Help with my slow computer!!!

Hi all, I am not sure whether I am in the right place here or not.But I just want to know how to easily speed up my computer because it runs desperately slow. I am running windows Xp which is about two years old. Thanks so much!

 

Well, as a starter, which computer do you have?

 

Reformat.

/thread.

Ultimately, reformatting is pretty much the best thing you can do to speed up the OS. After two years or so, it's pretty normal for Windows to become sluggish.

If you don't want to reformat though, there are things that you can do to help it:

Open msconfig and disable all non necessary start up applications.
Scan for malware, or viruses that could be on your computer.
Uninstall unnecessary programs, and get rid of needless services and processes running.

 

Have you done a refrag lately? Do both your hard disc and registry. Have you installed a program recently that could be hogging resources like a firewall or AV program or an update? I have that problem sometimes after I update newer versions of some programs.

 

if not reinstallation, then

uninstall any app you don't use anymore.
install and run ccleaner
install and run defraggler
use DefragBootFiles (from here in this forum actually!).


if that's not enough, again, i suggest reinstallation, too.

 

I second CZX58 Shadow's suggestion. Have you tried running a program like CCleaner to clean your registry and unnecessary/old files? I'd advise you do that as well. You can checkout these sites too for optimization techniques for XP:
Optimize XP
The Windows XP Optimization Guide

 

If you've taken steps to keep your computer secure and virus-free, I would recommend various steps to clean up the computer, such as defragging, removing unneeded startup programs, and following some of the great guides recommended above. However, if your computer is running a bunch of crap you don't even recognize, then do the following:
1) Reformat and install Windows XP
2) Install drivers, essential programs
3) Use a disk imaging program to make an archive of your fresh install

I wouldn't recommend any registry "tweaking" programs since it is impossible to mine all unneeded entries and defragging it does little. Often, these programs can even break the registry, resulting in a crippled and unusable OS, so just stay away from these. They're gimmicks.

 

Agreed here. Possibility of expanding ram and faster drive replacement.

cheers ...

 

Well, Vista can run well for ages with no reformat - but in XP something always breaks.

A reformat is possibly your best bet - provided the computer can run the OS adequately in the first place. (I know someone who bought a XP laptop which has hardly enough RAM to run it... 128MB or 256MB I think - Dell....)

Anyway - specs might help here to help us decide whether it can run quick.

And if it can - a reformat is best.

I hope you do not belong to the "tweaking camp" - while you could have some gain in XP - you are also very likely to break something.

 

run (msconfig) and disable unneeded programs from the Startup tab

 

what jaydeee recommended.

I would also add up to that using Ccleaner to check how many things (and what kind) are starting up with the computer exactly.

Generally speaking, you only require your antivirus software to startup with Windows ... everything else is really not necessary.

Furthermore, remove software you don't need from the system (bloatware that possibly came pre-installed and is not part of any devices, and toolbars).

Finally ... I must say that I personally have not experienced XP slowing down over time.
If you take the time to have a minimum set of things starting up with Windows and keep useless junk off of it, a re-install (save for file corruption and whatnot) is not really required.

I've been modifying XP based laptops in London that were over 2 years old.
First what I had to do was remove bloatware from the system ... and update the OS via the Automatic updates (which took some time).

Once the updates and cleanups were done, the OS-es ran just as fast as clean installations.

 

XP, Vista and even Windows 7 will all eventually accumulate some crud and slow down. I know that others say that Vista and 7 do not suffer from this, but while they do not suffer as much, they too slow down.

Winsxs, Dlls, fragmentation, unconsolidated file space, metafile accumulation and bloat all lead to some slow down.

You can tweak a machine so it is faster, but nothing compares to a fresh install.

Now, I am the last person to suggest a fresh install for a slower machine--heck, even a massive malware infection. Vista and 7, even when bloated down, still provides an acceptable level of performance on a modern machine.

But a clean install is still faster and you're kidding yourself if you don't accept that.

Now, just a few additions to the long list of basic statements on this thread. While less common, I have seen several things dramatically slow computers down that people don't normally consider.

A fragmented MFT will absolutely kill performance. I have over the years seen the MFT fragment into 3-5 pieces, and that is not what I am talking about, but last summer I ran into a machine where the MFT was in 400+ pieces! I didn't even think that was possible, but this machine was like running through maple syrup just to do basic tasks.

On another machine, I found a pagefile in several dozen fragments. Likewise, I've seen where the hibernation file was in many pieces, leading to very slow wake ups from hibernation.

Other causes to slow ups that haven't been mentioned:

a) services that have been disabled that are needed by Windows, services where files have been removed and cannot start.

b) significant corruption of the file system

c) faulty or the wrong drivers (and you really need to work at it to install the wrong driver)

d) tweaks where the user read something on a website and it was supposed to speedup the machine gone bad

e) faulty antivirus or internet security software, particularly anything by Norton prior to 2009, AVG version 8 and up, McAfee, Zonealarm, Kaspersky Internet Security (seeing this recently, as in 2009 version), Microsoft Security Essentials on Windows XP

f) Freaking toolbars

 

WOW!

Can any of you handy-dandy pc experts explain to me how a virusscan or reformat or msconfig or defrag w/e will make a pc with 128MB of RAM go faster?

The OP havent told us what the specs are.

 

I could, but you're too busy being condescending to read the answer and besides the OP left this thread 7 days ago and isn't coming back.

Meanwhile, the rest of us have hijacked the thread with the intent of showing how smart, perceptive or patently clear-thinking we are...

 

Bad logic on your part. WOW, using simple logic, eliminating the need for programs to start up when windows starts will reduce CPU usage, RAM usage since PROGRAMS USE RAM, no matter how little, and to a smaller extent, heat output will be lower, as well as reduced HDD thrashing. I've run XP Home on my ThinkPad T21 with an 800MHz Pentium 3 and 128MB RAM, smooth because i have no startup entries, 20 second boot time.

 

Delete that system32 folder.. slows everything down

 

If you'd make a thread like:

"My pc runs slow!
I have a P4 3.0GHz, Radeon X4850, 128MB RAM, DVD, etc.
Why is my pc running slow?"

you and I both know that everybody will say: "Upgrade your RAM".

So being contemptuous is completely irrelevant in this matter.

And the OP is right to abandon this useless thread. I'll follow his lead

Although your post seam to be of some logic, there is never mentioned that the OP's pc has slow booting problems.

Either way a fast starting pc doesnt necessarily mean that it can run programs the user desires.
Your Thinkpad T21 with 128MB can boot XP in 20 sec (which is nice), but it will probably be very slow in Photoshop editing pictures shot with a 10 megapixel camera on the highest resolution.

 

I thought you said you were going to abandon this thread....

 

Bickering and OT posts over spam? You guys need to find other things to do .

Anyways, thread closed before a second newbie poster answers the OP questions with a magical spam link.