Need help from the computer guru's book of knowledge

[klavy69]

Yep, in need of a dumb question being answered...maybe multiple dumb questions but all revolving around a basic question . I use windows xp/I.E.7(I believe) and have a problem with automatic updates. First of all my pc is all clogged up with crap I can't even find but the automatic update comes on and drags everything to a snail's speed.

How do I shut it off once its started? and then how do I alter the schedule to make it auto update at say 3 in the morning when I know its not going to affect me?

What I have is a lack of space and time...I need to get my newer tower installed but I have to get my 'stuff' off of this one before doing that...favorites, my documents, pix, etc so I can wipe it clean and reinstall windows from scratch. This tower is down to say 9% free space which makes it about worthless to try to do anything with it but have some sort of a problem with stuff dissappearing too. Seems I have had folders of videos and pix that have just dissappeared off the desktop and I cannot find them anywhere when I search the harddrive but know the stuff is still there since I haven't un-installed any of it.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any help I can get on this and thanx for the time you allready spent reading this mess
Todd

[a01butal]

Have you tried cleaning up unnecessary stuff and defragging your hard drive to start?

[klavy69]

Yes, and yes. Do that on a weekly basis if not several times a week...

[a01butal]

Or send me your number and I'll call you.

[RedScampi]

I invested in a program called Auslogics Boost Speed. It has a One Button checkup feature that does just about all your system maintenance in just a few easy steps. The defragger is much faster than the one with Windows. I run the program every week. Their website is here: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/boost-speed. I highly recommend it. If I want to be extra sure I run Spybot Search and Destroy to get any remaining adware off my machine - but it seldom finds anything that Auslogics didn't.

[fakiee]

From windows select: Start menu > Control Panel > Security Center > Automatic Updates



Here you can:
- schedule your updates to run at a certain time
- download them but let you choose when to install them
- Notify you they are available then you choose whether to install them (I Use this option)
- Turn off automatic updates.

In your case it might be better to turn them off if you are sure that's causing the slow down or schedule them as you suggested. If you are in doubt you can always go to http://www.windowsupdate.com/ and this will check and install the latest updates for you.

You should also make sure your computer is clean of unnecessary files and programs as suggested above. In most cases people with cluttered computers generally have several viruses running and this is usually the cause of the slow down.

If in doubt try running this http://malwarebytes.org/mbam.php (free demo version works well). Run and install this and then perform a full system scan, see what it comes up with. You can remove the program once you have finished with it.

For a free virus scan try http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/virusscanner but this can be a time consuming process.

Hope this helps,
Andy.

[Mr. ED]

First a question for my own interest: do either of those 2 have a registry cleaner?

Now yours:
Going from the first post it sounds like the only problem you have is narrow band-width really.
If you unplug your lan cable (or simply wait for the automatic updates to complete) do your local programs run at normal speed?

[fakiee]

First a question for my own interest: do either of those 2 have a registry cleaner?

If you are responding to my post, then no. They are malware and virus checkers. They can remove registry components but only if they are infected. If you are after a good registry cleaner then use CCleaner: http://www.ccleaner.com/ also good for cleaning your disk space in general -removes ALL temp and unnecessary files and you can select which application has data cleared or is left alone.

[Mr. ED]

I was refering to one of yours, the other one is the Auslogics boost speed as mentioned by Redscampi

thanks for the info

[RedScampi]

Yes, Auslogics does have a registry cleaner. I have had NO speed issues since using this program. I've been running it for about 6 months or so.

[Mr. ED]

Todd, the disappearing files sound like a hard disk issue
Get an external HD to backup all you still have or copy it over using a crossed network cable to your new pc immediately. Then search the net for free deleted and lost file recovery tools.

Everything you continue doing like defragment, system updates, etc: this will make it harder to recover the lost files

[fakiee]

Everything you continue doing like defragment, system updates, etc: this will make it harder to recover the lost files

Not sure how doing these things will change file locations or make it harder to find stuff? If you have literally lost files do to bad hard drive sectors or write errors then Mr. Ed is right - you will need to stop everything and run a file recovery tool and backup what you can, if the case is you just can't find/remember where the files are then you need to keep looking

[Mr. ED]

The how is pretty simple: defragment and system updates will use sections of the hard disk that may contain fragments of the lost files.

[Halgar]

The how is pretty simple: defragment and system updates will use sections of the hard disk that may contain fragments of the lost files.

The defrags I've used not only move things around like that, but they wipe the area before reorganizing and replacing the data. This is not to be confused with a "wiping" program which is designed to completely erase - forever irretrievable - any data that had once been there.

[fakiee]

We need klavy69 to come back into this discussion, otherwise we will continue discussing the issue among ourselves for eternity