PC very sluggish after installing new hard drive

[Guest]

I have a Compaq Presario 5000 & after four years my hard drive took a dive. I
installed a new Seagate hard drive & jumped the hoops of Quick Restore,
reloading XP, getting all the updates up to date again - but my computer is
running slower than it did before the big crash. I have DSL and pages are
loading at really slow dial-up speeds. I'm at a loss.
Kenny
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Touch Base]

in message


How big is the hard drive?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Kenny

After installing Windows XP you need to clean up.

Try Start, All Programmes, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to Empty
your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Delete all but the
most recent Restore Point ( Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Cleanup, More options). Run Disk Defragmenter by selecting Start, All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Glen]

Are you sure you set the hard drive up correctly. Check in the bios if its
running at the correct speed. Is it just the internet that is running slow
or is the whole computer running slow. Your answer will dictate how you
proceed.

Glen P

 

[frodo]

double check that it is using DMA for all hard drives. very rarely DMA
gets disabled and needs to be reset by hand.

 

[Guest]

Thanks all for your comments - a) the new drive is the same size - 40 GB; b)
I had already done disk cleanup, & just completed disk defrag. (though I
can't see why a new drive would need it); c) I don't know how to check bios
for correct speed; and d) also don't know how to check if using DMA on all
drives.
So far, nothing's changed. Additional help would be appreciated.
Kenny
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Gerry Cornell]

What are your anti-virus and anti-spyware arrangements?

How much RAM memory?Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task
Manager and click the Performance Tab. What is the Total,
the Commit Charge and the Peak?

What is your CPU processor speed? Right click on your My
Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties to get
this information and the amount of RAM memory.

How large is your hard disk and how much free disk space? In
Windows Explorer right click on your C drive and select
Properties. Is the hard disk formatted as fat32 or NTFS?


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Gerry, thanks for quick response. From top to bottom, answers to your queries:
1-I have aVast! version 4.6 Home Edition (which I like) for anti-virus; my
anti-spyware is Yahoo's.
2-I have a Pentium 4, 1.6 GHz (this is the CPU speed, correct?) with 256 MB
of RAM.
3-My hard disk drive, a brand new 40 GB Seagate; the Properties says the
capacity is 33.3 GB, with 6.2 GB used and 27.1 GB of free space. I haven't
reloaded many programs yet, while trying to solve this slow thing.
4-It is formatted as NTFS.
5-Going to Task Manager: Under TOTALS - Handles/9585 - Threads/420 -
Processes/30;
Under COMMIT CHARGE (K) -
Total/298850 - Limit/632180 - Peak/324092.

Based on all that, any new advice?? - Kenny

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Your RAM memory is minimal for running Windows XP. I suggest you
determine the extent to which the pagefile is actually being used.

You may check on pagefile (virtual memory) usage with Page File Monitor
for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Make sure you study the readme.txt file carefully to ensure
you get the utility to work as it should.

What readings are you getting towards the end of a session?

Your figures for your hard drive do not reconcile! Is their a second
hidden partition?

To investigate how you are using hard disk space you need to make sure that
you can see all files. Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View,
Advanced Settings and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and
folders" is checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is
unchecked. You may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should
also make certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types"
is not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is selected
and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name, Type, Total
Size, and Free Space.

You still will not see the System Volume Information folder.
How to Gain Access to the System Volume Information Folder
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309531

FileSize -a useful tool for use with Windows Explorer when investigating how
disk space is being used.
http://markd.mvps.org/

The download link is not obvious. Click the here in the two sentences of the
web page accessed through the link above. "I can't count the number of times
someone has asked for this. So here is a module you can install that shows a
Folder Size column in Explorer."

Please check Event Viewer for Warning / Error Reports in the System and
Application logs for the period beginning with the last boot and post
copies.
Please do not copy any Information Reports.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Administrative Tools, and
Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the error, information
regarding Event ID, Source and Description are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&sd=tech

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should
double click for further information. You can copy using copy and paste.
Often the link will, however, say there is no further information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double click
on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a button
resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now
start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of the message. This
will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report complete with links
into the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event
Viewer.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~