Edit: Get Spyware Doctor:
http://www.pctools.com/downloads/sdsetup.exe - if it finds a lot of nasty things, just PM me or let me know ingame (leave your email address) if you're in Immortalty, and I will hook you up with a registration. It's superior to Spybot, Adaware etc.
I wrote this post as an attempt to resolve as many issues as possible so we all can stay on and not suffer from the evil crashing and disconnection issues that exists.
Personally, I haven't had a crash since I was pvp'ing in hillsbrad foothills over a year ago, when the honor system was just released and bg's was still being developed. The crashes I experienced were very frustrating and I kept wondering... there must be a way to fix this, there is no way I can play, even if the crashing issues won't happen that often. Anyway.. to make a long story short; I downloaded the blizzard repair utility (and ran it of course), ran a scandisk and defrag and since then I never crashed again.
I've also noticed several players got bad performance in general, there's so many ways you can keep your computer healthy and I wanted to list a couple of ways to speed it up and make your WoW experience more.. eh.. interesting/smoother.
Random disconnections that put you back at the login screen and also instantly logs out your character: happens if you jump around too much for awhile, the clients "anti port" system ticks in.
This took me quite awhile to write. Enjoy. I hope you find it useful.
1) Download
http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/WoW/other/Repair.zip , put the file in your WoW folder then run it.
2) Run a scandisk on all your harddrives.
a. Open My Computer
b. Right click on the disk drive you want to check (all of them, one by one)
c. On the drop down menu, left click Properties
d. Select the Tools tab
e. In the Error-Checking section, click the Check Now button
f. In the Check Disk Options section, tick the Automatically Fix File System Errors and the Scan for and Attempt
g. Recovery of Bad Sectors check box.
h. Click Start
i. Let Scandisk run, this process will take awhile since it's checking for bad sectors.
j. If Scandisk refuse to run due to system files being in use, click yes when it asks if you want to check next time you boot up Windows. After that, simply reboot and it will start scanning.
3) Perfectdisk, defrag utility - I run this 2-3 times a month, it definatly speeds up your harddrive(s) and system overall
a. Download and install:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/PerfectDisk_d268.html
b. Run it
c. Select the drive you want to defragment, then click "defragment"
d. Tick "Smartplacement" in the window that will pop up
e. Click "ok"
f. It will now analyze your drive then start the defragmention, this will take awhile since it's your first timeI highly recommend doing this 2-3 times a month. On each drive obviously.. if you have more then one.
g. When the trial expires.. speak to me. (Immortality Members only)
4) Use the latest video card & sound card & network card driver. Yes, yes this sounds simple and it's standard procedure. I'm sure several of you don't bother to clean out the old driver files though. Anyway,
a. Download the latest drivers for your hardware here:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/ - Do NOT install anything yet though.
b. Go here and do everything it says:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=67799
c. The steps in b applies to any drivers, not just graphic cards. It really helps.
d. If you currently have the latest drivers installed, I still recommend cleaning them out as explained in b. then reinstall them as explained in b.
5) Disable your motherboards onboard sound if you are using a seperate sound card. This is all depending on what motherboard you use. But here is a general idea of how to do it:
a. Boot up your computer and enter your bios by pressing ctrl alt delete or f2 or esc or whatever it says.
b. Goto Onboard Peripherals and change the Audio Chip to disabled. << Or something similar
c. Goto Advanced Options/Chipset Settings and change ICH Audio Codec to disabled. << Or something similar.
d. Go back to the main menu and select save settings & exit.
e. Boot up windows and check your device manager for any yellow "!". To access the device manager, open the start menu and click "Run" then enter devmgmt.msc , click "ok".
f. If there is any yellow "!" that are sound releated, delete them.
g. Reboot your computer.
6) Device Manager.
a. Open your decive manager by opening your start menu and click "Run" then enter devmgmt.msc , click "ok".
b. Check four any yellow "!". If you have any of those, feel free to reply here or tell me about it, it's too much to go into detail about. But it's definatly a problem.
7) Scan/Repair your Registry and defrag it - Registry Mechanic
a. Download
http://www.pctools.com/downloads/rminstall.exe
b. Install it, run it and click "Scan Your Registry"
c. When done scanning, repair all errors found.
d. Scan once again
e. Click "Compact Registry" - follow the steps and do what it says
f. Run this once a week at least.
g. When the trial expires.. speak to me. (Immortality Members only)
8) Optimize your internet settings
a. Download TuneUp Utilities 2006:
http://www.tune-up.com/download/getfile ... rce=tuneup
b. Install & run it.
c. Click "optimize & improve"
d. Click "TuneUp System Optimizer"
e. Click "accelerate downloads & Internet surfing"
f. Follow the wizard guide.
g. When the trial expires.. speak to me. (Immortality Members only)
9) Hardware releated issues
a. If you have frequent crashing happening to your desktop without any error message I would suggest to take out one of your memory chips and try without it. If it still occur, take out the current one and put in the one you took out and test with it. If the crashing stops with just either of the memory chips in - then the second one is damaged; get it replaced.
b. Make sure your PC is properly cooled.. easier said then done, I know. But make sure there's enough space around it for the PC to 'breath'. Also maybe it would be a good time to vacuum clean your PC; i.e, carefully get all the dust away with your vacuum cleaner.. be very careful where you blow. I recommend doing it on the graphic card and all fans.. around your cpu and in general everywhere. Just be very very careful and never press against anything, keep some space between.
10) Spyware & Virus
Spyware
a. Download Spyware Search & Destroy at:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Sp ... 43809773/1
b. Install & run it. Click "Update" and then "Search for Updates" and then "Download Updates"
c. Click "Search & Destroy" and then "Check for problems". Let it scan.
d. Make sure you fix all problems detected.
e. Click "Immunize"
f. Click "Immunize" again (the green cross)
g. Do this once a week.
Virus
a. Go here:
http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/
b. Follow the guide and scan all your harddrives of possible virus.
c. Do this once a month
11) Read the Blizzard Technical Support guides/faq's
a. Go to
http://www.blizzard.com/Support/wow/?id=mww000p&v=28
12) Router
If you do not have a router, do not bother about this. If you do.. read on.
a. Read everything here
http://www.blizzard.com/Support/wow/?id=aww0790p - You need the ports set up the right way.
b. Update your router firmware to the latest. If you're unsure how to access your router; type 192.168.0.1 in your browser. It should load it. Otherwise read more here:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread39326.html
c. If you can access your router, try looking for a firmware update section in the router interface and click "update" or "search for latest firmware" or something similar.
d. Alternative way: Google the name of your router and check the manufacture website.
e. Try restoring your routers settings to factory default and see if it changes anything.
f. Try replacing your network cable.. It could be broken.
13) Windows Update
a. Go to
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and download every recommended fix/patch. Then reboot your computer.
b. Go to the windowsupdate site again after your reboot to ensure there's nothing else left to download.
14) DirectX
a. Go to
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en
b. Download it and install.
c. Reboot.
Written by Awake.
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