My husband's SLOW computer & Application Error

[newgranny]

My husband has an emachine T1115, Intel Celeron, with Windows XP.

1 GHz, 128 MB Sync DRAM, 20 Gig Hard Drive, and we use Linksys wireless with our DSL service.

He uses approximately 1/3 of his hard drive space.

I clean his temp files, cookies, etc. about once a week.

His AVG and Spyware Doctor update daily, automatically.

His AVG runs daily, automatically.

I have to run his Spyware Doctor manually, and I do it about once in a while.

*********************************

Here are the problems:

1)  His computer is 'Sofa King' (can I say that?  ) slow, I want to pick up his tower and throw it off the bluff.

After doing some reading here, I thought it might be because the ventillation holes in its 3-sided enclosed space were not giving enough cool air, so I unplugged the 'puter and put it below the desk where there is lots of open space with fresh, cool air for it.

I turned his computer off for a little while (to cool off) then turned it back on.

It got to the desktop in a reasonable amount of time.  I looked at the computer clock in the lower right corner and made note of the time.

It took about 10 minutes for all the icons to appear in the lower right side of the task bar (network monitor, AVG, Linksys, and Spyware Doctor).

Everything started properly except for Spyware Doctor.  There was an arrow on the icon, so I opened it to see what it was doing.  It was trying to start, but could not.

I right clicked on the icon and the options were all 'dull' not allowing me to click on any of the options.  I wanted to turn it off, stop the proccess.  It wouldn't let me.

So I hit control+alt+delete and clicked on applications.  Spyware Doctor was the only thing there so I highlighted it and ended the program.

But, the program didn't end.  There was no way I could think of to stop it, so I just waited it out.

It took a half hour for it to start!

Note:  Even after Spyware Doctor successfully started, the computer still runs really slow.

2)  There is an application error that keeps popping up.  It reads:

Exception EWin32Error in module resWUSB54Gv2_US.dll at 00014898

Could this be the reason the computer is so slow?

I very much appreciate all the help you gave me with the problems on the computer that I use (I had the Trojan Virus and you helped me get rid of it).

I know you are quite busy helping everyone with their computer problems, but when you get a chance can you help me repair my husband's computer?

Thanks so much!

New Granny

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

When the computer is up, I would start here:
http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,62253.0.html

Just go through that guide and try to follow all the steps. Hopefully it will do some good to the computer and possible speed it up.

If you have any questions with any of the steps or if the problem still persists, let us know.

[newgranny]

I defrag my husband's computer about once a month, whether it needs it or not.

CCleaner did not come up with any threats.

I downloaded the fan thing and it is at 38C.

I went to MSconfig and the only things checked were for AVG, Linksys Wireless, and realplayer.  I unchecked realplayer.

The only things he uses his computer for is email and visiting a few websites he is familiar with.

Also, what about the APPLICATION ERROR that keeps popping up?

Thanks!

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Did you have Ccleaner clear the temporary files and clear the registry entries?
Also, have you defragged?

If not, I suggest you do those three.

As for the error, I can't find anything on Google. Still looking.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I found something.

resWUSB54Gv2_US.dll seems to be related to a linksys usb wireless monitor?
http://www.spywaredata.com/spyware/malware/reswusb54gv2_us.dll.php

[newgranny]

I ran ccleaner and cleaned the temporary files.  I'm afraid to do the registry because I don't want to risk deleting something I shouldn't have and end up screwing up his computer worse than it is.

I also ran superantispyware, and avg.

I ran a windows defrag, then I downloaded Piriform Defraggler and defragged with that.  It did a MUCH better job than the windows defrag!

His computer is a little faster, but still very very slow.

If you can give me complete step-by-step instructions on how to use ccleaner to clean his registry in a way that makes it virtually impossible for me to screw his computer up worse, then please give me those instructions.

Thanks!

New Granny

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Uh oh.....

I must apologize as I seem to have misread your first post and missed this part out:

1 GHz, 128 MB Sync DRAM, 20 Gig Hard Drive, and we use Linksys wireless with our DSL service.

Windows XP is recommended to have at least 512MB of RAM. You currently have 128MB. This may be the problem right here.
It could all be hardware related, not software. 

As for Ccleaner and the registry scanner, all the program does is look for entries in the registry that don't match to anything and deletes them. Perfectly safe.
If you are concerned though, there are steps in that guide to help back up the registry.

[SC300Soarer]

NewGranny,

I let my hard drive memory get too low (>150MB) and I think something got corrupted, because my computer started to run extremely slowly (as slowly as you describe where it takes entire minutes to execute something) and I was getting the same error message as you.

That's actually how I found this post, by googling the error message.

Anyway, I disabled the Linksys Wireless Network Monitor in the taskbar, and used the WindowsXP "Network Connections" setup to locate and re-connect to my wireless router.

Now, I no longer get the error messages and my computer is running at regular speed again. I have no clue if it'll help your situation, but I thought I should throw it out there just in case.

   

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

SC300Soarer, thank you for contributing, but I really think you should get more free space.
This guide may help A LOT: http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,62253.0.html

[SC300Soarer]

Thanks for the link. I normally leave several gigs free, but I accidentally downloaded too much off a torrent and had forgotten for a few days to transfer some of it to my second hard drive. It ended up hitting the 150MB mark while I was asleep.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Right. Just make sure you know that Windows needs at least 15% free to run properly.