Computer Help :(

[briancmo]

I've noticed my computer is drastically slower in the last few months. I have an acer running xp with 2 gigs of ram and dual core 1.6. I haven't formatted in about a year and a half, but would like to save that as a last resort.

I've gone into my startup items and disabled all but a few small programs but can't seem to find what's running in the backgroud that could be causing the lag. Anyone have any ideas how to check and fix the problem? I'm buying a new computer in the summer, but in the meantime would like to improve this machine as best I can...without spending hours formatting and reinstalling all my software

THanks.

[_Sim]

When was the last time you defragmented your hard drive? You may also want to do a spyware check just in case.

[briancmo]

Never defrag - I thought defragging doesn't really do THAT Much? I feel like it's process related - something running in the background that's hogging resources.

[buto]

Try looking at Start -> Run -> MSCONFIG. Look in the startup folder and see if there is anything in there are programs there that are starting itself. Becareful and dont just go randomly disable anything.

[_Sim]

Degragmenting should help some. Think about it this way: if your files are fragmented on your hard drive, each time the system accesses a fragmented file, it has to jump all over the hard drive to put together all the data. That takes time. It's not a big deal if your hard drive isn't too fragmented but if you've never defragemented, it doing so now wouldn't hurt.

A spyware check should find any new and unwelcome processes that may have made a home on your computer.

[theshape]

Try running Malwarebytes (its free) and possibly Hijackthis. There may be something running behind the scenes causing a slowdown.

[briancmo]

Try running Malwarebytes (its free) and possibly Hijackthis. There may be something running behind the scenes causing a slowdown.

I've disabled all the startup junk. I'll try a defrag. Malware and Spyware shows up clean. I've opened hijack once upon a time but go confused and decided not to mess around. Any way I can post the results from Hijack on here?

[MaxxuM]

I've disabled all the startup junk. I'll try a defrag. Malware and Spyware shows up clean. I've opened hijack once upon a time but go confused and decided not to mess around. Any way I can post the results from Hijack on here?

Just back everything up and reinstall - you'll be happier for it. Windows (XP and Vista) have registry bloat problems. Though the registry itself is fairly small, it can cause all manner of problems, most notably, slowing! Windows just isn't all that tidy of an OS. Here are some general rules about keeping your system humming pretty quick - nothing however will keep it from slowing down due to the inharrent problems with the Registry.

1) Never install something on your computer you don't expect to use often + keep for the life of the computer. There is nothing worse than installing then uninstalling software constatly demoing software - this will just toss sludgh into your poor Windows!

2) Don't fool with things you don't have the experience with. Keep your 'tweaking' down to a minimum. Windows Vista is already tweaked just about all it can be by default. You can speed it up by disabling eye candy, but don't fool with Services or memory usage (swap).

3) Keep the heat down. Cool your PC and clean out the fans from time to time. Heat is the #1 killer of PCs. Heat bad.

4) Keep it clean! Use CCleaner to clean out that Registry and Cache's.

5) Turn off Indexing for areas that you never or harldy use.

6) Defrag once a week on drives at or under 500GBs and once a month on 750GB and up. The more you do it the less time it will take to do it later. Windows XP and Vista both highly recommend defragging at least once a week.

7) Update drivers often; don't bother with flashing the BIOS unless something doesn't work.

[ChasP505]

Maxxum took the words right out of my mouth! (Hope he washed his hands...)

I use CCleaner (aka CrapCleaner), DiskKeeper Pro for fast defragging, and WebRoot SpySweeper to keep the bugs out. With some TLC, a Windows XP install can go more than 2 years before it calls for a re-install.

[briancmo]

I did the defrag and installed CCcleaner and WOW my system is flying again. New computer? NO THANK YOU!. I'll just bust out the duct tape and keep on goin'!

[Palladium]

before your do anything

IMHO you need to know about your hard drive space

You need to know how much free space is avail on your hard drive.

If you have no idea about how to find this info out, I'm guessing your CPU slowdown is being caused by an overstuffed HD.

I think the tech experts want to have about 15% free disc space to optimum performance.

If you have at least 15% free disc space than you can look at other solutions but if you have less that 15% free you need to fix that first.

[TBoyd]

Defragging can't hurt. If it takes 20 or more minutes to defrag, you know it needed it badly.

CCleaner probably did the trick by cleaing up registry errors.

Registry errors build up over time & can really slow down your PC. No need to reinstall & have to download tons of updates!

[briancmo]

I actually had about 3% free on my c drive. When I partitioned, I should have left more than 30 gigs on C...

I keep everything on my D drive. Oh well...i cleared it up on C and now, 19% free and cleaned up the registry and I'm a happy boy...now if only that 5Dii were this easy to get...

[tim]

Look at your task manager, work out what process(s) are taking up the most CPU or memory. Then check your network settings, when you're not doing anything it should show 0% usage. If it's showing more you have spyware.

If you reinstall download all the windows service packs, unplug from the network, install windows and all service packs before you go online. When you do immediately run windows update. An unpatched PC can be compromised in minutes.

A defrag always takes me more than 20 minutes, but that's using JKDefrag doing a defrag then an optimisation pass.

[ChasP505]

I actually had about 3% free on my c drive. When I partitioned, I should have left more than 30 gigs on C...

Wow! That could get you into trouble! I always keep no less than 60% free space on my C: drive and all data on separate internal and external drives. High capacity hard drives are cheap... no reason not to have one (or two or three).

[MaxxuM]

Wow! That could get you into trouble! I always keep no less than 60% free space on my C: drive and all data on separate internal and external drives. High capacity hard drives are cheap... no reason not to have one (or two or three).

That's a little overkill there ChasP. If you have a swap file that requires more than 4x physical memory you need more physical memory! Intentionally keeping 600GB free on a 1TB hard drive will do nothing to improve performace or life.

[ChasP505]

Maxxum... Using a 1TB drive for your primary drive is overkill. :) At the other extreme, filling 75 gigs of an 80 gig drive is inviting catastrophe. I'm not proposing that everyone needs more than half their main hard drive empty, I'm just saying that I typically use a 180 gig drive for my OS and applications and rarely fill more than 50 gigs of it. I'm also "old school" and subscribe to the belief that Windows "likes" to have at least 40-50 gb of free space, especially if you're the type of PC user who allows his system to become bloated with temp files and badly fragmented. Anecdotal and unscientific for sure, but I've built a couple dozen PCs and never had a hard drive failure.