Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows Vista and 7 => Topic started by: shashgo on December 21, 2008, 01:04:00 AM
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For some reason, lately the computer has been acting real slow to open programs or explorer windows, and seems to give me the 'Program not responding' message every so often. If I do see the 'Not responding' message, how do I end the application or t ask (CTRL-ALT-DEL doesnt do anything), because once the 'Not responding' message shows up, the computer stops responding to keyboard input while the mouse still works.
Above all, why is this happening and how to fix it
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How much free space do you have on your hard drive?
Do you have any virus protection?
Did you make any hardware or software changes before this started?
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I have a HD that is 80GB, of which 60GB is still free. But does how full the HD is make a difference, cause I thought its the RAM that matters.
I have avira as the antivirus.
And this problem of Not responding started 2 days ago. I dont remember what software I downloaded before it started, but I did a system restore to 2 days ago to hopefully wipe out whatever I did.
But the problem hasnt gone away. What else can I do?
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On what program or software that this Not Responding mesage shows up?
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actually the "Not responding' shows up randomly and on random programs. And sometimes, the program that has been saying "Not responding' starts working properly again. But its all very random. Weird.
I was thinking initially that maybe there are viruses and stuff so i did a full scan. Npthing. Then i did an antispyware scan. Nothing. Then i figured that it might be that there are too many programs that load up as tSrs when the computer boots up and that maybe these are overwhelming the RAM. But how would i know which one to remove?
And on some programs, going through MSCONFIG and unchecking the program doesnt stop the program from reloading at startup. So to stop the program from reloading automatically i opened a program to see if there was a settings menu that would let me choose not to let the program load on start up. No such option is there. So is my last option to uninstall the program?
The program im talking about is windows defender, but there are probably others although i wouldnt know.
Any help?
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Try to uninstall it and see if that will help...
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it may but the thing is, if i uninstall it, and it wasnt the source of the problem, how do i reinstall it, I dont have the disk, it came preloaded
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ah, I see
Dont worry. Its free! (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=435BFCE7-DA2B-4A6A-AFA4-F7F14E605A0D&displaylang=en) ;D
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it may but the thing is, if i uninstall it, and it wasnt the source of the problem, how do i reinstall it, I dont have the disk, it came preloaded
There is no CD that comes with Windows Defender, you can download it for free...
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DLoad and install Startup CPL from Mike Lin...
Small light weight app that will install to your Control Panel.
From there you will have full control of what loads at startup.
NOTE: Don't turn anything off if you don't know what it is/does...
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patio: I downloaded startup inspector and according to the legend, everything I had on the computer that started up was user choice, so I unchecked everything, and right now, the computer works a little faster, but the 'Not responding' thing is still there.
So I want to go to WinXp and nix Win Vista. How do I do that, and yet retain all my data?
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startup inspector
Not the app i suggested...
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So I want to go to WinXp and nix Win Vista.
It's up to you but I would reinstall Vista from the recovery partition if I were going to reinstall the OS. Then, read http://adrynalyne.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AB9DE24BE9AF1B9F!303.entry (http://adrynalyne.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AB9DE24BE9AF1B9F!303.entry) and do what's advised there.
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patio
okay so how do i download that app, do i just go to download.com and type startup cpl?
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Clik Here... (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlin.net%2FStartupCPL.shtml&ei=GKNOSeimBJTmMLD48MYP&usg=AFQjCNGb4CxW0G1X3fbCm-316eipw9Rh1A&sig2=289T8NaQt7faL-QEwzDMFA)
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can anyone please walk me through the steps to replace windows vista with windows xp, and retain all my data
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Late arrival into topic, but hey...better late than never, right? :)
For some reason, lately the computer has been acting real slow to open programs or explorer windows, and seems to give me the 'Program not responding' message every so often. If I do see the 'Not responding' message, how do I end the application or t ask (CTRL-ALT-DEL doesnt do anything), because once the 'Not responding' message shows up, the computer stops responding to keyboard input while the mouse still works.
Above all, why is this happening and how to fix it
You have Vista and 1 GB of RAM. That's reason enough. Running Vista with less than 2 GB of RAM is the number one cause of computer cancer.
Three options here:
1) Get more RAM.
Benefits:
+: No need to go through the hassle of formatting (although backing up your data is always a good idea, regardless).
+: It's usually a 5 minute fix if you know how to do it.
Drawbacks:
-: Costs money. :)
-: Possibility of buying the wrong RAM if you don't do your homework (http://www.crucial.com makes this easy 99% of the time).
2) Use a USB flash drive as ReadyBoost.
Benefits:
+: Quick fix if you have a flash drive with nothing on it.
Drawbacks:
-: 1 GB + Readyboost is faster than 1 GB alone, but still a lot slower than having 2 GB of RAM or more with Vista
-: It's a band-aid solution--like boarding up a broken window instead of getting a new one.
3) Downgrade to XP.
Benefits:
+: XP runs just fine on 1 GB of RAM.
Drawbacks:
-: There is no "in-place downgrade" from Vista to XP. You will have to back up your data, format, and install XP.
-: You'll have to find XP drivers for all your stuff. Your computer probably only came with Vista drivers.
-: You'll also have to get a Windows XP installation disc and product key. You'll have to contact Microsoft or the manufacturer of your PC for information on getting an XP disc and key to exercise downgrade rights.
Honestly, I would recommend #1 to you. RAM is extremely cheap these days.
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can anyone please walk me through the steps to replace windows vista with windows xp, and retain all my data
Yes.
The first step though would be to visit the manuf. site and DLoad and collect XP drivers for all your devices...this is important so i'll leave it here until you have all drivers.