Hi, Panos.
First, let's clean up the tools we used and then I'll go through the issues that still exist, remembering that we are using a band-aid in order to add some extra life to the computer for Georgia.
Please do the following to uninstall AdwCleaner.
- Double-click AdwCleaner.exe to run the tool.
- Click Uninstall
- Confirm with yes
Finally, OTL CleanUp will handle the remaining programs.
- Double-click OTL.exe to run it. (Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Right-click on OTL.exe select "Run As Administrator" to run it. If prompted by UAC, please allow it.)
- Press the CleanUp button.
- When done, you will be prompted to reboot your system to finish file removal... please select OK to reboot your computer.
If you did not reboot your computer normally, please do so now, before continuing. If any tools we downloaded remain on the desktop, you can go ahead and delete them.
Now, let's address the issues.
1. When shutting down, an error message appears (something with memory...)In looking at the last OTL log, note that Georgia's computer is pretty much up to the max, without much more space for maneuvering:
511,47 Mb Total Physical Memory | 133,99 Mb Available Physical Memory | 26,20% Memory freeThe first thing to look at is the Downloads folder and delete anything there that cannot be replaced. I suspect that 99.9% of the files there would need to be replaced as any updates would be a newer version. Delete those files and empty the Recycle Bin.
Also, go to Add/Remove programs and review the installed programs. Uninstall all programs no longer used. Do not uninstall any of the Microsoft Hotfixes or .NET Framework updates. One example might be Google Earth. It maintains a cached backup of Google Earth in ProgramData.
Following that, do some additional maintenance. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk by searching your disk for files that you can safely delete. You can choose to delete some or all of the files. It can also be used to clear all but the most recent System Restore point.
First, create a fresh restore point:
1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click System Restore.
2. Click Create a Restore Point, and then click Next.
3. Name your restore point. (i.e., clean)
4. Click the Create button.
5. When the new restore point has been created, click Close.
Now select the files to be removed as well as all but the new restore points:
- Click start-->Run and type cleanmgr into the run box and then click "OK".
- Select the drive where Windows is installed (if you have more than one drive) and click "OK".
- When the scan completes, check/uncheck desired boxes.
- Next, please click the More Options tab at the top.
- Click the "Clean up..." button under the System Restore section at the bottom.
- Answer Yes to the question "Are you sure you want to delete all but the most recent restore point?".
- Click OK and answer Yes again.
The disk clean up utility will remove the selected items. When it completes, please restart the computer to properly record the changes made to the hard disk.
Next, run the Defragmenter tool. Note that it is best if this is done when no other programs are running and may take a while if the computer is heavily fragmented. So, I suggest Georgia start the process and then go fix a cup of coffee or tea, read a book, study -- well, you get the idea.
-- Open My Computer.
-- Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
-- On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.
-- Click Defragment.
2. When you make a google search for an image. E.g., type in google search area the word cat, and then choose images. No image appears. This happens for every single word. When using Firefox, there is not any problem about images search.I found the following setting change that may solve the problem with images appearing. Let me know if that setting solves the problem.
- IE8 > Tools > Internet Options
- Security > Internet > Custom level > Miscellaneous > Display Mixed Content
- Select ENABLED
3. I noticed yesterday that Georgia's Internet Explorer home page was Mywebsearch. Good job, Panos! It looks like AdwCleaner missed that one change.
4. Sometimes, the computer stucks (e.g. when she tried to buy Eset).If the computer itself hangs, it could be attributed to a number of things. With little free space available, if a process is running in the background, that could hang the computer. I also noticed that both Firefox and Google Chrome have a lot of enabled plugins that likely are not necessary or, alternatively, can be enabled if needed.
Firefox (From
Use plugins to play audio, video, games and more | Firefox Help):
First, check that the installed Firefox plugins are up to date here:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/Next, to disable plugins in Firefox, click the Tools menu and then click Add-ons. The Add-ons Manager tab will open. In the Add-ons Manager tab, select the Plugins panel. To disable a plugin, select a plugin in the list, then click Disable. Disabling a plugin will turn it off without uninstalling it. To re-enable it, click Enable.
Google Chrome (from
Plug-ins - Google Chrome Help):
To disable plug-ins, visit the Plug-ins page at chrome://plugins/. Find the plug-in you’d like to disable and click Disable. You can also re-enable disabled plug-ins on this page.
You can also reach the Plug-ins page by clicking Disable individual plug-ins in the "Plug-ins" section of the Content Settings dialog.
My apology for the length of this post. I wanted to give you as much information as possible in order for you to best help Georgia. Please let me know if you or Georgia have any questions.
