Slow browsers?

[shampoo]

Everything I do in my web browser is very slow now. This inlcudes scrolling webpages, opening favorites/hotlist, opening new windows, minimizing, maximizing, and pretty much everything else.. The odd thing is that everything else seems fine (opening folders, start menu, other programs, etc.)

I really have no clue what could be going on here.. I haven't really done anything that might trigger this that I can remember.

I've scanned for spyware with adaware (updated) and spybot (updated), scanned for viruses on panda scanner and trend's virus scanner. All spyware has been cleaned and I don't have any detected viruses.. I even ran the sfc thing in cmd.. One of the spyware files that I had said something about a browser hijack attempt, so that might have something to do with it also.

Reformat, and/or reinstall windows is not an option for me.

I did edit some things in regedit a while back that had to do with explorer.. I think that might have something to do with it, but I really don't know anything about this stuff.. Someone told me to change it to fix another problem I was having.

The only other thing I've done is install my Wacom tablet, but I don't think that has anything to do with it.

My main problem is the scrolling in internet explorer and opera is super slow.. The page goes down but it looks very sluggish and odd.

I'm using Windows XP Home edition.

Does anyone know anything about this?

[rpertusio]

Hrm, my first inclination is that you don't have the correct video drivers. Have you tried any games or anything? They would also perform horribly if you didn't have the right video card drivers.

What's your video card manufacturer/model number?

Otherwise, you might have a bad IE extension/Add-in that is causing a problem. If you'd like to disable them as a test:

Open up Internet Explorer and go to the Tools menu and select Internet Options... . On the [Advanced] tab, you will see an option (1/4 of the way down) that you need to uncheck. Look for [ ] Enable third-party browser extensions (requires restart) and uncheck it.

Close IE and open it again. If any extensions/add-ins were a problem, they are now disabled. (If you don't see any improvement, go ahead and [x] check the box again.)

- rp

[shampoo]

After a few long hours of checking different things I think I'm on to something. I went into desktop settings and changed the color quality to 16bit and now the pages scroll just a little better.

I am sure it isn't spyware, and it isn't a virus. I ran scandisk, ran sfc, ran updated spybot s&d, ran updated ad-aware, ran hijackthis, ran various millions of virus checkers, so it isn't any of those.

I also noticed that when I go to drag my INTERNET EXPLORER windows around everything suddenly SLOWS down a lot and my CPU usage sky rockets. Also when I open a certain folder with a bunch of movies in it my CPU usage goes all the way up to 100% and everything runs slowly for a while.. Even when I open a movie in my movie player it drags horribly..

Computer experts please help or direct me to a site where I can seek more help if you know of any. I've searched on google with no luck. I'm at the end of the rope here.

[rpertusio]

What's your video card manufacturer/model number?

I am still betting that is what the problem is.

(did you see my first post, or was it not showing up when you looked?)

- rp

[shampoo]

I would also like to add that recently I installed a Wacom tablet, removed my hard drive and put it back, changed the usb ports that my mouse and keyboard were plugged into, and removed the side panels off of my pc case... I don't think any of those things triggered it, but if it helps..

Also all of my hardware I have been using for a long while and it has run perfectly.

[shampoo]

Originally posted by rpertusio
What's your video card manufacturer/model number?

I am still betting that is what the problem is.

(did you see my first post, or was it not showing up when you looked?)

- rp

Sorry I've been doing so many things at once my head is spinning.

My video card is a NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200 128 MB not sure of the manufacturer number.. How do I get that?

Edit: I tried the explorer thing and it didn't work.

[rpertusio]

I think all you need is:
The latest ForceWare drivers for your video card.

Your symptoms are exactly what one would expect without the nVidia drivers installed/enabled.

- rp

[slinky]

Video card can't be the problem, at least not with a GF3Ti. With drivers i'd probably look at getting one of the 4x.xx.

[rpertusio]

Originally posted by slinky
Video card can't be the problem, at least not with a GF3Ti. With drivers i'd probably look at getting one of the 4x.xx.

If it reverted back to the MS standard VGA driver, slowness and high CPU usage are the exact symptoms someone would see. (High CPU usage, because the CPU is doing most of the rendering.) The issue is not the card itself. It is the fact that Windows isn't using the card with the drivers at all.

I wasn't aware that the 5x.xx would be a problem with the GeForce 3. I haven't tried them personally, but I do see it listed in the release notes.

If slinky recommends the 4x.xx driver versions, then you can find the nVidia Driver Archive here.

- rp

[shampoo]

Thanks both of you. I have a feeling we are on the right track here. How should I go about installing these drivers? Should I delete my NVIDIA folder and make a new one with these files or just overwrite the files in the NVIDIA folder?

Sorry I'm a total newbie when it comes to most things..