Slow Computer

[mare]

Hi

I am not sure what is wrong with my computer. But everything has been
extremely slow to load recently. I have tried restoring the entire computer,
but it is still slow. I have no idea what it could be, I have run my virus
programs, and there was nothing found. Someone suggested I tried to defrag
my computer? I was wondering how I do this?? And will this possibly help?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I am not sure what is wrong with my computer. But everything has been
extremely slow to load recently. I have tried restoring the entire computer,
but it is still slow. I have no idea what it could be, I have run my virus
programs, and there was nothing found. Someone suggested I tried to defrag
my computer? I was wondering how I do this?? And will this possibly help?

Possibly? Yes. Likely? No.

You say you run an anti-virus program, but you don't say which one.
Please tell us.

Also, do you run anti-spyware software? If so, which one? If not, my
guess that spyware is your most likely problem.

 

[mare]

no how do you run it?

 

[Paul]

Hi

I am not sure what is wrong with my computer. But everything has been
extremely slow to load recently. I have tried restoring the entire computer,
but it is still slow. I have no idea what it could be, I have run my virus
programs, and there was nothing found. Someone suggested I tried to defrag
my computer? I was wondering how I do this?? And will this possibly help?

To get some information about your disk and its performance,
download the free version (2.55, right hand column) of HDTune.

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

The active mode for your hard drive, is in the lower right hand
corner of the Info screen.

http://www.handtops.com/images/handtops_com-flipstart-report-hdtune1.png

If you use the benchmark option, the program will test the transfer
rate of your disk. A typical 7200RPM disk will deliver 60MB/sec
near the beginning of the disk, and about 40MB/sec near the
end of the disk. The graph displays the transfer rate across the
disk surface, and the results should be a curve.

This picture is a benchmark of a laptop drive, and this
is slower than a desktop. The desktop disk should be
more than twice as fast as this (and still curved like
this picture).

http://www.handtops.com/images/handtops_com-flipstart-bench-hdtune1.png

If your benchmark is a flat line, or if the Info screen shows a
very low transfer speed mode is being used, that would explain the
sluggish system performance (at least while programs are loading).

You can use the Task Manager (control-alt-delete) and the screens
in there, if the problem happens to be some piece of software that
is using cycles and you don't know it.

Defragging is an optimization, but won't boost things to the same
extent, as figuring out what is really wrong. You say "extremely
slow to load", so that sounds more serious.

Paul

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

See http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html

 

[Gerry]

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Defragmenter.

--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Daave]

I am not sure what is wrong with my computer. But everything has been
extremely slow to load recently. I have tried restoring the entire
computer,
but it is still slow.

What exactly do you mean by "I have tried restoring the entire
computer?" Which method did you use?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi

I am not sure what is wrong with my computer. But everything has been
extremely slow to load recently. I have tried restoring the entire
computer,

What exactly do you mean by that?

If you didn't wipe the drive and start from a clean install, you are using
the same registry, and won't have made much difference.

By "slow to load", do you mean that the PC takes a long time to start or
that once started, everything takes longer?

but it is still slow. I have no idea what it could be, I have run my virus
programs, and there was nothing found. Someone suggested I tried to
defrag
my computer? I was wondering how I do this?? And will this possibly help?

Frequently, slowness is caused by either too many processes and programs
loading at startup, or that at least one of those programs or processes take
a long time to initialize. Firewalls, for example, can significantly slow
down the system at startup.

Also, if you have Windows Update or Microsoft Update - set to automatically
download and install updates, this can be a problem. If you don't have a
very fast system and connection, letting this run automatically can take
control of the system away from you for varying lengths of time, up to ten
or twenty minutes.

There's a program from MS called Process Explorer, which can be very helpful
in figuring out what exactly is taking the CPU cycles. It's worth
downloading and learning about. Make a shortcut to it and run it first
thing at startup, and make notes of what processes take a lot of cycles.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

Also, download and run CrapCleaner - ccleaner -
http://www.ccleaner.com/download/builds. Get the Slim build. Install,
run, click Analyze and then let it delete what it finds (the Run Ccleaner
button). Note that this may remove passwords and settings for things like
banking sites.

Finally, there is another issue. General slowness can be a symptom of a
failing hard disk.


HTH
-pk