My computer's performance has gone WAY downhill...

[James]

A few years ago when I had windows 98, it began to slow
down significantly to the point that we replaced it with
Windows XP. For about a month, it was abnormally quickly
and responded well to commands and playing video-games.
Eventually, it became much more time-consuming jut to
open more than a few applications at once, or even one as
it is now, and playing video-games became much more laggy
than ever before. My friend wanted to see how slow my
computer was to his in an MMORPG video game, and for
every 21 times he could load into a game, I could load in
only once. My computer is often flooded with pop-ups and
advertisements trying to sell pop-up blockers. Perhaps
frequent use for downloading programs and playing video-
games has diminished the computer's performance forever?
I do hope that there is a way to repair it to its
original state back when it was fast. I've tried system
restore multiple times and the farthest it could go back
was like 3 months ago, and even then, it didn't work. I
tried several different checkpoints and none worked. It
said that it was unable to restore it to that time.

Would it help to download Windows XP or buy a new disk
for Windows XP? I've backed up most of my data that I
need from the computer and I want it back to its original
state... if possible, of course. The thing is, when we
got Windows XP, we didn't get to keep the disk,
apparently. I believe that when Windows 98 acted up, we
had someone come out and replace it with Windows XP. But
I don't believe he ever gave us to install or reformat
disks. Will this pose a problem? Is there a download on
the microsoft site I can use to reformat my computer?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Guest]

James,

Please see the following instructions.

Spyware/Virus Removal and Prevention:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/windowsxpsolutions.htm
(Links to online virus scans on the same page)

How to optimize Windows XP, 2000, ME
for the best performance (Step-by-step Visual Guide):
http://www.fixyourwindows.com

Good Luck!

 

[Gerry Cornell]

James

Poor system performance can be the result of a single problem or a
combination of factors. Listed
below are issues, which you may wish to examine if you are experiencing poor
performance after
the boot process has completed. Some items may help with slow starting of
Windows XP but the
list has not been prepared for tackling that problem. Work through the list
until you achieve an
acceptable result.

Regular and effective housekeeping is essential. What you do and how often
you do it will depend
on how you use your computer. A suggested routine may include:
1. In Outlook Express empty your Deleted Items folder.
2. In Outlook Express run File, Folder, Compact All whilst OFFLINE.
3. Run Disk Cleanup. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Cleanup with
Temporary Internet Files, Offline Web Pages (optional), System Restore (
more Options tab )
and Recycle Bin selected for deletion. If you have more than one drive /
partition you may
need to do this operation for each drive / partition.
4. Remove Cookies. Start, Control Panel, Internet Options, General, Delete
Cookies.
5. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Check whether you could reduce the number of days the History of sites
visited is retained. Start,
Control Panel, Internet Options, General, History.

Spyware causes many problems. If not installed download Adaware and / or
update Reference file
from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ and use it to remove
parasites. If Spyware
persists as a problem try a Hosts file.
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

Slow performance resulting from insufficient memory, causing over reliance
on virtual memory,
may be especially noticed by those upgrading to Windows XP from an earlier
version of Windows.
Windows XP will run with 64 MB of RAM memory. However, a minimum of 256 MB
is
recommended and many users will recommend 512 MB. You may check on pagefile
(virtual
memory) usage with Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Check how much free space you have on the hard drive / partition where your
pagefile is located.
You need a minimum of 15% but 20% or more is better.

Check your setting for the Indexing Service. Start, Administrative Tools,
Services, Indexing
Service. The default setting is Manual. Check that it is not running. More
information here:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm#Indexing_Service

You can have too many programmes running in the background. Close
programmes/windows after
use. Check whether all the programmes loading when Windows is started are
really necessary.
http://aumha.org/a/loads.htm

Check whether you can identify slow performance with a particular programme.
Look in Google to
see whether others have encountered the same problem and found a solution.
http://groups.google.com/

Are there any error messages in Event Viewer? You can access Event Viewer by
selecting Start,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the
error, information
regarding Event ID: and Source Description is important.
HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&Product=winxp

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Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
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