Let's see if I can provide one or two answers for you. First the machine is only 4 years old so there should be lots of life left unless you are a big time gamer.

At that age spending money on it is throwing money away, they can do little for you except deplete your bank account. You probably do not want that to happen.

As you back up so often there is precious little personal data you can lose. So your concern might be with the installed programs, do you have the CD or DVD for each of these in case you need to suddenly find yourself buying a new computer?

Maintenance. Have you ever removed the side panel to check for dust bunnies? As the fans pull the air in to cool the components, particularly the CPU it also brings along a certain amount of dust. More if the computer sits on the floor. As you are a "gardening grannie" you are comfortable with tools so perhaps you can disconnect the computer and remove a side panel to check, if it is dusty then you can buy a can of compressed air to blow the stuff out. Do this outdoors so you do not blow the dust all over the house. If you are not comfortable then perhaps use the "grannie" portion of your handle and grab a grandchild to do this for you.

Do you use something like Ccleaner to occasionally clean out the accumulated files no longer necessary? This could be followed by doing a disk defrag and you are all set.

Only you can answer your question about swapping to a Mac, there will be a learning curve but probably not rocket science. Also not too many programs are free for those I believe.

I've been dealing with the learning curve over the past couple years. It started with a Mac Book Pro, then through several tablets and a couple cell phones. If your computer is a XP or Vista machine and you upgrade to Win7 you'll probably find the upgrade pretty easy. I tried Win8 on a couple devices (RT and Pro) and wasn't very impressed. Apple OS led me to get a book about switching to Apple and it helped a lot. The Mac Book Pro seemed very slow, so I'm back to Win7. On the tablet front I've tried Android (and Win8 RT) on several tablets and phones. They all suffer from a lack of instructions included in the box. Simple things (to me) got very time consuming to figure out. Also, with a few exceptions, tablets and phones don't multitask like Windows, so you have to get used to not having that feature.I think I will always miss the forward and back buttons like windows has... Searching android forums and online instruction manuals has been ridiculously time consuming at times. But I decided to hang in there and learn basic android. I also like the Google wallet system, though I don't use it much. I found that with Android, at least for the problems I had, many times I would call tech support by the maker, and also the Best Buy Geek Squad, and the device was so new that the tech people didn't know the answer either.
If you decide to get Apple, I'd suggest the air because it's solid state drive will be fast, and get an instruction book too. Android for Dummies has been a big help (the Samsung instruction pdf for the Note on their website is huge and a brain burner).
Lastly, I want to be up front that with Android I had several problems that would probably affect very few other people. For example, my email address has 2 underscore symbols in it and I couldn't figure out how to enter it on the 1st android device I had. Another was my password that contains underscore, letters, and numbers - I couldn't enter it on the lock screen on my android tablet because the keypad doesn't have all the characters. Now that I'm past the initial glitches the learning curve isn't so bad. Hope that helps.

Other than death and politicians taking more money out of your wallet so they can waste it, there is no certainty here. A system is like your vehicles at home sans an odometer to count down until Armageddon. What we do as users is the same as we should be doing to our vehicles. We treat them with respect due to their value, both actual and intrinsic, and "maintain" them.

For what it is worth, this Vista system I am on is almost six years old and purrs like a kitten in general, and roars like a lion when needed. Though I am planning to soon buy a mid-level W8 laptop as a toy to tinker with, in actuality I can't see a W7 or W8 system doing any better for my needs than what I am pushing right now. "Knock on wood".

I like everything O reports so for me to add anything more would just be a "me too" or cloud the concern.

DA

Thanks owbist ~ very helpful. The handel 'grannie' is actually 'annie', but that doesn't make crawling around under the desk to check for PC-sucked dust bunnies any easier ! Good thought of cleaning as I've never actually used the canned air before.

Also re: Ccleaner ~ took a few minutes to see what CNET thought and am quite impressed with what I read. Now it's a matter of getting up the nerve to assume I know what things to check and uncheck when prompted by Ccleaner. Sounds like it's definitely needed even though I defrag and delete cookies, etc. pretty regularly, I'm sure there is a bunch of stuff on there I don't need and didn't even know was there. Guess I fear clicking a box that could potentially delete something important because I don't know better or understand what it is and not know how to correct the problem. Thoughts?

To damccoy ~ nice follow up to owbist's comments. I think I feel I'm headed in the right direction. Thanks.

Annie, do not change any of the default settings if you decide to use Ccleaner. It is a great program used just the way it gets installed but playing with settings can lead to problems.

It has been around for probably 3 years now without any major issues being levelled against it and was originally called Crap Cleaner. But I suspect the amazing acceptance of it caused them to change the name to appear a little more professional.

O,

You want to live a case of "time flying by"? Check the release date on the link below. I thought it was a little longer than three years, but never what this shows.

DA

Here is a link that might be useful: Filehippo

LOL, thanks for the heads up DA, guess I am getting older faster than I thought. Amazing.

Hi, Annie.

If you are keeping cookie files regularly cleaned and are a bit concerned about the extra options for CCleaner, you may want to consider TFC -- Temp File Cleaner.

You can read my standard instructions as well as additional information about TFC in the linked "test forum" post below.

Here is a link that might be useful: TFC (Temp File Cleaner) Info

Daughter just stopped in, checked my task manager and said that even though the CPU usage flucuates from 0 to 6%, the 'processes' # was 83. She said there is no way this number should be this high.

The culprits appear to be explorerer.exe windows at 17,000 K, iexplorerer.exe internet at 72,44 K and WinMail.exe at 17,756 K. What does all this mean and what, if anything can i or should I do about it???

Some thoughts on what different people have said:

-Fearing a gadget's demise is like fearing the sun going down every day. It happens, it's normal, it's no big deal. You have important files backed up, so other than perhaps some inconvenience until you get the replacement set up, there should be no other consequence. If you need to save up for a replacement, do so. All PCs die.

-Unless you're doing high value WORK, daily backups are unnecessary. Like starting your car 15 minutes before you plan to leave the house, to "let it warm up".

Hopefully you're doing just incremental backup (only changed files get copied). Either way, that's avoidable wear and tear. Weekly backups are even excessive for most casual PC users. A better practice is to do a backup only when you add something important for which there's not another copy, like taking photos off your camera and erasing its memory. Otherwise, what is it that you think you need to protect?

-Paying for "support" strikes me as unnecessary if your PC is working ok. (You don't pay a plumber to answer questions and review your pipes if everything works and nothing's leaking). If you have questions or want to learn more, get a "Dummies" book, find a neighbor, find a kid, join a PC club or take a class.

-Having user names, email names, and passwords with non-standard characters (like underlines) is REALLY a dumb idea. You cause yourself unnecessary complications. Personally, I make a point of not emailing people with overly cryptic email names. My feeling is - you're welcome to struggle with making your own tasks overly complex, but you won't drag me into that abyss.

Think of an email name as being completely open to the public. Whether you make it Johnsmith or XXyxx9997#_)*& doesn't make a bit of a difference. For passwords, I think the best approach is to use words that aren't in a dictionary and sprinkle in a number. Think about AMrdy2fgt or Medogpooopsgrn22. With that, most people will never have their accounts broken into. And if you do, guess what - you change your account as required and move on. It's rarely a life shattering event, unless you make it one by being overly dramatic about it.

Don't worry, be happy.

About email addresses and passwords with symbols, letters, and numbers...If you ever had your identity stolen as I did you'd use them too. I never want to go through that again. Also, an email address with symbols and numbers cuts down the spam because the net bots don't seem to recognize certain symbols and consequently doesn't recognize your email as an address. What's dumb is not keeping your email account and other online accounts secure.

Obviously we all have our preferences for what ever reason.

Myself I have 4 easily remembered email addresses with hopefully difficult passwords. As Snidley notes, who wants to try typing a difficult one and who opens emails with weird names if they are unsure who they belong to? If I do not recognise the sender it gets deleted unopened.

I have 3 easily remembered email addresses, several online shopping and banking accounts too, and hopefully very difficult passwords. Wednesday a computer tablet was stolen out of my car. So far all the accounts have stayed secure. To each their own, but I won't be taking any chances if I can help it. As for weird email addresses, most email address headers have the senders name in addition to the email address. My first thought was I would have missed my Doctor's email this week if it had only his address and no name because I wouldn't have recognized the address. If you delete things you don't recognize you might miss something you need. I scan with antivirus first if I'm not sure. It usually only takes a fraction of a second.

Hald, I'm sorry you had an identity theft experience. Please share more details about what happened to you as a result of having a plain language email address.

Most email services have excellent spam filters. I never get spam in my Yahoo or Gmail inboxes. Anyone who has a spam problem should consider using a different provider, they are free after all.

It happened back in the 1990's and I don't know how it happened. I thought the email address and passwords were secure, but they weren't. And it was back in the day when police wouldn't even take a report. I learned how different bank and credit card companies deal with such problems, and I was astonished by how much the thieves were able to spend. In less than 24 hours it was over $200K. They were online gambling, sending gifts to friends in other countries, you name it. I only found out when my bank called me. I wasn't out any money, though, because of the laws at the time. It took several weeks to fix all the problems it created. Even now I encounter problems with one of the credit reporting agencies because of it, and also with a cell phone company. They seem to keep the fraud alert active forever. Anyway, it's all off subject. My motto is just better safe than sorry, so whatever email and passwords you use try to be as secure as possible.

One last tip - I started using a little book to keep track of passwords and stuff related to computers and being online. It's saved me several times. For example, once a few years ago I bought a laptop as a xmas gift and when my niece received it in the mail it was configured with a password that I had used on a different device from the same company. The company said they always did that. The same thing happened last year when I bought a tablet from Amazon as a gift for a friend's birthday. In the first case I never would have remembered that password without the little book I keep. With Amazon I understand why they did it. I didn't know there was a box I was supposed to check to indicate the tablet was a gift. You just can't know everything, so I try to keep track...

I can imagine the aggravation you had. I'm glad you had only a brief inconvenience and no financial loss. That to me is the moral of the story, which I think is different from your view.

How did access to your email accounts lead to access to bank and credit card accounts? That part has me scratching my head.

Police reports are like getting a sick slip from the school nurse. It may make you feel better but it doesn't accomplish anything. (Though sometimes an insurer will ask for one, lord knows why)

PS, my view is that one should NEVER have a seller configure any device with a password. I'm surprised to hear of this from such a good company as Amazon. The benefit is zero and the risk of a problem or inconvenience, which is very small but one you experienced, isn't worth taking.

Another PS - your niece is very lucky to have such a generous aunt.

Re: Back to my post of today at 15:43, did anyone have any thoughts on the super high usage numbers I found in my Task Manager?

I just checked my processes, and I have 53 running. This does vary from time to time. However, I have no idea about the high numbers for various processes. I do believe if you will use CCleaner, this will help quite a bit. I use only the first two features (Cleaner and Registry). I do not change any of the default settings and I always keep a backup of the Registry before running that portion.

Did some Googling and here is one link that might answer your question.

I personally do a monthly backup of the entire "C" drive, after I have installed the MS updates, run checks for malware and viruses, used CCleaner, and defragged. Then I use a free program, EaseUS Todo, to clone the entire drive, including the operating system. This way, should my hard drive die or any other major catastrophe occur, I can restore my computer to the condition of the latest backup. It has saved my hide twice. But I do agree, unless you are a business, you do not need daily backups.

Here is a link that might be useful: Why high CPU usage?

OK, Hijacker Snidely reporting for duty, ready to act responsibly.

My PC currently shows 84 active processes and High CPU usage is typically caused by one or more processor intensive tasks at the same time - for me, it could be an antivirus scan, encoding audio or video files or other "data" intensive things at once. It can also indicate an underpowered PC (CPU or RAM-wise) struggling to complete tasks, or also some kind of malware being very busy.

There are no culprits on your list, programs take what they take. Sluggish performance when coupled with high disk activity or CPU use (when not much is happening) can suggest the need to look further. From your description I see no cause for concern.

Great response, Hijacker Snidely ! Sure wish I knew why iexplorer.exe would be using over 74,000 K with nothing open or apparently going on. geeeesh.

Try running Internet Explorer in "No Add ons" mode, see if the memory usage drops.

Here is a link that might be useful: no-add-ons-mode

you have not mentioned what security programs you have on the pc could you please tell that information.
When is the last time you ran an updated full scan with malwarebytes and superantispyware? If not recently would definitely do that, malware can certainly cause slow down and conflicts.
As mentioned,
I would definitely also take the side off the tower and clean it out really good it is amazing how much dirt and dust collect there especially if you keep it on the floor, never advise keeping the tower on the floor, put it up on the desktop or up on some kind of riser. It makes a lot of difference.

If you google how to clean inside of computer you will find good tutorials with pictures and videos.

Some applications and programs are bad about releasing resources when they are shut down so rebooting oftentimes will help those high numbers drop back down and force release.

If you can tell how much RAM memory you have and hard drive info could be important in determining what you can do to extend the use of this pc.

I personally would not be paying any money. There's lots of great help in forums like this to help for free.
Don't hesitate to come ask!

I have computers much much older than 4 yrs and going strong with regular maintenance and cleaning both internal and external. I have personally never had a pc die, I just wanted to move up. I have had one really old poor quality hard drive go bad but that was back in the '90s.Not saying it doesn't happen, you can get one dead on arrival, but don't just assume it will happen.

And very important do not use registry cleaners! or any programs you are not sure about without asking us. There are some really bad ones out there trying to sound like a legit program.

Ravencajun: as always, you and others have come to the rescue. My pc wasn't running all that slow, it's just that I needed to make sure I was taking care of maintenance and cleaning up where possible. Didn't know where to start and in comes my gardenweb family to the rescue !

Per your questions: RAM-2GB, Cdrve - 144GB free space and 222 of total space. Run AVG2012 full scan daily. Tower sits inside bottom area of desk, but still a 'dust trap' under there. Usually clean out couple of times a year, but have never removed the side of tower. Will review how-to and do tomorrow for sure.

Does this help give you a better picture? Many thanks !

Just a question from an observer trying to learn a thing or two myself:

Up above you called the process iexplorerer.exe which I assumed was a typo. But then in your last post you called it iexplorer.exe.

Is it really iexplore.exe? Without the "r"?

The reason I ask is because I have no iexplorer.exe on my XP or 7. My Internet Explorer is "iexplore.exe". I would be afraid iexplorer.exe might possibly be something bad, especially if it runs in the background.

I'm not an expert, just curious. Someone else will know.

Edit: Make that "without the second "r". :)

This post was edited by chuggerguy on Sat, Jan 5, 13 at 22:57

Chuggerguy: You are so right; my mistake ! When I checked task manager again for the spelling, I notices that even with all windows closed (nothing apparently running), there were 3 iexplore.exe running at 52,368, 122,660 and 615,440 !!! How can this be and what the heck is going on? Hope someone out there knows, 'cause I've been searching and can't find a thing.

Thanks for clearing up my confusion. Personally, I don't know why there's even one iexplore.exe process when you don't even have Internet Explorer open. A wild guess would be your mail program if it's Microsoft, or MSN Messenger but that's just a wild guess and probably wrong.

Good luck and thanks.

Edit: Another guess, possibly not quite so wild, maybe it's downloading updates in the background?

This post was edited by chuggerguy on Sat, Jan 5, 13 at 23:51

fwiw

I have just this one IE open I'm here with, with two tabs total and show three in taskmanager... but not that many bytes.. hmm

It's by design with IE8, not sure about 9 0r 10.

One process is for the program and one is for the tab loaded. This has to with the tab recovery feature they added which prevents the whole app from crashing based on one page allowing you to continue to use the other tabs.

I get two in XP with IE8 open. None with it closed though.

Multiple instances seems to be normal starting in IE8: http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/multiple-instances-of-iexploreexe-run-when-using-internet-explorer-8/

I see you're running IE10, so I assume it's normal for IE9 too?

Interesting though.

Edit: Oops, I'm slow... but I'll go ahead and post it anyway. :)

Annie..I dont see it mentioned and thought maybe I should throw this in as to make certain you are aware..some people wouldnt be I suppose..when cleaning out the dust bunnies in the tower, make sure it is powered off and unplugged...

If no one ever made a crime report:

1. There is no crime unless it is alleged to have occurred.
2. No one would ever get caught and punished.
3. No activity patterns and intelligence would be developed to assist law enforcement.
4. They are used as barriers in deterring false claims. You can't prosecute anyone for fraud if there is not a false insurance claim or a false crime report.

DA

Annie, when you said, "I notices that even with all windows closed (nothing apparently running), there were 3 iexplore.exe running at 52,368, 122,660 and 615,440", was Internet Explorer also closed?

If IE was NOT closed and you're seeing iexplore.exe, what is the description? If it does NOT say Internet Explorer, further analysis is seriously needed. Otherwise, that does appear to be fairly high usage -- the 52,368 being more than double what I'm seeing on any instances of iexplore.exe.

Have you tried to run Internet Explorer with no add-ons as zep516 suggested above?

That is what I was thinking too Corrine, why I asked her about malwarebytes scan. So often those look alike processes are not what they seem to be! I really would suggest again those scans, sure can't hurt.
To get the programs you want with out any of the junk addons like toolbars use ninite, you can get malwarebytes free and superantispyware free both there under security section.

Here is a link that might be useful: ninite

DA,

Maybe it's different where you live, but in a lot of places, there's a lot of "crime" that isn't investigated and a lot of laws that aren't enforced. Most law enforcement agencies struggle with limited resources and so they need to pick and choose their spots. Much goes untouched. For a lot of stuff, especially petty theft, you can go tell them if it makes you feel better, but why bother?

True identity theft - I doubt any police department would care. They leave it to the financial institutions to handle it. Besides, as I've said before, the victim is the financial institution, not the individual, BECAUSE THE INDIVIDUAL USUALLY HAS LITTLE OR NO RISK OF LOSS IN SUCH CASES. As was the case for this person. Which is why all the paranoia surrounding this topic strikes me as wasted effort. Many things can cause some inconvenience in life and few can be avoided, but nothing elicits the fear and paranoia like computers and the internet do.

I guess it's easier for a lot of people to be fearful than to be thoughtful and informed.

I know much more on the subject, but unfortunately I am not permitted to share anything further so I must stop here. This is not a new limitation as I have had to politely bow out from certain topic conversations since I arrived here.

DA

This post was edited by damccoy on Mon, Jan 7, 13 at 7:46

Sorry ~ Annie missing in action ~ finally back and checking in:

Owbist: Boned up on 'how to clean a PC tower' and now feel timid about tackling it due to dangers of damage due to static electicity and blowing dirt into some major component . . .sigh . . .If I turn off, unplug, press button to discharge static, remove cover and carefully spray am I ok. Many suggest doing this outside due to freon gas and dust, but not an option at 35 degrees. Thought canned air was just that, not freon!

Obist & Ravencajun: I'm to use Ccleaner ~ don't change default settings, just run cleaner (hearing I shouldn't use registry cleaner) ~ is that right?

Ravencajun: You had mentioned running malwarebytes and superantispyware scans. Are these both to be found under the security section of Nitite?

I don't even know what I just asked. I've never just 'run a scan'except for my daily AVG2012 which works on it's on. Feels like risky business only because it's something new. To you 'PC saavy souls', I'm sure it's a walk in the park, but for me it feels more like a walk off a plank !

If I can get go ahead on these questions, I think I'm good.
Thanks, guys !

Ooops ~ I know it's NINITE.

Also forgot to say that I never run add ons. A box appears at the bottom of a page asking if I want to click on to run, but never do.

yes as I said scroll down to the security section on the page I linked to, select malwarebytes, click down at the bottom of the page get the installer, download and install malwarebytes, once you have it on your pc double click on it on it, once it installs, open the program, have it check for updates, then choose to run the full scan. come ask if you have questions. It is easy to do just take one step at a time

yes as I said scroll down to the security section on the page I linked to, select malwarebytes, click down at the bottom of the page get the installer, download and install malwarebytes, once you have it on your pc double click on it on it, once it installs, open the program, have it check for updates, then choose to run the full scan. come ask if you have questions. It is easy to do just take one step at a time

Annie you will not damage stuff in there while blowing out the dust it is all sturdy bits and pieces really. You'll see the main board with wires, capacitors and other weird looking bits and they are all firmly attached. Take the side off and look then decide. The only thing I would add is to hold you finger on the fan as you blow the air so it does not spin wildly (if it is visible, some are in an enclosure)

As Gene noted above, be sure the computer is off and remove the power plug from the tower.

Ccleaner, start the program and run the very first page you see, nothing more to it than that. An entirely safe and excellent program used just the way it is.

PROGESS ! Ok, have run Malwarebyte - 0 threats detected. Ran Superspyware scan and found 231 seemingly harmless adware tracking cookies and 1 critical threat. Seems a Rogue.agent was lurking. I quarantined and removed all 232 and rebooted. YEA me !

Next, I was going to run the Ccleaner, but had questions (of course), so I'm back to ask: At the bottom of the cleaner page are two options ~ 1 says ANALYZE the second says RUN CLEANER. When I clicked on the latter I warned me that a ton of stuff was about to be pushed of a cliff, so I left it and clicked on ANALYZE.

From there, I saw a list of just what was about to be deleted and thus my concern and question: Is it really alright to delete the following:

159 files - windows explorer - recent documents
16,017 files - temporary internet
8,826 files - System temporary
50 files - applications - office 2007
48 files - applications - office xp
513 files - utilities - AVG 2012

Some other things seemed to be pretty huge, but with few files (Windows Explorer Thumbnail Cache - 1,794,021,021 KB -5 files).

I'm sure this all seems like small potatoes to you guys, but because I don't understand a lot of what I'm seeing and am just learning what to clean up on my PC,these choices seem daunting. Will put off the Cclean until I get the go ahead. Many thanks. I'm truly beginning to feel empowered !

Click Run and let her rip. It will probably run for a little bit. After its all done, and you have finished your champagne, let us know as we might want to look at the application tab on CC. But that is for another day.

Ready? Set? Go!

DA

Then hit ANALYZE again, and RunCleaner again, keep doing that until it says 0 Bytes, close your browser windows also, just have CC open.