My computer becomes quite slow after being on for some time even if I am not
working on it. Even some programs don't open but if I restart it , it starts
working relatively faster, Does it point towards some specific reason for
computer being slow? I have already run antispyware and antivirus on my
computer. thanks for the help.

annonymous wrote:
> My computer becomes quite slow after being on for some time even if I am not
> working on it. Even some programs don't open but if I restart it , it starts
> working relatively faster, Does it point towards some specific reason for
> computer being slow? I have already run antispyware and antivirus on my
> computer. thanks for the help.

Cleared temp files lately? Defragged your hard drive lately? XP's built
in clean up app isn't all that great. I use Crap Cleaner, free, from
www.ccleaner.com

M

On Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:29:01 -0700, annonymous
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> My computer becomes quite slow after being on for some time even if I am not
> working on it. Even some programs don't open but if I restart it , it starts
> working relatively faster, Does it point towards some specific reason for
> computer being slow? I have already run antispyware and antivirus on my
> computer. thanks for the help.


What anti-virus and anti-spyware software is it that you ran? Are they
kept up to date?

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"annonymous" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:15A43C7D-4FD0-412F-BBB7-(E-Mail Removed)
> My computer becomes quite slow after being on for some time even if I
> am not working on it. Even some programs don't open but if I restart
> it , it starts working relatively faster, Does it point towards some
> specific reason for computer being slow? I have already run
> antispyware and antivirus on my computer. thanks for the help.

Without actually sitting down in front of your computer, most anyone
would have a pretty hard time determining what was causing slow-downs,
especially since they sound like they're not major in nature but only
annoying. If it's fair to say "annoying" in this case<g>.

You said you ran AS and AV but that really is very little since we don't
know whether you ran XP SuperAV or Norton's AV or AVG or what, and same
for your spyware detectors. You didn't even give your OS rev, SP level,
available capacity of drive/s, amt of RAM, which programs make it
noticeable, etc. etc. etc.. Here's a link that will help with figureing
out what to include, which is anything you can think of that might be
relevant, basically:

How to Post a newsgroup question effectively:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q555375

Sometimes you have to help others to help you, you know?

Assuming you've used reputable, reliable and updated AV and AS, and the
deepest scans they can be set for, it's probably not malware. If you
haven't used those, then it's still anyone's guess.

Once malware is eliminated, then there are still a LOT of things left it
could be. Too little RAM, pagefile getting too large or not being
purged, a program with a memory leak, programs that remain resident even
after you close them, etc. etc. etc..
At least for my part, that's about all I can say I think.

Good luck,

Twayne`

annonymous wrote:
> My computer becomes quite slow after being on for some time even if
> I am not working on it. Even some programs don't open but if I
> restart it , it starts working relatively faster, Does it point
> towards some specific reason for computer being slow? I have
> already run antispyware and antivirus on my computer. thanks for
> the help.

Do you perform the maintenance every computer use should?

Find out... Go through this list, in order, all in one sitting. Do any of
the scans/searches find anything? Does the computer perform better
afterwards?

Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
winver
--> Click OK.

The picture at the top of the window that opens will give you the general
(Operating System name and flavor) while the line starting with the word
"version" will give you the rest of the story.

Post _both_ in response to this message verbatim. ;-)

Fix your file/registry permissions...

Ignore the title and follow the sub-section under "Advanced Troubleshooting"
titled, "Method 1: Reset the registry and the file permissions"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
*will take time
(** Ignore the last step - you should have SP3 installed - if not - you can
do that *later* - it is not necessary to continue with the cleanup.)

Reboot and ...

Search your registry for %fystem and replace the "f" with an "s". May be
three or four matches, may be none. You may even have to take ownership
(even after doing the above) of the keys in order to make the change.

Reboot and ...

Download/install this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

After installing, do the following:

Start button --> RUN --> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/

MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/

After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish.

Download and run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/ma...e/default.mspx

Reboot.

CHKDSK
How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
* will take time and a reboot

Defragment
How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
* will take time

Ensure your hardware drivers are up to date (from the hardware
manufacturer's respective web pages.) Never get hardware drivers
for hardware that was not created/sold by Microsoft from Microsoft.
Installing the latest updates may have you rebooting several times,
which is fine - but after you are sure you are done - still...

Reboot.

Download/Install the latest Windows Installer (for your OS):
( Windows XP 32-bit : WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe )
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/d...displaylang=en

Reboot.

and...

Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the root
of the C:\ drive, do the following:

Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.

(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...

Reboot.

Then follow the instructions here:

How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Reboot.

Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer
and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
CUSTOM scan...

Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.

Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.

Reboot again.

If it did work - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. Rebooting as needed.

The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
"Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
Optional Hardware updates. Also - I do not see any urgent need to install
Internet Explorer 8 at this time.

Seriously - do all that. This is like antibiotics - don't skip a single
step, don't quit because you think things will be okay now - go through
until the end, until you have done everything given in the order given. If
you have a problem with a step come ask and let someone here get you
through that step. If you don't understand how to do a step, come back and
ask here about that step and let someone walk you through it.

In any case - no matter what - when you are done doing whatever you decide
to do - please - come back here and let everyone know what you did and
how things turned out.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

annonymous wrote:
> My computer becomes quite slow after being on for some time even if I
> am not working on it. Even some programs don't open but if I restart
> it , it starts working relatively faster, Does it point towards some
> specific reason for computer being slow? I have already run
> antispyware and antivirus on my computer. thanks for the help.

In addition to what others have said, it's likely one of your applications
is misbehaving. That is, it refuses to release memory when it exits (memory
leak) or it clones multiple instances of itself. You can probably eliminate
mainstream programs from the list of possible culprits (MS Office, Internet
Explorer, Outlook Express, etc.).

The simple way to diagnose:
Don't run your usual gamut of iffy programs. Avoid one program for a day.
Does the system still bog down?

The harder way:
When the system seems sluggish, right-click on the task bar and pick Task
Manager. What program is using the highest percentage of CPU time or is
hogging the hard disk? To be adventurous, download "Process Explorer" (PE)
and run it. PE will monitor ongoing processes and provide clues as to the
glutton program.

On Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:45:00 -0500, just as I was about to take a
herb, "HeyBub" <(E-Mail Removed)> disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>In addition to what others have said,

None of the things the others have mentioned would cause the OPs
issue...only your suggestion gets even close. FFS, how can defragging
help with this issue?
--

Cheers,

DrT

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

DrTeeth wrote:
> On Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:45:00 -0500, just as I was about to take a
> herb, "HeyBub" <(E-Mail Removed)> disturbed my reverie and wrote:
>
>> In addition to what others have said,
>
> None of the things the others have mentioned would cause the OPs
> issue...only your suggestion gets even close. FFS, how can defragging
> help with this issue?

Uh, it usually can't. If the drive is formatted NTFS, defragging is an
almost useless endeavor. There is no detectable difference between a heavily
fragmented drive and an unfragmented one.

De-fragging DOES provide some emotional comfort to those who alphabetized
the tomes on their bookshelves.