Spyware Infested Computer???

TinyMage · Post by **TinyMage** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:47 pm

I installed NWN diamond edition on a freshly formatted harddrive and it ran very smoothly.

A short while later I installed diabloII and have been playing that for a few months.

Now when I try to play NWN its all choppy. For instance when I get to the part where you talk to Aribeth and the guys attack from 4 corners it becomes super choppy when it used to run very smoothly.

No I did not change any settings.

Yes I have up to date versions of spybot S&D and adaware and run them right before I try to play NWN. No difference.

I even do a cpu reset.

The only thing I can think of is I have some nasty spyware somewhere that I picked up browsing those D2 sites and adaware and spybot are not enough to catch it.

Does anyone know what the problem might be or how to find it.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:55 pm

I don't think it sounds like spyware/adware/malware or what it is labled as these days, if neither Spybot nor Adaware seems to pick up on it. They are pretty sharp at detecting such things.

I'd sounds more as a driver/hardware issue to be honest in my book, that perhaps the game runs on settings to demanding or the drivers are the problem.

What are your machine specifications? (CPU/RAM/Graphics Card/DirectX version).
You can try to alter the settings, upgrade/downgrade drivers and make sure you have few other programs running in memory when trying to play.

Also - I'm moving this to the Tech.Support forum from NwN forum, where others might be able to provide input as well, to hopefully get this issue fixed. (but leaving a redirect for a month)
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TinyMage · Post by **TinyMage** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:19 am

Xandax wrote: I'd sounds more as a driver/hardware issue to be honest in my book, that perhaps the game runs on settings to demanding or the drivers are the problem.
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Nooooo, as I said before the game ran PERFECTLY SMOOTH when my computer was freshly formatted.

Then months later after I had installed and played Diablo 2, I booted up NWN and its slowwwww as hell.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 4:10 am

What programs do you have running in the background while you play NWN? If it ran smoothly when freshly formatted, then perhaps you have a program installed which runs in the background, such as a virus scanner.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 8:29 am

If you are using Spybot, that also takes a lot of resources when running in the background.
I use Counterspy, and Spybot but I always turn them off when gaming.

If you are concerned about malaware, there are some other checks you can do. Try downloading [url="http://www.ewido.net/en/"]Ewido[/url] and [url="http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/TrojanHunter/991548481/1"]Trojan Hunter[/url] (they both have fully functioning shareware versions) They are both very powerful and find stuff that most others seem to miss.
A few months ago I found my computer was running much more slowly than it should have been. I ran some scans with my AV, Counterspy, Spybot and Adaware, but nothing showed up.
I then tried Ewido and Trojan Hunter and they each zapped a couple of nasties. My machine has been running nice and smoothly ever since. (or as best as can be expected given its decrepit age

)

TinyMage · Post by **TinyMage** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:11 pm

[QUOTE=mr_sir]What programs do you have running in the background while you play NWN? If it ran smoothly when freshly formatted, then perhaps you have a program installed which runs in the background, such as a virus scanner.[/QUOTE]

Nothing. I do an msconfig and uncheck all the boxes under programs whenever I reset my computer.

[QUOTE=dragon wench]If you are using Spybot, that also takes a lot of resources when running in the background.
I use Counterspy, and Spybot but I always turn them off when gaming.[/QUOTE]

Spybot doesn't run in the background on my machine. I load it up and scan then shut it down.

I don't like programs that run in the background.

I installed and ran both programs you linked and it still runs slow. I guess I'll just do another reformat.

GOD I hate windows.

Ashen · Post by **Ashen** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 4:05 pm

Sometimes Spybot and company can't catch it all and you need professional help, trust me on this one, I got in a bind a couple of months ago and these guys helped me out, they are great! Don't reformat, they can help if it's spyware:

MalWare Removal :: View Forum - Malware Removal

Read the instructions before posting.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:58 am

TinyMage wrote:Nothing. I do an msconfig and uncheck all the boxes under programs whenever I reset my computer.
<snip>

The stuff shown in msconfig is only a minority of what can (and will run) on your computer. Use the taskmanager (or get a better one and use that - I can recommend the one from sysinternal) and see all the processes and threads running. That way you can indentify what is taken up system ressources.