My computer (Pentium 4, 1.4 Ghz, 640 MB memory) has all of a sudden gotten VERY SLOW - takes forever to boot up, then runs very slow when trying to do programs, surf, etc.  When I checked the Windows Task Manager it says that my processor is running at 100% CPU usage.

I don't think that anything changed between last night and this morning.

Now, when I start up the computer it gives me a PCI 1 slot error that I have to hit f2 to continue with, and then it also gave me once the system came up a Moffice.exe error.

Any ideas?  And also, is there a way to "turn back the clock" on the computer that allows me to go back a day or two before any changes were made to the computer - I seem to remember something like that.

Thanks for the help - I'd rather not have to rush out and buy another computer.

For IE
go to your browser window
find tools
go to internet options
delete files do it
delete history do it
go back to files, go to settings
on the amount of disk space to use set it at about 150 mb
should speed things up




If not let me know we can try something else if you want

The "turn back" feature only works if you created a restore point with the built in back up utility.

I would run your antivirus program if you have one.  If you don't have then go to www.antivirus.com and look for the link that says "House Call" and they will run a scan for you while on line.  After that download a program called "Spybot" update it and accept all of the defaults and then scan your system.  It may show up some kind of trojan program or something.

If those things do not help then do ctrl-alt-del and look at the "process" tab and sort by cpu or memusage.  Do a search on each process on google and see if you get any hits that will help you trouble shoot your system.  The last option is a pain in the ass but you may not have too many other options without someone who knows what they are doing.  Not to dis you or anything.

Good luck

Moffice.exe is a Trojan (a virus like program0

[url]http://www.megasecurity.org/trojans/t/trojankiller/Trojankiller2.2.html[/url]

[url]http://www.google.com/search?q=Moffice.exe&sourceid=opera&num=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8[/url]

Well Paul said it was a trojan--- so disregaurd my advise.

Rather than rush out and buy another computer you need to be rush out and buy an anti-virus and a firewall. You have given complete remote control to someone else. Whatever you can do from your keyboard and mouse someone else can too.

Typically "owned" computers are used to send spam (estimates put it as high as two third of spam) or to host kiddie porn sites. This would explain why your CPU is at 100%.

I would pull the plug from the Internet, back-up any valuable data not already distroyed, boot from a CD and format my disk (FDISK.EXE) and re-install Windows from the ground up. If you have credit card infomation on your machine call up each company cancel them and put a watch on your credit.

I do have anti-Virus (McAfee, updated just the other day) and I have a firewall as well.

Are you sure that message was not "Msoffice.exe" error? Do you use the MS Office Toolbar?

I have seen that many times on different PC's when booting. It is caused by a timing conflict when TSR's are loading during boot time.

What type of card do you have installed in PCI slot one? What OS?

No need to reinstall if it's just a virus/trojan. If your current AV software doesn't detect the problem I would suggest getting [url=http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php]AVG Anti-Virus[/url] As I recommended to someone else before there is a free version (which I use) and a  pay version. It is an EXCELLENT program. Good luck.

Amazing how much crap is in my computer - adware, spyware, etc.  Lots of cookies, too.  Long slow process, but my fingers are crossed.

My anti-virus is McAfee, and my firewall is from my Netgear router - should I also get a seperate software based firewall as well?  I had one (pain in the ass sometimes, but if would help . . . )

Barring all this, if I still have this problem, should I try a system restore to a few days ago?

Hmm - just rebooted and it is still taking forever to boot up - but the original error mesage about the PCI slot is now gone.

I hate system restore.  Worthless in my book.  I'll take a clean install any day.  I disable the system restore service first thing on any XP machine I use.

However, you have multiple problems.  You have a hardware issue, with this PCI error at boot... that need to be resolved first.  A trojan aint gonna do that.

Second, I'd would set up Mcaffee to update every single day ("updated just the other day" is unacceptable - new stuff comes out every day)  Then boot into SAFE MODE and run a full scan, twice.

Third, I would DL a copy of Adaware, and remove all spyware.  Some of it it difficult to remove if you were careless and installed things based on popups.... that were misleading.

Keeping in mind, removing some trojans cripples the OS, and requires a re-install anyway.


Software firewalls add another level of protection beyond the simple firewall rules of a NAT router.... so if you tend to get infected with these things (lack of diligence) then they are good to have.... but a pain in the ass.

I have been running for years without a software firewall, without issue, but I keep my system clean, and use a quality AV (CA Etrust is my top choice, Norton second... I think McAffee sucks personally) and I have it check for updates every 4 hours, and run scheduled scans weekly.

Hardware firewalls like your netgear keeps connections from coming in. If configured properly.

Software firewalls keep connections from going out. If configured properly. I like kerio. But if you are not good at setting up rules. Zonealarm is ok.

As for your current problem. You should download spybot. Update it and scan.

If you keep you Mcafee updated, and use good firewall rules on both incoming and outgoing conections. And scan with spybot about once a week. You should not encounter any problems.

You can get spybot here:

[url]http://www.safer-networking.org/[/url]