Is Tickle Theater slowing down your computer?

[Budweiserbob!]

Recently while surfing around on this site I have had a few technical difficulties. For a while it's fine, no problems with the site. Then I have some trouble accessing some pages, and this as a result slows down my internet and perhaps my computer. Then finally for some reason my cursor goes crazy and thats whizzing horizontally across the screen.

Now I'm not sure if this is related to TT but I'm just wondering if any of you are having the same problem.

MY COMP SPECS: BRAND NEW LAPTOP

COMPAQ R4155

AMD 65 ATHLON 3500

80GB HARD DRIVE

1 GB RAM

WIRELESS 802.11g

 

[CellarDweller]

Well, I surf with dial up (I know, I need to upgrade) so it's always slow, but I haven't had the problems you describe.

 

[Budweiserbob!]

hmmmmmmmmm

Well, i realised that the mouse problem is probably a personal problem and not TT's...not sure about the speed.

 

[Low_Roads]

Since the site came back online after that several days layoff, it's behaved like a champ for me. Prior to that, it had been acting very dodgy: sometimes better, sometimes worse, but always slow. It would often freeze on a page so I'd be unable to proceed to different forums, and I'd regularly have to try several times before posting comments. These troubles affected this site alone and I never had any difficulties with my cursor.

 

[Budweiserbob!]

Yeah.

That's pretty much what happens to me.

Thanks dude!

I recon the cursor thing is because of my touch pad. 😛

I'll fix it soon!

EDIT: I just realised I made two threads the same...dunno how that happened. Sorry MOD's! 😛

 

[MistressValerie1]

Buddybob, have you fully patched your computer, particularly for MS05-053? I also recommend updating your antivirus definitions and running a full-system scan, as well as scanning for spyware with Microsoft Antispyware or one of the other programs discussed here. It's possible that a virus or exploit could cause some of the odd cursor behaviour that you are describing.

If you are using Norton Antivirus, I also recommend doing a free online scan with Trend Micro to get a second opinion: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

Best of luck,

 

[Budweiserbob!]

K

Well I ran Norton Antivirus and AVG (both ran seperately) and I haven't found any virus. But originally I did think it was a virus...

hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Dunno. I might scan again.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

If it found no viruses, and assuming no spyware (Which I am sure there is some. Most computers today have some. See Missy Val's post for the link to a page with info on removal tools), you could need to defragment your hard drive. If you don't know what that is, or can't remember doing it withing the past months/year, a defragment may ease the slowness. As a hard drive is used, bits and pieces of files are placed all over it. Eventually, everything becomes so scattered that it takes the disk much longer than normal to actually find anything, let alone make use of it. To access Microsoft's built-in tool, go to the Start Menu, go to your programs list (All Programs), go to "Accessories," go to "System Tools," and click on "Disk Defragmenter." Once open, you can analyze first to see just how good or bad a state your drive is in and then decide to defragment, or you can just tell it to start defragmenting without first creating a report.

 

[Cbarton]

Also, Bob, do you play any audio CD's on your PC? It turns out Sony has been putting spyware in the form of 'rootkits' on all their audio CD's. They deny that it causes problems, but the PC experts I read say that these are being exploited to be run as malware viri as well.

 

[Hungarian21]

My computer makes funny noises....but doesnt slow down. I think it might be with your internet connection.

 

[Budweiserbob!]

1) K, I might start to defragment my comp.
2) I do play some CD's but not very many.
3) I doubt it's my internet connection. 8 meg broadband and IEEE 802.11g Wireless connection.

K, thanks for the help.

But I am beginning to worry that I may have a virus, because as I was browsing TickleTheater the pages began to freeze and then all of a sudden, out of no where, multiple screens began to open themselves.

After restarting my laptop it was fine, no slowness or lagging.

Should I be worried even though my Norton Anti Virus and AVG say I'm virus free?

 

[Cbarton]

I had a failure with Norton. It let in 2 viri and 4 spyware. I followed the advice on the Windows Secrets website and swithced to Zone Alarm Security Suite

 

[MistressValerie1]

I had nothing but trouble with Norton, which missed a nasty trojan that ultimately forced me to reformat and reinstall Windows. I consider it almost useless for virus protection.

If you had multiple windows opening, that is a sure sign of spyware or adware. You should definitely obtain Microsoft Antispyware and at least one other free antispy program, update their definition files, and run both of them more than once. It may require several attempts to fully remove all traces of malware.

If you cannot get rid of the problem with the free antispy programs, the volunteers at Bluetack Security can help you manually remove any remaining malware.

Best of luck,

 

[Budweiserbob!]

Thanks People. I have taken your advice and have downloaded the following Anti-Spyware/Adware:

- Ad Aware SE Personal
- Spybot - Search and Destroy
- Microsoft Anti-spyware

and I am planning to buy Spyware Doctor.

I'm also browsing for new anti-virus systems because I agree with you lot. Norton sucks! So I'm planning on uninstalling it, buying AVG but I would like to know if there were any other anti-virus (free or purchase only) that was worth getting.

 

[Lummie]

Well, personally i like norton, unless it's trying to take over my computer again <.<

Good Virus Scanners are in example Kaspersky Anti Virus or McAfee, both are free.

 

[MistressValerie1]

Kaspersky is considered the best by many in the security field. A detailed comparison test of several AV programs is available here and a comprehensive guide to free antivirus programs is available here.

 

[PhoenixMacGyver]

TT was a little slow for a time. Now it's back up to normal. Heck, I think it's faster than it's ever been for me!

 

[Faramir]

Nooooo ... Windows is slowing my computer down ... !!

Next time ... a MAC/Apple ... !!! ...regardless of cost ... !!

(F%#k Dell .. !!)

 

[SyDemon1]

You might also want to see if you wish to switch to using Firefox (if you haven't already) instead of using MS Internet Explorer. The former is much more anti-spyware.

Edit: Firefox link is..
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

 

[LonelyKimiko]

I know your being told lots of programs to download and install from here and there, but here's my collection that seems to work ok. 🙂 I've posted the websites as the actual install files are bigger that TT will allow.

Avast Antivirus - http://www.avast.com/
I know a lot of people use AVG, but I swear by avast. Just sign up on the site for free and you get an activation key. 🙂

Lavasoft Adaware - http://www.lavasoft.com/
A good anti spyware and adware program, also free, just sign up on the site 🙂 .

Will post more if I think of it. Also like they said, worth doing a complete system cleanup every now and again, i.e. Defrag, antivirus, spyware. If you need help at all knowing what to do jus let me know 🙂 .

One thing I will suggest is not running 2 antiviruses at the same time, cause they counteract one another when scanning registry files and such, and when they aint detecting each other as viruses they're just missing the viruses completely 🙂 .

Hope some of this helps to anyone having trouble! 😀

 

[SyDemon1]

I've had bad experiences with Avast. Initially thought it was pretty cool, then it turned out to be too strict in terms of security. It barred me from accessing my own router's control panel. I didn't figure out how to adjust the settings to prevent that, so I switched back to AVG, which at that time had been improved by leaps and bounds.

 

[LonelyKimiko]

A fair point. I'm on a shared network here so I had the time to fiddle around with everything when I set the network up. Got to admit I dont think I had problems when we redid the network, but might be cause I was used to it by then though. I still suggest giving it a spin though, its a good program and does the job sooo well 😀 .