PC Hangs on Shut Down, IE8 slow

My computer has been hanging when shutting down, forcing me to manually shut the unit down. The computer also no longer likes to multi task. I use to be able to open multiple programs (IE, Outlook etc.) at the same time w/o hanging up the system. If I try this now everything freezes up & I have to go through task manager to close out the hung programs. Additionally, IE 8 is slower loading pages. Thanks for any help you can provide. Vista Home Basic SP2 Compaq Presario 32 bit=============

Hi Denisemn, I have a couple of "off-the-top-of-my-head" first glance observations which I developed when reading your other thread earlier today. 1. You have a relatively small amount of RAM. 2. You run Norton Enterprise which can hog a bunch of resources 3. You run Adobe Acrobat which can hog a bunch of resources. 4. You have quite a few applications and processes running active. 8. Your IE 8 reports several errors which could provoke problems. Computers can gradually become somewhat overloaded and therefore sluggish. If, however, you noticed a marked change/slow-down rather suddenly, this might suggest that a newly installed software is responsible, or that Heat has become a problem, more than likely as a result of accumulated dust and debris inside of your machine's tower. Did the "slow down" occur suddenly? If so, have you recently installed any software? How long has it been since you've had the tower case open to blow out the dust bunnies? Thanks for any additional information you may be able to provide for our investigation. Best Regards

Edit: Opps, missed you there Doug!

Hi denisemn,

Please follow these Steps to determine the "hanging" issue:

1) Go to Start and type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
2) If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
3) On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
4) Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.
5) Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
6) Click OK.
7) When you are prompted, click Restart.
8) When the desktop loads, try to shutdown and restart again. Did it hang?

If not, then scroll down to the Microsoft Article “Determine what is causing the problem” to discover which program or service maybe causing the issue.

Cheers,
Lee

Doug, how did you figure all that out from denisemn's post? I don't see any system specs or running software list in it. I knew you were good but not clairvoyant

Hey "Z". You never know what can happen with all these electrons spinning around in space and time.

Or….

You could have a look at Denisemn's most recent past post in Malware Removal Forum where OTL and GMER provide quite a bit of usable information, even for us humble tech types.
http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?sh…t=0#entry762288

Actually, I did look at the most recent malware threada but I didn't see the stuff you pulled out. Most of the logs posted to malware threads are overwhelming in content and size and my eyes sort of blur …

Guess that's why I'm a tech weenie and not a malware guru

Edit: Looked again and I now see what you posted, thanks.

Lee, My General msconfig is ticked to ‘Normal Start up’. I went into the ‘Startup’ and unchecked the Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager, QuickTime, I Tunes and Greenshot from the startup menu. I left the following checked: Windows Defender, HP digital imaging – hp all-in-one series, java Platform SE updater 2.0, Microsoft windows operating system, Microsoft Office onenote and HP digital imaging – hp all-in-one series The shut down doesn’t hang on every shut down and didn’t when I restarted this time. Doug, I don’t recall any recent software downloads, but we’ve been noticing the slow down in the past 3 months. I have cleaned the PC of dust bunnies before, but I think it may have been last spring. I will do that this weekend for certain. What can I do about the “IE 8 reports several errors which could provoke problems”? I bought the PC in 2007. It has a 160gb hard drive and 1024mb memory. Is the 1024 the RAM? Could I just have more memory installed? Thanks guys.

Did you follow the instruction in the Microsoft article “Determine what is causing the problem” to isolate the program that is causing trouble? If so, what is the program that was causing "hanging"? These do not need to be in the start-up menu so leave them unticked in msconfig / Startup. HP digital imaging hp all-in-one series Microsoft Office onenote They will still work fine anytime you need to use them. Cheers, Lee

Hi Lee, I did go to the MS site to read the article. A MS popup to run a fix it tool came up first so I went ahead and ran the tool. It did not find any errors. I did go into msconfig again and in the services tab after hiding the MS services I unchecked Apple Mobile Device and Ati External event Utility. What remains are Ipod Service, Norton Security Suite and XAudio Service. I am not certain if I should uncheck those, esp. the Norton? In the Start up tab I did uncheck HP digital imaging, hp all-in-one series and Microsoft Office onenote. I've restarted the PC a couple of times and it isn't hanging on the shut down. I'll clean the dust bunnies out this weekend. Any advice on improving the sluggish behavior of IE?

Good to hear your system no longer hangs

XAudio Service definitely does not need to be in the startup menu and nor does Ipod Service. This service is set up as part of Apple's iTunes music software at install time and is left-over software from iTunes.. It performs various support functions, mainly related to ensuring effective data communications between the iTunes software and any iPods connected to the computer. While not a system-essential process, it is required for proper functioning of iTunes itself. Try and remove it with RevoUninstaller.

Nortons of course has to be in the start-up menu.

Any advice on improving the sluggish behavior of IE?

I rarely use it because it is sluggish and there is not much you can do about it. I would recommend installing a much better and faster Browser such as Opera or even Firefox. I don't use Firefox but there is an Opera link at the bottom of this page in my signature.

After any more modifications to your system it is probably a good idea to defrag. your hard drive.

Cheers,
Lee