Being held up

[Matrox23]

I recently built a computer for my friend and set him up for DSL service in our VERY rural area. All that was offered in his town was DSL so thats what he got. First and formost his computer was built at my house and tested with my cable connection..it flew. When we hooked it up to his DSL it wasnt quite as fast but none the less was pretty quick.

Problem:

Tremendous lag when hitting buttons on web pages, however links are not affected. If he were to go to google and do a search it will hang for about 30 seconds, but if he hits a link its quick and responsive.

The culprit:

He inadvertantly downloaded the chernobyl virus <--(spelling?). I cleaned his system of the virus after a painstaking task of not having any floppy disks to do a low level scan. The virus is gone and never had a chance to detonate (caught it on april 19th). The problem still persists; Ive tried lots of things including:

IE6 install and repair.
System file verification
Deframenting
Tweaking
Spyware detection
and some binding of the network card

I cant seem to get rid of his problem. I dont know a whole lot about binding network cards, I usually use Winipcfg to do all the work. It seems to be a software problem but I dont know how to fix it.

My only thought is doing a complete format/installation of Windows and going again. Id rather not since it was a very long and boring task, but if thats what it takes then Ill do it. I just was curious on what any of you experts might think is wrong. Maybee give me a couple of suggestions before I plumet into the hell that is Windows installation.

His specs:
OS - WinME
Browser - IE6
NIC - Linksys
CPU - AMD XP 1800
RAM - 256 DDR
DSL - Centurtytel "winpoet"

P2P programs such as Kazaa work without a problem, but surfing pages cuases a pause. Any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

[mnosteele52]

This could be many things, but has he tweaked his settings for his connection? If you are using default settings for his setup then things aren't gonna be optimized. Read the link in my signature "My Tips" it will give you some things to try that may solve the problem. Please post back and let us know where things are in solving the problem.

[Matrox23]

Ive already tweked his settings...
Using cablenut and using is rated speed I was able to get it as close as Im going to considering his area.

He has some pretty good download speeds using both Kazaa and regular software downloads from the net, however its the web-pages buttons that seem to be a problem. It seems as though the computer is confused on what to do when he hits a button!

[Machine609]

If everything works except when he hits buttons on the browser then this is probably an Internet Exploder problem. Format and reinstall. The time it will take to research and fix the issue is much longer than wiping a system.

[Norm]

Have you tried looking in IE properties connection tab, Lan settings. Make sure all boxes are unchecked.

Clean the IE cache as well

Never ever listen to a newbie telling you to format, they don't have the knowledge to tell you anything worthwhile.

[Machine609]

First off I'm not a newbie. If their is an issue with the buttons you can try repair and if not the IE is probably corrupted and seeing that is is so integrated into the system it is just quicker to backup and blow it out.

Try to help the guy and spend less time insulting people.

[Norm]

Only a newbie would suggest formatting, and I did give some help.

I didn't insult anyone, justy stating a fact about newbies

Formatting isn't an answer it's a copout.

[mnosteele52]

Easy Machine609 but here at SG you are a newbie . As far as reformatting goes that is always a last result and in this case it is not very good advice. Matrox23 try repairing IE, control panel - add/remove programs and select remove IE an option will be repair once it's done it will prompt you to reboot, if that fails try and redownload and reinstall IE.

[Machine609]

Matrox, use the above suggestions BUT if IE is corrupt then my advice is to blow it out. Formatting a machine is not a coput if IE or the OS is corrupted. By all means try everyones advice before you do format. Man of steel is correct that it is a last ditch effort. But it is an option not a copout.

As far as to wether I have posted on here 1 time or 1 billion times that doesn't mean I have to listen to people like DOSMaster attack me for my opinion.

I was attacked by DOSMAster so I replied.

DOSMAster if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.

[legalmind]

Get rid of these!
"Kazaa and regular software downloads"
If I read this right, you are using those download speed up softwares?
They are no good and spyware!

[Norm]

I never attacked you, read my post again. I was referring to newbies. If you took that personally, then you need more help than I can give you.
Please use another forum for your complaining.

I haven't mentioned your name yet. But since you speak directly to me, I'll do the same.
You joined the SG forums to post your first post here to tell someone to format the drive. Too much.
Knowing nothing about what's on that drive, or if the user even has the capacity to backup his stuff. Not to mention any problems involved with drivers etc when a reinstall is attempted. If you can't help him fix the problem at hand, then it is YOU who should keep quiet. Anyone can suggest a format, but it takes a little skill and knowledge to find a REAL solution. You didn't answer his request for help, your solution could have caused multi problems, depending on the users abilities. He also stated that a format was being considered, but would like to get other ideas first. Yours was hardly another idea.
It's just a small problem with his browser and you want to format his drive

When it comes your turn to ask for help with something, I'll be sure to mention a format and reinstall to you too.

Have a good day

Back to topic....

Try scanning for spyware with "adaware" some spyware will replace dll files used by IE, corrupt winsock.dll, and cause havoc. They also call home with info retrieved from your system, like browsing habbits. This could be the pause you see when browsing as it sends info out.
Please see the Security Forum for more info on spyware, what it does, and how to remove it.

[Bouncer]

Generally speaking, if Buttons load slowly but links go quickly then the problem is probably a local image cache issue.

First step would be to clear the cache and delete it's contents, after doing that clear the history since that can maintain pointer files. Finally it might be worth going and fiding the cookie.txt files and deleting them.

At that point, the next time your browser comes up it should have no cached images or pointers of any kind.

Regards,
-Bouncer-

[Matrox23]

Not to sound rude or anything, but some of you are giving me advice I stated I tried in my very first post.

First thing I did once the virus was gone was remove any spyware (which did kill kazaa but that was remedied with a little patch) <-- plus it got rid of cydoor! Next I did a repair on IE 5, reboot still the same issue. Next I installed IE6, reboot still the same issue. Compressed his registry (you never know, it is windows) of course that didnt help any. Did a file verification..surpisingly enough everything was ok, the video drivers were not but I know why because it was my card and drivers. Finnally I defragmented the hard-drive (which requires ScanDisk also) and that didnt help any. Like I stated before all these issues arose once he got the chernobyl virus, and thats the only reason Im considering a format. That virus got into everything!!

Im not a complete idiot, however I have not come into every computer related problem known to man. Thats why I came here; my odds of finding a solution increase with greater knowledge. Im basically using you people as knowlegde I appreciate everyones advice, I really do.

My friend is a complete newbie, he barely understands how to get around windows, let alone trouble shoot his own problems. In a way Im actually glad he got the virus, it raised his awareness level about the dangers the net can offer. I walk through every step I do with the computer with him so he can get a better understanding on how a computer "operates". Basically hes learning the first rule "You get out what you put in".

Bouncer
Im going to give a go around on monday and remove all cookies and cached web pages. Hopefully that will work. Most likely it is something this simple, however I never would have thought of it.

As for "downloading from the net" I meant regular downloads using IE. No download managers or "Accelorated" programs are being used. At first I thought his pings were extremely high, because in a fact thats what it appears to be as Zone Alarm sits blank for those 30seconds. But after clicking links alas it appears his connection is fine.

Anyways, although his computer isnt operating up to snuff hes not nagging me about getting it all worked out. So I do have plenty of time before a format is needed...if at all.

If a format is needed I do have all the serial numbers and plenty of blank CDrs to back up the programs he purchased. Good thing is he doesnt have a whole lot on the computer; or any Vital information that cannot be lost.


Thanks for your help guys

[MasterPcWiz]

Matrox23
have you tried nortons on line virus scan to make sure it worth a try

[Norm]

Matrox23, not to sound rude or anything, but clearing the IE cache was mentioned in my first post.

The IE cache includes History, IE Temp Files, and Cookies.

One thing I neglected to mention was IE 6 is not compatible with a Win9x OS, re: MS, even though MS still has it up as an update.
WinME is a 9x OS