Computer Problems and\or Advice 2008 to 2011

[Maggi Young]

At least if you think you've turned them on, the above will let you turn them off.

 HaHa! Thanks, David.... need all the help I can get! 

[Maggi Young]

Okay, minor probs now.... font has changed in email display, not in messages but in the lists and lefthand side menu of folders! Also, the mainimise/maximise/ close (X) buttons at the top of each page has shrunk! Help again, please!!

[David Pilling]

Well if the changes are just to your email program look to the configuration for it. If they're general then it sounds like a right click on desktop background->properties->appearance job.

Depends what set it off, sometimes a shutdown, power on, fixes things like this.

[Maggi Young]

Well, David, your "right click on desktop background->properties->appearance job." sorted that just fine..... though in the meantime, with my previous posts the delay gremlin is back!

[Martin Baxendale]

Maggi, is another memory-hungry programme running in the background? Perhaps your antivirus is running automatic scans while you're trying to type. If you're short of memory that can use up fast what little memory you have available. You could try checking the settings in your antivirus programme for task scheduling to see if it's set to automatic scans and if it is then switch to manual scans and choose for yourself when and how often to do quick scans.

[Maggi Young]

All good advice, Martin, thanks. All these techy things are a real pain to me!

[Martin Baxendale]

I found when writing that sometimes I got delays in characters appearing and it stopped when I realised Norton Antivirus was running full system scans automatically. I'd previously set it to manual scans but somehow it switched itself back to automatic, probably during an update. I set it back to manual scans and the problem went away. There's no need to do full system scans regularly unless your web surfing is especially risky (Russian porn sites etc). Quick scans are enough most of the time.

[Ragged Robin]

Maggi,

It seems from reading on the Web that if you have held the shift key down for too long whilst typing it can cause a delay in keystroke - this can be corrected by holding down both shift keys - right and left - simultaneously for a while....hope things are improving for you on the computer front.

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Robin, I'll try that. Problem is as bad as ever again so I'm keen to try more remedies!


I've had a clearout of the temporary internet files too, that often clogs things up.           

[Carol Shaw]

This is David, not Carol. No problem with the WiFi but last night I was invited to purchase 'Security Tool'. This is a malicious program that blocks just about anything on your computer. I did NOT download it but I have a visit to the computer doctor this afternoon!!!

[David Pilling]

If you think the problem is something else using all your processor power e.g. virus checker, right click on the task bar, task manager, performance shows how much is being used.

It also shows if real memory is exhausted and disc is being used instead which is slow (page file usage).

[mark smyth]

What's a task bar 

[David Pilling]

"task bar" is the strip usually along the bottom with the Start button at one end and the little icons at the other, with icons for each open window in the middle.

...and when you click on the task bar to get the task manager, don't click over an icon.

[Maggi Young]

David, I think I need you to make a House Call!!     
What is CPU?  Physical Memory..........Kernel Memory....
Commit Charge?   

[David Pilling]

CPU - central processor unit, in the task manager it shows how much of the computing power of your PC is in use.

If 0% is in use then there's plenty left for doing things, if 100% is in use then there's none left and anything extra you do will be slow. The 'processes' tab shows you which things are actually using up processing time.

As to memory just stick to the graph and see if it gets off the bottom, don't get into the jargon.

A glance at the task manager shows you if the computer is running slow due to something using all the processing power - if that is the case you read off the name of culprit from the proceeses tab and do something about it. If there's lot of processing power left then you move on to other potential causes.