Help needed on MY COMPUTER

[Lawson]

when i double click on the MY COMPUTER icon, in my Acer TravelMate 4150, it always searches very slowly. taking at least about 30 seconds to show the drives.
I'm puzzled about this and need help on this. Why is this happening to my notebook?
I have just brought it last 2 months.

Some experts can help me?

Thanks!

[ski]

If the problem happened over a period of time, then update your AV program with the latest files, and do a virus search.
Also, d/l and run Ad-aware and Spybot to remove any spyware.
If no luck, then d/l and run Hijack This, and post its results.

If the problem happened as soon as you took the laptop out of the box, then which O/S is it using, how much RAM is installed, and how many programs are running when it happens?

[saphalline]

Do you have a CD/DVD in the optical drive? Have you defragged your hard drive(s) lately?

I think ski brings up a good point about whether or not this has been going on since you bought it, or if this is a recent occurence.

[Lawson]

in reply to ski , i actually hav dl ad-ware 2 scan 4 spy ware.
But i dun noe wat is AV program. the problem started when i jus use 4 a week or so.
i actually run on XP 2002 n wif 512 ram. And the problem occurs even wif no other program running.

[ski]

If ad-aware did not find any spyware, then also run Spybot and Hijack This(you can post HT's results if you need help interpreting them).

AV => antivirus

The cause can also be hardware related, i.e., a failing hard drive.
D/L and run your HD manuf's diagnostic software to check the drive.

[Sylvander]

I think the Windows shell [Explorer.exe] is scanning the registry to retrieve the necessary information to display, and is having difficulty doing that.
So I'd guess the problem is with the registry.

In these circumstances, what I'd do is scan using the "Registry Tool" on the "Emergency Boot CD" [EBCD] shown below, to repair the registry.
Which Operating System are you running?

1. How to make a free “Smart Boot Manager” floppy
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41498
This makes it easier to boot a chosen drive [particularly the one holding the EBCD].

2. How to make a free EBCD bootable CD
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41485
This has a number of useful utilities included including "Image" [for DOS, by Terabyte], "File Manager", and "Registry Tool".

[classicsoftware]

I vote for Spyware. I would download a copy of Hijackthis. (http://www.subratam.org/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=41)

Unzip it into a permanent folder.

Click on the file

Choose scan and create a log.

Post the contents of the log here for review.

[Sylvander]

Your right. :)

On greater reflection, it seems to me it makes sense to first make certain there's no infection.

[no-mbr]

I couldn't answer your question without seeing your setup, but it could be that your default explorer settings are searching "all network connections" and network places, and it waits for a response form these network-shortcuts to see if they are available.

If you have network shortcuts, disable network searches in explorer when not connected.