!

Did you miss my post, Momma?

Intrepid,

What? It's that danged easy??? Good grief. Ok, let me try that. Be right back.

removing programs from your start-up queue is easy, but that will most likely not solve your problem, which is a memory thing.

Unless, those programs are using memory. I would suspect a virus more likely. Have you installed anything new lately?

well, i cure everything with 'restore computer'. i even resurrected a statistical program, license of which ran out. restored, and made sure that program never communicates with internet. still running, heh.

Ok, I deleted more junk and found some temp files I didn't see and got rid of those. But, now I have even less Physical Memory? Arrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhh! What did I do? I ran a system informaiton and this is what I have:

Total Physical Memory: 504 MB
Free Physical Memory: 204 MB
Total Virtual Memory: 1.732 GB
Free Virtual Memory: 1.148GB
Page File Space: 1.22 GB

Usable Hard Disk Capacity: 184.548 GB
Used Hard Disk Capacity: 31.782 GB
Unused Hard Disk Capacity: 152.766 GB
Hard Drive Buffer: 8 MB

Now, I have NO CLUE what all that means. So, do these numbers look right? If I have to I will just do a system restore. Will I lose any new stuff I put on here? It's nothing I can't recreate so I guess that's no big deal. I'll wait to hear from y'all.

Thanx so much!

well, the virtually memory is fine, that is a large enough space to support multiple running programs. and the hard disk capacity is gigantic. is your computer really able to hold 185 gigabytes? wow. mine is 60.


i know nothing about physical memory and whether that's big or not. hmm, it does seem like a spyware or a virus - perhaps one untapped by the all the anti-virus programs. my humble knowledge is all but exhausted.... waiting for timber to show up.

Yeah, this is supposed to be some super duper computer and has been since I got it. I actually got it for doing a survey. It's never given me a bit of trouble until just a few days ago. So, if Timber doesn't show up soon I'm just going to do a system restore.

I ran a virus scan and spyware scan today and got rid of all what it found. Maybe it is something it's just not picking up.

Computers are wonderful as long as the danged things work!!!!!!!!!!!!!

system restore cannot hurt. it is worrisome that your scan found some bugs, that always means there may be more trouble lurking underneath.

now THAT is the dark side !!! ;-)

Go ahead and try a system restore - you can always undo it if it doesn't help. If possible, pick a restore point at least a couple days prior to the onset of your problems. I doubt it will help - I still suspect a physical memory problem - but give it a shot and see what happens.

You don't suppose Margaret (from that video) ................NO! it couldn't be!

Okay, I'm going to take the plunge and do a system restore. Cross your fingers, toes, eyes, and say a prayer or two.

Almost forgot Intrepid, haven't installed anything new lately.

<<<<<<<<<<standby: we are experiencing technical difficulty>>>>>>>>>>

Thanx Timber. Running now.[/b]