reformat can help?

[kietsmark1975]

AV programs are not always good at detecting adware, especially the stuff that hides behind "handy" little utilities that you willingly install on your PC. I've known a couple of guys that installed so much of this crap that their systems had slowed to a crawl - and they thought they had a hardware problem.

BTW Norton is pretty bad mojo these days. Apart from being an indifferent AV at best, it often interferes with other programs. I won't even install the free copy you get with some motherboards.

sounds right to me... i've been dealing with slow startups and shutdowns but as long as my rig is safe it's fine i guess. yeah, i noticed also slow down in opening some programs (microsoft office, window explorer, adobe professional & PDF's) you think KASPERSKY is much better?

[Thorsson]

Yes Kaspersky is better. It's fair to say that "the best" changes regularly, but I avoid Norton & McAfee. McAfee is slower than a snail on Mogadon, and has been lousy for a very long time. Norton got bad more recently, but seems to have problems with other software. But who knows, it's all down the the guys programming - a couple leave one place and go to another and it could all be different.

[kietsmark1975]

Yes Kaspersky is better. It's fair to say that "the best" changes regularly, but I avoid Norton & McAfee. McAfee is slower than a snail on Mogadon, and has been lousy for a very long time. Norton got bad more recently, but seems to have problems with other software. But who knows, it's all down the the guys programming - a couple leave one place and go to another and it could all be different.

to make things more clearer... does these mean i am experiencing freezing because of those malwares? and if i will replace my anti-virus with a better one it will be alright then?

[peterb]

Hang on! Just because you habve 62 processes running, it doesn't mean that any of them are malware! (Just looked at my laptop - 61 processes - non of them Malware (well, maybe Microsoft Word )!

What you should be looking for is a procewss that is regularly using 80 or 90% of processor power because that will push up the heat generation by the CPU. (Joking apart, I once received a perfectly legit Word cocument with a perfectly legit,but poorly written Macro in it - opening that caused the fan on te laptop to go full blast afte a couple of minutes - screen savers can also be pretty CPU intensive.)

I'm nat saying that all those processes are benign or otherwise - but it is haow much CPU time and power they are consuming that is critical - benign or otherwise.

[aidanjt]

Point, Norton *is* the malware that's grinding your system to a halt, every PC I've seen with Norton installed makes Norris-Minors look like rocket ships.

[peterb]

As I said on the previous page, check the processes to which, if any, are using a lot of CPU resources.

You can easily check to see if it is Norton Ghost that is slowing things down/using CPU resources by just stopping it, or disabling it at at start up.

[kietsmark1975]

it,s overheating mate.
i can guarantee it.

sad but true... need to live with it for a while coz' i find it too hard to get branded cooling fan here or maybe i am just not a good berseker! lol kidding aside... finding methods to minimize the temp for now.

[kietsmark1975]

As I said on the previous page, check the processes to which, if any, are using a lot of CPU resources.

You can easily check to see if it is Norton Ghost that is slowing things down/using CPU resources by just stopping it, or disabling it at at start up.

tnx man! I don't have norton ghost in my system... mine is norton systemworks 2007. i thought norton ghost is a standalone? i will check it either...

[kietsmark1975]

Point, Norton *is* the malware that's grinding your system to a halt, every PC I've seen with Norton installed makes Norris-Minors look like rocket ships.

partly true... i installed norton for 6 computers and after installing it those rigs performs below their level. tsk tsk tsk... i thought it is pretty normal that time.

[Thorsson]

The 62 processes aren't using CP processing in that screenshot, but they are not even the full list of processes. I doubt that they cause overheating. Nevertheless there are far too many of them. I googled the first 13 and found that GBTray is a Roxio System Recovery program, and NSRTray is a Norton one. This is on top of Windows own Restore. All these programs regularly make copies to HDD - not much CPU power but disk writing can causes the system to lag too. There's just far too much stuff running.

If we take those first 13 processes, there's RealTemp & CPU-Z, plus 3 system processes. The other 8 are all background programs.

NoPDB.exe is a scheduling program for Norton SpeedDisk, which absolutely slaughters your PC while it's running. Even if you have it set for a sensible time (like 2am) if your PC is switched off it will want to run when you switch it - to "catch up".

In my opinion you need to remove a lot of this cack and see what that does to your perception of your PC's speed. Just Google the process and decide if you need it. Otherwise stop it running at start up.

[Thorsson]

if you have case fans on your side pannel you should turn them around to blown in.
if i was you, i would have all my case fans blowing in, its not that i do.
but it will lower your temps.

BAD advice. The hot air has to get out, if all the fans are blowing in it will totally muck up airflow. Generally fans at the front should blow in and fans at the rear blow out. Most side fans blow in too, and top fans out. The idea is get a flow of cooler air passing over the "hot bits" and then leaving the case.

[peterb]

BAD advice. The hot air has to get out, if all the fans are blowing in it will totally muck up airflow. Generally fans at the front should blow in and fans at the rear blow out. Most side fans blow in too, and top fans out. The idea is get a flow of cooler air passing over the "hot bits" and then leaving the case.

Absolutely true - having all the fans blowing in doesn't allow teh hot air to escape. In an ideal world the inlet fans should be low down atthe front of the case, and the exhaust hig up at theback (hot air rises). The slight disadvantage is that having the fans low down will tend to suck in more dust.

The one exception is in cases where the PSU is mounted low at the back of the case - however they almost always have their own exhaust fan, and will be sucking in coler air from the case bottom anyway.

If you have side mounting fans designed to improve cooling for the CPU, the position is less clear. You could argue that blowing IN coler air is an advantage, on the other hand if the CPU heatsink is low down in the case, extracting that hot air is better- but be careful not to have that fan so powerful that it risks reversing the airflow in the top of the case so it is fighting the extraction fan.

However, bottom line uis that you need a balanced air flow, some fans blowing in, some extracting. Extraction fans are probably the more important (many systems work quite happily with only extraction fans provide there is unimpeded air flow in)

[aidanjt]

And generally speaking, fans up around the top should exhaust the air, it's a thermodynamics thing. With the exception being top front fans in the case of Antec 900 (I moved the middle module just below the DVD-RW when I had one).

[kietsmark1975]

In my opinion you need to remove a lot of this cack and see what that does to your perception of your PC's speed. Just Google the process and decide if you need it. Otherwise stop it running at start up.

great advise... i will see what needs to stop to help my rig keep going...

[kietsmark1975]

if you have case fans on your side pannel you should turn them around to blown in.
if i was you, i would have all my case fans blowing in, its not that i do.
but it will lower your temps.

this will certainly kill the theory of cooling... Every air that goes in must have a way out...

[Thorsson]

whatever you think.

This is the nub of your problem. There are four sorts of information posted on message boards. There's facts, informed opinion, uninformed opinion and false information. Far too many of your posts fall into the latter two categories.

It's a fact that hot air rises and it's a fact that whatever air flows in has to find a way out. There have been numerous tests on airflow over the years and it is no coincidence that almost all cases have air coming in at the front and exiting at the rear, so it is (highly) informed opinion that this is likely to be the best setup.

Your advice not only contradicts all the tests on case cooling that have been done ove the last ~15 years, but also appears to contradict the laws of physics itself.

There has rarely been a better example of the old saying, "It is better to remain silent and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt".