Computer slow when running mininal programs.....

[Guest]

I have a Sony Vaio laptop with Windows XP Home Edition and SPS2, it's a
Pentium 4 with 3.2 GHz processor and 960 MB of RAM.
When I am physically using programs, not including programs that run in the
background, my computer will act slow. For example, I'll be using only MSN
Messenger and only playing music using windows media player and the computer
will go to 100% usage. What is causing this and how can it be stopped??

Thank You

 

[Gerry Cornell]

What are your anti-virus and ab=nti-spyware arrangements?
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[ClarkVent]

I've had this happen once with a laptop. Turned out the CPU fan was
defective causing the CPU to overheat and to throttle down. You might
want to check if your CPU is perhaps throttling.

 

[Guest]

I have Norton AntiVirus 2006 and Norton Internet Security 2007 I believe, it
came w/when I renewed my subscription.

ClarkVent: How do I know if my computer is "throttling"?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Follow the instructions in the link provided to check for malware:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[ClarkVent]

ClarkVent: How do I know if my computer is "throttling"?

I'm not sure but I think CPU-Z might be able to tell if your CPU is
throttled down: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Also, check your laptop's fan. Laptop fans are usually pretty noisy so
you should be able to hear if it's on or not. If your laptop feels
really warm and you can't hear the fan (or feel it blow air) then it's
probably broken (or stuck) and chances are the CPU is not running at its
full speed.