" I am at the moment not experiencing any delay in the typing response/display."

Maybe the issue only happens when Avira does a background scan.

Thanks, to see I turned on the Avira scan using the "on demand" and took a look/watch using the Task Manager and found the CPU was used mostly less than 60% and the memory less than 40%... and right now I am typing in the Comphelp editor and do not see any troublesome typing display delay.

Must be something else, or something else in combination with the Avira scan (luke filewalker)

I posted then went back and looked at the Task Manager and saw CPU usage up to 99% and found the Firefox 32 bit (is there a 64 bit, that's what my processor is), and the Adobe Flash player using big chunks.. yet typing right now, no troublesome delay noted.

Could be something else.

If you want I'll take a complete look, but I need badly to see log files so I can get some logical idea of what could be taking place. Unfortunately this forum rejects most of the log files.

If you want sign up and join here,

http://www.help2go.com/forum.php

Start a topic in the computer help forum. We can run a few in- depth scans.

Most of the time, from what I've seen, major slowdowns are for lack of memory, too many browser addons and extensions, or too many windows & tabs open.

Firefox is known for memory leaks, meaning it uses memory but doesn't release it while running.
So you have to close it once in a while and restart it - so far there really isn't any way around that despite some improvements and addons created to fix the problem.

I've seen certain sites cause browser stalls, but rarely, and scans can also cause this as well.

Task Manager really doesn't show everything that's running.
A better choice would be the free Starter program from Codestuff.

http://codestuff.obninsk.ru/products_starter.html

There are other programs that will show even more, but usually Starter is enough.

Task Manager is good for keeping an eye on cpu and memory usage, especially when you click on the respective columns to order them.

Well my relatively new ( 1 year old) has a meager 4 GB of "RAM", ha, I remember 8 bit procressing with 64KB of RAM and a floppy for storage..

Thanks for the link to "starter" that's something I was looking for. On the subject laptop I run Youtube a lot, maybe an hour a day, but the browser, Firefox, is shut down after each use, including following just looking at email. In fact I shut the laptop down several times a day and stick it back under the couch. I used to just leave the laptop closed on the floor next to the couch, then I stepped on one, ouch !! It continued to work but the screen had a big "crack" across the complete width. Thus my 1 yo laptop with W8. But I digress.

I may do a search, there is surely an Avia Free support group, but I wonder what about running "luke filewalaker" in Avia Free and learning (over and over) that there is one warning, but no way I can see to review, better clear the warning. Maybe that's what the paid version is all about.

I went to CodeStuff and found the W7 and W8 were not listed as supported. Seems some support for NT, is that like W7+, just need to be administrator?

CodeStuff also offers an Installer and an Application Only - assume I'd want the Installer, but not sure, does the Application Only require Internet access to run?

Just wondering : ? And Firefox is struggling now.

I've installed "Starter" so many times I guess I stopped checking the requirements. I have it on Win7 now with no problems.
I think the guy just stopped updating his page for it, and I wouldn't worry too much about that issue.

The Installer version will make registry entries so it will show up as a program in your Start menu - a bit more convenient.
The "Application Only" version is just that, and any relevant settings you make won't be saved. I usually go with the former.

Btw, there are three tabs, one showing everything set to Startup when the computer starts up, one showing running Processes, and one showing running Services.

Avira really finds something that it won't identify for you ?
I've never seen that happen.
Perhaps you can go deeper into the scan history or events or something like that, and see if it tells you more.

There are various online virus scanners you could try as well.
I've tried BitDefender and Kaspersky, and they worked pretty well compared to others.

http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html

http://www.kaspersky.com/virus-scanner

Other odds & ends :

--4GB is probably enough, at least, not the problem unless you have a lot of things running.
Task Manager should help with that but you have to understand how to interpret its reports on memory use and availability - little bit tricky.

--if you're handy with a screwdriver, it's not really all that hard to replace a laptop screen - I've done it several times.
Usually you can find a lot of instructions for that online.

This post was edited by kbarb on Mon, Oct 20, 14 at 12:27

Kbarb,

Thanks for taking the time to address all my questions. I'll install the Starter and see what it shows.

I assume the scans you mention are all free, but the fix requires one buy the license. I have recollection that "bitdefender" is one of the best.

I could change the screen on the smashed Gateway near-notebook. Has the 15" (or near that) and is very thin, a nice computer running XP. Looking at the cost of a screen led me to buy a new Gateway with a 17" screen as it isn't a travel machine.

Yes, the scans are all free afaik.
I have a list of them but I think those are the best.
The best ones are 1) fast, 2) allow you to tell it specifically what to scan, and 3) actually do an effective job of finding bad stuff.

If they find something, you're kind of coming around the last turn as there's usually some way to get rid of something, once you know what it is.

Also there's virustotal.com, where you can send up a file and have it scanned by a myriad antivirus apps.

A couple of things. I do not use any anti virus stuff and never have a problem. The anti-virus people try hard to scare folks into using their stuff because that's how they make money, and that's understandable. It's not needed. In their own little way they LIKE viruses. Try completely disabling any AV software (not just for an hour or so) to see if there's a noticeable improvement. Don't be nervous.

I also use adblocker to cut out a ton of junk that web sites load on you. GW is one of them and now it has NO ads. It gets in the way at times, though.

I also have Flash disabled and the browser prompts me if I want to (temporarily) activate it for spot reasons. Flash is becoming obsolete and many sites seem to not use it any more (yay!).

An older version of Java can slow down big and complex javascript scripts to the point that they run to the browser's timeout limits. This is rarer but it is also intermittent like you see.

These four things will use up background resources. If you have a bit-torrent client or a download manager make sure they unload all their processes as they can be hogs.

It is possible you have a memory fault of some sort, so check that. Probably not, though, as faulty memory chips are common but modern memory management can handle most of the problems just fine.

Hmm, indeed a bitorrent client w/ many tcp/ip connections can slow down a browser's own bandwidth on the internet, as it's sharing the same pipe with bittorrent.

But as for antivirus - I think that's a bit cynical. From my experience, the least savvy and experienced with computers can benefit by an antivirus program, as they are less shrewd about what to click on and not. (And I'm not saying anything about the current OP).
But one time my niece was having troubles with her computer - slowdowns and the like - and when I scanned it there were over 175 different instances of virus a & malware. Yes, 175.
Had she had some kind of antivirus (and some common sense) that wouldn't have happened to such a degree.

The more computer literate you are, the less you need one but then again, a good (and even free) one is fairly transparent anyway - but it takes some time to figure out which one is actually low on resource usage.

Also Java has nothing to do with javascript, despite (unfortunately) sharing the same name.
Almost no one needs Java, but modern sites rely heavily on javascript.

This post was edited by kbarb on Mon, Oct 20, 14 at 22:00

jerry-
Have you ever had other antivirus on your computer?. I just helped a friend whose laptop was running terribly slow and she had both McAfee and Symantec running at the same time, which is typically a big problem. I uninstalled both and reinstalled one and it made a huge difference.

If you had other antivirus programs previously and thought you uninstalled them, you need to know that they sometimes leave pieces of themselves on the computer and in the registry which can interfere with the operation of your computer. McAfee is notorious for this and it's necessary to get the special installer from their web site to actually get the uninstall done correctly and completely. Some versions of Symantec require something similar.

kudzu9

Thanks tor thinking on this problem. I ran the deep cycle scan on Super Antspy... last night. It found and removed a bunch of stuff, but the typing delay still creep in/out...as right now the typing display in the edit box is behind my typing .. then spurts to catch up. Clearly a resource allocation/over-load. The typing delay has vanished for now.

The computer is W8.1, and I often get slow load of the Firefox with warnings about "plug--ins not loading"... best I can recall that's what the warning is about, it too seems to pass. I think I get that sometimes on my W7 machine too.

I have never loaded any other anti-virus but run MS Firewall and Did run MS Defender. It is still on my computer but not installed? have to check, in any case Defender is off as I recall I turned it off when told not to run Defender and Avria (another) at the same time. Typing delay has returned.

Ok...that eliminates my concern. I'd uninstall and reinstall Firefox, and/or try another browser, like Chrome. I'd also see what gets loaded at Startup that you don't need to have active. Do you know how to do that simply by using the Run command?

I support the position that the delay concern is a resource issue. So many applications now install unnecessary updaters and/or quick-start entries in the startup. Reviewing the startup, services, and active tasks may shed some light on what's going on. Easy access and "tinkering" can be achieved by using WinPatrol.

Perhaps I missed these:

Did you run a FF Health Report? (Much is deep, but something may jumo out at you)
Did you test the browser with the add-ons turned off?
Did you review the Trouble Shooting information?
Did you reset FF?
Is everything current; FF, Flash, Java, Shockwave, add-ons?

Rule #9: Never go anywhere without a knife. In this case the knife is an AV. :-)

DA

Yep, I see one can get "run" with a right click on the Windows logo in W8.1, or by typing run in the W8.1 seach. That said, not sure what that does for me.. doesn't it just run any executable put in there?

DA, I think the answer to most of your questions is "what?" Seems I missed the FF = FireFox (?)
Health Report
Testing add ons
Trouble shooting info
Reset FF

Seems I a complete novice - used to think I knew something about Windows, even about computers.

Jerry-
Regarding unnecessary Startup items, you can either go to Run and type in "msconfig" (without the quotes) or simply type msconfig into the search box. When you hit Enter, it will take you to the Windows Configuration Utility, and you want to click on the Startup tab. Everything that is checked loads when you boot your computer; everything that is unchecked doesn't load but would if it was checked. Some are essential, but some are not...and the non-essential ones eat up resources. Don't uncheck anything where you don't know what it is; however, if you have stuff like iTunes, Adobe Reader, etc., loading, you don't need that running in the background all the time because it slows down your computer. Anything you can identify that you don't want running should have its box unchecked. When you are done, click Apply at the bottom of the Configuration window and restart your computer.

This is a totally safe thing to do to your computer as long as you are only unchecking things that are obviously just optional programs.

Try that and see if you have a change in performance and resources use.

This post was edited by kudzu9 on Tue, Oct 21, 14 at 18:34

DA

Okay, you got me looking and found under FF "Help" the "trouble shooting" and thus the "restet"... I have not yet decided if I want to do a "reset"

Jerry,

Sorry if I was appearing flamboyant. I didn't mean to. As you know it is not my style.

Click on the FF Help tab. On the appearing drop down menu are several technical entries. Also, on several of the selected entries there are radio button options which can be selected for FF information or action. Ferreting around will not hurt anything and diagnostic changes can be restored by a simple reboot. A lot of the presented technical information is well passing Venus. However, there might be something revealed which may help you with FF.

DA

kudzu9

Oh, msconfig.. I recall that now, but as I don't find a need for this type service I forget about 'um.

That led me to advice to use the Device Manager to see what is in Startup and I found a few things, one is related to "Plex" something I was interested in before Ruko (whateve) got Youtube on their menu. It was listed as high so I disabled that one. Something related to Advanced Microdevices is of questionable value but is rated as "low", so I left it on.

jerry-
I'm confused. Device Manager does not get to the Startup listings that you access through msconfig. Humor me and at least take a look at what is going on with the Windows Configuration Utility as I described above. It should take about 30 seconds to access and review it. You don't even have to change anything if you don't want to. Just take a look and see what you have in there that is using resources. Thanks.

I'm using Windows 8.1. msconfig produces a dialog box called "System Configuration" the 4th tab in is "Startup", when I click on Startup i get a mostly blank page with the following printed across the top of the blank area:

"To manage startup items, use the Startup section of the Task Manager"

and centered below that is:

"Open Task Manager"

which opens Task Manager when clicked.

The 4th tab in on Task Manager is "Startup" which when clicked shows 8 tasks most of which marked "enabled" to run at start up. One can click on any one of these processes and then click on the highlighted "enable" to "disable" and reverse.

jerry-
I am surprised you only have 8 tasks showing, but that may mean that you don't have a lot of crap loading at startup. Thanks for trying that.

Not to get too complicated here but if you want the granddaddy of startup analysers it's probably RunScanner.

http://www.runscanner.net/

You'll probably get more information than you like, but it will tell you everything most likely. MSConfig, and Starter actually, don't really tell the whole story.

After you run the scan, there's a huge list under the "Extra Stuff" tab, then "All Autostart Items".

You'll see the location of the .exe on the drive, and there are a lot of right click options to help you figure out if the thing is benign, or not.

I always run it in Expert mode.
If I'm not mistaken, "Beginners Mode" just generates some files for online analysis.

Thanks, but I seem to be getting to more, not less, trouble.

I did a FF Reset and now FF will not do streaming video on Youtube. When I click on a video the starting image comes up and the loading icon rotates in the middle of the screen but nothing more. I think Rest removed some video "stuff" in my browser.

IE also will not play Youtube video, FF will play news video clips..then FF crashed when I was trying to enter this post. I sent a crash report to FF.

Restarted FF and now seems okay but no video on Youtube

Just a thought,

There are two versions of Flash, IE and non-IE. Do you have both? In W8/8.1 the IE version comes through Windows Update. The non-IE has to be downloaded and installed.

DA

It was getting late, bed time, but checking for Youtube on another computer showed Youtube was not working properly, or my WiFi... Youtube is working this morning.

Speaking of Flash, I wonder if the FF Reset might have removed some browser apps that improved streaming video. I recall something with a name like ":startlight".. and I don't see anything similar to that in the list of programs listed as installed. It may be returning FF to "factory settings" removes stuff that helped as well as hurt, or hurt sometimes. Just experienced at typing display delay of at least 4 or 5 seconds. I had typed a few words that had not been displayed and so I stopped typing and watched.. it took a couple more seconds before the buffer dumped and the words appeared - at least they were not lost, something was storing them waiting for a chance to display them on the browser editor.

Maybe that was "Silverlight" ? - Microsoft's version of Flash.

Using "Reset" is going to remove all your extensions and plugins, as well as a number of other things - and some things are retained :

Quote :
These items and settings will be removed:

Extensions and themes, website-specific preferences, search engines, download history, DOM storage, security settings, download actions, plugin settings, toolbar customizations, user styles and social features will be removed.
/Quote

See this article :
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/reset-firefox-easily-fix-most-problems

You could try running FF in Safemode and see if you still get the problem, but that could be a hassle if the problem is intermittent.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-using-safe-mode

I used to get that problem on an old XP machine when I had a million tabs open and FF just had too much to handle.

But if reset didn't solve the problem I'd think there's something else outside of FF that's interfering, so I'd use various scanners and startup analyzers.

Update: more trouble shooting led me to check the DSL speed. The download was about 7 Mbps, and satisfactory but the upload was as low as 80 Kbps - discussing with the Teleco technical support (Century Link) the evening of Thursday last, led to the diagnosis the Telephone modem was malfunctioning, in fact it completely stopped working on the power-down/up test. The CL representative could not provide any access to a replacement modem, but they would ship me one for $15 three days (bet business days, so not until Monday or Tuesday). They could ship overnight for $25. I told them ship 3 day I'm checking with Comcast an may move my service there.

I up an running on Comcast at a so-called 105 Mbps which checks out closer to 15 mbps, about the same up/down. Not sure what the 105 Mbps is about.

The good news cable, Comcast/Xfinity, was able via over the counter purchase at Walmart of a Cable Modem to put me back in service over my existing TV cable access in a matter of minutes.

Down side, we don't want to change our email address. I will check to see how low a price I can get from Century Link and retain my email/ISP account.

So far the browser works great.