Over the last couple of weeks, a neighbour’s kids have been pestering me to take a look at their home PC, because the desktop is slow, sluggish and is unresponsive at times.
On Saturday we had free time and got into it. When we switched on the PC, I was stunned. Opening up the task manager listed around 80 processes running, and that was with just Windows (supposedly) running.
For those who aren’t aware there are usually 40 to 48 processes running on a Windows 7 PC, depending upon the configuration and settings. On a Windows XP PC it is between 28 and 32. On a Windows Vista PC … Wait a minute! Are you still running that junk? With an upgrade to Windows 8 at just Rs. 1,999/- (~$40) from Microsoft, there is no justifiable reason to stick on to Windows Vista.
Tip: Get the Windows 8 download and licence; then downgrade to Windows 7, at least for the next few months.
BTP, the ‘Data’ LED on the modem was flickering like a catfish pulled out of water. Clicking on the default browser (what else but IE?) was another frightening experience. Barely half the screen was available, with the rest taken up by various toolbars and adware.
Here is a quick snap of the IObit Uninstaller listing out the 12 toolbars installed. [Please use IOBitUninstaller version 2.2 or earlier as newer versions install lot of crapware/nagware]
:-P
From then on it was the laborious task of uninstalling them and removing their allied crap using the IOBit Uninstaller as explained before [Please use IOBitUninstaller version 2.2 or earlier as newer versions install lot of crapware/nagware].
Actually it took more than IOBit Uninstaller to completely clean up the PC - it also took SuperAntiSpyware, Comodo Internet Security, SpyBot S&D, AutoRuns, and HiJackThis to remove the crap left behind.
It took a full 3 hours to be reasonably certain that the PC is virus and malware free for the kids to use. Kids to use for their studies and their most essential activity - Facebook chat.
That might be the primary reason the kids were anxious for me to take a look.
:-D
Which reminded me of my own Saturday Routine on my desktop. But that is another story.
On Saturday we had free time and got into it. When we switched on the PC, I was stunned. Opening up the task manager listed around 80 processes running, and that was with just Windows (supposedly) running.
For those who aren’t aware there are usually 40 to 48 processes running on a Windows 7 PC, depending upon the configuration and settings. On a Windows XP PC it is between 28 and 32. On a Windows Vista PC … Wait a minute! Are you still running that junk? With an upgrade to Windows 8 at just Rs. 1,999/- (~$40) from Microsoft, there is no justifiable reason to stick on to Windows Vista.
Tip: Get the Windows 8 download and licence; then downgrade to Windows 7, at least for the next few months.
BTP, the ‘Data’ LED on the modem was flickering like a catfish pulled out of water. Clicking on the default browser (what else but IE?) was another frightening experience. Barely half the screen was available, with the rest taken up by various toolbars and adware.
Here is a quick snap of the IObit Uninstaller listing out the 12 toolbars installed. [Please use IOBitUninstaller version 2.2 or earlier as newer versions install lot of crapware/nagware]
:-P
From then on it was the laborious task of uninstalling them and removing their allied crap using the IOBit Uninstaller as explained before [Please use IOBitUninstaller version 2.2 or earlier as newer versions install lot of crapware/nagware].
Actually it took more than IOBit Uninstaller to completely clean up the PC - it also took SuperAntiSpyware, Comodo Internet Security, SpyBot S&D, AutoRuns, and HiJackThis to remove the crap left behind.
It took a full 3 hours to be reasonably certain that the PC is virus and malware free for the kids to use. Kids to use for their studies and their most essential activity - Facebook chat.
That might be the primary reason the kids were anxious for me to take a look.
:-D
Which reminded me of my own Saturday Routine on my desktop. But that is another story.
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