Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[donnier]

Hugh & delphinium - thanks for trying to help us out with this.  This is an HP G62 Notebook laptop running an AMD Athlon II P340 Dual Core processor with 3 GB of RAM and a 64 bit system running Windows 7 Home Premium O.S.  Computer running extremely slow at times now - programs take a long time to load.  When I take a look at system "performance" (using Norton Internet Security 2011 which has been installed on the machine from the time we got it) there is a "wmpnetwk.exe" program that is constantly running about 1/2 of the system memory or more.  The laptop is linked to the internet via WIFI (linksys router). Today I've also run Norton's "Power Eraser" on this thing and the scan did not detect any problems.  ???  Thanks for trying to help me get to the bottom of this.  This laptop has never allowed me to do a fully system backup (crashed each time when I tried) and at times when I've attempted to bring up Media Center I've had problems that it wouldn't load properly (but it did fine just now for some reason). All Windows 7 and NIS updates are current and have been kept current.  At times the laptop seemingly runs fair (but slow) and then at other times it just barely creeps along.  Sure would like to know if the problem is an as yet undetected virus or if there is a corrupt file problem somewhere in Windows, etc. that is bogging us down?  Thanks guys! 

[huwyngr Norton Fighter · Accepted solution]

OK -- nothing wrong with that laptop -- I'd got the impression it was an old one and it looks as if it only ever came with WIndows 7 32 or 64.

Apart from any housekeeping on the system I'd be inclined to go to the HP Support website and check for updates to see if you have them:

 http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?os=4063&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&sw_lang=&product=4308... 

In particular I see this performance related one that includes some Microsoft fixes:

Essential System Updates  Released 2011-01-21

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-91749-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&...= 

I don't know how good the HP Updater is or if you use it.

See if anyone has any suggestions on cleaning up or on settings.

Oh yes -- there's a bunch of updates for the network but you have to know what chip your machine has to get the right one. The free utility Speccy may tell you if you download and run that -- it gives a lot of valuable information on the system.

Running Disk Clean would be worthwhile too. Do you hve plenty of free space on the hard drive?

[donnier]

Thanks for the reply, Hugh!  I haven't checked for any HP updates, so I plan to give that a try as well.  Am also in the process of trying to delete temp files from the temp folder and may go through and attempt to work through the program startups one by one if other things don't work - sound reasonable?   We have about 239 GBs of free space on the C drive yet (out of 281).  Thanks for your suggestions and help as I try to sort this out!

[artfreak]

Those helping you here are pro's (I have a simpler view as Im not a pro) so I just wanted to say...did you verify the start up menu thru' msconfig is a light one?  HP loads their pc's w/ lots of programs many you dont need running all the time my sisters pc was so very very slow till we weedled out which ones to turn off awhile back. 

That and deleted programs of toolbars and add ons that were not needed.

Well..back to pro's, youre in good hands :)

(i wish I could say which programs we turned off start up but I wouldnt know w/ out seeing her pc and I dont see her often, I dont have an hp sorry)

[huwyngr Norton Fighter]

To cleanup from time to time I use the facility built into Windows and then I don't have to search for where the various folders are located ...

Open WIndows Explorer / Computer [ WINKEY + E ]

Right mouse click on a drive and select Properties TAB

Click on DiskClean button

After it analyses, look at what is checked/unchecked and decide your selection. I always uncheck Cookies if it's checked since I'm not bothered about them, I need some for logging in and it's all I can do to get Norton to leave them alone <g>

With some troubleshooting going on I'd leave System Logs if that is checked and When In Doubt, Leave It Out .... More people get into trouble through tidying up Windows than do by leaving it alone!

Artfreak has a good point on checking startup [ msconfig ] and the amount of stuff HP loads (they are not alone) and if you find you need something you can always check it again since changing msconfig does not delete anything.

[delphinium Norton Fighter]

wmpnetwk.exe is Windows Media Player.  It seems to want to spend a great deal more time on the internet than I do.  I rarely use it as I prefer Winamp and have it blocked from accessing the net on my machine.  You may require it.

Some laptops are not set up well for cooling.  It may be that the length of time to run a full system scan generates enough heat to shut it down.  If you notice that the machine is getting hot, you may find that sitting it up on something to allow more airflow through the vents will allow it to complete a scan.  Defragging it can cause the same heating and crash if that is the issue.

Have a look in Windows event viewer under system and applications to see what warnings or errors are noted.

[donnier]

This suggestion from Hugh seems to have done the trick!  I had already done all the updates from HP (I thought) using the HP Advisor/HP Updater and had supposedly all the latest updates (wrong!).  Seeing your note, Hugh, I also checked and downloaded and installed that essential update via the link you posted.  I figured "what the heck; if it was an essential update that had already installed fine, but if not, then perhaps that was part of the problem".  Sure enough, after doing that everything now seems to have smoothed out and be working fine!  Somehow this essential update had not previously installed!  So now, after lots of other scanning I've ruled out virus/malware problems, and I've also greatly reduced the things starting up on the machine.  Things seem to be smooth now - hope it lasts!  Thanks, guys!  

[huwyngr Norton Fighter]

WOW! I'm glad that helped. Robots have their limitations ..... I'd check out the network updates too but maybe make a system image first if you have the utility to do that.

For the benefit of others here's the HP Description:

Released:  2011-01-21

Description:  This package installs Microsoft fixes and enhancements for the Microsoft Windows Operating Systems, as well as providing other fixes and enhancements that are specific to the supported notebook models. These fixes and enhancements are required to improve the performance of these notebook models.

It sounds to me like something that I remember not that long ago in Windows Updates --I remember one that referred to performance.

[donziehm]

Kill1, 2, 3, 3b-f, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 are all self-defense tests run by Matousec.com. All Matousec's test are available for public dissemination.

If they were left on a PC hard drive, many malware scanners could identify them as malware. All Matousec's tests exhibit live virus signatures and the like but have their delivery and payload mechanisms disabled. 

[huwyngr Norton Fighter]

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donziehm wrote:

Kill1, 2, 3, 3b-f, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 are all self-defense tests run by Matousec.com. All Matousec's test are available for public dissemination.

If they were left on a PC hard drive, many malware scanners could identify them as malware. All Matousec's tests exhibit live virus signatures and the like but have their delivery and payload mechanisms disabled. 

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Showing my ignorance here but what does this have to do with the OP's problem .... Does it relate in some way or is it in the wrong thread? If the latter we can get it moved, I think <g>