I have an IBM Aptiva. The last week it has been running terrible. It’s “herky jerky” if you know what I mean.
Something, somewhere, is conflicting.
But I don’t know what. No new programs have been put on here.
My virus software says there is no virus. I’ve closed all programs that were not in use, and it’s still running jerky. It’s slowed down my internet considerably, and even the mouse cursor moves jerky. Even typing this out is taking for ever because of this problem!
I’ve had it with this crap!! It’s making computer use miserable!
Can any of you help me? I need step by step instructions on how to deal with this.
You might want to try removing and re-installing your virus software - I had a similar problem, and this fixed it (McAfee). I ended up upgrading to a newer version.
It does sound like a virus, however - is your virus checker updated recently?
Something may be consuming your CPU cycles. If you’re running Windows 2000 or NT (and I assume XP), you can bring up Task Manager and sort by CPU usage. If anything is pinning the CPU at 100%, that is the problem. I believe there are freeware utilities to show you CPU usage under Win 98/ME.
You might try checking your processor temperature–if enough dust has accumulated to interfere with the cooling, or the fan has gone intermittent, you could start getting this sort of problem. My laptop freezes intermittently for a fraction of a second at a time if it overheats, and I’ve seen similar symptoms with slightly overheated desktops. Have you noticed whether or not the problem is more pronounced when the room is warmer?
(Sorry, I’m not familiar enough with the Aptiva to tell you exactly how to check this, nor do I know if it’s a common problem with the Aptiva.)
Do you have tons of things running in the background? (how many icons by your clock?)
On my windows machines I turn off EVERYTHING I don’t need. The only things running in the background are virus scan, firewall and a small system monitor.
If it’s the older Aptiva with the multipurpose video/audio/modem card, it could be on it’s last legs. I had one about 4 years ago. It exhibited the same sorts of symptoms and then the display died. The multipurpose card was not really replaceable therfore I upgraded.
I second abby’s & DarrenS’ suggested diagnosis. I’ve seen this happen before with anti-virus applications. Something makes it just go wild and consume all your CPU time.
If you are not receiving any warnings about viruses (and have up-to-date definitions!) then turn off you anti-virus program and reboot. If that sorts it then it’s time to upgrade or try removing and reinstalling your anti-virus program.
You have possibly downloaded some spyware app that is accessing the CPU for it’s housekeeping functions and bogging the system. Download AD-aware to clean out unnecessary spyware.
I always, always run a third party computer maintenance program on all of my computers.
This has always been successful for me. They clean the registry, defrag the registry (yes, they
can do this), defrag the HD, …Im using system suite 2000 still. I remember using it
with w98 too, but im on Me now.
I suspect your computer is clogged up with files & programs. try running it in safe mode to see if its any faster.
This is my guess as well. Watch your hard drive light when your machine goes all herky-jerky. Is the light madly flickering?
If so you probably have a filled and/or badly fragmented hard drive.
Check your available disk space. Try to get it up over 300MB free at a minimum. Clean up TEMP folders first and IE/Netscape caches first as these are easiest and least intrusive (if you have Disk Cleanup in Accessories/System Tools use that). After that get rid of unwanted programs and then data last.
Give Scandisk a quick spin just for safety’s sake.
Once you’ve freed-up a bunch of space run Disk Defragmenter and let it defragment everything if it gives you a choice. This is likely to take awhile so go watch a movie or two.
Once all of that is done try out your computer again. If you’re still having troubles let us know and we’ll suggest other solutions (some of which have already been expressed here).