I am running windows xp, and lately it has been slow AGAIN. (Hello CatByte!)
The weird thing i found today was when i ws in WaW, and the game crsahed on me. I hit ESC to get out, but that didnt work, the PC wsa froze. I used my second PC to kick me out of the game using the Admin tools from the game server i was in. Well, the game was still froze on my screen so i hit the power button, and chose to Shutdown. Then a window said World at war was not responding so i chose to End Now. Thats when i seen a smaller box behind it saying if i wanted to cancell my Outlook Express download. I NEVER use Outlook. Then when i rebooted my PC, i found that there was an icon for MS CHat box or something like that in the lower right corner. Dont know where that came from, i dont use those chat things.
Can someone assist me in finding out whats wrong?
Hey Mooze,
I was following you up until you said your game froze, so you hit the power button and chose to shutdown.
Why didn't you use task manager to kill the application or, the process first? Could you not get to task manager with control+alt+delete?
Are you running your own server for other people online, or is it just a server for home use?
Is your server patched up? Is your game patched up? Is your graphics card running the latest drivers?
I'll let you get back to me before i ask even more
Thanks,
Bob
The game froze and i usually can use the ESC key to get back to the desktop. When the ESC key doesnt work, i then try CTRL+ALT+DEL, but that didnt work either. Task manager would not come up. After waiting a few minutes, i decided to hit the Power button, but did not hold it down to shut off power, Just a touched it so it would bring up the Shutdown option, (Cancel, Shutdown, Restart). Thats when i clicked on Shutdown. As windows was trying to close, it showed me that my Call of Duty was not responding, and i chose to End Program Now. Thats when i seen the Outlook Express behind it, trying to Download something, but before i could see what it was, windows closed and the pc shutdown.
No, its not my server, it is a personal server,(meaning it does not belong to a corporation), it belongs to some friends in the UK. I have Admin rights to kick people who are not abiding by the rules. When my game froze, i used my other PC to kick me out the game, hoping that would help unfreeze me on my end.
Their server is up to date on all game patches and software.
The game i play is all patched up to the latest patch.
I just recently (3 days ago) installed the latest Video card driver.
Forgot to mention that when opening IE, it takes almost 10-15 seconds for the page to open. My home page for IE is Google.
hi again Mooze,
it does seem as if the PC you are on may be slowing at times, or slow in general. 10-15 secs to open Google on IE isn't a good thing.
I can only suggest, next time this happens, see if you can press ALT + TAB to switch onto another tab and see if that'll let you out of the game. Then you may be able to see what outlook is doing before the system goes crazy.
From what you say, i doubt the server is causing the game to crash, but it's early days. Keep an eye on it and remember to use the ALT+TAB function next time and see what is going on in the background.
'Bob
The game crashes on its own at times, the company who made it was not very good, as it is bugged. They onyl release new updates every 5-8 months if PC users are lucky. My PC is a gaming PC made by Alienware, so yes 10-15 secs to open IE is not common, hence why im here looking for help. Now, why would Outlook Express be downloading anything? i dont use it at all. I never run that program. Am i being hijacked at times?
The game crashes on its own at times, the company who made it was not very good, as it is bugged. They onyl release new updates every 5-8 months if PC users are lucky. My PC is a gaming PC made by Alienware, so yes 10-15 secs to open IE is not common, hence why im here looking for help. Now, why would Outlook Express be downloading anything? i dont use it at all. I never run that program. Am i being hijacked at times?
When was the last time you defragmented your PC? And ran antivirus scans, anti malware scans etc?
And also, when was the last time you formatted & reinstalled your OS again, if you ever have? All these things would help bring the speed aspect back. I am unsure what Outlook Express would be downloading, aside from emails, or an update, but if you're not using Outlook Express, it seems odd it would start up in the background and run. I doubt you're being hijacked, but whatever it is, maybe a virus, is slowing your PC.
I suggest, you disconnect from the web and run a full test with your anti virus software and then use something like Spybot and then Lavasofts Adaware, or Malwarebytes (my fav) to do a full scan and remove any bad data.
I defraged my PC last week.
I update my antivirus every 5 days
I run a full complete scan every Friday.
I run Spybot once a week (that only finds some cookies tracker) i have that removed
I also have Malwarebytes, but have not ran that in a while, thought i would wait to see what someone in here had to say.
One thing you didnt cover is, that MSN chat icon appearing in my shortcuts on the lower right of the taskbar. I didnt install MSN messenger, nor did i install any program that would have asked me to. I dont use any messengers what so ever.
One thing you didnt cover is, that MSN chat icon appearing in my shortcuts on the lower right of the taskbar. I didnt install MSN messenger, nor did i install any program that would have asked me to. I dont use any messengers what so ever.
Do your problems still persist?
If so, feel free to remove MSN Messenger as well as any other chat client such as ICQ and Yahoo Messenger by going to
Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Change or Remove Programs
selecting the respective program and clicking on delete.
Also, what do you use to handle email? It might be that Outlook Express is configured as your default mail program and thus is started whenever you click on a mailto: link. To check and/or change which program is configured as your default mail handler, go to
Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > Set Program Access and Defaults
and click on the downward arrows to the right of Custom.
Furthermore, to give a better idea of your system, could you please run a free diagnostic test, located at http://www.pcpitstop.com/betapit/
Sign up with your email account and a password of your choice. Click on the full scan, download the active X , then click 'let's go' (after active X has been downloaded)
When the test is done, copy and paste the results link (in the address bar) back here.
Outlook is not my default email. My default email is SBC, and i already had disabled Outlook from opening when clicking on a respond link. The only way Outlook would run, would be if i directly opened it manually, which i never do.
Outlook is not my default email. My default email is SBC, and i already had disabled Outlook from opening when clicking on a respond link.
Sometimes Microsoft's updates change the default mailer setting..
Based on your PC Pitstop results, may I suggest the following:
Download, install and run ATF-Cleaner, both its Windows tab and its Firefox tab; this will also get rid of your considerable amount of temporary files and the close to 1 GB contained in your recycle bin
Reduce the System Restore Capacity setting of your C: drive to something in the lower single digits (placing the slider at Control Panel > System > System Restore > System Restore Settings at 1%; each restore point takes up around 100 MB, so this will still leave you with plenty of them)
Turn off System Restore on any external drives
Update Firefox to the latest version (3.5.8) since 3.5 brought significant performance improvements with it due to a different rendering engine
Switch to Firefox and install both the Adblock Plus and the Coral IE Tab add-on to keep the majority of ads at bay
Update the drivers flagged by PC Pitstop (let me know if you need any help with that)
If possible, consider upgrading your memory from 2 GB to 4 GB
I just updated my Video driver last month. I tried updating my BUS Numerartor, but that made my system go quirky, so i uninstalled it.
Maybe i did it wrong, i dont know. Yes i would like some help installing whatever drivrs are needed.
Thanks,
Bob