Windows XP Problems

[dennykyser]

I know this is off topic but figure you guys know PC's and not sure who to ask.
My PC is quite new (Dell 4600 P4, 80gig, 75% free, lots of ram) but is really acting goofy lately and not sure why. Goofy = sometimes applications wont load, then cant shut down because they are hung up. Very slow at times. Windows 98 used to have scandisk you could run, but the only utility I can seem to find on XP is defragment. Are there any sugestions on how to fix the bugs. I do the disk cleanup and defrag at least once a week

[Scottes]

Defragment is Scandisk. But applications hanging is more likely to be caused by something in memory, not on disk.

Take a look at what processes are running when you boot. Check the Startup folder and check what's starting automatically. Do you run Anti-Virus? Turn it off for a while and don't download or check email during that time. If you're connected to the Internet at all times then unplug yourself while you test for a couple hours.

Boot the system, then Ctrl-Alt-Del and choose Task Manager. Check the processes that are running. Do a google for each process that you don't recognize and find out what it does or what it belongs to.

Try running something like Spybot or Ad-Aware to check if you've got any malware or data mining stuff installed.

Run the normal set of applications that you run. Ctrl-Alt-Del to Task Manager and check the Performance tab. Under Physical Memory, how much memory do you have listed under Available?

[dennykyser]

Thanks Scottes, will try that. Windows XP seems much less stable then 98 to me. I always keep it updated too, hopefully it will straighten up.

[chris.bailey]

what is "lots of RAM"? 512 is pretty much the minimum for a lot of stuff including Photoshop CS.

I have found XP very stable on my home and work computers but do tend to do a full re-install about once in every six months as it does tend to get more and more sluggish which only a fresh install will solve. What I do is slave on a new hard drive (they are so cheap now), reinstall windows to the new one and then copy across photos and docs. Its a bit of a task but worth it.

It is also worth using Drive Image or somesuch programme to have an image of your hard drive and main programmes just after a fresh install so you can go back to that state in the future.

Hope that makes sense

[dennykyser]

Ram is at least 1024, cant remember if I went higher or not.

[realracer3]

You can run Scan Disk on Windows XP, although they call it error checking now.

Click on the Start button, then click on my computer, right click on the Disk that you want checked, usualy C, click on properties, click on tools than click on check for errors. It usualy will tell you that the check will take place the next time you start up your computer.

[Jesper]

Check your computer for viruses.

It's really important to have good anti-virus software and a firewall running, especially if you're frequently online. There are so many viruses etc. floating around nowadays. I have Norton AntiVirus (http://www.symantec.com/smallbiz/nav/) which works well.

It's also important to visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com regularly to download and install the latest security patches to Windows XP.

[scottbergerphoto]

The fact that you said "lately" suggests that a recent program you installed got added to your Start Up directory and is wreaking havoc in the background. Try this after you've checked for viruses and defragmented your disk.
Start>Run> type in "msconfig">Enter
Check the start up section. Uncheck whatever you don't absolutely need to run your system at startup. If that solves your problem, you can add things back one at a time until you find the offending program. Then just leave that one unchecked. You can still access the program via the program menu.
Scott