Windows slows or stops

[bonipie]

Computer: WinXP SP2, 1g ram, 60g hd (12g freespace). Usually surfing,
explorer/windows slows and finally stops. Sometimes, when we exit explorer,
then go back to surf, it is ok for a while. (By slow, I mean that it will
take 10 minutes to boot up.)

In Windows, same thing, but never speeds up. I have active virus s/w and
run regular scans, usually nothing found but a couple of cookies.

If I defrag, system seems to return to normal for a while. Sometimes
restoring to a previous date helps for a while. Any ideas. Appreciate the
help.

 

[nass]

Computer: WinXP SP2, 1g ram, 60g hd (12g freespace). Usually surfing,
explorer/windows slows and finally stops. Sometimes, when we exit explorer,
then go back to surf, it is ok for a while. (By slow, I mean that it will
take 10 minutes to boot up.)

In Windows, same thing, but never speeds up. I have active virus s/w and
run regular scans, usually nothing found but a couple of cookies.

If I defrag, system seems to return to normal for a while. Sometimes
restoring to a previous date helps for a while. Any ideas. Appreciate the
help.

12 GB not enough disk space these days for a hungry applications wanting
lots of disk space.
Try to enter your Add/Remove programs and see which programs you don't want
like games, third-party toolbars, old Demo programs doesn't work anymore..etc.
Run a thorough scan by doing the following steps:

1... First, try to clean up your caches, Internet files and delete cookies
by doing this:
Click Start >> Control Panel >> Double click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options.
On the IE properties windows you will see these Tabs:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs |
Advanced
Under General Tab clear your History, Internet Files and Cookies.
Then click on Advanced tab and scroll down to under the Browsing Option:
[&] Browsing
[ ] Enable Third-Party browser extensions (Req Rest) uncheck this box.
Then click on Programs Tab and click Manage Add-Ons and Disable all non
Verified Add-Ons (You should Renable them later one-by-one and see the
culprit and update it or remove it.
How to manage Add-Ons:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883256
Scan for malware from here:
SuperAntispyware - Free
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html
How to speed your PC:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm
Run disk clean up on your Drive.
You can download this tool o run clean up:
http://www.ccleaner.com/download/builds/downloading-slim
HTH,
nass

 

[Thee Chicago Wolf]

Computer: WinXP SP2, 1g ram, 60g hd (12g freespace). Usually surfing,

explorer/windows slows and finally stops. Sometimes, when we exit explorer,
then go back to surf, it is ok for a while. (By slow, I mean that it will
take 10 minutes to boot up.)

In Windows, same thing, but never speeds up. I have active virus s/w and
run regular scans, usually nothing found but a couple of cookies.

If I defrag, system seems to return to normal for a while. Sometimes
restoring to a previous date helps for a while. Any ideas. Appreciate the
help.

Something like that sounds like a slow memory leak either by a plug-in
or some other component of windows. If something eventually becomes
slow after a period of time, that's usually a culprit. 12G free is not
terrible but I would guess you could free up some space by running
CCleaner v2.12.660 disk cleanup utility (free) and it'll find junk to
clear out and free up some space. Once sure thing you can do to keep
IE's cache under control is to go to Control Panel > Internet Options

and set your cache to something small like 16MB. By default, it can

be upwards of 2-3GB. That's just insane. It will also give you the
added benefit of protecting you against malicious code residing in
your cache. Try the above suggestions first and let me know how it
goes.

- Thee Chicago Wolf