Blue Screen with SpySweeper

OK, JSass,

Micah has done the hard work for us, let's get on with the easy stuff.
We'll even do it the easy way….
Go to http://www.pcpitstop.com
Click on Full Tests in the left colum.
You will be asked to register with a valid email address and to create a password.
After you've completed your registration and received your validation email, return to pcpitstop.com and click on Full Tests Again.
click on Test this machine
You'll be asked to accept an ActiveX. It's safe.
Complete the Full Test
When you receive your Results, you will see a list in the upper right portion of the Results page.
Double-Click on TechExpress, will take you to the TechExpress page.
Use your Mouse to highlight the full TechExpress information.
Use Ctrl-C to Copy.
Then come back to this thread here at TomCoyote and use Ctrl-V to Paste the TechExpress into your next Reply.

Best Regards

I was just looking over your log and noticed this:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NAV Agent] C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\navapw32.exe

Seeing that it's the only Norton item in a sea of McAfee, my guess is that it's a "leftover" from a Norton uninstall, and should probably be removed….

Not sure if it will help your situation any, or not?


You'll have to disable Spysweeper before removing it, should you decide to do so.

Thanks much, Micah. I will implement Doug's solutions this evening, and then complete another posting. Thank you again. Jeff

Hi Dough. I finally ran PC Pitstop, per your instructions. The text of the results appear below. Please review and advise. Thank you again for your assistance. By the way, I am able to run SpySweeper and McAffe Virus scan without my system hanging up, most of the time. It seems that a system hang will occur itermittently. Anyway, once again, thank you. Jeff ***************************************************************************************** Test Details TipsIn the tips and the tables, red indicates a serious problem, yellow a minor problem, and blue a suggestion. • Adjust visual effects settings • Unusually low performance (Drive C) • Defragment files (Drive C) • Install more memory • Adjust IE browser cache size Windows ConfigurationDescription Your Results Common Name Windows XP Home SP2 Full Version Windows XP Home SP2 First Install Fri Jan 25 2002 Free Resources 90% Fonts Installed 243 Windows Scripting Version 5.6.0.8820 PCPitstop Version 161 CPU Load 0% Running ProgramsMalicious or poorly written running programs are a common cause of poor performance and system instability. We strongly recommend that you use an antivirus program such as EZ Antivirus from Computer Associates and a spyware scanner such as PC Pitstop Exterminate on a regular basis. To get control over your running programs we suggest WinTasks 5 Pro. Click on a file name to see more information about it. Legend: Virus Spyware/Adware Optional Required No data designates programs that can safely be disabled to improve computer performance, PC Pitstop Optimize disables these programs. Name Vendor Complete File Name Netropa On-Screen Display Netropa Corp. C:\Program Files\Netropa\OSD.exe Creative CD-ROM Creative Technology Ltd C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTsvcCDA.EXE HP software update C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd.exe QuickTime Icon Apple Computer, Inc. C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe Office XP speech Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe NVIDIA driver helper NVIDIA Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe Debugger Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE MS Works Calendar Microsoft® Corporation C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Share … \wkcalrem.exe H-P Status Client Hewlett-Packard C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Toolbox\Stat … \StatusClient.exe MSN Messenger Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe Outlook Express Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe Multi Media Keyboard Netropa Corp. C:\WINDOWS\DELLMMKB.EXE Netropa Hotkey Server C:\WINDOWS\Nhksrv.exe McAfee Inc. c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe McAfee VirusScan McAfee, Inc. C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\VSO\mcvsshld.exe WebRoot SpySweeper Webroot Software, Inc. C:\Program Files\Webroot\Spy Sweeper\SpySweeper.exe Microsoft DRM Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\System32\MsPMSPSv.exe Print spooler Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe Mcafee Security Center McAfee, Inc c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe McAfee On-Access Scan McAfee, Inc. C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\VSO\oasclnt.exe Belkin Wireless Network Monitor C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WG111v2 Configuratio … \RtlWake.exe Creative sound support Creative Technology Ltd. C:\WINDOWS\system32\devldr32.exe McAfee Task Scheduler McAfee, Inc c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mctskshd.exe McAfee SecurityCenter McAfee, Inc c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\mcdetect.exe McAfee VirusScan McAfee, Inc. c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsescn.exe McAfee VirusScan McAfee, Inc. c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsftsn.exe Internet Explorer Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe Windows Explorer Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE Local Security Authority Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe Service control process Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe Service host process Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe Performance-Related Windows Settings The following settings may be helpful in diagnosing general system performance problems. Setting name Value Video acceleration disabled No Paging of kernel disabled No Screen saver running during tests No NOIDE key found in registry No Running 32-bit code on 64-bit Windows No System Restore disabled No Large System Cache enabled No Has batteries No Hibernate enabled Yes HIBERFIL.SYS present Yes Hibernate policy in use No Sleep/Resume policy in use Yes Running on battery power No Internet Configuration Run our Free PC Pitstop Optimize 1.5 Scan to check proper registry settings for your connection type. Optimize tweaks the optimal registry values to get the most from your Internet connection. Try our free Optimize 1.5 Scan Now! Learn More. Description Your Results Bandwidth Down 6076 Kbits/sec Bandwidth Up 467 Kbits/sec Average Ping 53 ms Ping Loss 0% TCP Receive Window 64512 External IP Address [removed] Internal IP Address 192.168.1.100 Browser MSIE 6.0; SV1 IE current cache 87 MB IE max cache 124 MB Vonage the Broadband Phone Company Use your broadband connection for UNLIMITED local and long distance calls to the US and Canada only $24.99. Vonage's unlimited calling is the alternative to your high phone bills. Click here for information.The Bandwidth tests measure the Internet bandwidth between your computer and PC Pitstop's servers. In general, if your bandwidth result is at least 85% of the rated connection speed, you're receiving good throughput (though shared connections may affect this, too). Average Ping measures the round-trip time for a packet to travel from the PC being tested to PC Pitstop's web site and back; lower numbers indicate better performance. Ping times under 150ms are typical of T1, DSL, or cable modems. Consistent ping times of more than 500ms should only be seen in connections that span continents (e.g., USA to Europe) and/or are linked by satellite. Ping losses usually indicate serious Internet congestion. Internet performance can be erratic for many different reasons, so you can't expect to get maximum bandwidth and ping performance every time you test. You should test several times and at different times of the day to get the most accurate picture of your connection speed. To repeat only our Bandwidth test and get more information, plus tips for improving performance, click here. For additional testing of your browser configuration and Internet connection, we recommend BrowserTune. More Internet related Settings The following settings may be helpful in diagnosing internet performance problems. Setting name Value Using a proxy No HTTP 1.1 through proxy Enabled No HTTP 1.1 Enabled Yes Check for newer pages turned off No Show Pictures No Format docs using my style sheet No Content Advisor enabled No Check Associations Disable No Enable Automatic Image Resize Yes Enable third-party browser extensions No Enable page transitions Yes Always use my {colors|fonts|size} No Security ConfigurationDescription Your Results IE Restricted Zone Permissions None Security-Related Windows Settings The following settings may be helpful in diagnosing spyware and browser hijacks. Setting name Value Explorer: Some drive letters are hidden No Explorer: Hide extensions for known file types Yes Explorer: Hide protected operating system files Yes Explorer: Do not show hidden files and folders Yes Explorer: Do not display contents of system folders Yes HOSTS location remapped via the Registry No System File Protection disabled No Main BoardDescription Your Results Brand/Model Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 8200 Type Desktop Serial Number 6CNF511 BIOS Dell Computer Corporation A03 12/07/2001 System Board Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 8200 ProcessorDescription Your Results Brand/Model Intel Pentium 4 Nominal Clock Speed 1700 MHz Measured Clock Speed 1700 MHz External Clock Speed 100 MHz CPU Load 0% Speed Rating 2937 (100% of 2640 similar) Memory ConfigurationDescription Results RAM installed 256 MB Windows RAM 256 MB Total RAM slots 4 Available RAM slots 2 Max RAM module size 0 MB Memory Type 128+128+0+0;RIMM,RDRAM,|RAMBUS;T16 Speed Rating 3458 MB/s (103% of 2640 similar) Memory Tip On virtually any system, memory is the best bang-for-the-buck upgrade, especially if you currently have 256MB or less. Installing memory is a snap, it just works and your PC is faster. PC World has put together a step-by-step guide if you need help. With prices so low lately I've purchased a lot of memory, and all of it has been from Crucial. Their prices beat the competition and they currently have free shipping. – Rob Cheng, CEO, PC PitstopAdded more memory to your available RAM slots can give your computer some extra performance. Crucial Technology can identify the memory you need at very competitive pricing. Speed rating is measured in megabytes per second. The percentage indicates the performance of this system compared to systems in our database with a similar CPU and clock speed; the number of similar systems is also shown. For example, a score of 50% would indicate this system had half the performance of comparable systems; 200% would indicate twice the performance. A "normal" number is 100% plus or minus about 15%. Drive LettersThese are drive letters associated with hard disk drives. This list does not include drive letters for floppy disks or other removable media such as CD-ROM, DVD, Zip or Jaz drives. Description Drive C Partition format NTFS Cluster size 4 KB Drive label No Label Size 76285 MB Free space 63400 MB (83%) Junk files 538 MB (1%) Data fragmentation 20% File fragmentation 5% Uncached speed 3 MB/s (11%) Percentages shown for free space and junk files (temporary files, browser cache, Recycle Bin files) represent the size relative to the total disk capacity. A disk with 50% free space is half-full (or half-empty, if you're an optimist). PC Pitstop Optimize is an easy way to keep your hard disk free of unnecessary files. Our full tests only perform disk health checking on the C drive. We recommend that you check the health of your other drives using our Disk Health page. Data fragmentation measures the percentage of data on the disk that is contained in fragmented files. File fragmentation is the percentage of files on the disk that are fragmented. Some disk optimization programs such as Win98 Disk Defragmenter intentionally fragment files to place them in the best position to ensure quick program loading, so the fragmentation measures may be non-zero even after running a disk optimizer. For more details see our Disk Health page. Cached and uncached speed is measured in megabytes per second (MB/s). When a percentage is shown for cached and uncached speed, it compares the performance of the drive with those of systems in our database with the same processor and clock speed. (Our database currently has 2640 similar systems.) A rating of 200% means a disk is twice the performance of similar systems, 50% means it's half the performance. Cached disk speed generally measures the efficiency of the system's processor and memory system, not the performance of the hard disk. Uncached speed is most affected by the physical hard disk and the disk interface. Disk DrivesHere are the physical disk drives that we have detected on your system: Drive 0 Drive letters C Removable media No Brand/Model ST380021A IDE details DMA Serial number Revision level For IDE drives, IDE details show whether the drive has DMA enabled and is an IDE master (single drive, or master drive in a master/slave pair). CD/DVD DrivesHere are the CD and DVD drives that we have detected on your system: Model Type Max Read Speed Max Write Speed _NEC DV-5800A DVD-ROM 8467 KB/s (48X) N/A Video BoardDescription Your Results Brand/Model NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 Resolution 800x600 pixels Colors 65,636 DirectX version 5.03.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) OpenGL version 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158) Acceleration options Enabled Performance 118.95 MP/s (84% of 29 similar) Get Updated Drivers! Run TouchStone's Free DriveAgent to find your PCs most up-to-date drivers. Better Performance Improved Stability Fast and Easy PC Pitstop's video performance performs a basic test of your system's graphics capabilities and reports the result in millions of pixels displayed per second (MP/s). The percentage indicates the performance of this system compared to systems in our database with a similar CPU, clock speed, and video board. For example, a score of 50% would indicate this system had half the performance of comparable systems; 200% would indicate twice the performance. Determining "normal" performance can be difficult, there can be wide differences due to video drivers even on the same video board. (You can use TouchStone's DriverAgent to see if you have the latest driver.) MonitorsDescription Monitor NEC 135624 Max. Resolution (HxV) 1600 x 1200 pixels Screen Size (HxV) 34 x 27 cm Viewable Diagonal Size 17.09 inch Manufacture Date December 2001 Serial Number 16843009 PS. if you want to look at the actual web page, let me know and I will provide you with a user id and password. js.

Hi JSass,

Been a while, hope you are well and prospering.
Glad to hear that the machine can at least run some scans without choking.

Giving username and password to another person is not a good idea in any circumstance.
The Pit Test doesn't give away any personally identifiying information, but with your username and password protected access, the reader could get your machine's IP. Not good. I realize there are plenty of ways for a knowledgeable stranger to finese that information from you as you visit web pages, but there is no sense in giving information like that away. I actually know of no case where a helper here at TomCoyote would have a legitimate reason to need or ask for any of your username/password information. If you are asked for such information from anyone here at TomCoyote, please contact a Moderator or Administrator immediately.

Fortunately the Pit Test uses a protective link method for sharing test results with helpers that "blanks out" your IP and gives sufficient, but limited access to the Results pages for helping and advising.

The link I am referring to is called TechExpress.
You can read about how to post your TechExpress, here:
http://forums.pcpitstop.com/html/helpfiles/techexphelp.htm

Or just copy/past the appropriate information from your Results as illustrated below:
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3285442
http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3285437

It is much easier to read and evaluate the Test Results from their actual pages, instead of all that type written text, so please do post your TechExpress.

In the meantime, a quick browse of that type written overview that you posted does give you some places to start.


Notice these values: Data fragmentation 20% - File fragmentation 5% - Uncached speed 3 MB/s (11%)
First step would be to run Scan Disk and Defrag
Next would be to disable Hibernate and Hiberfil.sys

You'll get an additional performance boost if your increase the Visual Display resolution to about 1024x768 instead of your present Resolution 800x600 pixels……. unless you prefer that current setting for some reason.

The small amount of RAM that you have installed is functioning "very well", but will continue to be a limiting performance factor.
Unfortunately, it looks like that machine runs with RAMBUS RDRAM which is hugely expensive to upgrade.
I'll mention more about RAM after getting a look at your Results from your TechExpress.
RAM installed 256 MB
Windows RAM 256 MB
Total RAM slots 4
Available RAM slots 2
Max RAM module size 0 MB
Memory Type 128+128+0+0;RIMM,RDRAM,|RAMBUS;T16
Speed Rating 3458 MB/s (103% of 2640 similar)

There are a "ton" of items to "disable" from your StartUp in MSCONFIG that will also greatly improve your performances, and maybe even "stop the crashes"

You can start by considering these, since none of them need to be run at Boot and all consume resources:
Netropa On-Screen Display Netropa Corp. C:\Program Files\Netropa\OSD.exe
Creative CD-ROM Creative Technology Ltd C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTsvcCDA.EXE
HP software update C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd.exe
QuickTime Icon Apple Computer, Inc. C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe
Office XP speech Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
NVIDIA driver helper NVIDIA Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
Debugger Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
MS Works Calendar Microsoft® Corporation C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Share … \wkcalrem.exe
H-P Status Client Hewlett-Packard C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Toolbox\Stat … \StatusClient.exe
MSN Messenger Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
Outlook Express Microsoft Corporation C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe
Multi Media Keyboard Netropa Corp. C:\WINDOWS\DELLMMKB.EXE
Netropa Hotkey Server C:\WINDOWS\Nhksrv.exe


My next comment is for your information and consideration, and is ultimately your Choice.
It is in regard to McAfee and Spy Sweeper.

WebRoot SpySweeper is consistently a #1 top performing AntiSpyware paid product.
I like it. But I find that running it active in the background on low-resource machines can grind performance to a standstill.
Keep Spy Sweeper, but consider disabling it from your StartUp and Run it manually when you do your daily or weekly cleanup.

McAfee. You don't just have McAfee AntiVirus, but appear to have the Suite. True?
I like the McAfee AntiVirus product the same way I like WebRoot Spy Sweeper.
But again, McAfee is a resource HOG. and is a major contributor to your lag/crash problems because of the ton of routines and processes it runs active in the background.

Your machine would perform much better with the (free) AVG AntiVirus (AVG has about 1/3 the load in comparison to McAfee) and would remain just as secure against virus/trojan infection.
You might find this an interesting read: http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.php?showtopic=70412
That link is specifically about Norton/Symantec, but McAfee is similarly hoggish.

Ok, so now you've heard my recommenation regarding McAfee and Spy Sweeper.
It is "your choice" what you decide to run on your machine, so it's up to you.

WOW! You've got Internet Connection Speed to die for! Great!

I look forward to providiing additional recommendations after I've been able to look at the Results via TechExpress.

Best Regards,
Doug

OK, Dough. Will look at in more detail and address today. Thanks for your suggestions. Jeff.