[DocStrange]

Yeah I didn't download that Update 21. I figured as much as it was probably a beta.

Someone at the MozillaZine forum which I've also posed this question at (its no longer solely a Firefox problem, but I initially thought it was, but they were nice enough to keep helping me) wrote me:

It would be my, more than casual, observation that the problem is 50% graphics card related; the remaining 50% being the fact that you don't want to acquiesce to the fact that it is, indeed, graphics card related.

[FYI: graphics card = video card.]

My computer (second hand trade-in) was custom built 11 years ago as/by a high-end gamer. The "gentleman(?)/cmpt hobbyist" that I actually bought it from, saw fit to remove/replace the original build graphics card with a 16MB/PCI POS. Sound familiar??

(here it quotes you reading off the Aida32 report that I have a NVIDIA 16MB video adapter)

As I found, in very short order, a 16MB graphics card is barely capable of running Windows properly; I replaced it with a "decent" 128MB/AGP ATI card.
Result: No page hangs; No video lags; No other "funny l'il video SNAFU's"; In short: It corrected the problem. Thoroughly/Immediately. Done.

For the record, and despite any other claims/complaints/b*tches to the contrary, I have never had any difficulty whatsoever in running Firefox with my system: 800 MHz CPU; 320MB SDRAM.
At present: Firefox is using a (static) average of 5% CPU and 92MB memory; with one opened window having 10 loaded tabs; another window having 8 loaded tabs.

You must decide if your basic system is worthy of such an upgrade; or just nurse it along and "see what Santa slides down the chimney".

So would that be accurate?

I wrote that: my system is probably not worthy of an upgrade, and I'm unsure what i'm going to do with it once I get the new computer I have been promised for Christmas, or possibly in the next few weeks if it gets worse and I find a good computer (with a decent HD and memory, has Windows 7 and CNET doesn't have more bad things to say about it than good) on Craigslist for cheap-ish (and by "cheap-ish" I mean under $1000) that isn't being rid of for a suspicious reason, but rather by someone who just got a laptop or something like that. Although if I somehow stumble across a 28MB/AGP ATI card I will consider getting someone to put it in.

However, my original problem with the mouse cursor and tabs has been on and off all day. It appeared for the first time today over 10 hours after I booted my computer, then it was gone a minute later. Then it came back 45 minutes later, again gone in under a minute, then again about 2 minutes later, and as I write this it's been back again for maybe 10 minutes (edit: but is now gone 18 minutes later. I won't keep updating when it's going or coming back anymore, and i'll leave it at "it's going and coming back at erratic intervals").

[Byteman]

Here's some things to check, advised by Mozilla , to fix FF issues

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_(Firefox)


I deleted your AIDA32 report here......can you repost it? I will have another look......and, I will remove it from your reply as before.

[DocStrange]

Ok, now i'm having a different problem: I went away from my computer for half an hour and now its all laggy and stuff. Instead of instantly, it takes 1 second to change tabs and whenever I pass from my bookmarks toolbar to the page, going by the tabs lags. It takes two minutes to open a tab. It persists even after quitting out of Firefox. Certain sites with alot of doodads on it, like my last.fm page are worse: when I make a circle with my cursor, it's as laggy as when I pass by my tabs.

This is only in Firefox. Winamp is fine.

[DocStrange]

I restarted my computer and that problem was gone, as was, for then at least, my cursor problem again. My dad ran CCleaner and freed up 0.2GB from my drive, leaving me now with 10.9GB of free space. He also ran Disk Defrag and CHKDSK (both Windows Programs, not a third party software that does the same). Everything looks A-OK so far, except that Task Manager still spikes at 100% whenever its open. Notably its slightly less laggy to scroll past images now.

However a few things still:
1. Pitchfork Media, a popular music review site, is apparently a problem site for me now: the videos and pictures it has are difficult to scroll by and it takes a noticeable .68 of a second to open a tab it is in, compared to under .12 of a second usually
2. While writing this, my cursor problem came back and went away again. I don't think its gone for good (and came back again in the 1/2 hour it took me to write this, but went away again). The fact that it's coming back and going again constantly is annoying me.
3. A unique problem: when I drag my cursor onto a JPEG (not a PNG) with a link to another page in it (like on this website) the cursor lags in image and taking my cursor in and out of the image. It only happens on images with links to pages in them that are horizontal rectangles (the two images are 350px × 248px and 350px × 265px, respectively). It doesn't affect similar images on Wikipedia, just that one site. It doesn't happen in IE6, but it looks very different in IE6 from the last time I looked at it.
4. That weird lag during typing keeps up.
5. I'm going to have to step up to find a newish, good, usable for a long period of time, cheap (under $1000) computer off of Craigslist or somewhere from someone who knows computers. This computer clearly "wont do" until Christmas. Also, next Tuesday is the last update for Windows 2000 before support is pulled.

7 will be supported - including longterm support - until approximately 2020, but - for the first time ever - I will have a good enough computer to update to the next Windows OS when it comes out (i've actually always had the pre-loaded OS, i've never actually installed an OS on my computer).

To be honest 2020 is a better time for my OS to become unsupported then, say, Tuesday. I suspect the next update of Firefox - and definitely Firefox 4, whenever that comes out - won't support 2000 (and with good reason). I mean, Opera supports even Windows 95 still, but I kind of hate Opera.

As you might imagine all these problems since March with the original problem I asked MozillaZine, since May with the box around the cursor and since Friday with this onslaught of new problems, has made me really upset and I just hope I find a new computer in the next month.

[DocStrange]

My new problem I described in my couple posts with the tab lag, by the way? Apparently caused by my screensaver (3D Pipes). I tried another (3D Flower Box) and it happened with that one too. Starfield seems to be my only option right now.

Similarly, this morning I notice that my computer has become even slower on the internet, taking (from when I click the google search result to the page loading as "Done") 9.49 seconds to load the CNN home page, 11.20 seconds to load ESPN and 7.29 seconds to load Google News. The slight lag I occasionally see while typing indeed still persists.

PS: You wanted my aida32 report again, right? Here it is again.

[DocStrange]

^ ok I take it you got my Aida report again.
I'd really like some sort of temporary fix because the scrolling and picture lags have caused two sites that I really enjoy going to - Pitchfork and TVtropes - To become slightly (but still annoyingly) difficult for me to use now (the former because of the scrolling and the latter because of the previously mentioned lag on certain pictures with links). Similarly, i'm also having page loading lags and opening a link into a new tab. All of these things are really making it hard to use my computer.

I just would like to know what else I can do.

I'm seriously hoping someone - like my parents or something - find me a new computer within the week. I'm currently looking all over my local Craigslist.

[Byteman]

If we had a fix for whatever is going on, you would have seen it by now. Not every problem has a solution.... might just have to wait for that new computer. The main problem seems to me to be memory related, only replacing with known good RAM cures anything if it is. (No repair to memory).

Honestly, about anyting could be ready to pop, so the less you do, the less you keep things like Task Manager open while y uo are trying to use the machine, the better. I'm sorry but there is not much I can help out with. Reducing things running in the background might help.

[DocStrange]

Yeah, i'm not going to use my computer again until I get my stuff off of it and put it on an external or transfer it via ethernet to a new computer.

Speaking of which, what should I scan my stuff with (and where) to make sure its all clean and/or none of the stuff that happened to my computer happens on this possible new computer? (I'm mostly worried about lag and stuff coming with me when I transfer my important files and thousands of mp3s of rare, obscure punk, indie and world music that I can't really find anywhere else anymore). Almost all (if not all) of my important files are on a thumb drive that I last plugged into my computer on Sunday to export my saved Firefox bookmarks. Most of my music is still on my drive. Is there a program I can run that can scan my thumb drive and music (either on my current computer or an external drive) for nasties that Spybot, Avast and Malwarebytes might not find when I scan my things?

[Byteman]

Use Malwarebytes and SuperAntipsyware free versions (pay for versions if you have them)

Or, do an online scan and have the removable drive plugged in- if anything is found infected you will have to start a new thread and post some logs including this one: (This scanner does not fix anything however it is very good at detecting malware)

{Note I am not sure if it will work in Windows 2000 and with IE 6!)

Please do an online scan with Kaspersky WebScanner

Kaspersky online scanner uses JAVA tecnology to perform the scan. If you do not have Java then you will need to go to the following link and download the latest version:

JRE 6 Update 20

Instructions for Kaspersky scan:

1. Read through the requirements and privacy statement and click on Accept button.
2. It will start downloading and installing the scanner and virus definitions. You will be prompted to install an application from Kaspersky. Click Run.
3. When the downloads have finished, click on Settings.
4. Make sure the following is checked.
   • Spyware, Adware, Dialers, and other potentially dangerous programs
     Archives
     Mail databases
5. Click on My Computer under Scan.
6. Once the scan is complete, it will display the results. Click on View Scan Report.
7. You will see a list of infected items there. Click on Save Report As....
8. Save this report to a convenient place. Change the Files of type to Text file (.txt) before clicking on the Save button.
9. Please post this log in your next reply.

The problem for you is going to be what to do when or if a scanner finds malware..... a lot of programs or scans may detect malware but cannot fix it.

I cannot give you help with the special tools we us in threads- we are allowed to only help you in threads.

We have to go by rules of the makers of these special tools. There can be side effects and without our help you can end up in
more trouble...or, end up not curing the infection.

[DocStrange]

alright, thank you for that . I'll run that Kaspersky scan on my old computer or new computer when I begin/finish my exporting of my files whenever I get a new system. If it doesn't work on Windows 2000/IE6 (no Firefox support?) I'll do it after I finish on a new computer when I get that. Its definitely going to have XP, Vista or 7 (I'm hoping for one with 7).

Hopefullly Malwarewarebytes (which I have) and Superantispyware will catch anything beforehand. I'm actually suspecting rootkits

Java 6.20 is already on my old computer, but as I said, i'm not turning it back on until the day I get my stuff off it. Also, i'm not near it right now.

I'll start a new thread - possibly in this subforum or in the Virus & Other Malware Removal subforum - when I finally get a new system.

Right now i'm..."borrowing" my mom's Dell Dimension 3100 downstairs which has "enough" to hold me over for the next few weeks (512MB RAM, 80GB hard drive, Windows XP).

Also, thank you for all your help, Byteman, even if it didn't wind up helping save my computer, the effort you put into to helping me was top notch.

[DocStrange]

A post script to this thread: Byteman if you're reading this, I finally got a new computer (I have some important Firefox stuff on a thumb drive too, just in case). It runs XP, and although I have tried 7 and am now in love with it, XP will do for a couple years. I have not used this new computer yet as i'm waiting to us it just in case a bug i'm dealing with in Gmail mucks up some files (i'm transferring some files from the computer i'm borrowing to the new one with Gmail) and my new computer gets fouled up like the old one (and these aren't even my gigabytes worth of music on my old system that'll be transferred over to the new one tomorrow).

I don't want to risk using the internet on Win 2000 because i've bought into the boogeyman warnings of some computer nerd friends of mine, so i'll run Kaspersky on the new system after I transfer my stuff via ethernet.

[Byteman]

Sounds like a plan....

Feel free to keep us updated. Best of luck with the new machine.

[DocStrange]

Byteman, I ran that Kaspersky scanner on my new computer, followed your instructions and the scan came back with no infected or suspicious objects detected. I have about 25GB of files taken off my old computer on here, which means that the problems with my old computer did not involve my files at all and there's no viruses, spyware, adware, malware etc. on this new system. Good.