Windows PC is running REALLY slow

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Okay, don't laugh. I've seen the light, and I am saving to buy either a seriously upgraded iBook or a standard 15" Mac Book Pro. I am through with this Windows crap. That being said, however, I still have to use my Windows PC until I can afford my Mac, and the fact that I can no longer play The Sims, or have more than one program open at time unless I want my computer to freeze is seriously irritating me...well, that and the fact that I have no idea what to do to fix it.

I've deleted a ton of files: all the cookies, all the temporary files, all the files in the trash can, and every other file that I don't use or that I have saved on a disk somewhere. Then I ran scan disk, compressed all the files, and defragmented my hard drive. I know one of the big problems is hard drive space, as I've got less than 15% available, but after clearing out the 4GB of music stored on my computer, I still don't know what is eating all of the space. I've deleted all the programs I never use, and I have 13% free space now--but I still can't load more than one program if I want my computer to stay "workable," or, rather, if I want my computer to let me type up a document without freezing.

The Windows Process shows 30 .exe files running, but I don't know why. (Okay, feel free to laugh at my ignorance.) I am planning on buying another hard drive (since my siblings will be using this computer after I free myself from Windows in a few months) and possibly some more RAM since I just have 512. But I want to clean it all up so it is at optimal performance levels when I do upgrade. Is it possible?

And it will load The Sims, but as soon as I click on my sim's house, the program crashes. I can keep two browser windows open, but if I want to listen to music while browsing, the computer freezes. And if I am writing a research paper and want to have the web open at the same time as Word, I need to go to the computer lab because my computer just won't handle it. GRR! It is seriously irritating!

Your computer most likely has spyware on it, which can do terrible things to speed and stability.

I'm not allowed to post links yet (it has been less than one week since I joined), but download Ad-Aware and Spybot. They should get rid of most of it.

Also look into an anti-virus software. I don't know what to suggest here since I never have one installed on my PC, since it eats up CPU cycles even when it is not running, but in the case of a suspected infection, which is what it sounds like you have, it is worth installing.


And while it is not part of the stability issues, more ram would speed up your computer tremendously.



Can you post an image of the running processes? That would help diagnose any problems.

1)

http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist ... sklist.htm
http://wiki.ehow.com/Make-Windows-XP-Startup-Faster

2) Install and run some spyware/adware remover type software.

3) Install and run CrapCleaner.

4) Go through your sevices and disable everything you don't need. Use a webpage such as this for a guide.

screen capture is the prntscn button. it is found above the insert key next to prntscn is scroll lock and pause break keys after you press this you then go to an empty typing area and right click and click paste it will then paste the screenshot of the status of what was on your screen when you pressed it

For the picture of the running processes:

Hold down CTRL, then ALT and then press DEL (DELETE).
Click on the processes tab. Look now for a key on your keyboard called Print Screen, or an abreviation of it, such as PRNT SCRN?
Then open up Paint and paste, you will now have a screenshot.

For an anti-virus:
I use Avast Antivirus software, the home edition is free and it works briliantly.
You can set the level of security on it so you can use up less cycles if you want to.

For anti-spyware:
I have never used Ad-Aware or Spybot, if they work fine keep using them.
I use the Windows Defenter Beta 2, IE7 Beta 2 with Phising Filter.
Both of these are available for free download from microsofts website.

My Advice:
I found that Windows works well for me, but every 6 months or so it just gives up. If you can, back up files you want and re-install the Operating System.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7271/1357/1600/ssdx2.jpg
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7271/1357/1600/ssdx1.0.jpg

There are the screen shots. (What a cool little button!) There are two, because there were too many processes running (is that the right terminology?) to take a single. I ran Windows Defender yesterday, and it didn't do anything. (What can I say, I am computer illiterate.) And at least once a year I reinstall XP, but what a pain! I will check out Avast Antivirus. Thanks!

hello i just looked at your system processes from the screenshots, it seems you have alot of processes that eat alot of ram on the computer, what you can do to avoid the freeze ups and problems is to make space for ram bigger. a laptop's ram is about the size of 215mb ram and a desktop is usually 512mb. i forgot step by step onm how to do this but will post when i remember step by step on how to make space bigger for ram. you may also want to add a card or 2 to the motherboard. about the processes, u can find things that may be goig around in it by looking up teh process name,

www.processlibrary.com is the website for process info

http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/index.html heres another one that can help

good luck and make sure your system has all its updates from microsoft

From the screen cap you show i see alot of stuff that is loaded that you do not need. You can stop the stay in memory program for loading in the follow way.
1. Start> Run that opens a window
2. type msconfig press ok
3. press services
4. find stuff like ipodexe stay in memory uncheck those
5. reboot
6. this could take a few trys to get right
7. Tweak UI for winxp can turn off all the useless sliding menus, and other cpu draining parts of windows and turn off autoplay/auto run cd/dvd's this progem from MS is the window's tamer use it carefuly heeh

if it's running slow. you can probably catch it. lol

Yeah...that is what I thought as I typed the title. It was a kind of inside joke with myself. So I am glad that I am not the only one who thinks things like that are funny.

Windows XP is slow alot of the time, maybe ok if you havent got spyware or viruses on it or have a rediculous amount of programs on startup. One thing i learnt about it of you have under 256MB of RAM and a processor under 800MHz it takes forever to start up.

Will would give the specs of your computer so I can tell you what should you do.

Another thing besides deleting spyware that will speed up your computer is going into MSCONFIG, STARTUP and unchecking all the things that really are not needed at start up. A lot of programs you hardly ever use, some you will never need all load up when you start the computer. One good example is the Kodak digital camera software which automatically loads and is running in the background at all times unless you disable it. Speaking of which that Kodak software includes a program that runs almost like spyware. I'm sure other devices will cause the same issues.

Another idea- do a search for things called Backweb and if you find any then delete it. Very evil program that bogs down computers.

It could be anything like too many programs in startup, spyware - ad-ware etc. If you think your pc is bad look at this one: