Hi, I notice that my Firefox is taking longer time to load a page now comparing to the 1st day I have it installed.
Now it takes around 15seconds to load a 'reply' page to this forum, with all the icons slowly showing 1 by 1.

My task manager shows firefox using the most memory. Here's my task Manager's screenshot.



I noticed there's many svchost.exe here. Is it normal to have so many svchost running at the same time?
Is there any programs that are not suppose to run appeared here?
If not, how can I remove whatever that takes up so much memory?

Pls advice

Thanks;
-veronica yeoh-

Each instance of Svchost process [you see in Task Manager] launches a list of services. Multiple instances of Svchost.exe can run at the same time. Four or five instances of svchost.exe is normal.

Source: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/svchost.htm


Have you scanned your computer for malware?

Hi sq2, thanks for reply.

I've scanned my pc with few tools (AVG Antispy, Spybot SD, Ad-Aware, SUPERAnti Spy, Xoftspy SE)

There's no traces found. (Though SuperAntiSpy found 2 traces, I got it quarantined)

Im thinking of installing A-square tools, but dunno which one is antivirus & malware remover. I cant install another anti virus because it will clase with my AVG AntiVirus. Im confused by A2 Free & a2 AntiMalware.
I know I can have multiple spyware remover, but not antivirus. So which one shall I install?

I know you said, that FireFox is running slower than what it use to operate, but is your computer running slow too. Is Firefox the only application that is lagging?

Only Firefox. It's not very slow, but slower than usual.

Sorry for adding the a2 tools here. But I got some treads that Superantispy found which is not found by all my other anti-spywares. Thats why Im considering adding a2 free tools just to scan my comp if other tools missed some treads.

Btw, I've checked out the link u gave. Thanks for the useful informations sq2!

Hi Verons88

If you are interested in finding out more than your TaskManager will tell you, have a look at 'Whats Running' or 'Process Explorer". Another interesting one is 'SequoiaView' which will easily pinpoint space hoggers on your hard drive and is fun to use.

These, and 100s of other freebies, are found HERE. Have a browse and you will find just about anything you want.

AVG is a very good AntiVirus but if you want to try another one instead, I have found Avast to be very good - does its thing efficiently without bothering you too much.

WinPatrol is another which will give you heaps of info in one spot, and also keeps an eye on what is trying to get onto your startups etc, etc.

Have fun. Cheers

I have used many different adware/spyware applications before in the past, but I have always been happy with webroot's spysweeper. It seems to do a better job at finding those nasties than other ones. Anyways, I experienced a problem with Firefox when I had too many bookmarks ( I had tons of them ) and I noticed that Firefox slowed down a bit, but I don't know if having that many bookmarks was the problem or not. Eventually FireFox crashed one day and I lost all my bookmarks

Hi Thanks rowal5555. I'm checking out 'SequoiaView' now.
Meantime I still like my AVG antivirus very much, but one thing that bother me is that yesterday, my friend's pc was infected by virus, though she got AVG free installed. I knew abt the virus when I used my thumb on her machine to pass her some files. When I plug my thumb at my pc, my avg gives warning (Trojan horse generic 2), so I deleted the infected files right away. Now I feel a I need more than AVG for anti virus. I dunno how she can have trojan when she have avg free edition.

To sq2, Thanks for the sharing. I guess firefox loads slow is because I DO HAVE Lots Of Bookmarks, lol.
I just deleted some add-ons, and some 'not-really-needed' extentions. Now my firefox is a back to normal I guess. (Or maybe I expected too much from firefox) This should be the normal speed- open a new tab in 3secs.
Btw, may I know how your firefox crashed sq2? (so i can take precaution ) Oh, yes, regd webroot's - is it spy sweeper or spy audit? I couldn't spysweeper here in the link rowal5555 showed me.

Thanks!

I didn't know that Bookmarks made any difference in speed.
That's an interesting observation though. I have tons also.
Have to check into that.....Learn something new everyday

I received an error message while working on my site and all of sudden Firefox shut down. When I started the browser back up, I noticed all of my bookmarks gone. I was like... Fortunately, I had backed up my bookmarks, but it was an older backup and didn't include all of my bookmarks

Here is webroot's URL
http://www.webroot.com/

Thanks again sq2.

I also noticed that some of my spyware tools is actually performing a scheduled test while I was using firefox.
I didnt know it was scanning my comp at that time when I was too busy searching internet. Only after the scan finished and generated a report, then only I know my spyware tools has been running. That could be a contribution to the slow speed of my browser.

The differences can be seen here:

a2 Editions



That could be several things: the programs she does/does not have installed on her computer (firewall, av, etc..), her surfing habits, wether or not she opened a contaminated email, & others. If she would permit you to do so, compare the programs on her pc with the ones on your's & see if she has them (or similar ones). If not, offer to make suggestions as to what she may need to install & why. It would be a good learning experience for her, as well as yourself.

BTW: It would not be a bad idea for you to run an online scan every once in awhile on your computer just to get a "second opinion" about whether or not your pc is clean.

Try one of these: (using IE)

Windows Live OneCare (click Full Service Scan in the middle of the page)

Bitdefender Online Virus Scan (this takes awhile)

Trend Micro Housecall (can also be run using Firefox browser).

Thanks hillbillygreek.
At first my friend have no anti virus prog at all in her pc. She seldom surf, but always got infected from clients who used their thumb drive in her machine. I then saved my AVG free set up to my thumb drive and let her have it install. I also saved the updates files for her. AVG detected hundreds of worms & virus which is quarantined and deleted.

Then after 2 days, I went back to her and was surprised to see that she's still infected despite having AVG free edition and the latest updates.

I'm now copying all my spyware set up progs (Spybot SD, Spyware blaster, AVG antispy, Ad-Aware, Super Antispy) and will pass to her later in the afternoon. Im worried that the trojan in her pc has infected too deep inside and beyond healing.

Thanks for your online scanning tips, will do that as a extra protection for my pc.

OK. If that's the case she should register here, post a HJT log, & have someone look at it to help make sure that her computer is cleaned up. Have her go through the steps here:

Preparation Guide for HJT


A few other things for her to know:

1. Have her read the guidelines at the top of the page very carefully.

2. Wait for someone from the HJT team to reply. If she replies before they do, her log may get overlooked.

3. While working through the process with an HJT member, she should not make any changes to her system as it probably do more harm than good.

4.Tell her not to post more than one topic. Doing so would create a conflict & will not do her any good.



No problem. Glad I could be of some help.

Verons88,
Have you tried Pipelining Firefox?
That should increase your browsing speed.
Firefox Web Browser - Pipelining

tg1911 Thank you!

My browser speed has improved a lot.
May I know is there any 'minor negative side effect'? cos I've been editing the config.

This is great

To hillbillygreek, thank you very much for your help.
I'm yet to meet my friend, she's on holiday.
Will seek your help again once I got to her. Thank u very much

You're welcome, Verons88.
I've never had any problems from editing about:config, and I'm always changing things.
If an edit causes problems, go back and undo the edit.

You still might check to make sure your internet conection is set up to its maximum potential. It may just need a good Repair via Start->Control Panel-> Add Romove Programs->Find FireFox-> change Remove and repair it. Just to prenvent any further prolems

Thanks for the handy back up advice. Now I know what to do if things goes wrong.

you are all very talented!