Developer Forum

Windows XP-SP3; Web access is only the first 10 or 15 minutes of each
session.


Besides planning to do a repair install on windows XP SP3, I'm also
trying to solve my XP problem one symptom at a time.

(When my problem first started, it took 15 minutes to start windows,
and when Windows started, it ran 10 times as slow as normal, and it
would not access the web or the rest of the internet. In order to get
this far, I used msconfig.exe and unchecked every Service and every
start-up program. I have rechecked every service except Shell
Hardware Detection and Uninterruptable Power Supply.
In Firefox, I disable every add-on.)

I have Verizon DSL (which gives me no problem 99.99% of the time when
using win98SE on the same box).

RIGHT NOW, most of XP works all the time, and at normal speed, and all
or almost all of the rest works some of the time (and at normal
speed).

SPECIFICALLY, web access works only for the first 10 or 15 minutes
after Windows XP-SP3 has started. This includes IE6 and FF3. The
messages are something like Server not Found, or a blank screen with
the word "done" on the line at the bottom. This includes efforts to
fetch the same url l that I got successfully just a couple minutes
ago. Watching a video on Utube worked, once for 8 minutes, and
another time, when I had done something else first, it only rant for 2
minutes. Then it just stopped. I could still move the cursor and
click on things which would take me to a blank screen with a new url
in the location box at the top, but nothing will load.

OTOH, POP email and Usenet work all the time.

The rest is more examples of programs that do the same sort of thing.


Eudora email works all the time, but emails in html which include
graphics that have urls won't download except during those first 10 or
15 minutes. Emails I look at after that just sit there with blue space
where the graphic is supposed to be.

Windows updates seem to download, but if it's possible to do so in
multiple windows sessions, that's what's happening. It may be doing
part of the DL in the first 10 minutes of each session. When it
completes the dl, it correctly installs the updates when I exit
Windows. 3 of them last night, several others 4 or 5 days ago.

From win98, I dl'd a newer release of AVG, but installed it in XP.
It's been able to update its own virus definitions, automatically
yesterday, but when I tried late last night, the dl failed in the
middle. Come to think of it, that had happened several times before,
and I guess it happens when the 10 or 15 minute time limit is passed.

Agent will download from Usenet all the time.

Spybot S&D won't dl new definitions, but it's a low-priority program
and I've probably never tried during the first 15 minutes.


Thanks a lot for any help you can give.

On Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:29:44 -0500, mm < XXXX@XXXXX.COM >



BTW, maybe I should have said that I x-posted this to XP General, IE
General, and Netscape.public.mozilla.browser.

If you care to bring glory to your ng, tell us where you're posting
from. :-)

rror Messages?

Check your Internet Options - General tab, Temporary Internet Files,
Settings button. Have you set the storage to 50Mb or greater (see
recommendations)?

When was the last time you had a Adobe or Shockwave Flash update? (important
security updates went out last month).

Do you have the GoogleToolbarUpdater.exe in your Windows startup list...
Known issue. Uninstall the old version of the Google toolbar and reboot.
Then go to toolbar.google.com for the IE8 compatible version.

AOL software updates and Quicktime - known to cause problems with IE8 and
the Win Startup list. You can disable these two services by adjusting their
settings (see their control panels to switch off automatic updates).

Most IE8/Win startup problems are caused by 'Updater' services trying to
call home when IE is in a different security context.

It sounds like your machine is suffering from Windows Bloat.

I would be considering a hardware and software upgrade to Win7. I imagine
this would take less of your time than trying to turn Mutton to Lamb.

Regards.

"mm" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in message
news: XXXX@XXXXX.COM ...

gt; It's been able to update its own virus definitions, automatically


Back-up any personal data (none of which should be considered 100%
trustworthy at this point) then do a format & clean install of Windows.
Please note that a Repair Install (AKA in-place upgrade) will NOT fix this!

cf. http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps

After the clean install, you'll have the equivalent of a "new computer" so
take care of everything on the following page before otherwise connecting
the machine to the internet or a network and before using a USB key that
isn't brand-new or hasn't been freshly formatted:

5 steps to help protect your new computer before you go online
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/advanced/xppc.mspx

Other helpful references include:

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP Gold (no Service Packs) fully patched
(after a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsupdate/msg/3f5afa8ed33e121c

HOW TO get a computer running WinXP SP1(a) or SP2 fully patched (after a
clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/a066ae41add7dd2b

Also see:

Steps To Help Prevent Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/security/spyware/prevent.aspx

Steps to Help Prevent Computer Worms
http://www.microsoft.com/security/worms/prevent.aspx

Avoid Rogue Security Software!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/rogue.aspx


mm wrote:

n Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:12:06 +1100, "rob^_^"
< XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote:

Thanks for your detailed answer.


None.

After the first 10 minutes or so when it stops working, I get the
standard page from IE, "The page cannot be displayed The page you are
looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be
experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your
browser settings...."

Or the video just stops playing, the time elapsed doesn't change
anymore;

Or in FF#, it just shows "Done" in the bottom line.

AVG and Spybot return their own messages that the update failed to
complete.

Eudora will dl mail, but if an email has embedded files with a url
that are supposed to dl separately, no error message. They just stay
as blue boxes.


63 megs. (I don't know how it ended up there, but that's what it is.
:) )


Not sure. Haven't used Adobe or Shockwave since July. Would it still
update? Fop Adobe Flash I have ver 10.0.22.87

You probably don't mean the reader, do you? (I originally dl'd and
installed Adobe Reader 9 May 22 of this year. It appears to have been
based only on the install file name version 9.1.0. Now I have version
9.1.2. I can update Adobe reader manually, but it has to be the first
thing I do when I start XP. )

As to security, I've done full harddrive scans with
BitDefender with that day's definitions,
SuperAntiSpyware, with that day's definitions
AVG with that day's definitions
and found only cookies and little things which didn't seem important
but nonetheless I deleted everything. I restored from backup one
Eudora mailboxe and index, but it's in a separate datar partition and
also never gets opened.

Is now the right time to do a Repair slipstream install of XP?


No special tool bars, just the ones that came with IE6: status bar,
standard buttons, address bar, and links. (No added bars in FF3
either.)


XP came with IE6, and after I installed IE7, I had major problems, so
uninstalled it. Everything worked then, and XP worked great for more
than a month after that until I had the current problem. I was
afraid to install IE8.

In both win98SE and XP, Quicktime was not in my startup, but it
suddenly appreared in both -- I don't know when. In XP it's been
unchecked in Startup in the SCUtility for two weeks now.

I never had any AOL programs or software updates in the Startup list
or anywhere.

***I see that ctfmon.exe is running. I don't remember what that is.
Could that be the problem?


OK, I switched off Quicktime updates.


Is this really a start-up problem? All the web programs work for 10
or 15 minutes, and then they stop.

I used to have trouble starting but now that I've unchecked, disabled
those two Service, Shell Hardware Detection and Uninterruptible Power
Supply, it starts as quickly as ever.


Bloat? I don't have many programs installed. 13 (list further
down**)

And the HD partition has 10 empty gigabytes.

There are only two errors in the event viewer per session, both under
System, both to do with Zone Alarm, both under S


Doesn't it seem strange that the web will work for a while and then
stop?



No job right now. Plenty of time but not much money.


Adobe Reader 9
AVG
Firefox3
PowerDesk6 (a windows explorer substitute)
Real Player
Support Tools
Zone Alarm
TCC by 4DOS, a DOS emulator with enhanced dos commands
Spybot S&D
OverDriveMediaConsole

Comments inline.




I've been a fan of AVG for a long time -- until recently. I find it very
bloated now. I would definitely ditch it for something much lighter on
resources -- like Avira AntiVir.

Although I snipped what you earlier wrote, you did mention Spybot
(presumably Spybot Search & Destroy). Although this was once great to
have, it's no longer that effective. I would uninstall it. MalwareBytes'
Anti-Malware (MBAM) and SuperAntiSpyware (SAS) are enough, IMO.

You had also mentioned ZoneAlarm, which is another waste of resources. I
would uninstall it and use the more-than-adequate Windows Firewall.
True, it doesn't block outgoing traffic, but the truth is that once
malware gets in, it will probably override a firewall's outbound
protection anyway. Better to concentrate on incoming traffic. :-) And
that means safe hex, too.

BTW, did you ever have malware on this machine? If so, there may still
be traces.


I'm not sure such a thing exists! You can create a custom-made
installation CD, slipstreaming SP3 into it, and *then* boot off this CD
to peform a Repair Install. But it is NOT advised! you need to address
your immediate issue first, and I see no evidence that a Repair Install
is appropriate in this situation.


Could be. I always disable that obnoxious feature:

http://www.yqcomputer.com/


I would say AVG and ZoneAlarm are bloatware.

One thing to consider: How much time do you want to spend
troubleshooting this issue? You might find that performing a Clean
Install with your newly created XP isntallation CD at the SP3 level will
yield the largest benefit. However, if you *never* had malware,
troubleshooting may not be a bad idea, and this could be a learning
experience. But you should think about how much time you want to devote
to this endeavor.

aave wrote:

I just re-read your earlier thread "XP Started Slow" and I'll bet you
still have malware left. Although you could run HijackThis scans and
have experts analyze your logs and assist you, I still think a Clean
Install makes the most amount of sense. It wouldn't hurt to try a Repair
Install first (as a learning exercise), but a Repair Install won't be
able to remove the deeply hidden malware you most surely still have.

If this were a test machine *and* you had lots of time, detective work
(assuming you have lots of patience!) would make sense. But I really
think it's time to cut your losses and wipe the slate clean!

Make sure all your data is safely backed up!!!

Hi mm,

Thanks for the excellent detail!

It doesn't make diagnosis any easier though.

I thought it may be a startup service that is trying to call home to look
for updates because your connection is dropping out after a certain period
on the web. Typically the check for updates services of some addons occur
while IE has an active connection which can conflict with the security zone
of the currently viewed page. In Vista this causes a DEP (Data execution
prevention).

Slow startup's though are a sure sign of an Addon causing problems.
Although FX should be unaffected.

Oh, You have Spybot installed? Check that you have not disabled any Browser
Helpers... use the IE Addons Manager only to manage Addons so that Toolbars
and Browser Helpers are enabled/disabled together. With Spybot in control of
BHO's you can end up with some Addons only partly enabled.

To disable BHO's and Toolbars use the "Enable third-party browser
extensions" on the Advanced tab of Internet Options.

If after all that you still have no joy, and before you try a reformat, you
may like to try a RIES (Reset IE Settings - Reset button on the Advanced tab
of Internet Options). This will disable ALL of your IE Addons and reset ALL
IE settings to their factory/recommended defaults.

Regards.

"mm" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in message
news: XXXX@XXXXX.COM ...

aave wrote:

One final thought: I still think your problem is likely from ZoneAlarm
or Spybot S&D. Once these are uninstalled, I would be curious to see the
effect. In the meantime, you can run XP in Safe Mode with Networking to
see if you lose Web connectivity.

When uninstalling AVG (also recommended) and ZoneAlarm, both of these
companies have removers that should also be run since the uninstallers
aren't complete! They can be found at the respetive Web sites.

If you had IE7, I would recommend running it in the No Add-ons Mode, but
I'm not sure how this is done with IE6; I think you need to manually
disable the BHOs. Then again, you said Firefox yields the same result,
so this is why I think something else is interfering. And since your
other thread contained information that your security programs were
prevented from running, I thought and still think that malware slipped
in at some time. If that is what happened, sometimes the best solution
*is* a Clean Install. Then again, you stated elsewhere you have the time
and energy to get to the bottom of your problem, so maybe you're still
not ready for this! So once more, if you decide to continue your
troubleshooting (or perform the Clean Install, for that matter), I can't
stress the importance of making sure everything is backed up! And this
site is a great resource:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

If you installed ZA out of the box or out of the download, it can most
certainly use some adjusting.

The Spybot TeaTimer function is a memory hog. I personally quit using
Spybot long ago - never finds anything but cookies and there are lots
of other/better product. TeaTimer will consume 100K+ of virtual
memory while it is running. That is a lot.

Right click the Taskbar, choose to open Task Manager.

Click View, Select Columns, check the box that says: Virtual Memory
Size. Expand the width of the Task Manager
box so you can see all the columns.

Click the VM Size column heading once or twice to sort by VM Size
biggest to smallest, top to bottom.

Who's on top?

ZA is just a general hog and even worse if not tuned to your system
environment and most people don't bother or don't know how to
configure it so it doesn't cause performance issues. It is not for
everybody.

Disable both temporarily and see how things work.

Learn how to setup ZA if you think you need it - there are many
options and the defaults are not right for everybody. ZA itself is
not right for everybody either.

If you are using the ZA firewall and the XP firewall together, don't
(a lot of people do) - or you will have issues like yours. Pick one
or the other.

AVG? I have nothing good to say about AVG either.

More protection is not always a good thing. Too much protection can
be hazardous to your system performance and reliability. Well
orchestrated protection is the way to go.

At a glance, I would say your configuration is the cause of your woe,
but can be fixed.