Almost no response from windows 7..angry wife

[masplin]

I think my chances of getting my wife to write down everything she is doing on the pc over a period of several days with 3 children is pretty slim! I understand what you are getting at though. As you say could be her browsing habits so that will show up with just IE8 and Office installed. thanks agian for the valuable advice

 

[Keiichi25]

I think my chances of getting my wife to write down everything she is doing on the pc over a period of several days with 3 children is pretty slim! I understand what you are getting at though. As you say could be her browsing habits so that will show up with just IE8 and Office installed. thanks agian for the valuable advice

Well, I can understand the children issue, but the simple fact is... Just telling us applications and again, not much else other than 'It didn't work' is like taking a car to the mechanic and telling him there is something wrong with the car and that's it. Without knowing the specifics or how to recreate the problem, they can't fix it. Now unlike unscrupulous mechanics, we won't charge you and say it was fix... We will flat out tell you, we need more information to work on. And, to be honest, got to get your wife to do the same. She can't expect you to get it fixed, but if she is also dead set on getting a new computer, I would state the following:

"We can get a new computer, but I will take the new computer, you can have the one I have that is working fine with no problems. If you are having the SAME problems with this computer, then it is time to do what some of these guys on the forums are saying..."

Because right now, if you have a perfectly working computer right now for you... None of these problems she is having right now, and she starts having the same problem... It isn't a hardware issue, and partially a software/user issue, which again, needs to be addressed by finding out what she is doing to create the situation.

 

[MacGyvr]

Leaving IE open is going to cause bloat. Leaving Outlook open may as well. Close apps when they aren't being used.

 

[Keiichi25]

Leaving IE open is going to cause bloat. Leaving Outlook open may as well. Close apps when they aren't being used.

Well, to be fair... I have Outlook and Firefox running on my Win 7 at home, but it hasn't cause the problems he is having with his wife's computer. Which leads me to believe it is more than just the programs but something to do with it as well.

 

[sheppitydawg]

i cant believe this thread is still going and without going through every response still think this either Anti virus or firewall related.

there certainly (if all hardware options are exhausted) a sofware conflict in my opinion.

was there a clean install of OS ,just a thought PC's normally come with a partition with the original set up and trial versions of various software by some coincidence could there be remnants of a pre installed anti virus application lurking in a protected parition of the hard drive or was this a "total" hard drive wipe?

my gut feeling is that anything that drags software down is often security software owing to the nature that it works and most operations go through this first.
also withouth sounding patronising are you sure she is not just being impatiient.
i recall on a work PC that often office applications would not launch as quick as i would like.
impatiently i would double click the icon again ...hmm did i do it the first time...i'll try again?
it is possible with IE to launch several times therefore if the PC is lagging it finds itself in situation where it is trying to catch up with itself and delays everything else.
just another thought.

what Anti virus/firewall are you running?

have you tried when the system slows launching the programs with the modem switched off? and without AV program running.... also whilst without internet connection?

good luck!

(buy a new PC sell the other on ebay)

 

[Keiichi25]

i cant believe this thread is still going and without going through every response still think this either Anti virus or firewall related.

there certainly (if all hardware options are exhausted) a sofware conflict in my opinion.

was there a clean install of OS ,just a thought PC's normally come with a partition with the original set up and trial versions of various software by some coincidence could there be remnants of a pre installed anti virus application lurking in a protected parition of the hard drive or was this a "total" hard drive wipe?

my gut feeling is that anything that drags software down is often security software owing to the nature that it works and most operations go through this first.
also withouth sounding patronising are you sure she is not just being impatiient.
i recall on a work PC that often office applications would not launch as quick as i would like.
impatiently i would double click the icon again ...hmm did i do it the first time...i'll try again?
it is possible with IE to launch several times therefore if the PC is lagging it finds itself in situation where it is trying to catch up with itself and delays everything else.
just another thought.

what Anti virus/firewall are you running?

have you tried when the system slows launching the programs with the modem switched off? and without AV program running.... also whilst without internet connection?

good luck!

(buy a new PC sell the other on ebay)

You have to also remember, the description of the problem also precludes AV and Firewall issues as well as the focus seemed intent on it being a hardware issue. The problem here, though is not just that it could be an AV/Firewall issue, but some of it can also be hardware as well and that things being described was not clarified but generalized.

One thing to note, for other people, the forums will not necessarily have the answer to the question if the question is too generalized. And AV/Firewall would not necessarily cause a system to 'freeze up'. While I have seen AV slow a system to a crawl, there are other indications that go along with that, such as a system with very little physical memory to begin with, using a 'latest' version of an AV software and heavy disk activity would do that. But it could also be made worse with not having the right drive controller drivers, making disk access inefficiently slow.

As I told Mal here to do, give us more details of what is going on. There are a lot of factors that could also not be an AV related issue, and again, I have never heard of an AV solution that will literally FREEZE a system as he has described.

 

[masplin]

Wise advice Keiichi25. Will work on as much detail as possible.

 

[sheppitydawg]

take your point keiichi .

and i do agree we need some basic info ,have we ever seen a breakdown on what the entire machine specs are? (apart from being a dell)

owing to all the posts there seems an incentive to forget the very basic (like in a car check all the fuses first is ther fuel in the tank)
i appreciate that hardware could be at fault and one of my earlier posts were sugestions to either the power supply or perhaps temperature both which can build up an effect over time.

my support to software option is that the PC starts ok and slowly and then declines in performance hinting at possible one of the above or a software conflict that slowly chokes the processes (although this should be evident in task manager)
with my mobo i have a utility to monitor processor ,ram,temperature ,fan,voltage etc.
although i am not certain there must be monitoring apps to record/see if the hardware is struggling at some point.this might well eliminate or identify general hardware issues at start and during use.
i think some sidebar gadgets are available although a dedicated monitorng program would be best.

from my recollection the system is not freezing /locking up, just being very slow or unable to open software due to "lack of memory".
if its completely locking then i would think its hardware or drivers.

very poor performance over a defined period time i think could lean to software as you say more detail.

i think a divorce would have been quicker to resolve

 

[masplin]

Hi Sheppitydawg. The problem ranges form slowing down such that the pc takes 15 seconds ot resond to a mouse click to completely freezing so you can't even get to the start button to shut down and have to pull the plug. As you say sometimes there are error messages says short of disk space or memory which are patentently untrue. In task manager I have never CPU high or memory above 40%. If something is hogging the resources shouldn't it show up in taks manager.

I did find a little progrma to monitor the motherboard as several people have mentioned overheating. I was reluctant to install as it was a 2004 app.

if I didn't love my wife I would have chosen the divorce option by now!!!!

mike

 

[gregrocker]

Use MS Security Essentials with Windows Firewall.

Install the rest of the programs slowly enough to test performance after each. Remove all but AV and gadgets/stickynotes from msconfig>startup so they don't freeload on RAm/CPU.

Clean and order the HD with CCleaner and defraggers,

Let your wife use it normally. Monitor Windows Updates for newer drivers, keep an eye on Event Viewer to google repeat errors to resolve them over time.

It may well be that the clean reinstall solved your OP so let's wait and see.

 

[MacGyvr]

I'm just not sure what the expected result of this thread is any longer.

 

[gregrocker]

To get his wife a working Win7 without further interference.

We finally learn that performance is fine after reinstall, after waiting through several impulsive reinstalls/reimagings over petty issues that could have been troubleshot with a little patience.

How is performance after intstalling Office? What other major programs are needed?

 

[masplin]

Just been uninstalling AVG and installing MS Security as you suggested. Performance stills seems fine. Have taken the windows updates for graphics & network cards, added a network printer. Let it run overnight with the BBC Sports web page open which I know she uses and it streams, but no obvious effect. Will install Office 2010 this morning. Other programs she uses in order of priority are:

Itunes: Being non MS this could be the culprit as I dont use it
Blackberry Desktop Manager: Again I use this no issues
Booksmart: Photo book making software from Blurb. Probably uses a lot of system resources as she loads up to 800 photos in one book.
Kapersky Internet Security: This is what we both use and I have never had any issues, but I am assumnig you like MS Security as specifically tailored to Win7. Last thing to try.

So far so good

 

[masplin]

System swimming along nicely follwing office 10 install

However this might be important. I though I should keep a copy of the system image somewhere else so I didn't overwrite it. I tried to copy from the partition on the HD with the new OS to a partition on the RAID array that houses the old OS. This has absolutely crippled the pc despite being only 10GB. Transfer rate is down to 4MB/s and this is just between HD on the pc not across a network. Almost nothing else works and behaving in a very similar way to what my wife experienced. Is this saying something abotu that HDs in the RAID array?

 

[Keiichi25]

System swimming along nicely follwing office 10 install

However this might be important. I though I should keep a copy of the system image somewhere else so I didn't overwrite it. I tried to copy from the partition on the HD with the new OS to a partition on the RAID array that houses the old OS. This has absolutely crippled the pc despite being only 10GB. Transfer rate is down to 4MB/s and this is just between HD on the pc not across a network. Almost nothing else works and behaving in a very similar way to what my wife experienced. Is this saying something abotu that HDs in the RAID array?

Well, before we go further in messing with drivers or drives with the Raid array... Try this:

Backup your system to just an external USB drive. See if you are still having the same problems. At this point for troubleshooting, let's eliminate other possibilities, in this case, we will determine if it is just the raid or something else. If you are having the same problem with the USB External drive, then this isn't just the raid but something else. If it works fine for the external USB drive, then yes, it is the raid and we can focus on that with other tests.

 

[masplin]

I might not have been clear. I can backup onto the 2nd partition of the new drive that has re-installed OS on. In the case above the RAID drive is the target. Only mentioning it as new OS is currently working well and this is the only action I have taken that has produced similar issues. Since this is writing data to the RAID disk does this indicate some issue with the RAID drives that could cause the old OS to lock up.

 

[gregrocker]

Just been uninstalling AVG and installing MS Security as you suggested.

Where did AVG come from? I thought you ditched Kulpritsky for MSE.

Itunes: Being non MS this could be the culprit as I dont use it

I have no problems on Itunes installs on Win7 at all. There is one component that should be uninstalled but I can't think of it right now. Someone else might remember.

Kapersky Internet Security: This is what we both use and I have never had any issues, but I am assumnig you like MS Security as specifically tailored to Win7. Last thing to try.

So far so good

From all that I have seen in this thread, I believe Kulpritsky was what was causing the issues in your OP. It wouldn't be the first time.

MSE should have been first installed and running all along to protect you.

Performance sounds good for now. Remember to keep msconfig edited tightly. Only allow AV/gadgets and anything else she absolutely needs to start up with computer and can't wait to click.

 

[gregrocker]

System swimming along nicely follwing office 10 install

However this might be important. I though I should keep a copy of the system image somewhere else so I didn't overwrite it. I tried to copy from the partition on the HD with the new OS to a partition on the RAID array that houses the old OS. This has absolutely crippled the pc despite being only 10GB. Transfer rate is down to 4MB/s and this is just between HD on the pc not across a network. Almost nothing else works and behaving in a very similar way to what my wife experienced. Is this saying something abotu that HDs in the RAID array?

Just when it sounds like you have finally gotten a perfect reinstall without shooting yourself in the foot again, you reveal that you have the old corrupted OS on a RAID array on the same computer where your new fresh install is proceeding perfectly?

Why did you do this? If I recall correctly the RAID array was blocking install so you broke it to proceed with install. Nothing was said about the old ruined RAID install being kept to corrupt the new Win7.

And why were you saving a Win7 backup image in the midst of installing your programs? Can you not focus on the task at hand before spinning off to reinstall, reimage or upset entire other installs you've hidden away? This is something I've never seen before.

You need to Remove the RAID HD's to see if Win7 recovers from the latest self-sabotage. But first post a screenshot of your full Disk Mgmt drive map so we can see if the new install is marked System Active so the RAID drives can be removed without problem.

 

[MacGyvr]

I'm starting to think the wife should step in and end this issue!

 

[Keiichi25]

Mas....

First off, you REALLY don't want to keep your images on the raid on the computer. It should be on an external drive.

The fact that you are having problems when putting things on the RAID, suggests there are problems in general there... Hence my earlier suggestion. We need to now ELIMINATE the possibilities by saving to a different location.

At this point, I agree with Greg here... We need to see a snapshot of your setup... Second... We need to stop this 'scattershot' work you are doing here. You are literally all over the place and making some people comment on your wife here too, myself included.

You need to also stop for a moment and plan things out, cause this is almost looking like an ADHD install, which is about to be as successful as letting a 5 year old install it.