XP has slowed to a snail's pace on my system. I've done virus scans, spyware scans, and restored deleted invalid registry keys and nothing seems to help. Any suggestions on a utility (hopefully a free one :p)that could locate the problem before I go through the hassle of reinstalling XP?
I use TuneUp utilities on my machine. It's not free, but it works wonderfully.
Boosts download speeds as well :D
There is still a lot you can check for yourself before you rely on "hopefully free software", which usually does nothing but telling lies and crap.
If your problem is anything software related, then maybe you should check your installed software and stuff. Sometimes "older" software conflicts with newly installed software. Uninstall what you don't need, use or where you have newer versions installed, too. Check the autostart folders and registry keys for things you don't need to run every time you run Windows. Maybe you recently installed something that came with a crapload of services and programs running by default which now suck up your machine's power. Seriously who needs quicklaunch-thingers and what not in the tray, all it does is taking system resources away..
Also, sometimes a sudden slowdown comes from installed anti viral software, for instance after virus definitions were updated etc. If you have anything Norton related it sure takes like additional 30% of your system's mojo.
Yeah, if you have Norton you have to expect a major lag. A seond problem: bad maintenance. No maintenance, and your PC will spit on you. Try running the Disk Defragmenter. It might take several hours to finish, maybe even a day if you haven't used for a long time, but it works wonders.
Since you have scanned your system, I wouldn't recommend that again. Try hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del and see how many Processes you have running apart from those marked SYSTEM. If you have too many, try shutting down some that you might feel safe. I don't guarantee that your system won't crash or restart, but it will most likely not do permanent damage to your system.
Also, try and get a Registry cleaner from Download.com or something. I think they speed up your computer, though I haven't seen any effect myself.
I was gonna suggest defrag, and maybe clean up you Drive, delete what yo don't need ot save it onto a disk to keep it running smoothly, I think you need to have like 25% free at all times or something like that, and do a regular defrag, and don't use the Windows one use something like diskeeper (
http://www.diskeeper.com/diskeeper/home/diskeeper.asp)
Have you got plenty of RAM as well? Maybe try and see if you can pinpoint a program that seems to hog a lot of memory...
I defrag my HDD regularly, every two weeks or so, or before I install anything, so it wasn't that. XP was doing some weird stuff. It wouldn't let me do a system restore among other things, so I just went ahead and did a complete format/reinstall.
I got rid of Norton and installed Avast, BTW:)
Hmm... This happened to me a few months ago. I just had to live with it and after a time of doing nothing it started to speed up. Also make sure no other Users are logged on, that applys a lot if you have big programs on you're computor. Like 3DS max or PhotoShop.
I got rid of Norton and installed Avast, BTW:)
Good man!
Are you sure thats Qliveur ! He'd give us more detail .....
*Any weird beeps/lags/messages on POST?
*Startup time ?
*Quicker in safe mode ?
*Tried a diagnostic/selective startup ?
*what system process % at idle, and with work ?
*cpu, system, hardware idle and work temps ?
*any crashes ?
*tried a chkdisk ?
*are all your bits plugged in properly ? sata/ide plugs. ram sticks etc
*any recent hardware/software changes
btw, Avast FTW :D
Ive gotten SO MANY people off Norton and onto Avast, they should give me a damn commission :p
mtfbwya
^^^Yeah, I'd tried all of that (most of it, anyways) to no avail.
What really bothered me was the fact that I couldn't do a system restore; it would fail every time I tried. That made me rather uneasy, to say the least.
The reason I know a bit about hardware is because I've been studying it like mad for the past several months so that I know what to buy when I finally build my new system. I obviously need to learn as much about software!
Ive gotten SO MANY people off Norton and onto Avast, they should give me a damn commission :p
And I thank you for your recommendation. A huge improvement!:thumbsup:
Have you tried running Memtest? I swore that XP was just being a little bitch, but found that one of my sticks of RAM had errors. Removed it and voila!
Symantec products in general have gotten bloated. You can pay $40 something for the next antivirus rendition or $30 to renew the defs for a year. What a rip-off. I take pride that I know of a Corporate edition.... :laughing:
yeah, having a look at your RAMs performance may be a good avenue to follow... still if sys restore isnt working, that could be pointing to some system or HDD corruption...
astro's recommendation. Backup your important start and do a fresh install :)
mtfbwya
astro's recommendation. Backup your important start and do a fresh install
Which was exactly what I did. The system restore not working was the kicker.
Which was exactly what I did. The system restore not working was the kicker.
so all working well? excellent :) Yes, its like windows misplaces its brain sometimes.... thats why a 6-12 monthly reformat and reinstall is always a good idea.
I cannot tell you how many people Ive come across who think they "need a new computer or upgrade" when they notice things slowing down on basic tasks after a year or so of working on the pc... a bit of internal dusting, some new thermal paste and a reformat brings them to 'out of the box' quickness...
mtfbwya