Time for a new free virus scanner - advice?

[Valka]

BUncle, there are some ads you will have to specifically tell it to block.

Just make sure you don't accidentally do that to YouTube, or you won't be able to see embedded videos!

I actually see so few ads now, that it's a weird thing when they do appear. Once you get used to it, you'll wonder why you didn't install it years ago.

[Buster's Uncle]

My machine has had way, way too many sluggish days lately - time to go through Draz' advice and do what I can on the software end...  Half just bumping this thread to make it easy to find...

[E_T]

I use Avast for all my stuff, mobiles and desktops.  I have paid for the extra bells and whistles, which is not much.  But the free part is very good...

[Buster's Uncle]

...I definitely need to work up to looking into Avast...

[Valka]

Avast can sometimes throw fits about a site and insist that it's infested with Something Terrible, but it won't be true.

I use Norton (paid version). I use Malwarebytes on occasion, and in the past have used Avast and AVG (I hate AVG; when it works, it's great, but when it doesn't work it's a pain, and their customer service is awful).

Is your ABP working better now? I honestly couldn't do without that, and Ghostery is a nice thing to have as well.

[Buster's Uncle]

It doesn't block all that many ads, and I suspect it's causing some of the performance problems - hard to say, as it's increasingly everywhere has video ads that clearly jam up a machine that was bottom of the line five years ago.  There's some appearance that perhaps a majority of ads have a way to defeat it, eating up a lot of processor cycles I can't afford to spare.  Computer years pass way too fast, let me tell you.

[ColdWizard]

Adblock Plus lets places pay them to let their ads show. I use ublock origin.

[Valka]

I think Firefox has something that can deal with video ads. Or you could try Ghostery; they've upgraded and added a humungous amount of new things.

Hmm - here's one that might work:

Ad Killer

An easy-to-use tool to permanently ban specific annoying ads from your web experience. No typing required - just point and click.The Firefox Ad Killer gives you thumbs-up and thumbs-down icons on all kinds of banner ads, so you can target the annoying ones and prevent them from being displayed. We hope one day to use this feedback to punish bad advertisers (the ones who are basically spamming you annoyance) and reward advertisers that actually provide good content, but in the meantime, it just blocks the bad ones.

To use, just move your mouse over any banner ad. You should see a small "AdKiller" bar, where you can choose ThumbsUp or ThumbsDown. ThumbsDown will make that particular ad not appear in your browser anymore. Works with image, animated, and Flash-based ads.

If you kill an ad by mistake, and want to get it back, just click in the blank space where the ad used to be. You'll be prompted to get it back.

Please post positive or negative reviews - we love feedback.

Ad Killer tries to automatically recognize ads and give you the option to give feedback, but it's not yet 100% accurate. If you encounter an ad that Ad Killer doesn't recognize, please let us know. Be sure to include the URL of the page.

I haven't tried it myself, so I can't offer any opinions on it. But it might work.

[Buster's Uncle]

I think the first thing I need is to do all the tedious stuff Draz talked about on the first page, mostly clean out my start menu.  -Worry about virus scanners and blocking ads when that's attended to - I have the most problems with those things when basic performance was already sluggish.

[E_T]

How much memory (RAM and what is the max) and HDD space do you have?  When was the last time you did a disk check and defrag?  Are you running a RAID setup and if so, is one of the disks going bad?  How many search bars have you added to your basic browser?  Has your boot up (or restart) time gotten significantly longer over time or stayed the same?  Have you looked at possibly getting a SSD (Solid State drive, very fast and big)?  How much does your HDD light stay flashing while doing things?

How many windows/tabs do you have open?

All things that have effects or ways to help with slowdowns.

[Buster's Uncle]

I answered some of that on page one a long time ago.

-I haven't done a defrag and scan in several months, so good catch there and let's see if I can't get a defrag out of the way tonight, and start a scan when I go to bed...

[E_T]

Ok, so you likely still have a wonky fan that is on a rubbish CPU chip that might have a 2nd core that you could easily unlock and use, if it is available to be unlocked.  Have 3.0GB (assuming that is your RAM) out of a maximum of unknown on a Mainboard that is also of unknown make and type (which will allow you to know things like what is the best CPU and Memory that can be installed on it).  I likely also has a HD(s) of a size that has been filled to some percentage of total capacity (I am guessing at greater than 85%, or very near to that mark) and a defrag is listed as requiring a full day to do or is showing less, but will actually take that long to do...

Fans are cheep compaired to replacing a burned out Chip and sometimes, chips that have been heat stressed and are starting to go sometimes also slow down (or thermal  protection is automatically clocking them down).  If your MB can take 8GB of RAM (of whatever max speed and timings) then get a matched set of Sticks and replace the uneven set you have (Likely one 2 and one 1 stick of memory).  Granted, memory IS getting cheeper, but as the MB sounds like is a much older one, the RAM for it might be out of production and as stocks deplete, be getting more expensive.  As for the chip, first match socket and then the max speed that the MB can handle.  Also be sure that the  Power Supply will be able to give the upgraded chip the watts it will need, too (should be good, but might be less due to the one core and slower speed of the chip).

Look at what you have, then what you will need in the future.  Might be better to get a newer rig (not brand new, but something that is at least dual core, if not quad, that Win7 or 10 can make great use of for all your stuff.

[E_T]

http://accurateit.com/computers

Check this site often, as they get different stuff all the time.  And those are somewhat upgradable, with more memory, But 4GB is a factory matched set and they come with Win7 Pro 64 (and associated product key) for a separate machine.  Network in your older machine for remote storage and your cooking with gas....

[E_T]

D@mn, I hate losing a large post to a miskey...

The most import thing is, what do you want and need your machine to do over the next 2 to 6 years? 

Goes back to the one question I had, which delt with browser windows and tabs open.  Then. I also know your doing photo processing, both still and video at same time.  Any word processing or some other main program do you have running at the same time?  And that is now, not next year or one after, when those programs are also upgraded or a better version installed??

Do you use duel monitors?

These are the real questions you should be asking and examinig closely....

[Buster's Uncle]

I keep AC2, Facebook and my Yahoo email open at all times, with a forth for this and that most of the time - I try not to go over that, 'cause I already knew it was a bad idea.  went through a lot of cat pictures in GIMP yesterday, not so much with videos.

I've run a scandisk, and of course the turkey effectively doesn't report unless you happen to be there when it finishes - things seem smoother so far.  Defrag seemed to be locking up and non-functional, so I gave up, bed looming.  Will report back later.

Let me catch up with Draz' advice to try from last year - overwhelming me doesn't help, thanks.  I feel like a knicklehead not to have run a scan and defrag two weeks ago.