Major problems with computers

If you have XP Home, then you should be in Safe Mode (tap the F8 key as your computer is booting).

Nick

 

You should also be able to activate this view by opening Windows Explorer. Go to Tools>Folder Options>View. Page down to the bottom of the Advanced Settings section. Uncheck "Use Simple Filesharing". Click Apply, OK.

Blue

 

I put it in safe mode and clicked all the boxes. Turned it off, waited a long time for it to reboot and my old friend the box popped up stating I have a paging file problem. What didn't I do

 

Did you check out both links that nick s listed in post #72? Are those the boxes you're mentioning?

If you did have to check some of the boxes in that dialog box, that was basically to get you to a permission level that will allow creation of the pagefile. From there, it is one of the many standard ways previously mentioned that you have tried and didn't appear to work (e.g. Start>Settings>Control Panel>System>Advanced>etc.)

Blue

 

Are both the numbers for the virtual memory the same? I have the one for D drive, is C drive the same number?

As I stated before there is a problem with rebooting my computer. After I finish an operation and reboot it, it takes 15-30 minutes to come up and to be ready to use.

 

You can spread virtual memory (pagefile.sys) over multiple drives. The general recommendations that I've seen, if you have multiple pagefiles, is to have at least a minimal one on the boot drive, with the remaining drives taking up the slack As an example, you could set C: to a min/max of 256/512 (or keep it a fixed size with identical min/max values) and D: to 512/768. If C: is your boot drive, you do apparently want to keep at least a minimal pagefile active on that drive. I have seen isolated reports where failure to do this lead to minor problems - not unlike the ones you see. in the example I showed in the .jpg above with my pagefile on D: only, D: is the boot drive for that setup (it's my secondary boot partition).

Blue

 

Question
I get a pop up stating that updates are ready for SP2. Should I upgrade?
Will it cause more problems

Any answers?

 

Why not let windows auto manage the pagefile? If you don't have a lot of experience with tweaking, then you should not use a min/max settings for the pagefile.

 

I don't understand. If it was working I wouldn't be asking for help.

 

Will it cause more problems? That's hard to say. Generally, it is a bad idea to install/upgrade an OS without knowing what it wrong. Sometimes errant items will simply be reset and you'll be good to go, sometimes the whole system comes down for good and you are faced with a complete reinstall of the OS and all applications.

Given what you are seeing, particularly the extended boot ups, I'd make sure that you have archival copies of all files that you may want to keep, original disks for all programs that you've purchased and install executables for those downloaded, and all key files and/or unlock serial number codes for on-line installed programs. You might not need them, but it's a good idea to have them gathered anyway, particularly if your system decides to head south.

Much earlier in this thread, I asked you to try running sfc /scannow (Start>Run and type in sfc /scannow into the box). Have you tried this (can't see any mention of it) and what were the results?

On you pagefile, from one of your comments above it seems as though you have a pagefile for the D: drive, but not the C: drive. Is this correct? Is C: your boot drive? In adjusting pagefile size, are you trying to work with the D: pagefile, or trying to create one on C: also?

Blue

 

The default pagefile setting for windows is AUTO. Someone must have changed to manual mode with min and max values. If you cannot change the pagefile back to AUTO, then you should reload WXP ON TOP of the current installation to repair windows.

The last option is to backup important data, wipe the C partition, and clean install windows.

 

Tried to run the sfc/scannow. It didn't come up today.
I'm not sure what I have done with pagefile.

 

Ok, it didn't come up today. Have you been able to run it in the past? When you enter the command, make sure it is entered as "sfc /scannow", not as you've typed it above - there's a space between the "c" and the "/"

On the pagefile - when you bring up the dialog box as I've shown in post #71, what appears in the top section that lists the available drives and paging file sizes? Please list the information exactly as it currently appears.

Blue

 

C 766-1024
D 256-768

Recommended paging: 766 MB

 

This says you have two custom pagefiles, one on each system drive. The one of the (presumed) boot drive has min/max sizes of 766MB/1GB, while the other drive is 256MB/768MB.

At this point, you should not be receiving any messages related to your pagefiles being too small. Have those messages stopped popping up?

Blue

 

I just booted up again and when I clicked on my name, the no paging and paging too small came up.

I did the scannow and I didn't watch what happened. I guess it diappeared without leaving any results.

 

MRSCT,

There does seem to be a disconnect here. One indication shows the pagefiles there and adequately sized for your system, yet you still receive the pop-up. No mentions of a corrupt pagefile. I don't recall this being tried, but how about a manual delete of the pagefile, it will be recreated on the next boot. To do this:

• Boot into safe mode and double click on Windows Explorer.
• Click Tools
• Click Folder Options
• Click View and make sure of the following:
• "Show hidden files and folders" is checked and
• "Hide protected operating system files" is unchecked.
• Once that is done the pagefile should be visible in your C:\ drive. The typical location will be the root directory.
• Click on pagefile.sys and delete. Do this for both pagefiles - the one on C: and the one on D:. Reboot normally and Windows should recreate the pagefile.

Blue

 

One person said my problems could be from malware. What is that? I run my antivirus and antispyware often.

 

Would it maybe a good idea to use 'Restore' and go back a Month and start again.......?


Cochise,

 

I went to something called system restore. It only went back a couple of days to restore.

 

MRSCT,

I've lost track of what you've done and not done, so I'll try not to add to the confusion. Where exactly are you now? What remains a problem, which steps outlined above have been taken and what was the outcome of these steps?

On your general question of malware, ronjor's pointed to some definitions, but basically it is software that you probably didn't actively install (if you did actively install it, that was probably unintentional) and can do untoward things to your machine ranging from general system drag to harvesting private information, redirecting traffic to targeted sites for advertising purposes, hijacking your PC for performing other jobs, and so on. Between your AV (McAfee) and antispyware (McAfee also?) you should be able to handle new items as they emerge as long as definitions remain current..

Personally, I don't have my antispyware (Giant AS) running any realtime processes, I use it as a cleanup measure. What this means is that even if I deal with the malware, it may have made some changes to my system which are not reversed when it is removed. Sometimes those changes are innocuous,, other times they can lead to problems (say, breakage of an LSP chain in Winsock that disrupts internet access). So even though you have measures in place to deal with malware, depending on how you've configured them, this malware can still impact machine performance, even after they've been removed.

Blue

 

I still have the paging file and the switching users. I don't understand about the paging file, I only see it pop up in the opening of the user. If it is affecting the computer, I don't know how. Can't open up Spybot paging file too small. Paging file doesn't change from 0 total allotment.

I would really like to fix the switching users. When I try to fix it or allow it doesn't work. Macafee keeps saying that it is a script problem. I unchecked scripts in the help part, but it still didn't work. Also when the computer boots up it takes 15-30 minutes to see the users window.

This is only one computer. I haven't gone back to the other 2 computers with problems. I want to fix this one first.

 

Hi MRSCT,

From reading Known Issues with VirusScan, it is possible that your version of McAfee VirusScan is not compatible with Fast User Switching:

"When installing VirusScan under Windows XP you may initially get a warning that Fast User Switching is not supported with VirusScan 4.5.1. If you ignore this message and leave Fast User Switching enabled it doesn't stop the installation of VirusScan but subsequently you may find that VirusScan acts in unpredictable ways. It is advisable to abort the installation of VirusScan, disable Fast User Switching (starting the Windows Help facility and searching on Fast User Switching will give information on this), and then start the installation of VirusScan again."

The conflict between McAfee and Fast User Switching may contribute to your paging file problem (although I am not sure how). You should consider removing McAfee.

Nick

 

Didn't see a link for the one in blue.