Here's the deal. My computer is becoming generally more annoying. Sites such as facebook, ebay and gmail are taking ages to load and quite a lot of the time don't even do that. BS also has problems loading. Google is fine as are many other sites so I'm not sure what's going on. But in general everything is much slower and more difficult than it should be. I try to run spybot and I get the message "spybot.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close" before it's actually got up and running. System restore is pointless too as it seemingly only goes back a couple of weeks and even then it fails to restore the machine anyway. I don't know what's happened but I just basically want to be able to use the net without having to wait an age for a page to load. If I'd wanted dial up speed, I'd not have paid for broadband. And no it's not a provider thing as lots of sites are fine. How can I sort this out? And please bear in mind that I'm virtually retarded in these matters so a step by step guide would be good if you're tempted to get technical. Thanks.
Make sure all your anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-crap, software is up to date. i'm assuming you're using Windows for this next bit: When re-starting, hit F8 repeatedly. This will eventually bring up a menu. One of the options should be "Start in Safe-mode." Choose that one. When it comes up, everything will look totally funky. This is normal. Try to run your scanners and re-start. Whatever it finds, delete. After this step is done, re-start your computer. Visit www.windowsupdate.com and download all the critical updates. If you have XP, Service Pack 3 was recently released. Part of what it does is make sure your computer is up to date with all the critical updates. Get it. Keep going back to windows update until there are no more critical updates. Also, what web browser are you using? Firefox (www.getfirefox.com) is generally regarded as one of the most secure, most safe web browsers available. A lot of people also use Opera (www.opera.com).
OK thanks for that. And yes I'm using windows (should have said really). Got really frustrated with it yesterday when I found that trying to get onto BS only sent me to the store page and no amount of clicking anywhere else would get me to the forums. So I tried a system restore and failed again. Tried to uninstall and reinstall spy-bot only to find that it also wouldnt work again. Tried to download and use another anti-spyware type programme but that refused to start due to an "invalid floating point operation". Before reading the above reply I basically made my mind up to wipe the system. I'm able to transfer my important stuff onto an external hard drive before I do it... HOWEVER - I don't have my original windows discs to reinstall everything, so that plan's out too. Unless I can find another copy of windows XP that is. OK back to the advice above - thanks and I'll try the F8 thing and hope the scanner thing works. I'm perhaps not as totally clueless as I've made out but I'm certainly not that good either. I've always used firefox due to its benifits and infact haven't really experienced any problems until fairly recently. I've been using this PC and operating system for a number of years now and nothing like this has happened.
Ok a small update. Have done all the recommendations aside from getting SP3, mainly because I'm not sure what to get from the list (ok I guess I am that clueless). I've got rid of a huge amount of crap and those sites that were misbehaving are now no longer misbehaving quite so badly. I still have a pop up from nextads that I can't do much about - but am looking into it. But thanks so far for your help my friend.
BigSoccer was down over the past weekend. Everyone who tried to log on to the site was sent to the store page. In Firefox, click Options, then click Content. In that screen, make sure the box for "block popup windows" is checked, then click ok. I would seriously consider getting all the critical updates from windowsupdate.com. Most of those updates either help scan your computer for "mal-ware", or help patch various security holes within Windows. You can always try safe mode again. I suppose it is possible that it won't catch everything on one try.
Well I've downloaded all I can - I think. I dont think I'm able to get service pack 3 for some reason. It keeps baning on about my copy of windows not being the genuine deal - which I already know. Should that prevent me from getting SP3?
If you attempt to download SP3, one of two things is probably going to happen. 1) It'll work 2) "Your copy of Windows is not legit. For information on how to obtain a valid Windows License Key..." and it won't work. I don't think there is any harm in trying, but you may want to wait for another answer.