PC performance booster

Is this for real? I'm tempted to try it but iffy about whether it'll just plant a virus in my computer or actually help solve some problems...


EDIT: oops! I meant to, even copied, but forgot to paste!

http://www.inklineglobal.com/adsales/smni/pcb_offer_smni_cpa.html

 

serenity,

Perhaps you should post a link to what you are asking about so someone here could check it out.


Mike

 

My $.02, you don't need it. Common popup for a program that will probably 'call home' every time you connect. (don't know that for sure, have just always suspected it)
If you keep your PC clean, it will continue to perform the way it should. And you can speed up your startup time by visiting Black Vipers Site and shutting down unnecessary services. Takes some time to get through it all, but well worth the time spent. Keep your prefetch and temp. folders cleaned out regularly (maybe once a month), set space dedicated to TIF's down to at least 40mb and delete regularly. Keep the system cleaned of spyware/malware and it should behave.

Are you having particular behavior problems?

 

Yes, I've been having problems with my internet explorer and outlook express. I've posted other threads regarding these problems: my internet explorer 'hangs' every so often, and outlook express hangs as well, to the point where it says not responding, but then maybe 10 minutes later, opens up.

I have ran ad-aware, spybot, scanned disks, defrag'ed, IEradicated and reinstalled an older version of IE (5.0, I think), and tried to uninstall outlook express and reinstall but all my emails are still there, so it doesn't appear as if it uninstalled at all.

Newt gave me a list of things to clean up, which I did. I'm still having these problems. I spoke to my service provider's techs, and he tried getting me to uncheck everything in msconfig, and I ran system file checker... nothing seems to be fixing my problem.

Today, I opened up my email and noticed a 'mailer demon' message that says my message could not be delivered - I never sent anything to that particular address, and it's not even in my address book... it was the weirdest thing!

I don't know what else to do, I'm just fed up!

 

The mailer demon could not be delivered message is most likely caused by spam. There's been a rash of it lately. Just delete.

I read back through your other posts and although they were left open, with no response to the last suggestion in either one, my suggestion is as follows.
First, did you follow Zanders link in this post? Did any of it help?
Unsure as to why your ISP's software is installing IE, but I would be leary of it myself. Microsoft provided IE with the OS, and it will be on the install CD. If all else fails,I would once again use IEradictor to remove all IE, go to the control panel>add/remove programs>add/remove windows components, uncheck internet explorer (may have to highlight and view details of various components.....can't seem to recall right now if it's by itself or under accessories or something), OK your way out, then go back in and recheck it and OK out. You will be prompted for the Win98 CD. I would also do this for Outlook Express after saving the contents of your address book. Backup Outlook Express If all is well with the fresh install, reinstall IE6 setup.exe.

I know, alot of hassle, but may be in order. Forum, anyone care to add to/correct here?

 

As to the performance booster app in the link - should be reliable and has excellent reviews/recommendations from some long established rating sources.

I have no idea if it will give you a significant speed/performance improvement or not but with a 60 day period to try and if you don't like, to get a refund, it's a no risk situation.

And the app might be able to smell out a hardware problem if you have one. From the range of problems you've had and the fixes that haven't, you certainly could be looking at a dodgy component in your PC.

I like noahdfear's suggestions. And you should appreciate the fact that he was willing to take the time to read thru other threads you'd apparently abandoned to see if he could get more information to try and help.

I did some back reading myself and noticed your mention of reformatting/reinstalling again. Does that usually get things working properly for you for a while?

 

Sorry I've been 'abandoning' posts, I didn't realize anyone had responded to my previous threads.

Newt, I havent' responded to your last post on the IE thread because I haven't tried your suggestions yet. I'm not sure what my network card looks like, and to tell you the truth, I'm afraid I'll break whatever's inside that tower! I also don't know how to repair my Windows98.

Noahdfear, I really DO appreciate the fact that you went through my previous posts to try to help me. To answer your question, my ISP is Sympatico, which uses an app called Access Manager to connect me to the internet - I was given software with this program, as well as IE 5.0 and a version of Netscape on the cd, and extras like Winzip. I don't know how to install IE from the windows cd. I tried copying the setup file from my cd to my desktop, but during the setup, there was some error (that I didn't write down). So I resorted to my Sympatico software.

I will definately go through Zander's suggestions tomorrow - as I stated in my reply to him, I noticed something on that link about uninstalling a version of McAfee VirusScan and then reinstalling (even though I didn't reinstall) it could have accidentally deleted imagehlp.dll which could affect Outlook Express.

Thank you for taking the time to help me!

 

serenity
When you start a thread or reply to one, you can choose to be notified by email if there are any replies to your post. On the page where you type your reply, look just below the box you type in. You'll see a line there that you can check to be notified. If you want it to be checked by default, click on the user cp button you see at the top right of any of these pages. Then click on edit options. Theres a line in there where you can choose to be notified by email. If you check it, it will be the default so the line will always be checked when you type a reply.

Hope you have some luck with the imagehlp.dll.

 

I did notice a format and install was mentioned here. I have one question, were the motherboard drivers installed as the very first thing before any other hardware drivers? If the motherboard drivers are not installed properly, the drives may be slow to respond.
Or was this one of those Recovery CD's?

Did you turn off email notification? By default, you get an email when someone responds, and only that one until you return to the forum. The little link above named User CP gets you there to find out.

 

serenity,

To install IE from Win98 CD, follow my previous instructions and when prompted, insert the CD and click OK. Should you get a message info not found, click browse and navigate to the CD drive, then to the Win98 folder and click OK, then OK again. If prompted to restart computer, remove CD and click yes. Should be back in business.

 

I must be missing something. I've seen nothing in serenity's posts about reformatting. Reinstalling yes, but only apps.

BTW, i like your signature serenity! And markp, yours has become colorful tonight. I like it too! Much easier to separate the links.

 

I got the idea from yours, noahdfear, the blue did seem to run them all together.

 

Wow, its a good thing I didn't go to sleep!

Firstly, I turned off email notification because my OE was acting up and it was a pain in the butt to wait for it...

Secondly, I didn't reformat my pc (yet), but I have had to do so previously - completely unrelated to my problems now. I haven't physically installed or changed any hardware on my computer, I'd probably break something or bend something or...

Thirdly, 'motherboard drivers' etc... Chinese to me! I am clueless. When I had my pc reformatted a year ago, I had a professional do it so I couldn't mess anything up... one year later, it seems I have

Fourth, thanks noahdfear, I got the idea from a song I used to love... and it SO describes me - always confused about computers.

Okay, so I ran a find on imagehlp.dll and it seems I have it. Don't know if it's corrupt, but I have it.

I have a COPY of Win98SE, and I ran a find on the cd for imagehlp.dll so I could replace mine, just incase... and I couldn't find it on the cd.

I looked at the link Zander posted, and followed the "OE slow when starting but everything else is normal" steps, and removed default values in regedit - it seems to have helped a wee bit. It's definately not as slow as it was, but it's still kinda slow. I can live with that.

There was something in that link about IE forms being slow - IE is generally slow, not just when filling out forms, but I thought I'd try that step anyway. I had to create a new file on desktop called Pstore and move files psbase.dll, pstorec.dll, pstorerc.dll and pstores.exe into that folder, then click Start>Run>SCF. Well, I selected 'extract one file from installation disk' and I couldn't find these files on the cd. So I cancelled out of there and ran a find on the cd for those files... not there either. So much for that.

I'm going to run IEradicator again and follow noahdfear's advice about installing IE from the Win98SE cd to see if that helps, and if it doesn't, I'll be selling locks of my hair on eBay tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

 

The reason you couldn't find imagehlp.dll on your cd is because it's in a cab file which is a compressed file similar to a zip file. Try using the system file checker to extract a new one. Click start>run and type sfc. In the window that opens you'll see a place you type the name of the file. Now that I think about it, I think there's a button you have to click on to get the extract dialog to come up. It should say something about extracting a new file next to it. I don't remember right off hand what it says exactly but I think you'll know it when you see it. You may or may not need your cd for this. If your prompted for it, put it in and browse to the win98 folder and click ok. When you extract the file, put it in your windows\system folder.

 

serenity,

Another way to tell if someone has responded to your posts is to mark the forum read. When you check back, threads with new posts will have an arrow atop the envelope to the left of the thread.

 

Zander, I tried as you suggested, ran scf and extract a single file, browsing through Win98 cd... didn't find it. I tried OK'ing after selecting various folders, couldn't find it.

So I removed IE and OE6 and MSN messenger from control panel, ran Ad Aware, rebooted, ran IEradicator, and put in the Win98SE cd to install IE5.0. Well, I couldn't find IE anywhere in the control panel (add/remove) - I even went through all other windows components. All I had in My Documents was IE6setup, so I resorted back to my Sympatico software and installed IE5. Well, this is where things get weird...

I removed updates and manually removed IE in control panel before I ran IEradicator. I removed OE6, and made sure OE wasn't checked off in the windows components. I would have thought anything related to IE or OE would have been removed. Well, I open up IE5 and when I click on Help>About, it says it's version 5.5, and when I open up OE, the splash screen says Outlook Express 6. My internet favorites are still there, but my history is clear. My emails are still in OE - I never backed up anything.

I also received an error like I did before - "Show desktop.scf" could not be found. And there was an error loading "IEDKCS32.dll" - The system could not find the specified file. I ran scf again after this occurred, and it said I had no corrupt files.

So how much do you think a lock of my hair will go for?

 

The folder you need to select is 'Win98'. No need to look further. It contains the .cab files, which contain all the various files. It will locate the file on it's own after you select the Win98 folder and click OK.

 

"file not found, please verify the correct file name was given "

I tried imagehlp.dll and Imagehlp.dll in the Win98 folder.

 

Sorry serenity, MY mistake. Just followed Zanders link again and that file is located in win98_32.cab or win98_26.cab. When looking for IE in the control panel>add/remove windows components, did you hightlight the various entries and click details to see if it was a sub-category of a component?

 

Yes, I clicked on other components to view their sub-entries, and couldn't find IE anywhere. I just ran a search on google and there was a link to microsoft's download site where I could download mcrepair.exe which would replace 3 files on my system, including oleaut32.dll and a file from the win98_cab36. I downloaded this file and rebooted, now I'm just surfing to see if my IE still hangs...

Here's the link to what I read if you're interested:
http://www.felgall.com/brsie8.htm

EDIT: Okay, so that didn't work so well, it hung just as I submitted this response! Back to google.