It's running really slowly. I've done virus checks, I've run ad-adware, spy bot search and destory. We just add more memory to it and it's running much slower then it was before.

Please let me know if you find anything, and understand I need things that can clear it out for free, or manual instructions to remove it. I can not afford to buy a program, and some programs do a scan and then you have to pay for the program. I can't do that.


Thanks for any help you offer,
RJ


Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 6:53:14 PM, on 9/5/06
Platform: Windows 98 SE (Win9x 4.10.2222A)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\LOADQM.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.google.ca/
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadQM] loadqm.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_07\bin\npjpi150_07.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_07\bin\npjpi150_07.dll
O16 - DPF: {B38870E4-7ECB-40DA-8C6A-595F0A5519FF} (MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class) - http://messenger.msn.com/download/Ms...Downloader.cab
O16 - DPF: {4F1E5B1A-2A80-42CA-8532-2D05CB959537} (MSN Photo Upload Tool) - http://by23fd.bay23.hotmail.msn.com/...s/MsnPUpld.cab
O16 - DPF: {F58E1CEF-A068-4C15-BA5E-587CAF3EE8C6} (MSN Chat Control 4.5) - http://chat.msn.com/bin/msnchat45.cab
O16 - DPF: {2B323CD9-50E3-11D3-9466-00A0C9700498} (Yahoo! Audio Conferencing) - http://us.chat1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com...45/yacscom.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Chat - http://us.chat1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com.../c381/chat.cab
O16 - DPF: {8E0D4DE5-3180-4024-A327-4DFAD1796A8D} (MessengerStatsClient Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary...t.cab31267.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Backgammon - http://download.games.yahoo.com/game...ts/y/at1_x.cab
O16 - DPF: {30528230-99f7-4bb4-88d8-fa1d4f56a2ab} (YInstStarter Class) - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Common\yinsthelper.dll
O16 - DPF: {14B87622-7E19-4EA8-93B3-97215F77A6BC} (MessengerStatsClient Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary...t.cab31267.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Pyramids - http://download.games.yahoo.com/game...s/y/pyt1_x.cab
O16 - DPF: {5D86DDB5-BDF9-441B-9E9E-D4730F4EE499} (BDSCANONLINE Control) - http://download.bitdefender.com/reso...an8/oscan8.cab
O16 - DPF: {9A9307A0-7DA4-4DAF-B042-5009F29E09E1} (ActiveScan Installer Class) - http://acs.pandasoftware.com/actives...ree/asinst.cab

Sorry guys but I need to "bump" this. I know you are all busy, but I've been waiting a few days now for a response. I'm just trying to see if something wrong with my kids computer. As it's running very slowly and shouldn't be so sluggish. I've runs tons of scans on it, and the only thing I really come up with are tracking cookies, nothing more.

Sorry for being impatience, I'm trying not to be.

You all have been very helpful before, which is why I post here, instead of elsewhere's.

I can't see anything unusual in the log. Some Quicktime stuff
C:\WINDOWS\LOADQM.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadQM] loadqm.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE" -atboottime
is (I guess unnecessarily) using up some resources, but that shouldn't have so much impact. (Try to disable that temporarily to see what happens)

You wrote it became even slower when you upgraded RAM. This points to an issue with cache or something. We need some information about that computer: Manufacturer and model or Motherboard type/Processor type and how much RAM is in that machine.

It's now at close to 256 mb in memory. It has an intel celeron 900 mhz chipset (processor) I believe. The computer was built by a lil'computer company in Ohio.

"Manufacturer and model or Motherboard type/Processor type and how much RAM is in that machine."

I'm not sure how to find out some of this information you need, but if you tell me how I will certainly give you the information (and get it). I have no problems opening up the machine and looking on the motherboard to find the information, if there is no other way to do so.

Thanks, that should be enough information for now. There is an issue with 98 and more than 768 MB only and your processor should have sufficient L2 cache to have that amount of RAM cached, so this is not the problem. In fact, this machine shouldn't run slow at all with 98.
The standard question at this point is of course "Was it always that slow and what did you install/change/do before it became slow?"

Now let's have a look at your filecache settings:
Open C:\Windows\SYSTEM.INI with Notepad
Search this section/entries:
[vcache]
MinFileCache=<nnnnn>
MaxFileCache=<nnnnn>

If this section is missing, 98SE might dedicate too much of your RAM for the filecache and you should add these lines to your System.ini. Enter "65536" for "MaxFileCache", it should look like this:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=
MaxFileCache=65536

Then save the System.ini and reboot.
This limits the cache to 64MB. Modern versions of various apps need more memory than in the old days and the old, generous default cache settings may leave too few RAM for these applications, thus making things slow. When you increase RAM, 98 increases the VCache automatically to an amount that may be counterproductive for RAM-hungry stuff. But I'm afraid this is not yet the solution....

Edit: Forgot to ask you to describe what exactly is getting slow? Disk access? Stuttering graphics? Sluggish response to everything? With all applications?

Okay I haven't tried what you suggested but I will tonight. The applications are okay as long as we are running text bases stuff with little graphics. It seems when the kids play an on-line web based browser game it's slowing down. It's slightly 3-D graphical. We've been trying to install a pci graphics card but I'm prolly going to have to take it into the shop for it to be install. The agp cards are alot easier to install, and I have no problems with them, but the pci is giving me a hard time.

The computer however was slower before I tried installing this card. Can't run msn and a graphical web site at the same times cuz it takes to much memory, but that's hard sometimes with kids, they listen on some days and other's ... it goes out the ear. I will let you know if what you've suggested helps. If you can think of anything else please let me know. I'm enjoying the frustrating process of figuring the problem out (I must be bored, heh).

I run virus scans on both computers every week and other stuff every other day. I clear out cookies and temp folders on an almost daily basis. So I mean I do try to maintain the computers (the kids and the main one), just I'm still not an expert, but I'm thankful for the experts here who try to help out.

I'll write again soon. Thanks for all your help.