slow, hanging windows xp home edition

[Guest]

Hi guys, Can anyone shed any light on the reasons for my computer being so
slow lately ?
there are lots of things wrong but the thing 'hangs' frequently taking 20 or
30 seconds to go from one page to the next.
sometimes the cursor wont change to an arrow or hand so that it is just
inactive and I cant click on anything.
on occasion the comuter just freezes and I have to reset it to get back in.
At the top of the page the words file-edit-view-favourites-tools and help
are sometimes dim although still clickable.
Sometimes it takes ages to shut down, having logged off I am waiting for it
to say 'turn off computer' for several minutes.
Also when I leave the computer for ten minutes or so the screen goes blank,
and then moving the mouse around does not always bring it back to life, so
have to shut down again.
If it does come back to life I may be able to carry on, but sometimes the
arrow shaped cursor wont change into a hand so I cannot click on anything to
continue.
Apart from everything else, is there a way that I can stop the screen going
blank after being absent from it for ten minutes.
sorry for such a long post, but have tried various virus/ malaware scans,
done a disk clean up, have plenty of space in memory, have done a detect and
repair disk error, removed all unwanted programs, and it advises me that I do
not need to do a disk fragmentation.
Any help would be gratefully received

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Hi guys, Can anyone shed any light on the reasons for my computer being so
slow lately ?
there are lots of things wrong but the thing 'hangs' frequently taking 20
or
30 seconds to go from one page to the next.
sometimes the cursor wont change to an arrow or hand so that it is just
inactive and I cant click on anything.
on occasion the comuter just freezes and I have to reset it to get back
in.
At the top of the page the words file-edit-view-favourites-tools and help
are sometimes dim although still clickable.
Sometimes it takes ages to shut down, having logged off I am waiting for
it
to say 'turn off computer' for several minutes.
Also when I leave the computer for ten minutes or so the screen goes
blank,
and then moving the mouse around does not always bring it back to life, so
have to shut down again.
If it does come back to life I may be able to carry on, but sometimes the
arrow shaped cursor wont change into a hand so I cannot click on anything
to
continue.
Apart from everything else, is there a way that I can stop the screen
going
blank after being absent from it for ten minutes.
sorry for such a long post, but have tried various virus/ malaware scans,
done a disk clean up, have plenty of space in memory, have done a detect
and
repair disk error, removed all unwanted programs, and it advises me that I
do
not need to do a disk fragmentation.
Any help would be gratefully received

Do a thorough check for malware, following all of the steps at one of these
Web pages.
Help with malware:
All MS-MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
For quite a few people it's by installing Messenger Plus, whose ads for
malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince you that you
owe it to the author. See also:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
of.