Everything about computers

[CTG]

Fast service for my computer: battery and webcam are replaced, now XP re-install is coming. I'm a bit sceptic about the "diagnosis" and so I'll make a really tough endurance test in the following weeks.

[CTG]

Okay... basic programs are installed. Others: later. I have to drink now. A lot...

[BonzaiJoe]

Yes, there are times when you just must drink. Walk the dusty road. I stand at such a time too - no other way. Will probably go for coffee though, not alcohol.

[Chulk]

Well, I'm still struggling with my PC. It's really slow (it takes around 2 min to start firefox, not to mention more important programs). Also, Windows media player doesn't show CD art cover or visualizations, and PC is malware free. I guess it has to do with configuration, but still can't find what it is... Any ideas?

[Duplode]

The "taking two minutes to start Firefox" thing was the norm with my old (pre-May 2007) computer, but that was just because it had too little (256MB) memory for what I was trying to run. Don't know if that might be your case, but memory usage minimization is the first thing I would try in such a situation.

[Chulk]

Installed Free RAM XP Pro. I have 530mb free at the moment but still it takes around 2 mins to open FF...

[CTG]

Installed Free RAM XP Pro. I have 530mb free at the moment but still it takes around 2 mins to open FF...

When my old computer seemed to be slow, it was the fault of my firewall and the dirty svchost.exe.

[BonzaiJoe]

What does svchost.exe do?

[zaqrack]

the framework responsible for running .dll files which are required for windows to run efficiently.

[Chulk]

What does svchost.exe do?

I saw some guys say svchost used around 90% of their CPU because it had a virus or because Win XP was outdated. I don't have that problem... My CPU usage is lower than 15% and I have less than 1/2 total memory in use...
So no idea about it... still waiting for answers to my problem, as I posted this in a couple of forums dedicated to help with such problems.

[zaqrack]

tools and operations I'd recommend:

1. Uninstall Free Ram XP. Any program which says will free up ram will only slow down your computer.
2. Uninstall every unused program from your computer.
3. Run ccleaner to clean out crap from your computer
4. run spybot (not needed if you already checked for malware
5. defragment your hard drive
6. reinstall firefox

alternatively, or in addition to the steps above, follow this excellent guide:
http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks1.htm

My laptop is optimized for Level 3 and runs very quick and responsively. I'd suggest you should first conduct a Level 2 optimization.

[Chulk]

I'll check that page. I already did all you said except installing FF, because it's not only FF that takes long to start...

[CTG]

I can't believe that, the mentioned problems appeared with the brand new battery too after 2 and half weeks of usage.

The battery error is back after a good 3 hours period... Service will be visited tomorrow, hopefully they can solve the problems fast enough.

Edit: after some pushing-pulling, it seems to work again. My guess is some kind of deformation at the contact part - it must move away a bit when it says the battery is almost dead. It said: 10% charge, few minutes later 70%, then switched it off, pushing a few millimeters, restarted system and then it says the battery is full, I have 3 hours 27 minutes left with that. However, I have to show it to the service.

[zaqrack]

is it still the same old laptop?

[CTG]

is it still the same old laptop?

Nope, the new (HP). Old one (Acer) is dead since November. 3 weeks ago I had a battery change, because of the written problem. Although battery's capacity was okay in some moments (survived 3-3.5 hours without charging), when I moved the computer (really small movements, even a strong Enter pressing was enough), it showed battery is low and switched off - after restart, even BIOS said battery is almost dead. Seemed to be kind of contact error. In the service they said my battery made the same in other computers too - so they changed it to a new one.

The two similarities between the battery breakdowns in May and now:

1, I was playing with EA F1 2002 when the first error appeared.

Theory #1: CPU is probably close to the connection of the battery and the game causes quite a big warmup, so maybe some plastic parts of the fixture are deformed from that heat, losing the perfect connection.

2, In the last period of charging I had to suspend the charge at ~90% because I had to go somewhere and then later I continued it to 100%. (I know it's not that healthy but come on... I take care of the battery, 9 from 10 times I make an almost ideal charge - letting it down to 2-5% and charging to 100%)

Theory #2: simple electric shock... although it's always plugged to a Surge Guard, so it mustn't be that.