Question software to stop unwanted programs and fix window 7 errors if any.

Status
Not open for further replies.

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
Looking for a all in one software to stop unneeded programs from running in the background as well as look for any error that might be slowing up Windows 7 after I had bad crash 3 months ago. I'm at a point that I'm about to reload Windows 7 if I cant figure out whats going on?

Little back ground if you need it:

3 months ago my graphic card went out so I replaced it but it never seemed to be as fast as before even thought the specs are better on the 3 new cards I have tried? I have went to mini DP for a 3 monitor setup. Then about a month ago I hooked up an old hard drive to my Window 7 desktop and during the startup it froze so I turned the pc off and it said it could not fix or recover. After a day I finally got it to recover but my USB 3 ports and audio ports stopped working but my USB 2 ports were still good. I download the drivers but it kept going out so I unplugged the USB 3 on my mother board to hook up new USB 3 PCI-E card and when I downloaded that driver I got back my other USB 3 and audio but since then the pc is just slow and this morning is really slow.
 

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
What defines "unneeded programs " ?

The PC freezing at startup with this new/old drive is almost certainly a failed drive.
Anything not needed to run my computer, programs, files or internet. Just want to be sure I don't have anything like viruses or programs added as well as be sure I have everything needed? It doesn't bother me but my startup now takes 4 minutes where 4 months ago it took 2 minutes so something went wrong in the crash or how I fixed it. Beyound my knowledge at this points that's why I'm looking for software/program to fix everything.

I did msconfig to change startup and that was a big mistake for me. Took me a day to fix that so I'm not messing with setting no more.
 
Anything not needed to run my computer, programs, files or internet. Just want to be sure I don't have anything like viruses or programs added as well as be sure I have everything needed? It doesn't bother me but my startup now takes 4 minutes where 4 months ago it took 2 minutes so something went wrong in the crash or how I fixed it. Beyound my knowledge at this points that's why I'm looking for software/program to fix everything.
If there was software that could just fix everything, everyone would be using it and we wouldn't need forums like these.

There are some antimalware software that can detect if an installer comes with a "Potentially unwanted program" or a PUP, but honestly, you can avoid most PUPs by simply not mindlessly clicking "Next" or using the "Express" install feature. Otherwise trying to trim down what the OS comes with is a bad idea unless you know what you're really doing , what the thing you're trimming does, and you have an escape plan. And even then there may be a case down the road where you want to use something and it throws some cryptic error related to messing with something in the OS months ago.
 
  • Like
Reactions: catfishhoward

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
If there was software that could just fix everything, everyone would be using it and we wouldn't need forums like these.

There are some antimalware software that can detect if an installer comes with a "Potentially unwanted program" or a PUP, but honestly, you can avoid most PUPs by simply not mindlessly clicking "Next" or using the "Express" install feature. Otherwise trying to trim down what the OS comes with is a bad idea unless you know what you're really doing , what the thing you're trimming does, and you have an escape plan. And even then there may be a case down the road where you want to use something and it throws some cryptic error related to messing with something in the OS months ago.
If I reinstall windows 7 will it fix all issues or could it still be present what ever is going on? I also wonder if there might be something wrong with my motherboard since my USB 3 and audio went out?
 

Math Geek

Titan
Ambassador
the easiest thing is called autoruns it's a microsoft power user program. it's shows everything starting with the system and allows for stopping or delaying all of it.

don't go crazy and only turn off what you KNOW you don't need and its a good thing. for instance you probably have 10 "auto-updater things running" plus steam, origin and every other game launcher starting and a handful of other obvious things like that you can turn off at start-up

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns


i don't know of anything that does it better
 
  • Like
Reactions: PEnns and Grobe

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Anything not needed to run my computer, programs, files or internet. Just want to be sure I don't have anything like viruses or programs added as well as be sure I have everything needed? It doesn't bother me but my startup now takes 4 minutes where 4 months ago it took 2 minutes so something went wrong in the crash or how I fixed it. Beyound my knowledge at this points that's why I'm looking for software/program to fix everything.

I did msconfig to change startup and that was a big mistake for me. Took me a day to fix that so I'm not messing with setting no more.
So then remove things from your startup. There is no magic software to determine what YOU need.

Similarly, "fix everything" does not exist.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grobe

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
the easiest thing is called autoruns it's a microsoft power user program. it's shows everything starting with the system and allows for stopping or delaying all of it.

don't go crazy and only turn off what you KNOW you don't need and its a good thing. for instance you probably have 10 "auto-updater things running" plus steam, origin and every other game launcher starting and a handful of other obvious things like that you can turn off at start-up

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns


i don't know of anything that does it better
After the crash I did setup window update on thinking it would fix the errors but I wonder if that screwed me up?
 

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
I'm currently running Avira scan and have google chrome open and snagit open. I'm wondering if I just have to much running? That's why I was looking for software to turn off stuff I don't need so I don't screw things up again and turn off something I really need. Like window explorer I haven't used in 4 years can I turn it off?
Processes
Services
 
Reading this far in thread, I cannot see any vital information that give away what the actual problem is. The range, or suspect list woulld typically include one or more issue:
  • Too much software installed, and potentially resource struggle between two programs/drivers that wa\orks against each other. Installing two antivirus suites on same computer is a typical example of this.
  • Malware that your current AV isn't detecting, or otherwise - maybe some badly written software in general.
  • Hardware problem. The first thing I'd look at is the storage device. If a hdd/ssd stop responding, then everything tends to freeze up.
Also - I'd strongly advice to take backup of any important files. But since malware infection cannot be ruled out, if using native OS then there is a theoretical risk that any usb stick also get infected. After a full system scan with Windows defender, with zero positives you should be save using a thumb drive.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
That's why I was looking for software to turn off stuff I don't need so I don't screw things up again and turn off something I really need. Like window explorer I haven't used in 4 years can I turn it off?
This is where things get REALLY dangerous.

No, you can't 'turn off' windows explorer.'
It is a major subsystem of a Windows OS.

You're headed down the road of killing your OS, without actually finding the "problem" and fixing that.
 

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
Reading this far in thread, I cannot see any vital information that give away what the actual problem is. The range, or suspect list woulld typically include one or more issue:
  • Too much software installed, and potentially resource struggle between two programs/drivers that wa\orks against each other. Installing two antivirus suites on same computer is a typical example of this.
  • Malware that your current AV isn't detecting, or otherwise - maybe some badly written software in general.
  • Hardware problem. The first thing I'd look at is the storage device. If a hdd/ssd stop responding, then everything tends to freeze up.
Also - I'd strongly advice to take backup of any important files. But since malware infection cannot be ruled out, if using native OS then there is a theoretical risk that any usb stick also get infected. After a full system scan with Windows defender, with zero positives you should be save using a thumb drive.
I have an internal hdd I use just for backups that is full and a message keeps popping up telling me the storage is full. Even though that's not my primary drive could that be causing a problem?

Backup drive hdd E: Is a 3.63 TB with only 10.1 MB free causing popup occasionally on taskbar
Primary drive ssd C: 232 GB with 90 GB free
Office drive ssd F: 3.63 TB with 2.20 TB free
 

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
I bought 2 thumb drives off of Amazon about the same time the pc started getting slower, both were no names and crap and have been thrown away. Has anyone heard of thumb drives being sold with viruses? When I went back on Amazon to look up the thumb drive page the site has been deleted. I remember then thinking what if this thumb drive was infected, makes me wonder?
 

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
What is the FULL parts list of the system you're working with?

AutoCAD is not a trivial piece of software.
Expensive and power hungry.
What do you mean FULL parts list?

I have no games or game software on my pc. Since the crash I have added a new graphic card and used DDU to delete old drives. I added new SSD and software for external hard drives since I've been making backups. I also downloaded Malwarebytes and Avira again. My PDF have been really slow.

I just use the following office:
AutoCad
PDF acorbat
Word and excel
snagit
mouse without borders
scanner/printer Epson
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Parts list = CPU, RAM, GPU, what drives, etc, etc....
Basically, everything.

Things like AutoCAD will run like a sloth on substandard hardware.
But if you have high end hardware, and it is still 'slow', then the problem may be in software.
 
I have an internal hdd I use just for backups that is full and a message keeps popping up telling me the storage is full. Even though that's not my primary drive could that be causing a problem?
Yes this will probably become problematic, you probably don't have full control over what programs/services that access/writes to that drive. That is, actually - all writes to that drive will most probably be painfully slow.
 
  • Like
Reactions: catfishhoward

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I have an internal hdd I use just for backups that is full and a message keeps popping up telling me the storage is full. Even though that's not my primary drive could that be causing a problem?

Backup drive hdd E: Is a 3.63 TB with only 10.1 MB free causing popup occasionally on taskbar
Primary drive ssd C: 232 GB with 90 GB free
Office drive ssd F: 3.63 TB with 2.20 TB free
"3.63 TB with only 10.1 MB free"

That is absolutely a problem.
 

catfishhoward

Honorable
Jun 13, 2017
124
2
10,695
Unconnected my extra hard drive made no noticeable difference, still took for ever to open video or zip file.

sfc /scannow showed no problems. Avira antivirus and Malwarebytes show no problems. Defender show no problems.

After the crash I allowed windows to update and I just noticed Microsoft Edge so I uninstalled that as well as my Avira since I seen two in uninstall or change a program. After a restart it seems to be doing much better opening the videos and zip files. But It had a error message after startup
"There was a problem starting C:\Windows\system32\nvspcap64.dll The specified module could not be found"

Whats free antivirus are good these days?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.