freeze ups - slow performance all around

[Guest]

My computer has been running slow and freezing up. I've tried defragmenting
and all the other stuff under performance & maintenance. I've already cleared
out any suspicious software. The Anti-Spy & Anti-virus both say I don't have
any worms or threats.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Top four reasons for "freeze ups - slow performance all around":
1. Viruses and/or spyware
2. Too many programs running in the background.
3. User inexperience.
4. Inadequate hardware.

Don't be so sure you aren't infected with a virus or spyware. That's by far
the number one reason for problems.

To see what programs run in the background, open the System Information
(Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information) and
look in the left pane for Software Environment > Startup Programs.

Think about what were you doing on the computer before the program started.
Something you added or changed may be the cause of your problem.

 

[Guest]

A good read...
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm
j;-j

 

[Gerry Cornell]

What is your RAM memory and processor speed?


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Generic response off the top of my head...

Very, very slow:
- failing HD
- disabled L1 and L2 cache
- overheating processor's thermal protection

Slow and stable:
- malware
- failing HD (early)
- overhead from Internet traffic
- overhead from network traffic
- overhead from peripheral polling
- overhead from underfootware, e.g. av etc.
- upgrade to an OS that poorly matches the old PC
- file system fragmentation
- slower hard drive data transfer modes
- memory mismanagement e.g. "RAM Doublers" etc.

Slow and unstable:
- malware
- failing HD (later)
- disabled pagefile
- low free space on C:
- upgrade to an OS that poorly matches the old PC
- memory mismanagement e.g. "RAM Doublers" etc.
- direct network attacks
- interrupt storms from bad hardware

Fast and unstable:
- bad hardware other than hard drive
- overclocking, overheating, bad caps etc.
- file system and HD content corruption
- malware and other bad software issues
- direct network attacks

 

[Guest]

THat's some scary stuff to ponder. Thanks anyway.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Karen

That's Chris <g>!


~~~~

Gerry

THat's some scary stuff to ponder. Thanks anyway.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:28:08 -0700, Karen Pro <Karen

My computer has been running slow and freezing up.

Bad RAM crashes at full speed, but bad hard drive can cause both
drastic and patchy slowdowns as well as apparent lockups.

Suspect this if your freezes stop the mouse pointer from moving, cause
keystrokes to be delayed, and have the HD activity LED fully lit for
the whole duration of the freeze.

You may hear no HD seek noise at all (sector retries on the same
cylinder) or a cyclical clicking or NyyyaakNyyyaakNyyyaak noise
(retries of seek attempts to locate the cylinder).

"Just one bad cluster" is reason enough to evacuate and replace a sick
hard drive, before it rips your data by the nads.

 

[Guest]

Another *real* reason for slow systems these days is the use of the new
release of Zone Alarm Pro v.6. There has been a lot written about the
problems with this recent release. If you are using it, try uninstalling
*completely* and see if there is a difference. The last release of version 5
is very good. Also, the *free* version of ZoneAlarm v6.x is good.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Really...My copy of Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite v.6 does not cause undue slowing of performance.

I guess "real reasons" are a matter of opinion.

Ted Zieglar

 

[Guest]

Hi All,

Sorry to butt in but I think that my home machine is suffering from the same
problem. I've been posting to the windows XP forums at www.2CPU.com as its a
dual core MSI-694d system with twin PIII 733s and 768MB of memory.

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?t=70497

I've reached the stage where I've done anti virus/spyware scans and they
come up clean, and used the manufacturers HD tester to check the boot disc
(also clean). Given that the boot disc is 5 years old could it be going and
not show up on sector scans. Things like chkdsk and defrag freeze the
machine, as well as surfing the net :-( . Note its behind a hardware
firewall, with a software firewall and anti virus/spyware systems in place so
I think I'm protected from the nasties on the net.

If anyone has any suggestions which might help I'd be grateful.

Regards

kaitain