[Comphelp] Hodge-podge of stuff

[Dave Schuppert]

Over the past couple of months I have been forced to abandon some of my old 
programs because they don't work with some of todays security protocols. 
With each change my computer began to slow down more and more. Needed 
reboots came more often and more time was being waisted.

Links to all programs are found at the bottom of this message. All are 
free, been tested and do not carry adware/spyware.

While I figure out what is wrong with my XP desktop computer (I think the 
video card died) and make repairs, my Armada 800 Mhz 64MB ram machine 
running Win98SE is my main stay computer. Loading the virus protection and 
spyware checker at boot-up caused a 2-5 minute reboot time. I used to 
RegCleaner4.3 to clear all non-essential programs from automatically 
starting up, although Windows system tools contains a couple of similar 
tools. Now, I selectively load the spy checker and anti-virus as needed 
when downloading mail or surfing unfamiliar sites. So far I've found that 
the spyware/adware programs cause more interference than good and are 
better run as periodic checks than always active. Spybot is my main line. 
It is the fastest and most user friendly. Next is SpyBeGone which has never 
deleted something I needed later. Last is adware which has caused freeware 
programs to stop working. (See PKzip below.)

All went well for a while until I realized that some programs were not 
clearing from RAM when I closed them and loading new applications would 
bring the computer to a point needing reboot.

Adobe Acrobat (I don't know about just the reader version), Eudora and 
CuteHTML are my most commonly used programs and seem to have this problems. 
[All of which are purchased versions.] Although the programs didn't show on 
the task bar after closing, they were still resident in RAM.  Using 
Crtl+Alt+Del and ending the programs seemed to help some times. Still I 
wasn't sure that the problem had gone away. I tried using a Windows 
application to monitor system resources. RSRCMTR.exe (I'm not sure that 
this is in XP) Placing it in the system tray, I was able  to monitor and 
make corrections (shutting down programs) before the computer became 
unreasonably slow and data loss resulted from re-boot. System readings 
below 40% usually meant I was in for trouble.

Still the problem remained as to how to clear the RAM. I found a free 
program which allowed me to clear RAM without rebooting. It did not load 
any Adware/spyware as so many of the free programs do today. I can now 
monitor available RAM via an icon in the system tray and insure that when 
I've closed a program that the RAM is cleared and I'm ready to start an new 
task. If RAM doesn't clear, the program can be used to clear RAM to a 
specified amount.

I bring up all these points because some computers which are not cost 
effective to update, are still usable for surfing the web and word 
processing. With a couple of "band-aids" they will make it through another 
year.

PZkip and TSAD.dll. I love PKzip. It has features that no other program 
has. Mainly the ability to maintain directory structures. This feature is 
very important to me when I am achieving complex web site. However, as the 
download instructions state, it contains sub programs for tracking. I 
believe it is "AvenueA", is spawned by TSAD.dll which Adaware will detect 
and delete. If TSAD.dll is removed, PKzip stops working. TSAD.dll is not 
automatically started. It is run by running PKzip (shareware version. The 
registered version removes this problem.) I don't regularly use PKzip any 
more and have replaced its "unpack" capacity with Power Achiever which only 
reminds me that after 40 day the program was supposed to be removed.  After 
running PKzip I run Spybot S&D and clear the adware. That's the price you 
have to pay for being cheep. [I should point out here that SpyBeGone does 
not pin-point TSAD.dll as a threat.]

links: Ony RegCleaner has been tested under WinXP and is known to work.
Regcleaner 4.3 - Note all programs on this page except History Killer 
worked. I use the Power Achiever to unzip a variety of files as a 
replacement to PKzip and Winzip.
http://www.321download.com/LastFreeware/index.html#RegCleaner
FreeRAM
www.bysoft.com/BySoftFreeRAM32.exe
Network monitoring program. If you ever have occasion to have someone 
assess your computer, this program will help you track their movements.
www.bysoft.com/BySoftNetworkMonitor.exe