This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

TeqNotes: The Tale of a Lazy Dell Latitude

Here's the story about an all-to-common issue with a computer that was frustratingly unresponsive.

The patient: A Dell Latitude D630 running Windows XP Pro

The problem: After startup and login, the lappie wouldn't allow the user to do anything

The investigation: Once I got to a point where I could see the active processes, I discovered two processes using 100% of the system cycles

Find out what's happening in Oakdalefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The solution: I killed the two offending processes and the system became more responsive. A little research revealed the two processes were part of the Symantec/Norton anti-virus apps. I tried to remove the offending apps using Add/Remove Programs, but the apps refused to go away. Next I tried the Symantec remove all tool; still no joy. Finally I used the brute force method: I deleted all Symantec/Norton directories, restarted, ran the Symantec remove all tool again. SUCCESS!

After a little routine housekeeping to remove unused apps, I created a restore point and brought the lappie home to its owner. 

Find out what's happening in Oakdalefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Time on task: 2 hours (most of it spent waiting for the system to respond to actions!)

dbr ~ TeqOne

TeqOne provides on-site sales, service and support to small office and home office clients throughout the Twin Cities area. We want your technology experience to be as productive and trouble-free as possible. Call Us. Talk to real people with proven solutions for your Digital World. 

651 . 779 . 9435 

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?