Computer question -- curser/highlight speed

[Commie Basher]

My computer's curser & highlight feature are running slow, often (not always) lagging behind my keystrokes. Any solutions on how to fix this?

There's no good reason for this. It's a new laptop, running Windows XP, a 1.6 Gig Pentium M Centrino chip, with 768 Meg of RAM.

[two23]

Go into your computer settings and click on icon for keyboard and mouse and you can adjust the speed there.

[cowtowney]

try rebooting your machine

[cowtowney]

If it has always been like that, adjust your settings at
Start, Settings, Control Panel, Mouse...

[Commie Basher]

All they talk about there is "repeat return rate." I speeded to "short" delay, so we shall see.

I don't use a mouse, just an eraserhead pointer (in the keyboard's middle), and its speed is just fine.

[ex-Texan]

I had a similar problem on my PC. It vanished after I down loaded Spybot and Spyhunter and removed a secret Trojan that was following every key stroke that I typed.

Another problem might be because your other old files my be filling up with junk from the web. Do a file search for 'temporary internet', 'cache', or 'post' files. You may find literally hundreds of useless files clogging your hard drive. Just delete all the junk and run the disk defragmenter (Go to My Computer and click 'Help' and then enter 'defragmenter'.)

[Falcon4.0]

You might have Spyware and or a Virus. If you have a virus which records your keystrokes and passes them to the Hacker, you need to find out before you lose your personal info. I have a friend to which this happened. He was lucky and caught it early. Spyware can also slow your system down. Download "Adaware" from zdnet.com in there Downloads section. Install and run. It will find all cases of Spyware. These are not malicious but are annoying. Be warned though, some software requires there presence to run. Adaware gives you the option to backup the files before it cleans your system.

[New Horizon]

Right-click on any clear area your taskbar...the bar that runs along the bottom of your screen, and select "Task Manager".

Then, click on the "Performance" tab. If your CPU Usage is high, you probably have something funky running on your computer.

Clicking on the CPU tab will tell you which process is hogging your processor.

FReepMail me and I can help determine what it might be.

[f63]

Try CONTROL-ALT-DELETE to open the task manager and find out how many processes are running and if one of them is using excessive CPU's. Also, go to START - RUN -type msconfig in the RUN box, go to STARTUP, uncheck the programs that don't need to run every time you start up.

[Iris7]

Try a cold reboot. Check Task Manager. Any funny Usage History? Svchost running when it shouldn't be? System Idle Process should be running pretty constantly with an occasional flash of System. The rest should be inactive almost all the time except for a one or two percent for a second or two. I think you have something not right running in the background.

This thing is hooked up to the Internet? How? Make sure your security software is up to date, I had an obsolete update function in Norton System Works recently so a W32 wasn't detected. There are really bad worms out there, and virus software won't touch them. Had to reformat twice in the last year.

[Iris7]

I use Adaware and Spybot, both good programs.

[Commie Basher]

Okay, thanks all. Changing the pointer's repeat rate helped. (They should say it also applies to cursers.)

I routinely defrag and clear the cache.

I also use SpyCop and Evidence Terminator (the latter is supposed to delete all useless files, like logs and .bak and lots of others. It claims to speed the computer.)

So far the only "spy" program SpyCop found was Support.com, which came with the computer and is supposed to be there (the Support.com website says so).

[Commie Basher]

No, system usage is not high. SYSTEM IDLE is wavering at 97-99%.

[Commie Basher]

I have dial-up hookup to the internet, with Zone Alarm Pro firewall. I also use Norton Antivirus, always updated.

I used to use Norton Win Doctor on the older computer's Win 98, but read an Amazon review that Norton's Win Doctor trashed someone's Win XP.

[Clinging Bitterly]

This sort of problem is almost never caused by fragmentation, large number of cache files, and the like.

Whenever I've seen one get like that I'll suggest downloading and running Spybot and Ad-Aware. It's not unusual to find several of the little nasties running.

Anti virus programs won't touch 'em, and while a firewall might stop them from phoning home, it won't keep them from trying. Result either way is your system's resources are eaten up.

[Iris7]

Make sure you have the most recent versions. Normal update will not always get this done. Symantic has a good "automated support" function for this. Don't know about Zone Alarm, except it has a good reputation. definately run Adaware and Spybot. The "Task Manager" checks are needed also.

[boris]

"My computer's curser"

Don't cuss at the computer.

[helpman]

you want to go into IE. Click Tools. Click Internet Options. Click Accessibility. Make sure nothing is checked off in there. Especially under User Style Sheets. It should bring everything back to normal.
Let me know.

[boris]

Not me.