[ellied]

Despite upgrading service packs, antivirus products and various other housekeeping tasks like defragging, deleting web cache etc, I have a problem   It looks like the rundll32.exe file (a necessary library file I can't delete) is frequently overloading itself and taking up too much memory, up to 99% at times, and when this happens the AV performance monitor says it's running a dll file as an app but I can't work out how when it doesn't appear to have a virus, trojan or anything specific to be found..

I am sure I read about something that could hide in a dll file but I can't remember what the advice was, it was a year or more ago and I am not techie enough to really understand what all the files that run behind the scenes do let alone how to fix them

There seem to be some programs also running multiple copies, things like svchost.exe, ccSvcHst.exe.. some are labelled system files, others network or local files and some have my name against them   Can anyone explain in simple language what if anything I can do to clean this up?  It's Windows XP SP3 running web on Firefox, an old version of MS Office and Norton Internet Security..  Laptop is ancient, an IBM T70 but I love it even if it can't show a 3 second video clip without buffering for 20 minutes

[the great composto]

No expert but regularly 'maintain' my machine.  Apart from all the standard defrag and other tools I use a free anti virus (AVG) instead of Norton because older norton versions were notorious for slowing things down.
After that I would run a registry cleaner (again free) like CCleaner and Ad-aware (clears spyware).  If you are feeling really brave I use Hijackthis as a more detailed check of what you have on your system and allows you to control the programs that are running in the background ( take care with this one though).

All these products are free and with a little confidence and a little knowledge are helpful but I wouldnt recommend to a total novice.

[Dan]

The long way - back up all of your data, get it professionally wiped, reinstall Windows, patch it with latest Service Packs and Updates, install decent AV, spyware and malware packages, and reinstall all your software from scratch. Then restore your data. You can then sit back and enjoy at least 7 days of smooth performance.

The short way - buy a Mac.

[Victorian Farmer]

very well said dan

[chrismahon]

Well said Dan from me as well. We've had enough of this Microsoft junk and just bought a Mac. We were paying £60 a year for Panda anti-virus (updates twice a day and grinds the whole PC to a hault) and we still had one get through which overran the web browser. Had to 'system restore' to a few days before I noticed the problem. Then run the virus remover to clean up anything there -found loads! I can't understand how conman Bill Gates has escaped prison having knowingly sold a system that IBM refused to market because it was known to be far too insecure.
 
Norton isn't very good Ellied. Brother-in-law is an IT boffin and he runs a 'search and destroy' programme bought off the internet (something-bot I think?) to hunt out the stuff hiding on his hard drive. Takes out loads his antivirus doesn't stop. Might be worth finding that programme first before doing it the right way as Dan has suggested. Backing up your files may simply carry it across anyway.

[the great composto]

Quote  "Laptop is ancient, an IBM T70 but I love it" ..........   

[ellied]

OK, anything that begins "buy a.." isn't going to work terribly well for me

As for loving the IBM I've had it a long time and its more frustrated than adoring now but the newer one (a mere 5-6 years old and I can't even remember what make it is ) never really got going cos its keys are all wrong for me and it never got connected to my broadband before I forgot what all the ***s in the password box really stand for and besides all my programs are no longer re-installable because I either no longer have the disks, or never did because they were relevant to my former workplace that had the licenses and were installed because I took my work home a lot in those days..   I only got the Norton because my new lodger (another financial necessity) had a 3 users license with a spare going free and what I had before (McAfee VirusScan Enterprise) also belonged to my old work place and was updating merrily after I departed - until they changed to another provider which of course wasn't installed for me as I'd left..

I will have a look at the freebies suggested, starting with the easier ones and work up to hijackthis if I dare   I used to have quite a good brain but it's out of practice and technology has way overtaken my past experience level.

ChrisMahon, if the (something)Bot program is that good can you give me the name perhaps?  It may be beyond my budget, most things are these days, but it's always worth a look..

Thanks guys, somewhere to start anyway

[Dan]

I used Windows XP happily for years, but an installation does become slower and slower as time goes by, the Registry gets clogged and software installations and deletions take their toll.

So I was serious about suggesting wiping it and re-installing Windows, it will make an enormous difference to performance (and will last more than 7 days before slowing down again). If you've got an external hard drive you can back all your data up to, the XP installation disks, a decent broadband connection to download updates etc, and the confidence to do it, it's a job for a long evening.

[TheCaptain]

If you want to pack it up with your XP disk I'll have a look at it?

[Mickey]

ChrisMahon, if the (something)Bot program is that good can you give me the name perhaps?  It may be beyond my budget, most things are these days, but it's always worth a look..

Thanks guys, somewhere to start anyway

The bot program may be a reference to SpyBot - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

HTH,
Mickey

[Mickey]

Despite upgrading service packs, antivirus products and various other housekeeping tasks like defragging, deleting web cache etc, I have a problem   It looks like the rundll32.exe file (a necessary library file I can't delete) is frequently overloading itself and taking up too much memory, up to 99% at times, and when this happens the AV performance monitor says it's running a dll file as an app but I can't work out how when it doesn't appear to have a virus, trojan or anything specific to be found..

Probably won't help much but best to start with basics imho.  Clear any caches so that only the correct instance of any recently installed software etc is trying to run, then check that it is rundll32.exe and not rundl32.exe
Is this occurrence hitting your CPU load heavily?

What is your AV program? I find Norton to be a huge problem in lots of situations, best one to get currently is the free Windows AV program 'Security Essentials' from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/security-essentials.  Well there are better ones but this one is free, hasn't overloaded any machine I've used and gets updated regularly.

HTH,
Mickey

Make sure that you completely delete any other AV program before running the MS program as more than one easily results in a conflict.

[Moleskins]

Nah! Scrub all that and do as Dan said - buy the Mac
Trust us you won't regret it

[Victorian Farmer]

buy the Mac or put windows 7 on its very good.

[Mickey]

My preferred choice is a Mac as well so the main machine at home is a MacBook Pro, sadly they are at least a £1,000 whilst you can pick up a very fast Windows 7 machine for £300. In reality most folk nowadays just need an iPad or similar to meet all of their home needs.

Whist the OP's machine is long in the tooth it may still meet their needs if some of the suggestions work, in particular the offer from TheCaptain may be hard to beat.

[ellied]

Lovely as a new pc or Mac something might be, I don't have £300 spare, just a list of jobs needing done and no income to pay for it - my monthly income is probably around £250 including WTCs and a few quid egg money so it'll be a LONG time before I buy a new anything - I've to fix the boiler, the oven, the front garden wall, the shed roof, the 3rd broken field drain, the printer (both the B&W laser and the colour inkjet),  pay up a 4 figure bill to the mechanic for keeping the car running, I've paid the tree feller and the field sprayer up to date now but more fencing needing done, a new shed for the chooks to find and all the usual running costs, laptop isnt near the top of the list let alone top of it   Oh and I have to pay for next winter's hay when the best prices are available or I'll be up the creek with nothing to paddle..

Reinstall would involve having the disks, XP was installed by my former employers IT department as was the MS Office suite and some of the other programs.  I also have a typical Scottish rural broadband speed ie snailpace.

So, I have invested in a lottery ticket and would welcome supportive vibes, will happily donate to TAS badges for all if I win a 6 number share but other than that it's the free downloads for me! 

I've got the Norton free til December, might try the windows free one if it takes less space and can sort out the registry stuff, yes it's a rundll32.exe and currently hogging 96-99% of the CPU