Hi,

 

First post in a while ago here goes. I have been having trouble with Windows 7 lately with what I think is a application that keeps on running in the background sort of like a virus. I have done a few scans and can't find anything. I usually have to double click apps a few times to open them especially with Google chrome. It also means that the app may become inactive like when you switch between apps on dual screen. It doesn't close or minimise it just greys out, I'm sure you know. It also slows down the internet browser and startup speeds a four bit. Any ideas on how to fix it would be great.

 

Thanks,

Have you gone into the task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and looked to see what applications are still running. You can also look in the processes tab and see if you see anything unusual running. If you can't find anything there, look in your Startup Tab and shutdown everything that starts up when you turn your computer on. Not sure of your expertise but you can get there by going to the Run command and typing msconfig. Startup programs are sometimes used by developers to run their programs on a schedule to see if there are any updates and other things. So these programs could be running in the background trying to find an update or something and can't find their own website so the programs continues to run in the background waiting and waiting for the website to open up so they can update their software. Just an idea.

 

While you are in the Startup program area, you might also check in the Services tab and check 'hide all Microsoft services'. These are services installed by software developers to run a schedule too but not necessarily at startup. It could be just once a month.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Yeah i have had a look in the task manager, I know my way pretty well with Windows. It seems slow since I got my galaxy s3 and installed kies which is the samsung version of iTunes. I have tried uninstalling but that didn't really help. I will be sure to try the startup processes again , that one passed my mind. Thanks a lot for the help though. I have been playing with Android for ages so windows and fsx has been on the back burner.

I have the new Galaxy III too but have not installed kies or anything like that. Just use it mainly to use Golf Logix to record my golf games and view yardages, etc. Oh! I sometimes use it as a phone too! LOL.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Hi,

 

I have a feeling this won't be a really quick fix considering there are a couple of possibilities.

 

If you suspect a virus, best bet is to find an anti-virus package that will allow you to perform a scan before Windows starts. BitDefender has a freely available download from their site that will do this for you. I had a nasty virus and I had to run a few different anti-virus tools to clear it up. Also, you may want to grab a copy of HijackThis and run it. It creates a report of everything running on your system so you can see if there's anything on that report that's not showing up in your start-up tab in MSCONFIG.

 

If you're suspecting something running as part of your start up, you can always run MSCONFIG and uncheck all the applications in the start-up tab (provided they're not core applications for your system), reboot and see if you're still experiencing the same symptoms. If you've ruled out a virus, another good utility is Soluto. It shows you what's starting up and how much time it's adding to your boot up/Windows start and allows you to tweak how the applications start-up so that you can boot up pretty quickly and then allow the apps that slow the start up to launch once you're in Windows. I've been using this for about a year now and it's been working great for me. I'm able to zero in on an app that's causing my system to boot up slow and can correct it.

 

Hope this gives you some more options to get your system fixed up.

 

Mike

I have the new Galaxy III too but have not installed kies or anything like that. Just use it mainly to use Golf Logix to record my golf games and view yardages, etc. Oh! I sometimes use it as a phone too! LOL.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Haha, yes I occasionally use it as a phone. Mostly mobile internet, its a great device

 

 

 

Hope this gives you some more options to get your system fixed up.

 

Mike

I'll give these a go and see if they clear it up. I really just notice the slow down in Google Chrome when pages seem to take quite a bit and i have to click multiple times to get it to start. I did a Norton scan and that didn't show anything abnormal.

I had some issues with Win7 a few weeks back. IE9, FSX, Orbx FTX Central and ultimate Traffic 2 user interfaces were incredibly slow to load. It turned out that IE9 was the culprit and once I uninstalled it from "Installed Updates" and IE8 was running everything was normal once again.

 

This may not be the same issue that is causing your slow-downs but I thought that it might help you track the issue down.

I'll be sure to try that, it sounds nice and easy

 

Damn, I can't actually find the IE9 in the programs lust and anything I do try and uninstall just says there was an error and would you like to remove from the list.

I'll be sure to try that, it sounds nice and easy

 

Damn, I can't actually find the IE9 in the programs lust and anything I do try and uninstall just says there was an error and would you like to remove from the list.

 

I don't believe there's an option to uninstall IE9. Like all things MS, once its hooks are in your system, they're typically there to stay. I use both IE9 and FireFox and don't have any issues but that's not to say if mine works, so should yours . From your original post:

 

"I usually have to double click apps a few times to open them especially with Google chrome. It also means that the app may become inactive like when you switch between apps on dual screen."

 

It doesn't sound like an IE issue seeing as this is happening outside of loading up IE. I still recommend you fire up Hijack this and see what's running and at a minimum, go to Start - Run and type in MSCONFIG and in the start-up tab, see what's loading up. You may be surprised at the junk in there and if there's something you know you don't need, turn it off, reboot and see if that helps.

 

If you need a hand with Hijackthis, send me a PM and I can help interpret the results.

 

Mike

Yeah thanks. I have been really busy lately and for the next few days so I may try it out soon.

 

I tried it today and I can't seem to find anything that is running and shouldn't be there. Chrome still runs like crap and programs are putting themselves to the background. I will go through the task manager and stop everything I can.