XP performance degradation

[Manta Ray]

Hi everyone,

Please bear with me on this post. I'm frustrated. I am running WinXP on my
Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop. It has a 2.8Ghz processor and 256MB RAM. When I
installed Win XP Pro on it six months ago, I also loaded all of my software
(Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, McAfee, etc.). It was fast. I was happy.

Since then, I've added more software (about 2 commecial packages to create
VCDs and 5 shareware programs). It is now six months later and the
performance is horrendous, especially on booting up. I timed it once and it
took 5:32 seconds for it to go from off to when the harddrive finally
stopped spinning (essentially finished its boot up routine and ready to
use). Once fully booted, it runs ok (though not as fast as 6 months ago).

I have this version of windows xp (copied from winver):
Version 5.1 (Build 2600.xpsp2.030422-1633: Service Pack 1)
Physical memory available to Windows: 261,460.

I run Lavasoft's AdAware once a week because I read spyware can effect
performance. I had a sh*t load of spyware and deleted it. It sped up overall
performance but still was slow on bootup (no change at all actually).

Are there any tools I can run to see what's up? I hate to go through the
hassle of reformatting, etc. I know the easy answer is to increase RAM, but
that doesn't explain why it use to boot up quickly, now doesn't.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Manta

 

[R. McCarty]

2-Things account for this, Disk fragmentation and Startups & Watchdog
applications and services. Perfect Disk 2000 will cure the 1st, Msconfig
can help identify the 2nd.

 

[keebored]

*Hi everyone,

Please bear with me on this post. I'm frustrated. I am running WinX
on my
Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop. It has a 2.8Ghz processor and 256MB RAM
When I
installed Win XP Pro on it six months ago, I also loaded all of m
software
(Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, McAfee, etc.). It was fast. I wa
happy.

Since then, I've added more software (about 2 commecial packages t
create
VCDs and 5 shareware programs). It is now six months later and the
performance is horrendous, especially on booting up. I timed it onc
and it
took 5:32 seconds for it to go from off to when the harddriv
finally
stopped spinning (essentially finished its boot up routine and read
to
use). Once fully booted, it runs ok (though not as fast as 6 month
ago).

I have this version of windows xp (copied from winver):
Version 5.1 (Build 2600.xpsp2.030422-1633: Service Pack 1)
Physical memory available to Windows: 261,460.

I run Lavasoft's AdAware once a week because I read spyware ca
effect
performance. I had a sh*t load of spyware and deleted it. It sped u
overall
performance but still was slow on bootup (no change at al
actually).

Are there any tools I can run to see what's up? I hate to go throug
the
hassle of reformatting, etc. I know the easy answer is to increas
RAM, but
that doesn't explain why it use to boot up quickly, now doesn't.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Manta *

run chkdsk /f
ex: Start / Run / CMD / type chkdsk /f in black screen
should run faster after "re-indexing" or "flushing"


-
keebore