First let me put up a disclaimer, I am not the most tech-savy person so if I need to include some additional information in this please ask and I will do my best to get it. Over the past two weeks my computer has been slowing down more and more. When I start it it takes awhile to boot up, when I browse the web it seems like I have less than dial-up (I have DSL and another computer on the same network works fine), and when I try to check email via Outlook it loads really slow and sometimes gives me an error that it can't connect. I was using McAfee Internet Security 2009 and that didn't find any viruses or anything. So I switched to BitDefender Internet Security 2010 and that didn't find anything either - but it seemed to slow my computer more. I have not installed any new programs in quite awhile so that's not it. I am just getting really frustrated at how slow this computer is running and I am not really sure of the steps to take to get it back to where it was. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Ok, not sure exactly what you need here so I'll give it a shot. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service pack 3 Dell Dimension DIM 3000 Intel(R) Pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz 2.79 GHz, 512 MB of RAM 14.6 GB of free space on my C drive Not sure if you need more than this, if you do just let me know. (Please let me know how to access what you are looking for to, I know just enough about computers to get myself in trouble sometimes). Thanks for the help.
Boot screen loading to login screen loading (welcome screen) if those two seem to be at about the right pace it would seem to me to only leave the software you have installed that would perhaps be causing the issue however one must be careful not to get stuck in a mindset as i'm not sure if hardware can cause issues that you describe some things you could try so starting with the basics:- system restore,roll back to before two weeks ago: Is pagefile big enough: defragmentation on a small hdd with your ram alongside a fair few software will cause slow operation over time: perhaps ccleaner registry & cache clean, tho more than likely will only remove useless junk,however it does have a nifty tool in that it can disable progams from starting: task manger processes is there any program in there using a stack of cpu power constantly: Did you install bit defender & have mcafee still installed are both running, what about the previous security ware is that still installed: link to bootvis below may identify driver issues:- http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=742&tag=nl.e064 That's as bout as much help as i can be other than suggesting starting from scratch & reformatting tho this time it would be prudent to use macrium reflect free imaging program or the ones below ghost acronis simply create images as you go from intial install & as you add a few programs,create another image & so on & so forth Edit: if you have a spare hdd you could temporarily install xp to that & see how it runs (without activating as you have 30 days),add a few apps perhaps run it for a couple of days if all goes well it's more than likely just the software installed,it happens it's also why i now use apps that have smallish footprints like sumatra pdf instead of adobe,clamwin antivirus instead of avast or avg etc,etc tho sometimes big apps can't be avoided but stopping them from starting & running on boot,things like printer software,camera's etc,etc
A friend had a similar problem, so i did pretty much what scorpNZ says, i think my freinds main problem was having about 12 startup processes, that were mostly ´checking for updates´, after unclicking these and using CCleaner for a registry/cache clean everything was much faster...
do a defrag you can use the free "mydefrag" it's very easy to use and fast. do a scandisk (with the boxes to fix errors checked) this will fix any corruption that you might have on your drive. make sure your drives are setup as DMA and not PIO, a wrong setting will slow your computer. Check in your "task manager" what your cpu usage is with no programs running. You should have less than 5 percent cpu when computer is at idle. If it is always at 100 percent you might have a hardware compatibilty problem. I've had situations where the onboard audio was using 100 percent of the cpu and slowing my whole computer down a simple PCI audio card installation fix me that time. Finally if the above steps don't fix your problem, get rid of all your "all in one security suites" that might be your problem there. They are very bloated. use the following (what I use) 1.firewall inboard outboard protection(I use zone alarm pro but they have a free basic version) 2.avg 8.5 free (it works without slowdown) 3.firefox 3.5 browser (not hardwired to registry like internet explorer) your browser is very important as far as driveby viruses etc which easily get through IE. 4.Returnil virtual system (free version) this is the most important piece in internet security. You can mix and match the first 3 items. Anytime you surf the internet enable returnil, any virus/spyware that bypasses your firewall/antivirus won't defeat returnil. This program runs in memory, it won't slow anything down. This program seperates your system drive from the internet, nothing is written to the system files or registry while returnil is enabled. Everyhing happens in RAM, anything you want to survive the reboot you must save on a different hard drive/partition. I've used returnil for 2 years and nothing has ever defeated it. My simple basic security has never been compromised.
First, thank you guys for the responses. I have done the defrag and the CC register thing. However, that is all I am able to do... because (and I am showing my lack of tech-knowledge here). I have no idea what the rest of the stuff is that you guys are talking about. That CCRegister thing, certainly cleaned up a lot of crap from my HD and my system said I didn't 'need' to defrag - but I did anyway, and the issues I am having are still present. So, if someone could simplify what I need to do I would really appreciate it. I know this computer isn't the best, but I have no money to take it anywhere or get another one. Any help would be appreciated. Thakns again.
Reformat install minimal programs,replace bloated programs like adobe with sumatra pdf reader or foxit replace security suites with light foot print security ware that's free i.e clamwin antivirus & spywareterminater,use windows firewall,zone alarm or comodo Your ram at best is about the minimum xp would need increase it too 1gb that in itself will give the biggest boost however the more crap you install & that gets running in the background will slow it down,again trim the fat replace big proggys with smaller ones The rest at how to get performance from xp is signing up to free emails from TechRepublic,CNet,PCworld,PCMechanic Or install linux in a dual boot,puppy 3.1 is a good one especially if you have a floppy onboard as you can install the grub to that so it won't affect the boot.ini of xp,try puppy out it's a live cd
