LIve One Care will not install

[Scarlet Pimple]

Since being forced to download Internet Explorer 8, Windows Live Once Care Reg cleanerwill not install.

IO get as far as clicking on the "click on install bvutton and then I am informed that DEP has prevented the isnstall due to a malicious or malfunctioning Add-ON....blah, blah>

I did not believe it since I have had this programme running for years and it is good at picking up rogue CLSID files, whatever.

So I started Internet Explorer-without-add-ons and the same thing happens.

If I shut down DEP is that dangerous and even if I do this will that work do you think. OR is it Internet Explorer 8 which seems to pose lots of problems.

Second question to which an answer is sought, please:-

What is the difference between CPU rersources and RAM? Why can't the CPU go into RAM when any one process uses up all it's resources. I am getting a lot of this from F Secure Anti Virus and a couple of other proceses , such as Csrss.exe---when they run they use up 100 % of the CPU and the computer freezes. So I installed another 1 Gig of Ram but it has not stopped it.

This is very serious because when I am watching the Caey Thistle highlights , suddenly the whole video will freeze for a few minutes and it is frustrating. Right! it is ......

[Scotty]

Cant help you with the IE8 problem as I havent encountered an issue like this, nor have I used that reg cleaner program, and where possible I try not to use IE8! However, to answer your CPU Resources / RAM question, the answer is relatively simple. They are different things entirely .....

CPU Usage

The CPU usage tells the percentage of time that the processor has spent on specific applications. These can be programs such as iexplore.exe (internet exploder) or it can be machine or Windows functions such as controlling the mouse, keyboard or graphics/audio cards etc, or displaying your desktop. Any 'background' processes (such as AntiVirus) will also consume some CPU resources as they are normally doing something.

The CPU only has so much processing power (ie. Data or Signals which it can physically process in a given time) and the closer you get to any of them showing 100% CPU utilisation (or 100% in total combined), the slower your machine will be as data or actions have to wait in a queue to be processed. the only exception is "system idle process" which you should be quite happy to see at 98% as it means the CPU is not doing much at that point !

RAM

RAM is physical memory and has nothing really to do with processing power although there are parallels. Each open application takes up a certain amount of RAM and again, the closer you get you using all your RAM, the slower your machine will operate.

A good example to show the difference between CPU and RAM is Internet Explorer .... When you load it, it may be using 65Mb of memory (RAM) (thats what mine is showing now), but unless you are happily clicking away at various pages the CPU usage will be zero as it is not processing anything. However, when you click on a new page, or go to a streaming video the memory usage will go up (considerably) and while it is processing that information from the website, so will the CPU utilisation. Adding more memory will not stop the CPU usage from climbing, in fact it may have the opposite effect as you may find more programs loaded into memory which make demands of the CPU.

A few tips to consider if you are suffering from this kind of problem would be the following

1. Minimise the amount of applications you have loaded into memory. If you have multiple applications running, consider which ones you need or do not need and close down those you do not.

2. Consider which ones you need running on startup? Over time loads of applications or processes can be added to your startup and many are not required. You can use msconfig to stop unneccessary programs loading on startup.

3. Take a look at Task Manager "Processes". Press CTL-ALT-DEL and bring up task Manager, go to processes to see what is running. Many of the processes here are required, but there are likely quite a few that can be closed down. If you filter on CPU usage or memory you can also see which programs are killing your processor or RAM.

4. One tip that I always apply to any machine I use is also to optimise my SWAP file. the SWAP file is virtual memory that the computer uses via your Hard Drive when it needs temporary storage. As the SWAP file needs time to read/write to a disk I always make sure it is on a second drive rather than on my C: drive so that the processor can always access C:. I also tweak it so that the min and max sizes are the same (to prevent it having to dynamically change filesize all the time and therefore consume more RAM and CPU when it is doing so). A size of roughly 3 times the amount of physical memory you have is a good setting usually.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Mostly understood, Scotty--thank you for that explicit explanation.

Your tip number 3---what do you mean by "filter on CPU"and how does one accomplish what you have in mind?

Start-up--I regularly review these programmes running at startup and now have them trimmed down to 3. to 5, ctmonexe and two for the Anti-virus F Secure programme, plus 2 desktop.ini which come and go but for why I dinna ken.I mean should they not be running every day I boot up the computer?

I am assuming that the F Secure items should be allowed to "run at Start-up" for updating purposes. But I am also assuming that the F Secure Firewall will not need to "run at Start-up" but will be on automatically all the time? Please correct me if I am wrong.

CC Cleaner is viewed by the knowledgeable Techs that I have encountered (Shaw Cable, Telus, etc) as a very efficient programme and it is free.One actually told me that that was the only Reg Cleaner that I needed..hmmmmm! It is also very fast and I have never experienced any issues with it at all. It has an access point to the Start-up menu from which you can allow, disable or delete start-up items.

The Registry Cleaner that I have also found to be very reliable and stable is Max Registry Cleaner (no problems at all for years) which also has an access point to the start-up menu.

Under tip 3, when you refer to "close down processes" do you mean simply end them? I thought that ending a process may be dangerous. However, my understanding is also that the next time you boot up your computer these "ended processes" come back again--is this correct?

As for your "swap file" references I would not know where to start so I will wait for the next visit of my 24 year old stepson since I do not expect you to spend your valuable time, Scotty, on a detailed explanation and instructions. Vitaliy is the one that told me to put in more RAM to stop the overloading of the CPU. SIGH! Life gets challenging don' it.

[CaleyD]

CrapCleaner (CCleaner) is my clean-up programme of choice and has been for years. It does exactly what it says on the tin and whenever I clean up someone's machine it is among one of the "must haves" that I install for them and show them how to use. In this day and age people install/uninstall, add/delete, create, move and alter files like never before and such activity leaves behind lots of "crap" which quickly accumulates and contributes to the "my computer is running slower" complaint.

On the Anti-Virus front, I am actually in the process of looking at what's out there these days. For years I've been a loyal user/recommender of AVG Free but it seems to be creeping up in terms of system resources it uses and it's time to check out the alternatives. Incidentally, F-Secure doesn't appear on my short list and ranks along with Norton for me in terms of problems encountered with past experience...which means it's on my "wouldn't touch with a barge pole" list.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Scotty

Thanks for your explicit explanation and comprehensive post.

Caley D - try Paretologic's Anti Virus Plus --it came top of a poll in North America for best use of CPU resources and for efficiency. I used to run a couple of their programmes but quit after a row I had with their head Offic in Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada because they would not stop billing me in U.S. dollars. They are only about 80 miles away from me!I hav enever come across tthis type of thing before.

[Scarlet Pimple]

The reason why I could not install it had nothing to do with DEP.

Nor had it anything to do with bad add-ons etc.

It was just Microsoft's excuses for not allowing is to put an icon on the desktop so that we could run the programme from the desktop rather than , laboriously, having to go to their website every time I wanted to run it.

Why? Because they have just brought out Windows "Essentials" which includes the Live One Care Safety Scanner and they want to make it as difficult as possile for us to run it separately . They want us to buy the whole package instead. Canyou imagine a company with the wealth of this company being so sneaky and mean? OMG.

Anyway I am a Pimple and Pimples always find a way to get around stifling bureaucracy.

In this case I ran it from the desktop and allowed the programme to install properly, complete it's scan and then delete the erroneous items.

Thereupon I right-clicked on the webpage on my desktop, which of course now had the programme already installed (remember the issue was that it would not allow me to install it),selected "put a shortcut on the desktop" and now I can run the programme from there.

Trying to find a Microsoft support rep who actually knows what you are talking about, without being transferred to other wrong support numbers countless times if you have a problem, can be a nightmare.

[CaleyD]

Windows Security Essentials is totally free so I don't see why you don't just switch over to that.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Because I did not know it was free and ,a s I recall, it runs some stuff which I have already covered and don't think I need to install .

[CaleyD]

I tested MSE as part of my project to go through and see if my AV protection was being best served by AVG and of those I have checked so far it's ranking pretty high.....the only real red mark I could give it was it was a Microsoft product...lol.

It's pretty light on system resources, fast and efficient when it comes to scanning and totally unobtrusive.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Caley D. When you say you are testing MSE , are you referring to the Windows Essentials Package ?

[CaleyD]

"Microsoft Security Essentials"

[Scarlet Pimple]

Caley D --refer to your post of 29 September 2010. Same difference then?