performance

[Kaja]

Hi I am running a Dell PC with Windows XP SP3 as my OS. My computer is very
slow right now. I did disc cleanup and defragmentation. I have been told
that there could be errors in the regisrty and this could cause slowing,
however when I ran a program called Reg Cure it made my computer worse. As a
novice is it better to leave the registry alone or is the a safe way to check
it and fix it. I also checked for viruses and spyware. Any thougfhts on how
to optimize and speed up performance would be appreciated. Thanks a lot,
Kaja

 

[John John (MVP)]

Those registry cleaners are nothing but snake oil and they cause more
harm than good. Look in the cleaner program to see if it can undo the
changes that it made. As far as I am concerned a Windows installation
that has been indiscriminately cleaned by a registry cleaner is a
compromised Windows installation.

John

 

[Ron Badour]

I concur with John's opinion of reg cleaners. If there is an undo file,
undo the what the cleaner did and see if your speed reverts back to what it
was.

You may have a ton of stuff being started at boot even though you don't use
it and these programs will continue to run in the background. Here's my
standard blurb:

Cut back on the number of programs starting at boot by checking the programs
for an option not to load. You might have to double click an icon in the
tray (others might require a right click) and then look for preferences or
options. If you cannot find an option, look for and remove the program
from the start up folder on the start menu or the registry run keys (use
regedit.exe):

1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion­\Run
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\­Run
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion­\RunOnce
4. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\­RunOnce
5. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion­\RunServices
6.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion­\RunServicesOnce
7.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion­\RunOnce\Setup

If tinkering in the registry is not your thing, you can use msconfig.exe,
startup tab, to disable programs. There might be some double entries in
msconfig--be careful not to disable parts of your anti virus program for
example. My personal rule of thumb is that if a program is not used about
95% of the time when I start a computer session, I do not load it at boot--I
start those programs when I have need for them.

If you disable an entry in msconfig or remove it from the start up point and
the program loads again after a reboot, that is an indication that you
missed an option on the program itself. If you don't know what an entry is,
use google.com or check here:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm Finally, after using
msconfig to disable a program from starting, you will receive a notice when
you reboot--just mark the box to not show the notice.

 

[Elmo]

Hi I am running a Dell PC with Windows XP SP3 as my OS. My computer is very
slow right now. I did disc cleanup and defragmentation. I have been told
that there could be errors in the registry and this could cause slowing,
however when I ran a program called Reg Cure it made my computer worse. As a
novice is it better to leave the registry alone or is the a safe way to check
it and fix it? I also checked for viruses and spyware. Any thoughts on how
to optimize and speed up performance would be appreciated. Thanks a lot,
Kaja

After you restore the registry, check how much RAM you have. Press the
Win Logo key with the Break key and report back on the RAM.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi I am running a Dell PC with Windows XP SP3 as my OS. My computer is very
slow right now. I did disc cleanup and defragmentation. I have been told
that there could be errors in the regisrty and this could cause slowing,

Unfortunately you got very poor advice. That was highly unlikely.

however when I ran a program called Reg Cure it made my computer worse.

You're lucky that's all it did. using a registry cleaners could have
left you with an unbootable computer.

As a
novice is it better to leave the registry alone

Novice or expert, it's better to leave the registry alone. Registry
cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. Cleaning of the registry isn't
needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry alone and don't use any
registry cleaner. Despite what many people think, and what vendors of
registry cleaning software try to convince you of, having unused
registry entries doesn't really hurt you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit
it may have.

or is the a safe way to check
it and fix it. I also checked for viruses and spyware. Any thougfhts on how
to optimize and speed up performance would be appreciated.

Please be more specific about your problem. What is your hardware
configuration? Has it always been slow? When did it start? It is
always slow or just when doing certain things? How did you check for
viruses and spyware? What background programs do you have running?

 

[db.·.. >]

uninstall sp3 and
revert back to a functional
state.

ps: leave well enough
alone

pss: microsoft's registry
cleaner can be found here:

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-US/article/registry_cleaner_why.htm