I've been offline on my main computer for over a week. It was slowed down to truly unusable - as in minutes between keystrokes. Problem went away in safe mode, but every anti-virus and anti-malware program known to man found nothing worse than a few tracking cookies. Finally I decided something was wrong with the virus called "Windows" and indeed that was it - "Intelligent Background Transfer Service" otherwise known as BTS was the problem. Disable that and my computer works fine - except of course without BTW can't update windows. With BTS also can't update windows cause it brings computer to its knees including using up resources needed to actually complete the download. So how can I deal with this? No switching to Ubuntu is not an option. Unfortunately I need actual Word rather than compatible programs. Certain features in end noting and foot noting still don't translate well between Open Office/Libre Office and Word.

Which version of Windows are you using?

Thank you Omnis!

Windows 7

If you haven't already seen it, take a look at this article about changing your settings to minimize the issue. (Basically you turn off automatic upgrades, then do the upgrades manually when you don't plan on using the machine).

It could also be general WinRot. One tool to try is CCleaner, which has a free version, and cleans out stuff that's hanging around that Windows doesn't use anymore (say from an incomplete uninstall of a program).

You could also do a clean install of Windows and start fresh. The good news is that Windows should work pretty snappily when you're done. The bad news is, of course, that every app needs to be reinstalled as well, along with your backed up data. If you have some extra dough handy, though, you could use this as an opportunity to swap in a newer, bigger hard drive, or even an SSD, which are getting pretty reasonable, even for bigger sizes. I put SSDs in all three of my machines as boot drives, and you're basically working 30 seconds after turning the power button on.

Edit: Which reminds me, you could also try using System Restore to go back to an earlier time when the machine might have been quicker. It's possible something got installed triggered the slowdown.

I'll windows restore. I eroutinely use ccCleaner, at least once a month just in case. CCcleaner regclean was one of the first things I tried.And Ill set automatic updates off.Tnhanks - set like all posting these days from my chromebook - the onld currently working computer in the hhouse.

Domain names and redirecting to existing urls and associated emails: how hard is it? Most specifically using the new domain to route new email addresses to the old destinations. As in, my work email is long and hard to convey, but if I found a shorter one, what's the process and difficulty in resolving the two?

Depends on where the new domain is hosted, but typically they provide pretty easy-to-use tools to forward email.

Well here's a thing, and maybe it impinges on Typo Boy's slowness problem:

Microsoft is downloading Windows 10 to PCs, even if you don’t “reserve” a copy

The downloaded files take up 3.5 - 6 GB of space, and just sit there... waiting...

So far it only affects machines that are set to automatically upgrade, and there is a fix to remove them mentioned in the article. It's easy enough, but you can't just delete them. You have to uninstall the update as well.

I just ordered a laptop with a 256GB SSD, an i5 processor, and 8GB of RAM. Between Amazon gift cards and credit cards rewards point, the leftover total was $88.

I am excite.