HELP PLEASE!! I don't know where to begin....comp is so messed up??

[mr_tinkertrain8]

Ok this is my first post on this forum and i hope you guys can help me out. I've had this computer since late 2001 and its compaq Presario 5000 series with xp home edition. This thing has been acting terrible this past year. Just lately it has gotten to the point i cant even get on the internet. The Internet explorer just freezes! Here are some of the problems. The computer is always running at 100% when i go to task manager. There are usually about 45 running processes.............yea i dont know why there are so many. Everytime i shut computer down, i get error messages that rundll wont shut down so i have to choose end now in order for the computer to shut down. Same thing happens with ddeserver. Computer has good hardware performance wise. More than enough memory and pentium 4 processor with plenty of power. I'm stumped.........i REALLY need some advice. I've tried sysetm restore........no good same problems. HELP PLEASE!!!

[Overclocked Doc]

You probably have a bad case of spyware infection if nothing else.
You need to get yourself tools from the net. I would start with "Spybot SD" and "Ad aware". Download and run them to get rid of most if not all of the spyware.

If your CPU is "maxed" out to 100% then I suggest that you look under "processes" and see just what is running and using that much resource.

If the underlying problems have existed for any length of time...(greater than 8 weeks) "system restore" will no longer be effective.

Do you have "Anti virus" protection in place (up to date) ?

let us know how you make out and we'll help where we can.

[Jazz]

Either do what the good 'Doc' has prescribed, or if you haven't performed a clean installation since 2001, back up and do it now. It's well overdue, IMO.

Regarding services, check out the second link, paying careful attention to dependencies.

Clean Install Windows XP

Windows XP Home and Professional Service Pack 2 Service Configurations

NOTE: An "*" (asterisk) indicates changes from Service Pack 1a to Service Pack 2.

Good luck man....................

[patrickjb]

IF you are comfortable re-installing Windows and would re-install as Jazz suggests. I typically re-install once a year. If your not comfortable re-installing Windows, I would do as Overclocked Doc suggests. I would also look for programs that I am no longer running and un-install them. I would guess that after two plus years you have installed a lot of programs.

I would suggest that you use; 1. Spy removal, 2, Virus checker, and 3. Firewall to protect your computer.