Keep cleaning XP or Clean install

[Ed H]

Hey:

I've had this copy of XP going for about 4 years now. It runs sluggish as
compared to the beginning and sometimes seems busy. I'm extremely careful
regarding spyware, viruses etc. Run many checks to keep my machine clean. I
can't seem to do enough however to get things up to speed again. Is there a
point we need to format/re-install? Is slowing down just an acceptable
consequence of an aging and growing system?

Thank you,
Ed

 

[R. McCarty]

Slowing down is actually the result of OS loading and fragmentation
of the disk drive. Windows is a platform. When 1st installed it is not
loaded with 3rd-party drivers, applications and services. That is why
fresh installs convey the feeling of speed. Doing a "Fresh" install only
temporarily restores that performance. After installing all your apps
and peripherals and time the system will slow down relative to when
it's freshly installed.
It's possible to clean and tune the PC so it's running optimally, but
most people prefer to just format and re-install which is not needed.

 

[Bob I]

Check for PIO disk access as opposed to DMA which is what it should be.
Device manager, IDE controllers, open Primary channel, check the
Advanced Settings tab. If it has reverted to PIO, remove the Channel and
then do Find Hardware, or restart the system to reload back to DMA.

 

[JS]

#1: A process that's loading down your CPU:
It could be a sub-process or application that's running in the background
and taking all the CPU resources, which could be the cause of your PC
running slow.
To find and display what could be the problem try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Note: Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and
'Show Lower Pane' options.
Then expand the process named 'Explorer' (click on the + sign)
In the column on the left named 'CPU', look for any high CPU usage.
Next click on the CPU column to sort the processes by %CPU usage
(Highest to Lowest).
Move the mouse cursor over any process, you should see a popup with some
detailed info.
Then mouse over the process that's using most or all the CPU %.
Then click on that process to highlight it,
Now that it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
'Search Online'
This should display what out there on the web about that process.
You can also double click on any process to open up a more detailed
'Properties' window.
Note: some entries like Explorer, System/Services, and
Svchost entries may need to be expanded to show the detail (sub processes),
in this case click on the + located to the left of the entry.

An alternate method using Process Explorer is to double click
on the Graph just below the Menu bar.
This will open the 'System Information' window, which has a larger display
of all three graphs.
Move your mouse over any spike in the CPU Usage graph to see what
process/application or service was the cause of the spike.

#2: Stuff that loads during boot or logon and then is always running in the
background:
If you want to list and explore what may be the cause then:
Try Autoruns from the MS Windows SysInternals site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx

AutoRuns will show/list all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot
(Boot Execute tab),
when you logon (Logon tab) and other programs that load
(grouped by labeled tabs) for easy viewing.
It also provides the ability to selectively allows you to stop any program
(use with care) that you don't want to load.
You can undo any changes you have made.
Note: To get additional details on an item in the list you may need to
highlight the item (right click) and use the 'Search Online' option to get
the details, especially useful for the more obscure items in the list.

#3: Viruses
Viruses and malware can also cause your PC to slowdown or malfunction.
Malke has an excellent set of instructions on what to do:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

#4: To much crap on the hard drive:
Take a look at CCleaner as a tool to remove Internet history info,
cookies, temp files, auto complete and other junk.
Note that when CCleaner is first installed most if not all the options
are checked which is far too aggressive. So I recommend unchecking
all the items listed in 'Applications' tab and in the 'Windows' tab
selectively place a check mark for only those options that are of some
value in increasing the amount of free space on your PC.

The 'Analyze' button allows you preview what and how much
hard drive space you will get back.

Also available is customization, see Options/Custom to add any
other/additional folders you want files deleted from.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

#5: Defragment your hard drive.

JS
www.pagestart.com

 

[Ed H]

Is set to DMA.

Thank you.

Check for PIO disk access as opposed to DMA which is what it should be.
Device manager, IDE controllers, open Primary channel, check the Advanced
Settings tab. If it has reverted to PIO, remove the Channel and then do
Find Hardware, or restart the system to reload back to DMA.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Hey:

I've had this copy of XP going for about 4 years now. It runs sluggish as
compared to the beginning and sometimes seems busy. I'm extremely careful
regarding spyware, viruses etc. Run many checks to keep my machine clean.
I can't seem to do enough however to get things up to speed again. Is
there a point we need to format/re-install? Is slowing down just an
acceptable consequence of an aging and growing system?

Thank you,
Ed

As long as you have all your appropriate settings, personal data, IE
favorites, and 3rd party apps installation software available on other
media, there is no harm in doing a clean install with external hardware
drivers as appropriate.

If there are no other partitions on the hard drive, zero write the hard
drive with software from the hard drive manufacturer first, then do a clean
install. This is done from boot media, not within the XP environment. This
software is more apt to map out questionable areas of a hard disk drive for
non-use than chkdsk. And, its done low-level even before a partition is
created. The map out is relatively hard coded vs. chkdsk. Chkdsk does not
check the hard disk area data holding integrity of the partition and mbr
areas itself. There is a threshold when too much mapout occurs, and the 3rd
party software renders the hard drive unusable. That is the chance taken.

Many people have chosen to do a clean windows install every year or 2. Be
it XP, or whatever MS OS, if used liberally online, and/or experimentally
loading 3rd party software for their own assessments, adding hardware and
removing it later for a replacement of different mfr. Primarily, its been
found in such cases, is much time less time consuming overall for the user
vs. continually finding and fixing problem-childs on the PC. Whether to do
a clean install or not depends on what's actually causing the problem(s),
then finding it/them, if possible, then fixing it/them, if possible.

 

[Dustin Cook]

Hey:

I've had this copy of XP going for about 4 years now. It runs sluggish
as compared to the beginning and sometimes seems busy. I'm extremely
careful regarding spyware, viruses etc. Run many checks to keep my
machine clean. I can't seem to do enough however to get things up to
speed again. Is there a point we need to format/re-install? Is slowing
down just an acceptable consequence of an aging and growing system?

Thank you,
Ed

Defragment your hard disk on a routine basis, thoroughly...

 

[Bob I]

Ok, then go on to the the Clean Up and Defrag suggested by others. If
still slow, start looking for useless programs running in background.