Lost my Update notifier in the System Tray .... any help appreciated

[MadMudMob]

I have previously relied on the little icon in the System Tray as a quick glance usually explained why my dear old computer was behaving rather slowly for a short while.

It seem to have disappeared?

I have checked in the Customise Notifications and it is not listed at all ...... any ideas and/or help most appreciated.

(I am using Windows 7 Home Premium)

 

[NoelDP]

The Update notifier usually only shows if there's an update waiting or installing. There are no options for it on my machine either, so I suspect that it's not user-configurable.

If your machine is running slow, then this could be caused by a number of factors...
1) too many programs running in the background
2) software conflicts
3) Malware
4) hardware problems
etc. etc.

Start with the easy stuff and work up...
1) Check that only essential programs are running at startup - disable other stuff preferably using the program's options, or MSCONFIG
2) Check for malware using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (free edition)
3) make sure that you are running an up-to-date AV - and only one!
4) If it's still slow, check to see the memory usage in Task Manager - is the disk thrashing all the time?
5) Check hardware - RAM and HDD first, using Memtest86++ and CHKDSK respectively.

post back with results.

 

[MadMudMob]

Thankyou for your reply.

I should have explained more thoroughly .... this morning my computer was running unusually slow but there was nothing telling me Windows was updating. I then looked at Windows Update and discovered it had indeed updated at that time but no icon had showed in the System Tray as it previously always had.

I can safely say there is the bare minimum of programs running in the background.
I regularly use MalwareBytes, Super Anti Spyware and Spybot Search + Destroy but these are only started when I wish to scan with them (fortnightly)
My av is AVG Internet Security 2014 and is always enabled
My memory use is 709mb according to the Task Manager
I am totally lost re your number 5 query .... sorry.

I use the newest Firefox and weekly delete history/cache etc.
Monthly I clean with CCleaner, Easy Clean and Advanced System Care (which is a program that is permanently enabled)

 

[MadMudMob]

I have discovered via good old Google a program I thought might help but it won't install as it is designed for Windows 8 (?) ...
Windows Update Notifier - Home

 

[NoelDP]

Advanced System Care is almost certainly one of the causes of your problem.

Please do yourself and your computer a favour and uninstall it. Apart from anything else, is often has what they laughingly describe as an AV in it, and this WILL conflict with AVG.

Easy clean? - please be specific as there are a number of different thing you could be referring to. Having said that, ALL of them that I am aware of are almost as bad as ASC, and it should be uninstall.

CCleaner is fine - so long as you don't use the Registry cleaner part of it on anything other than default settings.

 

[MadMudMob]

The full name of the program is EasyCleaner 2.0 by ToniArts:
Download EasyCleaner - MajorGeeks
and seems according to MajorGeeks to be popular and often installed?

I don't mess with the settings on CCleaner at all except to have unticked anything to do with Firefox as suggested by the Mozilla forum.

I take on board what you tell me about Advanced System Care but must admit I am puzzled as I have run my system as it is for over a year and not lost the updater icon before?

 

[NoelDP]

EasyCleaner by ToniArts??? - ye gods! that hasn't been updated since 2006 as far as I know!

It was designed for Windows 9x and has NO knowledge of the much more complex registry structure of Windows Vista and up, even if it was ever updated for XP.

Definitely one for the scrap-heap!

ASC comes from a Chinese company which appears to specialise in ripping off other people's products and repackaging them for cheap sale - without regard to suitability or proper quality control. I have had to dean with the mess left after its use far too many times.

 

[MadMudMob]

Thankyou, I will delete Easy Cleaner immediately.

But, I am loathe to uninstall ASC as I have had nil spyware on my computer since I upgraded it almost a year ago to a paid-for version.

Is it possible it runs okay on my system and can be left (sorry but I felt I had to ask)

Would it be any help if I stopped it being permanently enabled and used/opened it just for a monthly clean instead do you think?

 

[NoelDP]

Try this...

Please download and install Malwarebytes Anti-malware (free version) from http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/ - UNtick 'Enable free trial of MBAM Premium' at the end of the installation - and update it, then run a full scan in your main account, and Quick scans in any other user accounts.

Delete everything it finds

 

[MadMudMob]

I have that as a paid-for installed program and will do as you suggest right away, thankyou

 

[MadMudMob]

I have done as you suggested and must eat my hat (as we Brits are said to say ).

It found the following which it described as Security Hijack Registry Keys .....
hklm\software\microsoft\windowsnt\currentversion\image file execution options\AUpdate.exe
and
hklm\software\microsoft\windowsnt\currentversion\image file execution options\AutoUpdate.exe

Have copied both here most carefully but have no clue what they are or might be capable of within my computer system.

I didn't see a Delete option only Quarantine, Add Exclusion or Ignore Once so opted for Quarantine, saved a log, and rebooted as requested.

(I exited ASC before doing the update and scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Premium)

As an aside - apart from my missing Update Notifier icon could any of these be contributing to the Flash/Script plugin freezes I experience multi-times daily in my Firefox browser despite following all of their help and advice on the MozillaZine forum?

EDITED TO ADD: I have done as you suggest and uninstalled ASC

 

[NoelDP]

Glad to hear about your edit. - it should also speed things up a little.
Certainly, any registry corruption induced by erroneous 'cleaning' will cause unpredictable problems.
One way to see if this is the case is to uninstall Flash (and any add-ons) completely, and then reinstall from a fresh download.