# Slightly complicated computer help

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-complicated-computer-help/199045>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 2, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-complicated-computer-help/199045 "2003-09-02T01:28:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RyanV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@RyanV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyanV)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-complicated-computer-help/199045/1 "2003-09-02T01:28:21Z")

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Hey guys I tried doing the google thing but didn’t get the info I was looking for.

Recently my computer has become extremely slow. It’s a 2.2ghz and performs IMO like my old 1.3 now! I defraged it, and then ran my antivirus and thought it would do something but it did nothing.

What programs can I shut down when just browsing the internet to improve my computers speed? Or is there something else that could be going wrong with my computer to cause it to lag so much? We just had a slight heatwave here and could that have done something to it??

When I push ctrl-alt-del and go to “processes” here is all that is running.  
It’s in order from most memory usage to least.  
The “me” and “system” is what the “username” of the program is.

IEXPLORE.exe me  
svchost.exe system  
explorer.exe me  
webscanxe.exe system  
vshwin.exe "  
vsmon.exe "  
mcshield.exe "  
qttask.exe me  
spoolsv.exe system  
taskmrg.exe me  
precisiontime.exe "  
datemanager.exe "  
svchost.exe system  
msmsgs.exe me  
svchost.exe local service  
svchost.exe network service  
vsstat.exe system  
csrss.exe system  
wuauclt.exe me  
avsynmrg.exe system  
avconsol.exe system  
dpps2.exe me  
rulaunch.exe me  
services.exe system  
cmgrdian.exe me  
smtray.exe me  
zonealarm.exe "  
alogserv.exe "  
lsass.exe system  
nvsvc32.exe "  
winlogon.exe "  
smss.exe "  
system "  
system idle process "

_ **NOTE** _ I am unplugging my internet from the wall and I’m going to check back this thread on my friend’s computer because I don’t know if any of those programs are gateways to get into my computer or anything. Please warn me if they are!

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**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-complicated-computer-help/199045/2 "2003-09-02T02:03:04Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RyanV \*  
> \*\*precisiontime.exe "  
> datemanager.exe "  
> \*\*

Just off the top of my head, these two programs are spyware. There may be more, try running Ad-Aware or Spybot first thing.

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**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-complicated-computer-help/199045/3 "2003-09-02T02:09:40Z")

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I don’t see any obvious viruses or trojans, but I do see a lot of unnecessary applications and what appears to be spyware. First of all, disable any virus scanners you have running. Virus scanners running in the background will seriously reduce your system’s performance, and can cause problems. I would suggest that you just scan your computer regularly and not leave a scanner running all the time. Second, look at the icons in your system tray (bottom right corner of the screen, you may need to click the \< button to see all of them) and right click and exit any you don’t need running. Finally, download [Ad-Aware](http://www.lavasoft.de) and remove any spyware that has been installed on your system.

On a freshly booted system with no background applications, the only processes that should appear in task manager are:

taskmgr.exe  
explorer.exe  
lsass.exe  
crss.exe  
winlogon.exe  
services.exe  
svchost.exe (several instances)  
system  
system idle process

Note that additional processes may be part of drivers for hardware devices. For example, I have EM\_EXEC.EXE that handles the scroll wheel and other special buttons for my Logitech mouse, and ACMonitor\_X83.exe for my Lexmark X83 Printer.

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slightly-complicated-computer-help/199045/4 "2003-09-02T06:09:16Z")

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precisiontime and datemanager are both spyware.

wuauclt is a possible trojan.

webscanxe is suspicious - there’s no hits for it on Google.

rulaunch - buggy auto-updater for McAfee antivirus. Known for causing crashes.

Beyond that, we also know that you have an nVidia video board, the “Don’t Panic” popup stopper.

I did come across quite a few references that McAfee Antivirus is something of a train wreck, (Buggy, crash-prone, erratic, doesnt’ do what it said it did, and so on) and that you’d be much better off with Norton Antivirus.