PC running slow...need help

Ericnmel99

CAGiversary!
If anyone has any suggestions, it would help out. My pc seems to be running very slow this last week. Its a relativly new pc (about 2 months old). I dont have much crap on it at all. I like to keep everything neat and organized on my machine.....but as of this week it takes forever to boot up, and once im in windows everything is very very slow. I ran adaware, ran a scandisk and deleted temp files and its still going really really slow. Anybody have any clue what would cause that all of a sudden? thanks in advance.
 
If you're running XP, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and bring up the task manager. Look at the Performance tab. If the CPU usage meter is high, then you need to click over to the Processes tab. You should see several columns, click the one labeled CPU (click the heading). This will sort all running processes by CPU usage (note that you might need to click it twice to get it to sort in descending order). System Idle Process should be using the most CPU time. If it's not, then whatever is using more time is your culprit. Figure out what the process is and remove it (you can always right click the process in the list and choose to end it).
 
Follow these steps. It should help.

1) Close all programs.

2) Delete your temporary internet files using the Internet Explorer properties window. (Sounds trivial but it does help.)

3) Under Windows XP, open an explorer browser (Windows Key + E), go to Tools -> Folder Options, Click on the View Tab, and click the Show All Hidden Files and Folders radial button under the Hidden Files and Folders option in the Advanced Settings menu.

4) Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp. (The username flag denotes the name of your user account.) Delete all files listed here. If you get an access denied error, make sure that ALL PROGRAMS are closed. Otherwise, select all files EXCEPT the top most file in the list to continue the deletion.

5) Reboot.
 
Try downloading and running Adaware. It removes all the spyware that can be slowing down your computer. I also suggest defragmenting your hard drives.
 
Try some other spyware programs (Spybot Search & Destroy is a personal favorite). If you still have problems, get Hijack This! and find a forum where you can post the log. I really don't know how to deal with the info they give you, but maybe someone here will. If not, the guys at http://forums.thetechguys.com can help.
 
I've tried everything suggested and its still running slow. I back up my main files on another partition of my HD. I may reinstall winxp, but before i do does anyone know if this will write over everything on that drive, or will it just write over the windows directory like win98 did if you reinstall it???
 
WinXP reformats the partition you install it on. I don't know of any way around this, though there might be some sort of command line switch you could use.
 
Eric,

Are you running any kind of firewall? If not download Sygate personal firewall..it's free and it's great (takes up fewer resources than Zone Alarm).

Not all Mal/Ad-ware these days shows up in the running applications. Some are in fact super hard to detect. Versions of coolwebsearch for instance aren't detectable through spy-ware detection software and can only be removed through registry tweaking/deleting certain files. It may prove helpful to research into how to detect these and use programs like Hi-Jack to list running processes adn registry entries that may be malicious.

It could also be a simple configuration process. I suggest you follow the windows XP Supertweaks listed here: www.blackviper.com I'd also recommend going through the list of necessary services and how to disable those that you do not need.

GS
 
I'd say check what programs are in your startup folder and make sure nothing you don't want is running. Also check MSconfig (Start --> Run --> msconfig) and see what's running. As always, defrag your hard drive.

Also there's a neat utility called BootVis from Microsoft that shows you what's running at startup and how much time it takes to load.

Link: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664
 
So i ended up backing up my files and Formatting the drive and reinstalling everyting. As soon as i did this i started to get a S.T.A.R HD error telling me to backup my data now because the HD is crapping out basically.
 
bread's done
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