23 replies to this topic

[Guyl]

Hi,

 

I'm working on my wife's computer trying to install some software, which I finally got installed but now I keep getting a message that the program has stopped working.  I had the company remote in to her pc and he could not get it to work either.  He suggested it was either a virus or some corrupted files.

 

I ran McAfee which didn't find a thing.  Spybot got some stuff as did Malwarebytes.  Trojan Hunter found a number of issues.  After all that I'm basically in the same place as far as the software not working.  Her computer is also still very slow to load anything and slow shutting down.  Does this sound like a Windows issue?

 

She has a Gateway GT5620 running Vista Service Pack 2.  It's an X86 with 2 GB of ram.

 

Thanks,

 

Guy

[Ztruker]

What is the program?

[Guyl]

Fix-It Utilities

[Ztruker]

What version? Looks like the latest is 15.

 

Why are you installing this? Vcom is a good company but most of these types of programs are useless at best and destructive at worst.

[Guyl]

You're correct about everything you said.  The reason is her computer is so fouled up I couldn't even get the Windows defrag program to complete.  It ran for close to 48 hours with the cursor still spinning.  In Vista (isn't that a lovely operating system?) there is no way to monitor the defrag program so I had no idea whether it was hung or still running.........after 48 hrs.

 

I thought I would put a 3rd party program on so I could monitor the progress.  I really don't want to revert to factory settings & reload the operating system so that's why I was trying to install that program.  Do you have any ideas?

 

Thanks

[Ztruker]

See if you can install Defragler. That giv es you good feedback when running.

 

Also, try running it in Safe Mode, that often speeds things up.

[Guyl]

Thanks, I'll try that tonight and get back to you tomorrow.

[appleoddity]

Based on the other symptoms you described, you probably have other issues.  With certainty I can say that defragging the hard drive is the last thing you should be concerned about doing because its not going to make an ounce of difference in this situation.

 

First, you should check the hard drive to see if it is failing.  If it is failing, defragging the hard drive with do more damage than good.

 

Take the opportunity while you can to make sure you have all the important data backed up.  This is priority #1.

 

Then check the disk for problems.  Click the Start button.  Type 'CMD' into the search box.  Right-click "Command Prompt" in the search results and run it as administrator.  At the command prompt type CHKDSK /R and press ENTER.  You'll probably be prompted twice.  First, you'll be asked to unmount the drive, when you answer YES you will be told it can't be done and asked if you want to schedule the check during the next reboot, after you answer YES reboot the computer.  Let the test finish.  It will take a long time - several hours probably.  There should be some progress indicated and problems will be listed as they are found.  Messages indicating bad clusters signify physical failure or damage to the hard drive.  Continuing the test after messages about bad clusters may do more damage, but at this point you have all your data backed up and you probably have to replace the hard drive anyways.  Its also possible there are just a couple of bad sectors and CHKDSK will fix them and you will be on your way.  

 

If you did receive messages about bad clusters, you should run the test again a couple of time over the next few days or weeks.  Additional messages about bad clusters signifies hard drive failure.

[Guyl]

Thanks for this suggestion.  I hadn't thought of hard drive failure yet.  By the time I got the chkdsk message the defrag was already running.  Fortunately, I have a backup from a couple of weeks ago that should be good (she hasn't done much lately because of the slowness) so hopefully we'll be good if the defrag screws things up.  I was 29% fragmented and 6% after the defrag completed.  The chkdsk is running now, I let you know the results when completed.

 

If I remember correctly, the defrag program said the drive was good after the analysis but before the defrag started so we'll see what this test shows when completed.

[appleoddity]

Ok. I think Defraggler just checks the SMART status of the drive.  This is the drive's internal monitoring function that can report if something on the drive is functioning outside of normal specifications.  But, it rarely is triggered on failing hard drives that suffer from minimal physical problems at the present time.  But, even minor problems on the hard drive can cause major problems in the software.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track.  Good luck.

[Guyl]

I ran CHKDSK.  The computer is in the other room so I was going periodically to check on it.  All seemed fine.  The last time I checked I believe it was 13% thru step 4 of 5.  I just checked and I had to enter her password to get in so either it logged me off or it shut down and re-started.  I can't find the results.  Is this normal?  I thought it left the results on the screen for you to see it.  So I don't know whether it completed the test or not.

[appleoddity]

Yeah.  That's kind of the drag with chkdsk.  Its not real informative.  And certainly not the best drive diagnostic tool.

 

During a boot time CHKDSK when it finishes it automatically reboots.  So, if you're not watching it you won't know the results.  Its supposed to write the information into the windows event log but I've never known it to do that successfully.

 

At least you tried.  If it was in really bad shape it would still be sitting there.

[Guyl]

I searched the event viewer for a log and couldn't find one as you suspected.  Any task I do, whether it's moving around in control panel, trying to open a browser, open e-mail, the cursor spins for a while until it decides what it wants to do and then does it slowly.  I checked task mgr and flash player was consuming 45% of the cpu with the cpu at 100%.  Memory usage seemed high at around 60%  I shut that down and then it showed cpu usage at between 40 and 79% yet only about 3 process showed 2% each for cpu usage.  Can I find out if something is running in the background?  Can you check for bots?  Could Windows be damaged?

 

What would you suggest at this point?  Bottom line is we're very, very slow.

[appleoddity]

Did you click the option to "Show processes from all users" in Task Manager?

[Guyl]

Yes, I did.  I have never understood why the column that shows the cpu usage doesn't add up to the total at the bottom box.  Anyway, cpu now has dropped to the 20 - 40% range with memory at 60%.