I have a 500GB HDD with 355 GB free space and a 2.00 GB memory. I use Norton but only because it came with the pc when I bought it in February. Up until a week or so ago it was fine. I had no problem with Ancestry. My 12 year old nephew stays with me at weekends and takes over the pc playing games and watching youtube videos and if he wants to download something he asks me first. He also has many web pages open at once with no problems. So I suppose it's possible it's something from one of his sites that's causing the problem. I am defragging again before I do what Bud suggested then I may try a system restore in safe mode on the advice of Diana. Can someone remind me which F key I press please? I appreciate everyone's advice. Peter > Peter, > > Could you please refresh my memory. You are using Vista. What size hard > drive do you have and how much free space is there on it? What size memory > does the computer have? > > Defragmenting the hard-drive is a great first step. > > Another thing to be aware of is your "anti-nasty" software (anti-virus, > anti-spyware, etc). Some look at the web-sites as you open them to check > for "nasties" and this slows them down. > > Another source of slowness is the site you are opening. I find Ancestry > very slow. This could be because it is very popular and their pipe is > clogging up. It could be that there is too much on the page and it takes > ages to download (the new pages are much bigger than the old ones). Other > sites I find very fast - for example some Family History Society web-sites. > These are usually much smaller than the "biggies". I also find FreeBMD and > Family Search to be fast to load. > > Chris > > -----Original Message----- > From: computers-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:computers-bounces@rootsweb.com] > On Behalf Of Peter Metcalfe > Sent: 11 September 2009 09:52 > To: computers@rootsweb.com > Subject: [COMPUTERS] System Restore > > Further to my recent post about IE I tried Firefox and even though it > doesn't freeze like IE the web browsing is just as slow. I have just done a > system restore back to August and after completion I got the message System > Restore did not install correctly" so I undid the restore back to the > present and got the same message. > > I am considering a complete reboot of the whole system with my Visa disc. Do > I simply load the disc and it deletes the original or does that stay on the > hard drive? Or do I format the drive first? > > I have no idea what the problem could be as I have done a complete scan more > than once and found no problems. > > I'm getting a little stressed now so hope you can help. > > Regards > > Peter > > > Suddenly my Internet Explorer has started to freeze on a regular basis and > sometimes I have to switch the pc off. > > "Sometimes there is a popup which says "Internet Explorer has encountered > a problem and is disconnecting." I am using Vista. > > > > What could be the problem please? > > > > Peter > > > > > > > :-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~: > > Take pity on Digest subscribers and remember to SNIP when replying. > > :-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~: > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > COMPUTERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > :-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~: > > Take pity on Digest subscribers and remember to SNIP when replying. > > :-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~:-~: > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to COMPUTERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ----- End Original Message -----

My sister was having an awful time with her computer recently and called me because she was getting pop-ups all over the place, the computer was slow, she couldn't connect to some websites, etc. I did a little research on her problem and came up with Malwarebytes (free) http://www.malwarebytes.org/. She downloaded it and it found over 700 problems on her computer from trojans, worms, whatever. She also scanned with Avast!, downloaded Spywareblaster and ran CCleaner. Then ran Malwarebytes one more time and it found nothing more. I think some of the stuff had been on her computer for a long while as her husband used to download all kinds of stuff. Her computer is now running much better and she's had no problems. She also uses Firefox instead of IE. BTW, Firefox just came out with another update yesterday. Vanessa PS - I should have said that I think her most recent problem was caused by a job search website she was on. I think she was infected by some kind of "drive by" thing. I don't know why Avast didn't catch it, but her Firefox wasn't up to date at the time. Maybe your nephew did the same thing. At 10:05 AM 9/11/2009, you wrote: >I have a 500GB HDD with 355 GB free space and a 2.00 GB memory. I >use Norton but only because it came with the pc when I bought it in >February. Up until a week or so ago it was fine. I had no problem >with Ancestry. > >My 12 year old nephew stays with me at weekends and takes over the >pc playing games and watching youtube videos and if he wants to >download something he asks me first. He also has many web pages open >at once with no problems. So I suppose it's possible it's something >from one of his sites that's causing the problem.

On my computer (an HP running WinXP), it's the F8 key. When I boot up my computer, the very first screen to appear offers me the option to do a System Restore by hitting F10. DO NOT DO THIS (or whatever comparable is offered to you). This is the option to restore your computer to it's factory new condition. You will wipe out everything. By continuously tapping F8, you should be offered a menu from which you can choose Safe Mode. Diana > -----Original Message----- > From: computers-bounces@rootsweb.com On Behalf Of Peter Metcalfe > Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 10:06 AM > To: computers@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [COMPUTERS] System Restore > <snip> > Can someone remind me which F key I press please? > > I appreciate everyone's advice. > > Peter > >

I bought Windows Vista in June of 2008. I run the back up disks as I was asked to do. If I run them now what would it do to all the Up Grades I have run since.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Donald Thompson" <hdthomps@pris.ca> To: <computers@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 12:32 PM Subject: [COMPUTERS] Back Up >I bought Windows Vista in June of 2008. I run the back up disks as I was > asked to do. If I run them now what would it do to all the Up Grades I > have > run since. No, you'd have to go run Windows update again.

> I have a 500GB HDD with 355 GB free space and a 2.00 GB memory. So - it isn't the disk space and, if all was well until a couple of weeks ago, then the amount of memory is fine. > My 12 year old nephew stays with me at weekends and > takes over the pc playing games and watching youtube > videos and if he wants to download something he asks > me first. I can't spot a "gotcha" there. > He also has many web pages open at once with no problems. Good > So I suppose it's possible it's something from one of his sites >that's causing the problem. This is possible - but an up-to-date Norton should have caught most things. When was the last time Norton's did a full system scan? It just may be that your internet cache has filled up. I know nowt about Firefox, but I find IE8 slows a mite as the cache fills. Have you tried a "disk cleanup" (right click on the disk in Windows explorer, select properties)? This clears out the temporary files as well though they are probably not the cause. > I am defragging again Never does any harm. I have Vista automatically defrag my disks every week. > I may try a system restore in safe mode on the advice of Diana. Good advice. > Can someone remind me which F key I press please? I think it depends on the make and model of your PC. As the PC boots - there should be a short period of time when you are given the options. On my PC you press F8. Chris