Spyware, Memory, What? Any ideas?

[Eran of Arcadia]

I played The Sims 2 until about a year ago when it started running so slowly on my machine that it was unplayable. I had downloaded a lot of custom content, but that hadn't been a problem up until then. I think it might be spyware - does anyone know a good way to get rid of it? And would adding memory help? If so, how would I determine this is the case? I know very little about computers after all.

 

[Phlegmak]

I know nothing of Sims 2.

AdAware is a program designed to locate and get rid of spyware. I recommend you try it.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

 

[Jamesds]

This happened with a game I was playing, TrackMania Nations ESWC. It started playing so slowly after having my laptop for a year that I thought my CPU was in bad shape. I did a clean install of XP and reinstalled my apps, and it worked (and still works although I don't play it) great.

I'de really like to know what causes this. I wondered if it was my laptop HD. When benchmarked, it was running at half the read/write speed it did when I first bought and benchmarked my computer. Maybe this is due to it being a 4200 rpm, 80GB HD, and having only 10GB left is detrimental, but it shouldn't be that way, and I don't think that is the case. It might be spyware, but I sometimes think spyware is blown out of proportion. It would be worth using the link Phlegmak supplied to make sure. Severe computer slowdowns are sometimes caused by viruses that deliberately make bad use of system resources - that wasn't the case for me, but it would be worth performing a virus check. Also, to make sure you HD is running optimally, defragment it. You'd be surprised how fragmented it becomes after a short period of time.

If the above doesn't work, then I'm afraid that my only advice to you is to format and reinstall your OS. This will work - and if it doesn't, then you've got a serious hardware problem, like a melted CPU .

 

[Strider]

Spyware would make everything run slower. To be honest, it would take A LOT of spyware to make a significant slowdown in a system. Tojans/Virus's are a possibility.

Make sure your HD has been defragmented recently (and also do it pretty often).

That can be two of the more common problems I can think of. To be honest though, it can be one of any hundred of different problems. Can you hit "Alt+Ctrl+Del" go to the process's tab and tell us how many processes are running under your sign-in name? (Not System, Network services, or local services, but your account name).

 

[dwaxe]

Your computer might be too dusty, it happened to mine and I didn't figure it out for well over a year

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Spyware would make everything run slower. To be honest, it would take A LOT of spyware to make a significant slowdown in a system. Tojans/Virus's are a possibility.

Yeah, it was really just the game.

Make sure your HD has been defragmented recently (and also do it pretty often).

That hasn't helped.

That can be two of the more common problems I can think of. To be honest though, it can be one of any hundred of different problems. Can you hit "Alt+Ctrl+Del" go to the process's tab and tell us how many processes are running under your sign-in name? (Not System, Network services, or local services, but your account name).

22, but I always shut down all but the essential ones before trying to play, still has that effect.

 

[Mise]

How old is your computer?

Cheap components tend to pack in quite quickly (which isn't a problem cos it means they're cheap to replace...). It could be that The Sims just so happens to utilise this particular component more than other games/programs. Personally I'd be tempted to just live without The Sims, rather than risk spending money on new hardware and have it STILL not work. (Actually I've been living without any games at all for about 8 months now, for this reason...)

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Well, I did have to get a new video card. The system is about 3 years old, but I was playing the game for about a year before it stopped working.

I think I will fiddle around with it tonight and then if it's not working, I may have a better idea of the problem.

 

[Strider]

To be honest with you... it's kind of difficult to do tech support without seeing the machine.

Here is some things I recommend looking at:

Hard drive going bad
Video card going bad
Cooling
Process priority

An easy way to tell if it's hardware or software related is to format and reinstall... if you want to go that far.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I figured that, but I hoped there was something obvious I was missing.

Anyways, tried again today, took an hour to get into the game and half my stuff was not there anyways. So the heck with it, I will just play it on my next computer I guess.

 

[Till]

I suppose you have tried reinstalling the game without the custom content? Sounds the the installation is broken. I'd backup the custom stuff, deinstall, and delete the MyDocuments\MyGames\Sim2 folder.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I did that, didn't help all that much.

(Plus, I really like the custom stuff anyways, it adds a lot to the game experience.)

 

[Till]

I did that, didn't help all that much.

(Plus, I really like the custom stuff anyways, it adds a lot to the game experience.)

I didn't mean to suggest you permanently part with the custom content! The idea was to remove it in an attempt to narrow down the possible causes of the problem.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Well, I might give it another try and just add back what I really like, I suppose.

 

[warpus]

Sounds like a memory leak in the game, or something. Got the latest patch for it installed?