hey, you know your supposed to wrap that raskel ?

Computer Condoms, sillys

Why not Washington state?? Oregon I would understand due to roads that was designed by people that like to confuse people.

Chas....Zone Alarm is a firewall, NAV (Norton AntiVirus)is an AV. Where do you get he's running two AV's or two firewalls?

Like Duh, I didn't know that. I got it here smart a**. lol.

Post #23
"I going to shut down NAV(Norton Anti-Virus) and see how it runs. I had been using Kaspersky AV Pro(Another Anti-Virus) for a long time..."

It sounded to me like he was running two Anti-Virus programs and he was going to shut down one of them. I read the firewall stuff somewhere in his posts too. It sounded like he was running a lot of conflicting programs. He must have a large CPU and lots of memory, I say.

Thanks, yrag. I just upgraded ZA.

BTW, Chas. I'm not a "he".

msmsgs.exe is the Messenger IM program which is *not* the same as the messenger service. The messenger service is what allows messenger popup spam if one is not running a firewall to block the open port(s) used by the service. See the MS article on the messenger service which also includes instructions on how to disable it: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp

Simply having a firewall like ZA that blocks open ports (and also not allowing programs server rights on the internet unless the app absolutely won't work without internet server rights---since serving on the internet opens a port) blocks messenger service popup spam. But a lot of people who use NAT routers and firewalls still disable the messenger service to reduce unnecessary services and as a back up precaution.

As for Messenger (the Instant Messenger program) I disabled it within the program itself from running at start up and also within Outlook Express (so OE wouldn't start up MS Messenger) and it is now not shown in Task Mgr as a running process. Or look here for simple instructions to keep it from running at start up: http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php?filter=msmsgs&count=&type=

As for deciphering what programs relate to entries in the start up list or Task Mgr, this is a good site for reference: http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

A lot of people don't want a lot of programs running at start up that aren't necessary. Disabling unnecessary programs from running at start up reduces resource use and provides for a quicker start up. The unnecessary programs will still work fine when you want to use them, but they really do not need to begin running when you start up your PC. At any rate, if you want to trim the start up programs always look things up and check for the best way to disable them. It's best to use settings within the program itself if/when it has settings that allow disabling running at start up.
[Message Edited]

Icq.exe - this one is also unnecessary, and chews up system memory.

I don't know......... I find quite useful. ICQ doesn't seem to work well without it.

Yeah, but if you're not even using the program, why do you need it chewing up resources? Unless, you keep it minimized to alert you when friends come online.

Guess not...

BTW: that was a Journeyman that made that statement....and a lovely one at that

I know you were talking about me....actually I guess a lot. The trick is that others don't know when I'm doing it

Yeah, but if you're not even using the program, why do you need it chewing up resources? Unless, you keep it minimized to alert you when friends come online.

Chas....that's the whole idea of the proggy...

Now, allow my random thoughts to roam..
1 - Have you changed video drivers recently? If you installed the MS NVIDIA driver - replace it with Nvida's detonator driver, but ONLY if you have an NVIDA chipset card.

2 - Is it possible the video adapter is on the fritz?

Enough outta me...