Help! In-Laws Computer is Not Working Properly!

[Javery]

I'm at the in-laws for the weekend (not as bad as it sounds - they are awesome) and they have been having problems with their computer. They have Comcast high-speed internet but it is s...l...o...w...

Also, lots of their programs seem to get a "not responding" when I try to open them. I've deleted over 18,000 files in their Temporary Internet Files folder and several hundred cookies (they don't know anything about computers other than how to send and receive email and surf the web). I've also run Spybot and removed some stuff that way. It is still not running that great - any suggestions?? Thanks!!! :P

[Ledhed]

What are the specs on the comp? What OS? What applications aren't opening?

[EggViper]

whenever my internet starts acting up, i just call and complain with the isp. they'll run u through some tests and stuff and if they cant fix it over the phone, theyll send a guy to do it.

[The Successful Dropout]

is the comp slow as well as the internet?

[Javery]

It's a Dell Running a version of Windows 98 (Millenium Edition or something). It's not like specific things aren't working, but here's an example - It took me forever to delete the temp files because after hitting select all and then delete, explorer would crash. I had to delete them manually about 30 or 40 files at a time.

They also seem to have a large amount of desktop icons that they probably just clicked "yes" to install while visiting various websites.

Also, surfing the internet is very slow. My old 56k seemed to load pages faster. I'm just trying to get things running a little better...

[Javery]

is the comp slow as well as the internet?

Yes.

[Ledhed]

How many processes are running in the background? If they aren't very versed in computers, then I'll bet they have 30 or 40+ active processes. Close all the superfluous processes and see if there is a change.

[captainfrizo]

Download the free version of AVG and do a virus scan. If you're lucky that might fix a couple of problems.

http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

[Ledhed]

It's a Dell Running a version of Windows 98 (Millenium Edition or something).

:shock: The dreaded Millenium Edition! Bane to users everywere!

Dunno how to check active processes in ME, but I'm thinking that is the problem. Might also wanna try a restart if you haven't aready.

[Javery]

How many processes are running in the background? If they aren't very versed in computers, then I'll bet they have 30 or 40+ active processes. Close all the superfluous processes and see if there is a change.

How do I do that? I'm not very versed either... :oops:

[The Successful Dropout]

whenever this happens at my gfs house and my brothers house...i run msconfig, go to startup and use http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html to figure out what startup items are bs and which ones are completely necessary....usually, when they're having problems with their computers (whether its slow or freezing), ill end up doing that and getting rid of about 20-30 unnecessary startup items....

[The Successful Dropout]

note: if you go through any of that, be very careful not to uncheck any startup items that are needed, this can cause the computer to not start up at all.....

[Javery]

whenever this happens at my gfs house and my brothers house...i run msconfig, go to startup and use http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html to figure out what startup items are bs and which ones are completely necessary....usually, when they're having problems with their computers (whether its slow or freezing), ill end up doing that and getting rid of about 20-30 unnecessary startup items....

Thanks. That site looks very useful but it's going to take some time to read. They have 44 programs running at start-up and I don't recognize 1/2 of them. I have to do some digging though because I don't want to disable something essential.

And yeah, this Windows ME thing is whack. I've never used it other than here and I hate it.

[guardian_owl]

It's a Dell Running a version of Windows 98 (Millenium Edition or something).

:shock: The dreaded Millenium Edition! Bane to users everywere!

Dunno how to check active processes in ME, but I'm thinking that is the problem. Might also wanna try a restart if you haven't aready.

Oh ME, how I loath thee, let me count the ways... Hope someone at Microsoft got fired for that piece of shit operating system, had errors on it all the time, upgraded to XP on that machine and it still never worked properly, wish I would have bought a new computer 3 months earlier and gotten Win 98 on it instead.

[mcwilliams132]

Get the following, download, install and run..

SpyBot (cleans up spyware apps)
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Spyware Blaster (prevents spyware)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

SpyBot should clean up most of the extra junk that they've downloaded.

Best thing is to go through the ADD/REMOVE programs and kill off anything that's not needed or is unknown. Who knows what came along with half of the programs they've installed.

As stated in a previous post...AVG antivirus software from GriSoft is the way to go...
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/

[el bobo]

Well, if they have ever had Kazaa (sp) that will slow them down horribly. I had the same problem, but I didn't know what to do so I just reformated the comp...