Computer problems.

[Daisy and Miia]

My computer has a problem and I can't stand to be on it anymore, but I thought maybe someone here might have an idea what is wrong with it. It runs almost constantly. If I try to put it to sleep, it keeps popping back on. It won't shut down or restart ever. And, I guess because it's always running, it takes "forever" to switch to a different page or a different sight. It makes it very annoying to try to do anything on the computer. About 6 months ago we backed everything on to discs and Barney restored it to the original settings, loaded all my stuff back on it and it seemed to work a bit better for a short while. We did buy a new hard drive but Barney hasn't installed it yet, so that means I'm going to have to go through the very slow ordeal of backing up my newer pictures and stuff before he does that. Does it sound like it might be the hard drive or something else? Thanks, in advance, for any help and advice.

[sparky]

I am not a computer guy but I work in a data center. Our IT gurus tell me you MUST power you laptop down at least once a week. If you have a Windows laptop there are always patches that need to be uploaded. Same goes for your smart phone, that needs to be powered off at least once a week. Again this is from a non IT guy��
Good luck.

[Meeps83]

It does sound like a hard drive. The same thing happened to mine a few weeks ago. Once we got the new hard drive (and a new copy of Windows, btw--new hardware means Microsoft won't recognize the new hard drive so you have to buy a new copy of Windows) the cd drive died so I had to use Windows 8. I ended up with a new computer out of the deal so that was good......

[emma_Dad]

The hard drive has very little to do with how fast it runs. That's the RAMs job(Memory) and the processor, most new OS require a minimum of 2gb of RAM and 4+ being ideal. A new HD will only give you more space to store stuff on.

Have you done a spyware/Malware scan? If not check out Malwarebytes | Free Anti-Malware & Internet Security Software The free version is great!!

[Jeff]

The hard drive has very little to do with how fast it runs. That's the RAMs job(Memory) and the processor, most new OS require a minimum of 2gb of RAM and 4+ being ideal. A new HD will only give you more space to store stuff on.

Have you done a spyware/Malware scan? If not check out Malwarebytes | Free Anti-Malware & Internet Security Software The free version is great!!

This is my thought as well. If it is running constantly then you might be actually part of a botnet and your computer is doing bad things without your knowledge. Running constantly is not something a computer just does, you need to have software installed to do it. Being that it won't shut down or restart are clues that someone doesn't want it to. It's very easy to get tricked into being part of a botnet, installing malware or something. Sometimes it not your fault at all you just visited a bad page and didn't have your computer secured enough. I would really take it to a professional for diagnosis because really your computer could be being used to hack into other peoples computers or send spam email or something.

[SunDance]

I'd suspect malware as well. Hit "Control/Alt/Delete" and click on "Task Manager". Is there something using up a lot of your memory that you either don't recognize or at least know you're not running deliberately? Perhaps something with the description "COM Surrogate"? (note: COM Surrogate is legitimate but some Trojans mimic COM Surrogate to sneak into your system)

I got infected a few months ago...had just installed a malware protection program along with my Norton and apparently it's not a good thing to do that because it can end up cancelling out protection. My Norton Internet Security includes having them clean things up...they took over my computer for a while and fixed it online. No muss, no fuss...I was good to go. (I had them delete that malware protection program while they were fixing things.)

[Daisy and Miia]

Well, Barney recently installed new Norton Security Suite on both of our computers, but it's made no difference to how mine is running. My computer is around 10 years old. I did wonder if a new version of Windows would help though.

[POPTOP]

You know me, I'm usually the one asking for help with my computer. But, 10 years is really old for a computer these days. You will need to get used to the newer versions of Windows. I just get really good at one and then when we change it's a learning process all over again. Now that difficult, but irritating.

[Dallas dawg]

The hard drive has very little to do with how fast it runs. That's the RAMs job(Memory) and the processor, most new OS require a minimum of 2gb of RAM and 4+ being ideal. A new HD will only give you more space to store stuff on.

Have you done a spyware/Malware scan? If not check out Malwarebytes | Free Anti-Malware & Internet Security Software The free version is great!!

Will that stop the pop ups on a laptop, windows 8? I don't even turn the stupid thing on anymore.

[coppercleaner]

I would actually be surprised if it is hardware related. I agree that something is running in the background to keep the HD active. Another good free program is CCleaner. It will clean Windows, all applications, and the registry. I run it once a week to keep my machine in order along with emptying ALL caches, IE, Java, Flash etc.

Dallas dawg, if Windows pop-up blocker is not working, Ad-Block Plus works great and is also a free download.