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Slow computer and a clicking noise
spacerobot
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The past few weeks my parents have been complaining to me how their computer has been running very slowly lately, and it's been getting aggravating for them. Now that I am home on spring break I was able to take a look at it for them.
Today I went onto their computer to first of all look at all the programs that were running, and there were a lot of them. I think my sister had installed a bunch of programs such as limewire, bear share, a vietnamese language program, and some others that are not necessary for my parents. I removed all the unnecessary programs from their computer, and changed the startup programs to only have AOL instant messenger open on startup.
The next thing I did was uninstall Symantec security, which has been giving them Norton Pop-ups ever 15 seconds. Seems like the antivirus did more harm than it did good, but I finally got that removed. On restarting their computer it was running a lot better, but still there seemed to be a big delay when doing things, for example clicking start took a 1 second delay from the click until it came up. So I decided to install spybot to look for malicious programs that could have gotten on their computer. I installed it just fine, but the program was taking forever to do its searching. I then noticed that the hard drive (or something) was doing a rhythmic clicking every 1 to 1.3 seconds. And that spybot only did it's searches every time the clicking noise occured. I then realized that the same thing was happening with the start menu, it would only open when there was a click.
So I guess I have two questions for you:
1) Is this for sure the hard drive that I'm hearing? I'm currently running spybot in safe mode, and it's still doing the clicking thing. If it is the hard drive are there any solutions? Or is a new hard drive the only solution? Should I be backing up my parents files before something bad happens soon?
2) Any other tips for speeding up their computer?
thanks!
EDIT: ok, after making this post I went to go check on their computer and found that the clicking noise had stopped, and spybot was running smoothly. My Mother then explained to me that the clicking only happens when you start up the computer, and in her words "and once it warms up and you open up word perfect or something." However, once it warms up the clicking stops (took several minutes for me).
Today I went onto their computer to first of all look at all the programs that were running, and there were a lot of them. I think my sister had installed a bunch of programs such as limewire, bear share, a vietnamese language program, and some others that are not necessary for my parents. I removed all the unnecessary programs from their computer, and changed the startup programs to only have AOL instant messenger open on startup.
The next thing I did was uninstall Symantec security, which has been giving them Norton Pop-ups ever 15 seconds. Seems like the antivirus did more harm than it did good, but I finally got that removed. On restarting their computer it was running a lot better, but still there seemed to be a big delay when doing things, for example clicking start took a 1 second delay from the click until it came up. So I decided to install spybot to look for malicious programs that could have gotten on their computer. I installed it just fine, but the program was taking forever to do its searching. I then noticed that the hard drive (or something) was doing a rhythmic clicking every 1 to 1.3 seconds. And that spybot only did it's searches every time the clicking noise occured. I then realized that the same thing was happening with the start menu, it would only open when there was a click.
So I guess I have two questions for you:
1) Is this for sure the hard drive that I'm hearing? I'm currently running spybot in safe mode, and it's still doing the clicking thing. If it is the hard drive are there any solutions? Or is a new hard drive the only solution? Should I be backing up my parents files before something bad happens soon?
2) Any other tips for speeding up their computer?
thanks!
EDIT: ok, after making this post I went to go check on their computer and found that the clicking noise had stopped, and spybot was running smoothly. My Mother then explained to me that the clicking only happens when you start up the computer, and in her words "and once it warms up and you open up word perfect or something." However, once it warms up the clicking stops (took several minutes for me).
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