XP very,very slow

[Guest]

I have an HP laptop running Windows
XP, SP2 and it is hanging almost constantly no matter what I am doing. The
hard
drive seems to be constantly running and it takes at least several minutes
for anything to open. I did all the usual spyware and things with nothing
out of the ordinary other than some cookies. I started House Call to check
for viruses and it has
been running for about 18 hours now (it is that slow). Any ideas? This is
getting really frustrating.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

I would suggest the following:

Download the free thirty-day trial version of System Mechanic and
use it to scan for junk files and invalid shortcuts:
http://www.iolo.com/sm/5/index.cfm

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

Download Ad-aware SE and scan your PC for the presence of sp­yware:
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/s­scv6/default.asp?langid=ie&ven­id=sym

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en

3 Simple Steps to Help Ensure the Protection of Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/athom­e/security/protect/default.msp­x

Utilize the following maintenance programs, at least monthly,
to maintain the optimum performance of Windows XP:

Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310312&Product=winxp

How to Perform Disk Error Checking in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315265&Product=winxp

HOW TO: Analyze and Defragment a Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305781&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

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:

| I have an HP laptop running Windows
| XP, SP2 and it is hanging almost constantly no matter what I am doing. The
| hard
| drive seems to be constantly running and it takes at least several minutes
| for anything to open. I did all the usual spyware and things with nothing
| out of the ordinary other than some cookies. I started House Call to check
| for viruses and it has
| been running for about 18 hours now (it is that slow). Any ideas? This is
| getting really frustrating.

 

[Miss Perspicacia Tick]

I have an HP laptop running Windows
XP, SP2 and it is hanging almost constantly no matter what I am
doing. The hard
drive seems to be constantly running and it takes at least several
minutes for anything to open. I did all the usual spyware and things
with nothing out of the ordinary other than some cookies. I started
House Call to check for viruses and it has
been running for about 18 hours now (it is that slow). Any ideas?
This is getting really frustrating.

And have you defragged? I suggest you download PerfectDisk from
www.raxco.com (30-day uncrippled trial) and do a Smart Placement scan as
well as an offline scan. It's far better than the native defrag applet.

 

[William Ducklow]

Unplug the network cable. Sometimes DNS requests go off into neverland and
can hang core Microsoft XP DLL's.

Start the computer in safe mode. It will probably run fine that way. Then
you know it is a particular program running on your system that is the
problem. If not, it's probably time for a new Windows XP install, or
hardware.

Now that you know it's a program , you are looking for the culprit here.
Exit out of everything you can that is running in your system tray. Disable
Antivirus.
If this does not isolate the particular program then start disabling one
process at a time in task manager. Look for the ones with your user name.
You can sort by Mem Usage. Something might stick out. You can also sort by
CPU to see what's working so hard.

Did that help?

 

[Malke]

I have an HP laptop running Windows
XP, SP2 and it is hanging almost constantly no matter what I am doing.
The hard
drive seems to be constantly running and it takes at least several
minutes
for anything to open. I did all the usual spyware and things with
nothing
out of the ordinary other than some cookies. I started House Call to
check for viruses and it has
been running for about 18 hours now (it is that slow). Any ideas?
This is getting really frustrating.

Check to see if the drives are using PIO mode instead of DMA. Here is a
link to MVP Hans-Georg Michna's excellent work on this issue:

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

Malke