Author Topic: [Inactive] Firefox painfully slow and Google searches are getting redirected  (Read 1635 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline 1972vet

  • Microsoft® MVP
  • Malware Removal Staff
  • Diamond Member
  • Posts: 8290
  • Patience is bitter indeed, but its fruit is sweet.
You can follow the instructions Here...although I'm not confident that would even work in your situation as you've never had Windows XP installed on that hard drive nor is this an upgraded Vista machine. I'd give it a whirl just to see. I would be interested to know if it DOES work for you.

There are those who have used the UPHCleanup service in Windows Vista and haven't reported any issues with it but your event log testifies to the contrary. You can read Here about the crash issues that it has caused and see that Microsoft has provided a hot fix for it. However, this also would not apply in your case. The BlackViper has detailed quite thoroughly the information regarding the UPH service Here. I hope you can see from all this, that the utility in Vista (and later) actually seems to cause more issues for users than it resolves.

Failing that, you can look for the service name profsvc and uninstall it in this way:

1) Open the "Start" menu.
2) Type cmd in the "Search programs and files" box and click "ok".
3) In the returned search items listed, the one at the top should be your command prompt. Right-click that icon and select "Run as administrator". When THAT command window opens, type or copy and paste:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

...and press enter. (Note that nothing seems to happen--this is expected. We are actually setting an environment variable which is going to help us to see hidden devices)
4) On the next cmd prompt line, type in:
devmgmt.msc
...and press enter. This will launch the Windows Device Manager Console.
5) In the Device Manager Console, from the "View" menu, select "ShowHidden Devices".

Note:
This is NOT the same as just selecting 'Show Hidden Devices' from within the menu of the normal default view in device manager. This method exposes the super hidden drivers/devices from having changed the environment variable.

Now, scroll down to and click "Non-Plug and Play Drivers" in the listing. You will see not only the items that Windows currently detects as installed on your pc (these are the usual items displayed), but you will also see drivers, devices, and services which have been loaded in the past but were not uninstalled (properly) or are not currently started.

These are identified by those drivers listed which appear to be grayed out...

Here you should find a service named profsvc. Right click that service and select "Uninstall". If you choose to, you can also remove other drivers/services/devices while you are there, from applications/programs/hardware you know you had at one time but have long since uninstalled or removed. Be careful though to thoroughly research any you may choose to remove to make sure you do not need them. If you know with certainty one or more of these listed in gray, are from programs you uninstalled then you can safely remove them. If you're not certain, just make note of them and post your findings here. I'll look into it for you.

Also, if you happen to notice anything (from any other category other than "non-plug and play drivers") that has an exclamation mark or question mark next to it, please make note of that as well and let me know about it (them).

Last thing, if you accidentally exit the Device Manager Console before you finish your review of these items, you will need to start over again at the cmd prompt in order to re-set the environment variable.

To close the cmd prompt window, type exit then press the "Enter" key. Reboot the machine when you finish to properly record the changes made to the hard disk.

On your next reply, please let me know how this went for you. Thanks!
Disabled Veteran
U.S.C.G. 1972 - 1978
Membership: U.N.I.T.E., A.S.A.P.

2009-12

Performance and Maintenance for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Seven

Offline 1972vet

  • Microsoft® MVP
  • Malware Removal Staff
  • Diamond Member
  • Posts: 8290
  • Patience is bitter indeed, but its fruit is sweet.
Thought I'd mention there are a few other programs that I was concerned about. These are also out dated and exploited:
Adobe Reader 8.3.0
Java(TM) 6 Update 21
VideoLAN VLC media player 0.8.6f

You should install the latest Adobe reader from Here and the latest VLC player is Here.

The "Ask Toolbar" is questionable and if you value your privacy, I would uninstall it. One other item of note, the program "BigFix" is now owned by IBM I believe and is no longer supported in it's free version (for years now).

And lastly, your Java installation is out dated and exploited. You can update your java in this way:
Click start-->...type, or copy and paste the following into the "Search..." box:
javacpl.cpl
...then click "OK". When the Java Control Panel opens, click on the Update tab then click the "Update Now" button at the bottom. Your update should start. When it completes, please reboot the computer. When the system comes back up, please open the Java Control Panel again. From the "General" tab, under the "Temporary Internet Files" (at the bottom), please click the Settings button. When the "Temporary Files Settings" box opens, please remove the check from the option box to "Keep temporary files on my computer". Please click "OK", then "Apply" to close the Java Control Panel. Reboot the system.


Disabled Veteran
U.S.C.G. 1972 - 1978
Membership: U.N.I.T.E., A.S.A.P.

2009-12

Performance and Maintenance for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Seven

Offline 1972vet

  • Microsoft® MVP
  • Malware Removal Staff
  • Diamond Member
  • Posts: 8290
  • Patience is bitter indeed, but its fruit is sweet.
Still with us ASydReign? Still having issues?
Disabled Veteran
U.S.C.G. 1972 - 1978
Membership: U.N.I.T.E., A.S.A.P.

2009-12

Performance and Maintenance for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Seven

Offline ASydReign

  • Bronze Member
  • Posts: 89
Yeah, sorry, looked like a lot of work so I wanted to wait for my day off this week which is today. Can I do all of this in safe mode? It seems to be the only way that my computer doesn't freeze up after 2 minutes.

Offline ASydReign

  • Bronze Member
  • Posts: 89
The only reason I ask is because I know safe mode only boots up core drivers and such, so if there would be a problem with one I wondered if it would even show up. Also, as long as I have networking enabled, would I be able to successfully update those programs? Thanks for the help!

Offline 1972vet

  • Microsoft® MVP
  • Malware Removal Staff
  • Diamond Member
  • Posts: 8290
  • Patience is bitter indeed, but its fruit is sweet.
Go ahead and try it in safe mode. If you have issues with uninstalling anything let me know. We can hack the registry to allow this to work for you.
Disabled Veteran
U.S.C.G. 1972 - 1978
Membership: U.N.I.T.E., A.S.A.P.

2009-12

Performance and Maintenance for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Seven

Offline 1972vet

  • Microsoft® MVP
  • Malware Removal Staff
  • Diamond Member
  • Posts: 8290
  • Patience is bitter indeed, but its fruit is sweet.
Still with us ASydReign?

I'd like you to step it up a bit if you could, this thread was started 17 days ago. Malware has a way of breading more malware just from it's very presence on a system with an internet connection.

Hopefully, you have been responding here from some other computer, and the affected computer has been left off line. Is this accurate? If not, the length of time since this thread began could be at least in part, responsible in some measure for any issues that remain there. Please let us know what you wish to do and if you can devote the time needed to bring this to a successful conclusion. Thanks!
Disabled Veteran
U.S.C.G. 1972 - 1978
Membership: U.N.I.T.E., A.S.A.P.

2009-12

Performance and Maintenance for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Seven

Offline 1972vet

  • Microsoft® MVP
  • Malware Removal Staff
  • Diamond Member
  • Posts: 8290
  • Patience is bitter indeed, but its fruit is sweet.
Due to the lack of feedback this Topic is closed. If you need continued support, please create a new thread detailing what issues you are having.

Other members who need assistance please start your own topic in a new thread. Thanks!

The fixes and advice in this thread are for this machine only. Do not apply the instructions from this thread to your own machine. Please start a new thread describing your issue and someone will be along to assist you.
Disabled Veteran
U.S.C.G. 1972 - 1978
Membership: U.N.I.T.E., A.S.A.P.

2009-12

Performance and Maintenance for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Seven