Windows Tech Support Thread

[da_ticklah]

Originally Posted by 1goodI

I'm a mac guy and just picked up a new laptop for my tax prep business. It runs Vista.

I only know XP, and like I said I use a MAC (and they just work, i don't know how.). Anyway here is my problem, how do I get rid of all the extra crap they load on these windows machines. I really only need the office software and my tax prep software plus other essentials.

Appreciate the help.

in the future buy a business class machine the residential systems that you get at best buy or circuit city are full of crap ware.

You can start removing crap one by one but I would make the recovery disks before doing that I saw one HP system get royally fuc*ed after removing the crap ware and a recovery was the best thing to do.

[berger77]

Originally Posted by da_ticklah

in the future buy a business class machine the residential systems that you get at best buy or circuit city are full of crap ware.

You can start removing crap one by one but I would make the recovery disks before doing that I saw one HP system get royally fuc*ed after removing the crap ware and a recovery was the best thing to do.

Ya, HP is the fucking worst. You can only remove so much, and with the others I really don't notice them.

[NoArmsJames]

I downloaded a 7 DVD series in .iso format and one of the .isos is slightly to big for a DVD. Is there a way to shrink it down while still maintaining everything? I don't want to lose the menus and extras etc...

[Preston Buttons]

Hey guys,

I am running XP and all of a sudden I have to constantly open my task manager in order to switch between windows, browser windows, start, etc. (sometimes I can leave it open and click between browser window, task manager, next browser window, task manager, task bar). Another symptom is not being able to select from a form drop down menu. It's like a constant mini freeze.

Any suggestions?

[da_ticklah]

Originally Posted by Preston Buttons

Hey guys,

I am running XP and all of a sudden I have to constantly open my task manager in order to switch between windows, browser windows, start, etc. (sometimes I can leave it open and click between browser window, task manager, next browser window, task manager, task bar). Another symptom is not being able to select from a form drop down menu. It's like a constant mini freeze.

Any suggestions?

anything hogging the cpu when you open Task manager?

[deznice]

Is anyone here studying to become certified by any of the Vendors? (ie. Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA etc etc)

[Preston Buttons]

Originally Posted by da_ticklah

anything hogging the cpu when you open Task manager?

Nothing seems too crazy but teatimer and ashwebsv.exe are highest on the list followed by whatever browser I am using.

[arty]

Originally Posted by Preston Buttons

Hey guys,

I am running XP and all of a sudden I have to constantly open my task manager in order to switch between windows, browser windows, start, etc. (sometimes I can leave it open and click between browser window, task manager, next browser window, task manager, task bar). Another symptom is not being able to select from a form drop down menu. It's like a constant mini freeze.

Any suggestions?

Sounds like it's time to check for malware.
Run Mallwarebytes and then SuperAntiSpyware to see if they pick up anything.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

and update to the latest data definitions after installing.

[bambam2k3]

Originally Posted by Preston Buttons

Nothing seems too crazy but teatimer and ashwebsv.exe are highest on the list followed by whatever browser I am using.

My likely guess is tea timer. As much as I love spybot, I too have had issues in the past on my own plus client machines as it seems to want to just scan every little thing your system is attempting to do in case it's malicious.

So, before even bothering with extra scanning (which I do highly recommend MalwareBytes), turn off the tea timer in Spybot (tools>Advanced Mode>Resident>uncheck tea timer), reboot and see if the system seems more response.

Part of the issue too is that Avast will be scanning your system files as they are accessed as well as temp directories, too. Sometimes it's a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' sort of scenario. It's good to be secure but the programs tend to want to fight.

Cheers,
BamBam

[da_ticklah]

Originally Posted by bambam2k3

My likely guess is tea timer. As much as I love spybot, I too have had issues in the past on my own plus client machines as it seems to want to just scan every little thing your system is attempting to do in case it's malicious.

So, before even bothering with extra scanning (which I do highly recommend MalwareBytes), turn off the tea timer in Spybot (tools>Advanced Mode>Resident>uncheck tea timer), reboot and see if the system seems more response.

Part of the issue too is that Avast will be scanning your system files as they are accessed as well as temp directories, too. Sometimes it's a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' sort of scenario. It's good to be secure but the programs tend to want to fight.

Cheers,
BamBam

Strong possibility I use spybot but not tea timer I just scan weekly and let CCleaner have a go at the system too just be sure to take the time to pick out the cookies you want to keep or CCleaner will trash all cookies which can be a pain as all your usual sites ask you to login.