Windows XP is becoming very slow

[Rob]

can anyone help with my problem of windows XP taking far to long to run any
program. I have to wait many minutes for any software to begin running. I
have cleared my computer of surplus files and done a cleanup and defrag
including a virus check, but the problem still persists.
Rob

 

[Bryan]

can anyone help with my problem of windows XP taking far to long to run any
program. I have to wait many minutes for any software to begin running. I
have cleared my computer of surplus files and done a cleanup and defrag
including a virus check, but the problem still persists.
Rob

how much RAM do you have? You should get and regularly run AdAware and
Spybot search and destroy both free programs from the net. Also get a
utility that monitors the temperature of your pc as in the summer pcs can
run hotter than usual and that can slow things down. Check your fan is still
working and possibly get a case fan if you don't have one.

 

[JS]

Bring up Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and see what process is hogging you
CPU.

JS

 

[Rob]

Hello Bryan,
I had 128Mb RAM. I have used Adware and Spybot, but the problem persists.
The temperature of the PC is normal/
Rob

 

[Bryan]

Hello Bryan,
I had 128Mb RAM. I have used Adware and Spybot, but the problem persists.
The temperature of the PC is normal/

I would say 128Mb is low for XP I found it low for Win 98 on my laptop pc.
What is your processor and how old is your pc? Did you upgrade to XP from ME
or Win98?

512Mb RAM is much better and 1Gb is great. RAM is very cheap right now.

 

[Bryan]

Hello Bryan,
I had 128Mb RAM. I have used Adware and Spybot, but the problem persists.
The temperature of the PC is normal/

here is an article about XP and RAM etc.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/evaluate/xpperf.mspx

128Mb is the bare minimum.

 

[JS]

128MB is too little, especially if you have installed AV software which runs
in the background.
Norton for instance is known to cause significant slowdowns.
348MB or 512MB would make a big difference in speed.

JS

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hello Bryan,
I had 128Mb RAM.

Far too little for Windows XP. Windows XP requires at least 256MB for decent
performance. Depending on what apps you run, even that may not be enough.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I would say 128Mb is low for XP I found it low for Win 98 on my
laptop pc. What is your processor and how old is your pc? Did you
upgrade to XP from ME or Win98?

512Mb RAM is much better and 1Gb is great. RAM is very cheap right
now.

This is *not* a one-size-fits-all situation. You get good performance if the
amount of RAM you have keeps you from using the page file, and that depends
on what apps you run. Most people running a typical range of business
applications find that somewhere around 256-384MB works well, others need
512MB. Almost anyone will see poor performance with less than 256MB. Some
people, particularly those doing things like editing large photographic
images, can see a performance boost by adding even more than
512MB--sometimes much more.

Except for those people running such demanding applications, 1GB is
considerably more than most people can make effective use of. RAM may be
cheap, but there's still no reason to waste money.

 

[Rob]

I will try the upgrading of the memory solutions as that seems the most
appropriate. How do I check the type of memory installed on my PC so I can
buy a stick of suitable RAM.
Rob

 

[Bruce]

I will try the upgrading of the memory solutions as that seems the
most appropriate. How do I check the type of memory installed on my
PC so I can buy a stick of suitable RAM.
Rob

Go to www.crucial.com and use the memory advisor.

Bruce

 

[Scott]

can anyone help with my problem of windows XP taking far to long to run any
program. I have to wait many minutes for any software to begin running. I
have cleared my computer of surplus files and done a cleanup and defrag
including a virus check, but the problem still persists.
Rob