Can too much protection slow a computer down?

[Pool Hall Ace]

After downloading the latest edition of Spyware Blaster, I noticed my cursor freezing a lot, and my clock seemed to always be off. I ran Ad Aware, Spybot S&D, and PestPatrol and didn't turn up any cooties.

I turned off the Active Protection in PestPatrol. Of course, I got a warning message suggesting that that was not a good idea and my computer would now be vulnerable, but I figured Spyware Blaster would cover me. Then I rebooted.

I seem to be moving along okay now, but I know that correlation is not causation. Could it have been the PestPatrol that was slowing me down?

[hobbit709]

1. Probably one of the processes

was bogging down. What system are you using? when was the last time you did a disk clean-up and a defrag? Stay off the internet and shut down various items one at a time and see if performance speeds up. I set my computer to only have my protections enabled and everything else off unless I'm using it-like printers, scanners, etc.

[Pool Hall Ace]

2. I'm running Windows 98se

(I know.... :spank:)

It has been a while since I have defragged. Even if I disable the NIC first and walk away from the computer, something happens and the defrag restarts. x(

[hobbit709]

3. Win98 never

really deletes old files, it just hides them. To really get rid of all the junk files, do this.

On boot-up hit F8-You have to do this at boot- it won't work if you Exit to DOS
Choose the Command prompt option
At the C: prompt
Type SMARTDRV - Hit Enter
Then CD WINDOWS -" "
Type DELTREE /Y COOKIES - Hit Enter(Forward slash on the Y)
DELTREE /Y HISTORY - " "
DELTREE /Y TEMP " "
DELTREE /Y TEMPOR~1 " "
The last two commands may take a while
When you're back at at the c:prompt reboot
To run defrag without it constantly restarting
Do the 3-finger salute(Ctrl,Alt,Delete)
When the Task Manager Window pops up
End all tasks except Explorer and Systray

When done, reboot the system-it should work a whole bunch faster.

[Pool Hall Ace]

4. Either "too many parameters" or "invalid directory"

I'm getting either "too many parameters" or "invalid directory" when I type CD WINDOWS -" " (depending on where I put the spaces).

What am I doing wrong? :-(

[hobbit709]

5. At the C: prompt

should be CD (space) Windows

[Pool Hall Ace]

6. Oh. What about the dash and the quotation marks?

[hobbit709]

7. Don't use them

Ijust meant hit enter after each command

[Pool Hall Ace]

8. Sorry to be dense. I realize now those marks just meant ditto.

I followed your instructions and hopefully I will be running faster now. Thank you! :hi: