Calling in the Geek Squad!

[gadgetgary]

My main computer(Dell laptop circa 2004) has been acting strangely lately(freezing up). I brought it into my local computer repair guy and was told that it needed more RAM. $106 later, and the computer works faster, but freezes up within 10 minutes. I was told to take Norton Antivirus off, but it would not let me unload it.

So what are my options?

Do you think I need a new hard drive? If so, can all my info and programs be saved from the old to the new?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

 

[electroluxxxx]

Spybot
try downloading that I can walk you through the steps and other steps to check the machine to see if it is functioning properly. actually if you want email me with my email address on my profile with your phone number and I can assist. I took some classes in high school that have helped me learn about repair, and windows issues. I have not been on this wonderful site in a long time due to my busy sched but now I plan on making it a regular thing

thanks
Mike

 

[launderess]

Spy Software, Virus, Worm

And so forth all can slow down a system. OTHO Norton is known for being a resourse hog as well.

Have you tired a "Three Finger Boot" to see what is running in the background?

By all means take the previous posters advice and run a system scan for spy and other bad stuff lurking on your computer.

Do you know how to do a selective start up at boot to keep NAV from loading? If you can somehow run your computer without Norton and it's drivers loading, and your system speeds up, there is your answer.

L.

 

[gadgetgary]

Run a system scan for spy and other bad stuff lurking on you

How do I do that?
Just this week I had Norton scan the computer and nothing was wrong...found no errors.

I started to uninstall Norton... took a while and then I got an error message(Error "10,340 Class not registered). Once I clicked on that, Norton could not finish uninstalling.

I got this same message for the last six mos. on Start up. I just clicked on close and everything was working ok.

 

[gadgetgary]

"Three Finger Boot"

What is that?

 

[launderess]

Press "ctrl,alt.del" at same time.

 

[gadgetgary]

3 finger boot

Did that as soon as the computer came on. Norton still had to start.

I apprecaiate all the help here.

I do not want to trash this computer. Is a new hard drive my next move?

 

[electroluxxxx]

gary
throw me an email with your number and I will call you tomorrow some time and walk you through some steps to get you up and running again. the hard drive you have is fine if the machine is booting up it just needs some attention.
I came close to being certified as a comp tech.

 

[electroluxxxx]

email address is
[email protected]

 

[gadgetgary]

Running....

Compuuter in 'Safe mode with Networking'. Everything is working just fine with no lock up periods.

Guess it must be a 'software' problem???

 

[cleanteamofny]

Time for a full PC maintainance.

1. Do Disk Clean Up
2. Error Disk (Scan and fix error)
3. Defrag system

If you're running XP/Vista/Windows 7
Download this (free) for fastest defragging
(http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag)

4. Run Adaware 2009 (Lavasoft) or Spybot Search and Destroy
5. Run your Antivirus

If you haven't changed your disk space for temporary internet file, do so now and bring it down to 50 MB.

Hopfully this should solve your problem. If not, check your hard drive space to see if you've have minimum space for windows to run.

 

[whirlcool]

Starting with the 2009 version, Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus is no longer the resource hog it once was. They redesigned it from the ground up. Norton 1008 took almost 1GB or RAM to be happy, 2009 takes maybe 256K. I've been using 2009 for about 8 months now and have no slowdowns or lockups with the product. But the Norton Internet Security Package is another story.....

I used Spybot for awhile and found it to be a real memory hog. I much prefer Ad-Aware. It runs faster and doesn't eat up your performance.

The basic maintenance functions listed earlier is great. We do all that on a monthly basis and our computer just keeps humming along just fine. In addition to being just maintenance, it also can ferret our problems before they become big problems. Don't forget to add a compelete virus scan in there too.