Realmon.exe

[Tote 9]

One other item that can improve your compurters performance is a good utility to keep your registry and mem. in good order & this you probably know.

I use " Tuneup Utilities " whitch continually optimizes mem. , searches for missing files needed by application & searches for invalid references in the
registry.

Between the 4--, Ad-Aware--Spybot Search & Destroy,--AVG AV- & Tune Utilities, my computer stays up & running as it should.

[lrb111]

I'm forced to use Win XP at work, on a computer with multiple users. The agency dictates MSIE for a browser (I don't care; I use Firefox anyway), so the computer frequently gets bombed with adware, spyware, virii, etc.

Firefox can be run from a USB thumb drive. It doesn't leave tracks for high strung IT managers to find.

The thumb drive version I use is mozilla's K-Meleon.

[Liberty]

I'm forced to use Win XP at work, on a computer with multiple users. The agency dictates MSIE for a browser (I don't care; I use Firefox anyway), so the computer frequently gets bombed with adware, spyware, virii, etc.

Firefox can be run from a USB thumb drive. It doesn't leave tracks for high strung IT managers to find.

The thumb drive version I use is mozilla's K-Meleon.

A full feature version of firefox along with other apps can be found at http://portableapps.com/

[lrb111]

I'm forced to use Win XP at work, on a computer with multiple users. The agency dictates MSIE for a browser (I don't care; I use Firefox anyway), so the computer frequently gets bombed with adware, spyware, virii, etc.

Adaware and Spybot S&D are good. I use them to clear out the crap that other users have unwittingly exposed us to.

Since I run MacOS X at home, I'm joyously free of worrying about that nonsense. I haven't run a virus program on my Macs since 1995, and haven't had a virus.

But as for "legitimate" apps hogging the CPU on XP boxes, my current nemesis is AdobeUpdater.exe. Calling our IT department for help is a fate worse than virii; their solution to everything is to format and re-do a base install. Ummm... thanks. But no.

I'm going to have to find this objectionable program and modify the name, because it keeps freezing my computer for minutes at a time, hogging 92%+ CPU. That's unacceptable, especially because it's a brand new version that doesn't need updating!

I googled the app name, so I have some hints about beating this one. But not until I go back to work, because this is my weekend!

Kevin

Kevin, if your work compuer will aloow you,,, hit 'run', enter msconfig.
Go to the last tab then disable the adobe updater there.
I took Adobe Reader off my machines and use Foxitreader. A free PDF reader. Light and no hog.

[KBCraig]

I'm forced to use Win XP at work, on a computer with multiple users. The agency dictates MSIE for a browser (I don't care; I use Firefox anyway), so the computer frequently gets bombed with adware, spyware, virii, etc.

Firefox can be run from a USB thumb drive. It doesn't leave tracks for high strung IT managers to find.

Oh, I'm aware of the portable versions. I just haven't had to go that route yet.

The truly laughable thing is that they say we're only supposed to use MSIE for "security reasons".

[JLaw]

I use " Tuneup Utilities " whitch continually optimizes mem. , searches for missing files needed by application & searches for invalid references in the
registry.

Okay, so disk defrag does not do this already? I've got more to learn than I thought!

JLaw

[lrb111]

I'm forced to use Win XP at work, on a computer with multiple users. The agency dictates MSIE for a browser (I don't care; I use Firefox anyway), so the computer frequently gets bombed with adware, spyware, virii, etc.

Firefox can be run from a USB thumb drive. It doesn't leave tracks for high strung IT managers to find.

The thumb drive version I use is mozilla's K-Meleon.

A full feature version of firefox along with other apps can be found at http://portableapps.com/

Cool, Thanks. My "life" is on my thumb drives.

[Mithras61]

I use " Tuneup Utilities " whitch continually optimizes mem. , searches for missing files needed by application & searches for invalid references in the
registry.

Okay, so disk defrag does not do this already? I've got more to learn than I thought!

JLaw

No, Disk Defrag simply takes the bits & pieces of the files that have been written separately and puts them together. You can think of it like having a stack of papers that you add info to the top and even when you go back and add info to one of the papers, the original paper stays where it was, but the new data is added to the top of the stack. Defrag simply takes all the related pieces and puts them together in the stack (in this example, the stack is your hard disk, and the data files are the pieces of paper).

There are a number of things you can do to improve the way your system works, including running anti-spyware (I agree that Ad-Aware & Spybot are good ones, but I also like Webroot SpySweeper even though it can be memory intensive since it prevents spyware from getting on your system) and running system tuning utilities (I prefer PC Pitstop's Optimize since it tunes memory usage, registry size and network performance in one app).

You should also consider a registry tuning tool (like PC Tools' Registry Mechanic or Norton's WinDoctor) that cleans the old garbage out of the registry and looks for broken entries in the registry that can cause your system to perform poorly or to be unstable.

[Liberty]

I'm forced to use Win XP at work, on a computer with multiple users. The agency dictates MSIE for a browser (I don't care; I use Firefox anyway), so the computer frequently gets bombed with adware, spyware, virii, etc.

Firefox can be run from a USB thumb drive. It doesn't leave tracks for high strung IT managers to find.

The thumb drive version I use is mozilla's K-Meleon.

A full feature version of firefox along with other apps can be found at http://portableapps.com/

Cool, Thanks. My "life" is on my thumb drives.

I wrote an article about all of this on our new company blog The blogs not much yet, because I've been on vacation, but there are a few links in the article that might be useful.

[Tote 9]

[
JLaw[/quote]

There are a number of things you can do to improve the way your system works, including running anti-spyware (I agree that Ad-Aware & Spybot are good ones, but I also like Webroot SpySweeper even though it can be memory intensive since it prevents spyware from getting on your system) and running system tuning utilities (I prefer PC Pitstop's Optimize since it tunes memory usage, registry size and network performance in one app).

You should also consider a registry tuning tool (like PC Tools' Registry Mechanic or Norton's WinDoctor) that cleans the old garbage out of the registry and looks for broken entries in the registry that can cause your system to perform poorly or to be unstable.[/quote]


Tote 9 writes


There are a lot of good utilities out there and C-NET rated SpySweeper at
the top, so I bought a CD and installed it on my
computer. It slowed my computer down nearly 1/2. I uninstalled it & my computer returned to
normal. And I have HS DSL. Maby it was a corrupt CD, I don't know.
I read later that it took too much mem. I still don't . I just know what
happened. Anyone wanting a free SpySweeper CD tell me & I'll send it to you.