Computer Starting to Slowdown?!?

[The Pete]

My computer is approximately 2 months old and now has just recently
started to slow down after 3-4 hrs of use after each bootup. I have
scanned for viruses, malware/spyware, uninstalled unecessary programs,
defragmentized the hard drive, run diskcheck and cleared cookies and
temporary files from Internet Explorer. After a few hrs the system
slows down substantially thus making it difficult to browse the net
and switch inbetween programs. When I go to the "Performance" tab
under the task manager it shows the CPU usage around a minimal 5-10%
when idle during this slowdown process. Under "Processess" there
aren't any other resource programs running with any significant cpu
usage.

I am currently running: Windows XP SP2 (with all updates), Pentium
Core Duo 2.4ghz, 2 Gigs of Ram, Norton Internet Security.

Any thoughts?

 

[Newbie Coder]

Pete,

Is there one particular process hogging processing power or are there any
processes growing in size by a huge amount

Another thing is to check your operating temperature as this causes instability,
slowing down or freezing

What applications are open when you notice the slow down?

Awaiting your reply,

 

[Gerry]

Norton Internet Security willl not help system perfomance. You
can get a similar service using freeware without such a resource hog.

cCleaner is a useful tool if used with care. The main drawback with
Disk CleanUp in XP is the need to run it in each User Profile -this
is corrected in Vista. Also cCleaner does a more thorough job
removing detritus. Disk Clean Up passes by e.g. the many zero byte
files produced by Outlook Express.

Have you checked Event Viewer for Error and Warning Reports?

Have you checked for third party driver updates?


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Daave]

My computer is approximately 2 months old and now has just recently
started to slow down after 3-4 hrs of use after each bootup. I have
scanned for viruses, malware/spyware, uninstalled unecessary programs,
defragmentized the hard drive, run diskcheck and cleared cookies and
temporary files from Internet Explorer. After a few hrs the system
slows down substantially thus making it difficult to browse the net
and switch inbetween programs. When I go to the "Performance" tab
under the task manager it shows the CPU usage around a minimal 5-10%
when idle during this slowdown process. Under "Processess" there
aren't any other resource programs running with any significant cpu
usage.

I am currently running: Windows XP SP2 (with all updates), Pentium
Core Duo 2.4ghz, 2 Gigs of Ram, Norton Internet Security.

Any thoughts?

You said the slowdown happened recently.

Are you able to use System Restore to go back to a time before your PC
became sluggish?

Also, Gerry mentioned checking the Event Viewer for Error and Warning
Reports, which is a good idea.

Finally, sometimes a Windows Update hotfix can sometimes screw things
up. But if that's the case, you would notice near 100% CPU usage for
svchost.

One other thing...

Which apps did you use for checking malware? Are you sure they had the
most up-to-date definitions?

 

[Guest]

Norton Internet Security willl not help system perfomance. You
can get a similar service using freeware without such a resource hog.

cCleaner is a useful tool if used with care. The main drawback with
Disk CleanUp in XP is the need to run it in each User Profile -this
is corrected in Vista. Also cCleaner does a more thorough job
removing detritus. Disk Clean Up passes by e.g. the many zero byte
files produced by Outlook Express.

Have you checked Event Viewer for Error and Warning Reports?

Have you checked for third party driver updates?


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Guest]

Gerry:

Does Norton Internet Security cause Error messages to do with memory when
the system is rebooting or shutting down? I have Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Nina

 

[Gerry]

Nina

Any programme can cause error messages and Norton Internet Security
is no different in this respect. Have you looked in Event Viewer?

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you
should double click for further information. You can copy using copy
and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further
information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

--



Hope this helps.

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