Quick Computer Question

[denslexusgx470]

Lately i have a feeling that my computer has been acting really funny. I was hoping i was wrong, but so far the only problem i have is not being able to get my wireless mouse to work on my laptop.

Before I could use the mouse for hours without a problem... Now lately it will work once I start the computer up then as I'm using it i will notice that the reaction on the screen is delayed then.... nothing.. the mouse won't move with the wireless mouse! I have to once again use the keypad mouse on my laptop..

Is this a vista glitch or what? I've been using this same mouse for 6 months..

Battery? I havent tried changing the battery to the mouse..

If the battery doesnt work, what do you guys think is the problem? it's a Toshiba Core 2 Duo with Vista Home Premium...

[smooth1]

Yeah, it's probably the battery. I have a Microsoft mini mouse that uses 1 AA battery now. That thing lasts a long time! But the mouse I had before it would eat 2 AA batteries almost monthly. And when they started to get weak it would do just what your saying. It would start to lag behind and the pointer would freeze, but the scroll would still work. Then it start freakin out and the pointer would just do what it felt like. I would change the battery and all would be fine again. But now that I got this new mouse, I would say it's been atleast 6 months since I have had to change the battery.

[denslexusgx470]

Yea you were right. It's just the battery. I thought the battery should last longer than 6 months but I often leave the mouse on for over 24 hours a day so that's probably what drained it so fast. hehe

[nc211]

Haaa. I don't think I want to know what you're doing with your mouse Dens! Hahaha!

I've got a wireless mouse as well, and when it starts acting up like that, it's always been the batteries too.

I've got another question relating to computers: Anyone finding that the Norton Security software is becoming a real pain in the !Removed!? I've got that 08' norton protection suite, and I swear, it drags down the computer like a lead weight! I even upgraded the internals a few weeks ago with a new motherboard, dual-core Intel 2.3 processor, and like 2 gigs of ram....yet it still gets all funky-monkey on us and runs and runs and runs and runs. Anyone else finding Norton to becoming like the old AOL days, where if you installed AOL on your computer, it went EVERYWHERE and bogged down the machine?

[smooth1]

Oh that's funny you should bring this up! I just switched over from Norton to McAfee for that very reason. (make sure your only running one firewall too. Microsoft has one already on, so you have to turn that off.) But since I switched over to the McAfee suite my computer has been much faster, and alot more stable. ( I'm still on XP though also.) I think Norton just runs slower for some reason.

[eatingupblacktop]

Haaa. I don't think I want to know what you're doing with your mouse Dens! Hahaha!

I've got a wireless mouse as well, and when it starts acting up like that, it's always been the batteries too.

I've got another question relating to computers: Anyone finding that the Norton Security software is becoming a real pain in the !Removed!? I've got that 08' norton protection suite, and I swear, it drags down the computer like a lead weight! I even upgraded the internals a few weeks ago with a new motherboard, dual-core Intel 2.3 processor, and like 2 gigs of ram....yet it still gets all funky-monkey on us and runs and runs and runs and runs. Anyone else finding Norton to becoming like the old AOL days, where if you installed AOL on your computer, it went EVERYWHERE and bogged down the machine?

Norton has always been a memory hog! Especially if you use the suite. I've got the latest suite. It was packaged with something else. Can't remember what. I don't use it. A lot of software (microsoft office as an example) get more bloated with each new version. Besides the tech upgrades, I think much of it has to do with the bundling of additional plugins/addons for wider apps. I'm still using NAV 05. Standalone antivirus only. Just keep updating the defs. Zonealarm does everything else. They work seamlessly together and no bogging down. Try using one of your older versions, av only, and add a standalone firewall. For me, if it aint' broke, don't fix!

PS - Also use Spybot, AdAware and others for worm det etc, but don't enable live monitoring. Every prog you have running in the background will deplete memory, cache, cpu, etc. Be selective in what you allow to silently use up your resources. Also keep in mind compatibility issues. Some combinations create conflicts that are easy to detect. Other conflicts aren't as obvious, but can easily slow down your system. Read up on software reviews from sites like cnet.com or download.com.

[RX in NC]

I've been running Computer Associates' Internet Security Suite software for more than four years now and it has been a great product. The latest version is called "Internet Security Suite Plus 2009". It typically costs $59.99 a year but CA sent me an e-mail yesterday notifying me that it is now on sale for $19.99 a year so I jumped on that deal this morning. I cancelled my current subscription (I had renewed three weeks ago at $49.99 after negotiating them down to the price I paid last year), got a full refund on my Visa card, and immediately placed a new order at $19.99. Had the old package de-installed and the new package running on my desktop within an hour. I called CA first to see if they would just go ahead and refund me the $30.00 difference on my Visa card, but they said no, they can't do that. But they were perfectly willing to cancel my three-week-old subscription renewal, credit me with a full $49.99 refund on my Visa card, and then sell me the same software at $19.99 on a new order. About 45 minutes of work on my part to save $30.00. I felt it was worth it since I could continue to use my PC while it was going through the anti-virus/anti-spam/anti-spyware checks for the first time after package installation and PC rebooting....

You can reach Computer Associates toll-free at (877) 694-8509. "Internet Security Suite Plus 2009" includes a firewall, anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware, a website inspector, and parental controls. You can decide which of these modules to install and which to leave out during your installation process. We use all of these components except parental controls....

Again, this has been a great overall PC protection package that we've been using for more than four years now. It is not a resource hog, it is very intuitive and easy to learn and monitor, and the annual subscription cost hasn't been this low since we initially purchased it in 2004 for $20.00....

Check it out....