HELP!!

[mistletoe]

I have decided my slowing laptop is due to Windows Explorer malfunction. It keeps saying 'Not Responding' when I try to do things like empty the recycle bin or access Control Panel. I have found some free software to download which claims to fix the problem but I am wary to download in case its malware or something. It's from SpeedMaxPC. What should I do? I'm running on Vista.

The Microsoft help page was useless for techno amish like me.

Comments

[annie-hay.livejournal.com]

Is your free software from Microsoft or is it from an online source. If it is from Microsoft then you could try it.

If it is slow too, you can go into the start menu click on maintenance and use the defragment option and allow your system to clean up the files that you don't need anymore.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848

If you make room on your computer it will go faster than before, but it is a hassle because you have to do that each month.

If it is saying "not responding", then you can reset your computer and see if it will work, if not I'd get a virus system to check why it is doing that (you may have a virus).

My computer did that a lot when I was using windows. It's a pain in the butt.

[a-lot-of-heart.livejournal.com]

1) Save all your data, no matter how long it takes. Then it basically doesn't matter if it's malware or not.

2) Before installing a software you don't know and aren't sure how or if it works, try to defragment your computer. Either with the windows tool as annie_hay described or another software like Tuneup Utilities 2012. I don't know if there is an English version of that one though, as I'm using the German one.

3) Run a virus/trojaner check. I recommend Norton for that. You don't have to buy it, just get the trial version and see if it finds something. After having removed possible viruses you can still think about whether to keep it or use a freeware instead. I just had a better experience with Norton.

4) In case everything fails, reinstall Vista. You will have to reinstall all your programs as well, but sometimes this is really your last option if something in the system structure is broken. Besides, Vista is known to cause problems like that and I had them myself. I switched to Windows 7 when the Beta version was out and that one was already better than the final version of Windows Vista.

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

I guess reset may be the only option. I have Kaspersky anti virus running and that gave me no alerts.

Thanks for your advice.

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

Defragment is scheduled to run every week so whatever it is should be covered by that. This just happened so it may have been an automatic update that compromised things.

Thanks for your response.

[annie-hay.livejournal.com]

That's great. I hope it works for you.

:)

[tempertemper.livejournal.com]

All advice above is great. Also our Sony Vaio running Vista did this and I reset back to factory settings after saving all data to an external drive which fixed it.

Vista is just so goddamn slow though, isn't it?? We are going to buy the Windows 7 upgrade just as soon as we can afford it!

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

Oh well. It got fixed in March by being put back to factory settings. I have things backed up on line with Carbonite, but I don't have an external drive. Could try disks I suppose. What a nuisance.

[limone1.livejournal.com]

You've already had some very good advice.

I checked with my computer geek expert brother. He agrees with the previous speakers, save and re-format, a PC is never the same after problems like these.

He says that there are numerous programs that are either malware or spyware or worse that promise to fix your computer. He only trusts a few programs of the trojan/worm clearing variety and has never come across a program that has actually saved a PC.

There are quite a few things that could be the problem and the chance that even a benign (if they exist) "PC fixer" program could solve it, is maybe 0.1% if you want a figure... He has not heard of SpeedMaxPC, and he develops and tests software for a living So while it's not on his black list, it's not on his recommend list either.

If you happen to have Windows "restore points" you could try that too he says, but don't get your hopes up.

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

Thanks for going to all that trouble. I feared it would be terminal as it is 6 months since it had its last meltdown. I've got Kaspersky anti virus running which hasn't spotted anything.

I haven't tried restore because I didn't think it would make much difference. It didn't last time. Looks like a clean slate again. Grrr.

[limone1.livejournal.com]

No trouble. My laptop had a meltdown, an automatic microsoft update messed up a graphics file, when it was just a few months old. Tried various repairs but ended up reformatting after moving everything I wanted to keep to the other HD on my laptop. I keep a portable HD for back-up too.

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

I think an update was my source too, because I haven't found any viruses. However, I did manage to empty the recycle bin and Control Panel has partly reappeard. Maybe the automatic defrag at dinnertime helped

[limone1.livejournal.com]

If you haven't clicked on any hotpictureofbooth.exe in emails from strangers that's probably it.

I never use the microsoft browser and switched from Word to open source code years ago. Contemplating switching to Linux too, but have been too lazy so far.

[a-mistletoe.livejournal.com]

Oh I never talk to strangers, not even for hotbodBooth.