Windows 7 'De-Bugging'... Tools?

[WoodieSC]

I've been playing havoc with my laptop for months, and at times my desktop also. Both are running Windows 7, FireFox (always the newest versions), MS Office 2003, Outlook 2003, and miscellaneous other software that have all gotten extremely good, clean ratings, etc. I run Crap Cleaner nearly every time I shut it down, and often do a Registry Scan also (saving anything I delete).

I run Malwarebytes AntiMalware, Avira Antivirus, and occasionally Spybot Search & Destroy. It's very rare that I come up with anything other than the occasional 'PUP' warning.

My FF and Outlook often end up "not responding" and I have to wait anywhere from 10 seconds to minutes for things to come alive again. When that starts happening I schedule and run a HDD 'CHKDSK' scan on start-up, which usually takes a few hours. There's often at least one bad sector in a file somewhere that gets repaired. I usually then run a 'Scan.pst' on the Outlook.pst file and repair that when called for (which is normal). Things than run good for a few hours to a few days and then we start the whole friggin' cycle all over again.

I can't tell if the HDD is going bad again, or I'm missing something on a scan somewhere, etc, etc...

Ideas or suggestions, other than to replace this 3 year old laptop, are welcome.

Whatcha think???

Thanks.

[Steelin' Ducks]

Check the air pressure.

[scatter shot]

[WoodieSC]

Check the air pressure.

LOL... yep, did that. Looks good to go...

[WoodieSC]

Can't afford the extra ammo right now. Trying to fix the laptop first!

[quack head 11]

If you are getting bad sectors that are needing to be repaired on the reg then I would lean towards a failing drive.

Run diagnostics and if it's going bad make a backup and replace it with a solid state drive

[SOUTHERN WOODS]

Cut, burn and start over

Had somewhat similar problems on a desktop and the hard drive failed.

[WoodieSC]

If you are getting bad sectors that are needing to be repaired on the reg then I would lean towards a failing drive.

Run diagnostics and if it's going bad make a backup and replace it with a solid state drive

The good news is that the laptop is still under an extended warranty. I've also got an almost-synched desktop PC to use while this one is away. The bad news is that it will take a week or two to get it back, and then at least another week for me to jam in the time to reload what I want on it. All in all it's a PITA.

As for a SS drive, I don't have a choice in the matter. They'll install whatever they install. I can only hope it's a good brand.

Does anyone know where I can find the log of the CHKDSK scans to see if the same sector keeps showing up? I do know that the same file name seemed to show up a few times, but when I wrote it down on a piece of paper last Saturday the slip of paper had disappeared from the coffee table by the time I finished bush hogging. I can only guess that one of the dogs thought it would be funny to eat my notes...

[YoungBuckTX]

I think they may be found in event viewer. Just Google check disk logs location.

I agree it sounds like poor disk performance. You could also look in resource manager and sort the columns by I/O to see what is bogging it down.

For warranty they will ask for proof, so find the logs. Also run the manufacturer diagnostic test. It will be like F10 prior to the logo. Just Google HP diag test or whatever you have.

[WoodieSC]

I think they may be found in event viewer. Just Google check disk logs location.

I agree it sounds like poor disk performance. You could also look in resource manager and sort the columns by I/O to see what is bogging it down.

For warranty they will ask for proof, so find the logs. Also run the manufacturer diagnostic test. It will be like F10 prior to the logo. Just Google HP diag test or whatever you have.

I was looking through the Event Viewer yesterday afternoon and couldn't figure out which file to read... and those that seemed right didn't make any sense to this non-IT guy who doesn't read code, etc.

I do use the Resource Manager to try to ID when a particular program is bogging something down. One problem is that when the laptop goes to "not responding", the RM won't open either until things clear up. By then the guilty party (assuming there is one) isn't showing itself any longer.

I'll try the F10 test and see what I can find. Thanks.

[YoungBuckTX]

I was looking through the Event Viewer yesterday afternoon and couldn't figure out which file to read... and those that seemed right didn't make any sense to this non-IT guy who doesn't read code, etc.

I do use the Resource Manager to try to ID when a particular program is bogging something down. One problem is that when the laptop goes to "not responding", the RM won't open either until things clear up. By then the guilty party (assuming there is one) isn't showing itself any longer.

I'll try the F10 test and see what I can find. Thanks.

I found them under App, filter current log, event source as either chkdsk, or wininit.

After setting the filter, you'll need to hit Clear Filter to revert back, to again see all your logs.

[uga_dawg]

When it is running slow, have you checked to see what processes are running?

Ctrl-Alt-Del and then start task mgr. Go to processes tab and sort by cpu and memory to see what process is using up all your resources. Kill that processes and see if it gets better. Then figure out what that process is how to get it off the pc.

[WoodieSC]

YoungBuckTX, got it. Just reviewed the last few months and didn't see the recurring files I thought I would, but need to look again to see if there's a similarity in the bad sector sections, etc.

uga_dawg, the 'Task Manager' and I are old 'friends', to the point where I have it pinned to the Task Bar for easy reviewing. The kicker is that while I occasionally ID a program that's the single culprit, it's more often that not all of the CPU is being used, yet FireFox or Outlook are hung up and not responding. That's when I normally give up and run new scans. I just haven't settled yet on whether it's the drive, FireFox itself, or Outlook. I've re-installed FF recently and that only helped for a short time. I'm going to move to Chrome as soon as I get some time to rework my Favorites/Bookmarks. They're currently a combination of IE and FF vintage and when I import them to Chrome the IE files multiply themselves a few hundred times over. It's absurd.

Will keep you posted on what I find, both for my investigation and in case it might help someone else.

Thanks!