My Computer Is So Slow

[lyall]

Is anyone else having problems with their computer since firefox updated itself? Since firefox updated my computer it is grindingly slow. It isnt just the internet its typing on a word document as well, an example of this, by the time I had finished typing this post the appearance of letters on my screen was just about at the end of the second line, and I had to wait about 6 minutes for the rest to appear. Is this the fault of firefox or something else? The only other thing I have altered of late is to change my security to Macafee, I made sure ALL the old security was removed first and have double checked to make sure nothing had been ‘left behind’ and I can’t see anything, im using a desk top computer running windows xp 2007. Help please this is driving me batty!

[jeffa]

Firstly, there's no such thing as "windows xp 2007".

Secondly, uninstall FireFox and install Google Chrome instead.

Thirdly, why are you using Macafee?

[Gizmonster]

Open the task manager (ctrl + alt + delete, all held down simultaneously) to see what's using your PC's resources and to see if anything's running in the background that shouldn't be.

[anotheoldgit]

Would carrying out a Disk De-Fragmentation help at all?

Go to, Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

[bookbinder]

...and try Disk Cleanup, also.

[Buenchico]

The problem you describe (of a delay before typed letters appear) is usually related to something hogging all of your computer's CPU. Right-click on the task bar at the foot of your screen and then click on Task Manager, followed by Processes to see if anything looks unusual. ('System Idle Process' should normally be the only 'double figures' entry in the CPU column. Firefox might typically use around 180Mb of memory).

Also try a malware scan, as I've suggested here:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Technology/Computers/Question1333050.html

However I strongly suspect that MacAfee may well be the cause of the problem is you're running it on a computer with fairly limited memory. Try temporarily disabling it to see if it makes any difference.

[anotheoldgit]

Hi Buenchico do you recommend a de-Frag or disk clean-up?

[Buenchico]

>>>do you recommend a de-Frag or disk clean-up?

It's worth a try but it's never made any noticeable difference when I've done it.

[lyall]

Thanks for advising me, I hope the information I am going to put down is understandable, some of it im not really sure what im looking at or what it means, but here goes.

I have Malwared and nothing untoward has shown up this time
I have done ctrl+alt+del
for the first 10 minutes the cpu was moving between 0% and 8% with one spike at 32% just after 10 mins it shot up to the 50% range with a spike of 65% and has stayed within the 50%'s since.
PF usage started at 966MB but has now gone up to 987MB
Physical Memory: Total 2061356 Available & System Cache keep changing
Processes: 58
Commit Charge started at 940M is now 988M / 3904M

The only things I have open are the answerback page and my wireless networking utility dongle thing and a word document that I have drafted this response on.

Looked under Processes as you suggested Buenchico but not really sure what to look for so cant really tell if everything is usual. There about 60 things listed I recognise some of them. In the CPU and Mem Usage column some of the numbers keep moving so I take it that these are the ones that are working/trying to work.

the 2 biggest things in the cpu column are firefox.exe which is 50-51 and system idle process which is 42-50.
EKPrinterSDK.exe keeps flashing 0-1 printer not switched on
EKAiOHostService is 0-1 AiO is part my printer which isn’t switched on
Services.exe flashes 0-1
Svchost.exe flashes 0-1
Spoolsv.exe flashes 0-1
Explorer.exe flashes 0-1 (is that windows explorer? Haven’t used that for years)
Skype.exe flashes 0-1 (checked that im not logged on and im not)
McUICnt.exe every now and again goes to 23 then back to 0 (is that the MacAfee?)
Mcsheild.exe flashes 0-1
Ctfmon.exe flashes 0-2
Taskmgr.exe flashes 0-1
WINWORD.EXE flashes 0-1
Lsass.exe flashes 0-1
System flashes 0-1

I am wary of de-fragmentation doesn’t that clear everything off your computer ie all the stuff ive got saved on it or am I thinking of something else?

Silly question I suppose but this wouldn’t be because I’m connecting wirelessly to my internet with my new tablet would it?

I have also just had a box appear Apple Software Update for something called quick time, what is this? thought Apple was for i pads? im on a desktop.

All these problems started when I took Microsoft security essentials off and put Comodo security on. Comodo was ok to start with but it kept letting nasties slip through the net so to speak, I was having to use malware 2 or 3 time a day and getting 3-6 nasties every time I ran it.

I had been recommended MacAfee when I bought my tablet so as I had already paid for it and it was unlimited I decided to put it on my computer, perhaps i made a mistake. I removed all the Comodo stuff via the control panel add/remove programmes, switched computer off then on again and added MacAfee, for a few days everything worked ok then Firefox altered and it all went pear shaped! Coincidence? Now it works ok-ish for about half an hour then becomes virtually unresponsive to anything I try to do. The only solution has been to keep switching the computer off and on which I’m not very keen on doing.

[Buenchico]

>>>firefox.exe which is 50-51

Bloody 'ell! I'm using Firefox 29 to type this on an ancient XP computer and the figure for Firefox is going between '00' and '04'. Around 50 is ridiculous!

Try running Firefox in its own Safe Mode (i.e. with its add-ons disabled). Instructions here:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode
If that solves the problem, try resetting Firefox (which removes all extensions), either by following the link above or from Help > Trouibleshooting Information. Then reinstall your extensions one-by-one, to see which one is causing the problem.

If none of that works, download a fresh copy of Firefox and reinstall it on top of the original one (i.e. without uninstalling first):
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

[lyall]

Many thank you Buenchico I will try all that you have suggested and see what happens, im glad it seems to be a fixable problem, I was dreading having to take it somewhere.

[lyall]

Ok in safe mode at the moment and it is running as it always has ..... so far that is. it has opened everything at its usual speed and i have no waiting for letters to appear

[lyall]

CPU usage is between 0-7, i'll give it 10 minutes and see what happens

[lyall]

i went in safe mode and couldnt see anything, i then restarted with add-ons dissables (the files are in a folder on my desktop) cpu for firefox is now 1-21 with one spike of 37, its an improvement. 2 questions, how do i know i have come out of safemode? and how do i reinstall the folder on my desk top? sorry im being a pain. should i download a new copy of firefox? would it not 'fight' the old version if i dont get rid of it first?

[lyall]

sorry i typed the wrong thing on the last post its cpu only thats 1-21 with one spike of 37, firefox hasnt gone higher that 15

[lyall]

oh good lord its between 16 and 29 now!!

[Buenchico]

>>>how do i know i have come out of safemode?

Simply close it and start it as normal.

Then I suggest simply trying a reset (AFTER noting down the names any extensions you might need to reinstall later, by looking under Tools>Add-ons>Extensions). You can perform the reset from Help>Troubleshooting Information, using the button at the top right of the page.