my computer was fine these last few weeks after i had reformatted, until it automatically updated itself with the updates Microsoft offers, and since then the computer seems to have slowed down a bit. Like if I started up the computer, it would take around 30 seconds for the hourglass to dissappear and if i were to click start and begin a program, it would also take an unsually long time for it to start. I've scanned my computer thoroughly, using SpyBots and Ad-Aware, also AVG and Norton Anti-Virus. my computer is clean. So why isit so slow? Out of 75 Gigs, i have 45 Gigs available. Is it the possible dust build up in the computer? Or is it something else. please help. thank you
It could be your RAM,Do you happen to know how much RAM you have installed?.And yes dust buld-up can slow a PC's performance.
RIGHT click on my computer and select Properties I would advise u to clean out all the dust and maybe try a registry checker like WinDoctor by Norton
I see, I have 512 RAMs or whatever. Is that good?, and I'll look into a registry cleaner. Thanks for all your help, I'll come back if more help is needed. ps: SIMPSONS FOREVER!!
Something else to check: Type msconfig in the run command and see what all is loading at startup. Check to see if everything is legit and should be there.
What can help is deleting all of your temporary files. Do a disk cleanup and a defragment. Then do scandisk to see if you have any lost security decriptors or anything that you computer might be bogged down by. And like Tenacious said(Go to start/run and type in msconfig. Then go to startup and make sure what YOU want to load up loads up. And then go to services, and click hide all microsoft services and then click disable services. These services that you disable might be bogging down you computer if a program that you use needs one of the services your computer will automatically activate it instead of give you an error. Also Make sure that your Hard Drive is Not Failing and that you dont have a removable devices plugged in.(Like a jump drive or an ipod.) Common Symptons of HDD Failure are 1.computer can access certain files (crashes) 2.computer can access those files but there are problems doing it(corrupted blocks) 3.computer runs really slow (unable to speedely access information) What i have done in the past to recover a failing hdd is UNBELIEVABLY Stick it in a plastic sandwich bag and freeze it overnight. It smooths out the gel that help the hdd run so that it can spin and read at faster speeds. Also reformatting your computer can also mess up your hdd After you reformat your computer enough your hdd will fail and it will give you a Disk IO Error(WHICH REALLY SUCKS) Try avoiding formatting.
Meh, I have hdd's I've reformatted dozens of times, literally. I bet you didn't do the "full" reformat, but rather the "quick" format, which just erases all the pointers to the files---but leaves them there. I would advise that you find a copy of "Executive Software Diskkeeper Pro" and run it. It's the same company that wrote the software for the default winblows defragger, but it's about...oh...I dunno...100x faster, seriously. Set it to run weekly and/or when your screensaver is on (caution though, this adds a LOT of extra disk access, and will shorten the life of your disk (theoretically, if there's much data to move)). The speed difference should be astounding. Also, (and I recommend this to everyone, but it makes your desktop less pretty), go to "control panel", then click on "system". Click the "advanced tab", and then "settings". Check "adjust for performance", and say OK...like I said, makes your desktop ugly, but should actually increase performance by about 20%. This has a major impact on gaming and other extended-processing activities. And yea, your registry might need straightened up too...but I bet it's your fragmentation level and windows being confused by files w/o pointers.
No the full format is really hard on the logic board on the hdd in turn this causes hdd failures. Logic boards are very expensive
Why would i do a quick format it doesnt erase all the information. Take my advice tinacious. Not Tom Melees. Hes does too much guessing. And hey tom i did a full format.
I have a VERY similar problem. I don't want to make a brand new thread, because it's sounds exactly like your problem. When I boot up my computer, everything seems to load fine. My programs all come on, I can see them, nothing's slow. But as soon as I try to open a program, or the Start Menu, or click on anything, I notice that Norton hasn't loaded yet. After several reboots, every day, I know this is definitely the problem. I'm not sure what's causing Norton to not boot up quickly. I have no idea. Up until a week or two ago, everything was running fine. It'd boot up quick, and run fine. My computer still runs fine once it's done booting up, but it's getting pretty ridiculous. This morning it took over [bold]10 minutes[/bold] for Norton to start up -AFTER- everything else had already started up. I'm thinking it's gotta be some kind of virus or spyware, but scans with Norton and Ad-Aware have turned up nothing. I've done defragments, scan-disks, I've cleared my temporary files. I haven't yet cleaned my computer of its dust, I'm planning to do that tomorrow. I've got 2GB of RAM, and a 3.2GHz processor (I really don't know my computer stuff). From what I've read in this thread and a few others, I think I might have a failing hard drive because everything was working fine until recently. Also, sometimes when I open a file(usually a movie) my "Windows Explorer" goes [Not Responding] and I have to End Task it. The movie still plays fine, but all of these things are becoming a huge hassle. If anyone's had this problem with Norton (I'm talking like, 10+ minutues to load at startup) or has ideas that haven't been mentioned here, I'd appreciate it beyond words if you'd share your thoughts. Keep in mind, I have yet to dust it out, too. I'm hoping that's all it'll take, because I really don't want to buy a new hard drive. Thank you.
I think I just fixed my problem! I took another, much closer look at my system startup utility thing. Honestly, I was scared, because I'm useless around computers. But using this website: www.neuber.com/taskmanager I was able to get rid of whatever my problem was. If you aren't comfortable playing with your startup files, like I wasn't, just run a google search like "neuber [name of service]" For example, looking through my list of services, I saw "UpdReg". I didn't know what it was, so I rana google search on "neuber UpdReg", read the user comments, and since alot of people said it's from Creative, and is there to check if you have registered your product, and also that it can take up alot of CPU power...I disabled it. Other things, like SNDMon, turned out to be part of Norton, so I kept them. I just typed "neuber [service name]" for whatever service I didn't recognize, and it worked out great for me. PC's booting up faster than I can ever remember it. Thank you Tinacious, DFL, jremele, and TomMelee. I'm also grateful for neuber.com ^-^ I hope that helps [bold]someone[/bold], and good luck with your problem, Tinacious. -Pangy
Back in the day, norton was where it was at. These days, not so much. I know you paid a lot for it and it tells you it does lots of good things, but...yea...not so much. Norton gets their definitions from Kaspersky Labs, so do most "major" companies. If you want to run an AV that uses very close to 0% system resources, but runs all the time, updates by default every 2 hours, and is faster and detects MORE than norton, try Kaspersky. A free alternative is AVG---better than Norton, but nowhere near Kaspersky.
I do ALOT of gaming on my computer, and I've actually been complaining about Norton for a while. I'm gonna look into Kaspersky. Thanks, Tom. Honestly, as long as I'm protected I'm happy, but getting slow-downs and losing framerates while playing a game really kills the mood hehe. Not to go off topic, or anything... anyway, I'll check into Kaspersky.
