Windows XP very sloooooooow

[Guest]

I did a very dumb thing. I was already getting very low on memory on my PC,
then I added Norton Anti Virus. Now it is super slow. I tried to delete
programs.. no luck.Tried to aceess my jump drive to copy and remove files,
did not recognize jump drive. tried to restore, won't work. Went thru the dos
promt command and deleted some files of programs i wanted to delete, like
adobe photshop elements. Some files i could not delete. It gave me a little
bit more memory . I tried restore again,and it takes hours to go thru,but it
did reboot finally ,and then I got a window showing restoreing files, then it
locked up ,i think. it styed that way all night,and was the same in the
morning. Is there anything I can do to recover my files .at least? I really
am afriad to go into dos and try to delete more progrms that i do not use and
intern make the situation worse. I know, it was a ID 10 T error!

 

[Malke]

I did a very dumb thing. I was already getting very low on memory on
my PC, then I added Norton Anti Virus. Now it is super slow. I tried
to delete programs.. no luck.Tried to aceess my jump drive to copy and
remove files, did not recognize jump drive. tried to restore, won't
work. Went thru the dos promt command and deleted some files of
programs i wanted to delete, like adobe photshop elements. Some files
i could not delete. It gave me a little bit more memory . I tried
restore again,and it takes hours to go thru,but it did reboot finally
,and then I got a window showing restoreing files, then it locked up
,i think. it styed that way all night,and was the same in the morning.
Is there anything I can do to recover my files .at least? I really am
afriad to go into dos and try to delete more progrms that i do not use
and intern make the situation worse. I know, it was a ID 10 T error!

You have really b0rked up your system. Slave the hard drive (or put it
in an external enclosure) and attach it to a working XP box. Copy over
your data to the working install. Or boot with a rescue system like
Knoppix or a Bart's PE to retrieve the data and copy to external hard
drive or burn to cd-r. Here is how to use Knoppix in that scenario:

An easy way to retrieve Windows files is to boot with Knoppix, a Linux
distro on a live cd. You will need a computer with two cd drives, one
of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to
hold your data OR an external usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32
(not NTFS). To get Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet
connection and third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso
from www.knoppix.net and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and
it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the usb
thumb drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the
Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read
Only". Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action
in the window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open
instead of the traditional MS Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the
K3b burning program to burn the files to cd/dvd-r's.

After you've retrieved your data, do a clean install of Windows:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting
this isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA).

Malke

 

[Plato]

I did a very dumb thing. I was already getting very low on memory on my PC,
then I added Norton Anti Virus. Now it is super slow. I tried to delete

Remove Nortons ASAP.

 

[miss-information]

You have really b0rked up your system. Slave the hard drive (or put it
in an external enclosure) and attach it to a working XP box. Copy over
your data to the working install. Or boot with a rescue system like
Knoppix or a Bart's PE to retrieve the data and copy to external hard
drive or burn to cd-r. Here is how to use Knoppix in that scenario:
After you've retrieved your data, do a clean install of Windows:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - What
you will need on-hand
Malke
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

What indicated a low memory situation? It's not a problem for Windows to use
most of the available ram, a percentage for services and the rest for
programs. A slow responding PC can be from many causes. Follow Malkes advice
to restore your system. When uninstalling programs use 'Add or Remove
Programs' in Control Panel instead of from cmd prompt.

mi

 

[Rock]

I did a very dumb thing. I was already getting very low on memory on my PC,
then I added Norton Anti Virus. Now it is super slow. I tried to delete
programs.. no luck.Tried to aceess my jump drive to copy and remove files,
did not recognize jump drive. tried to restore, won't work. Went thru the
dos
promt command and deleted some files of programs i wanted to delete, like
adobe photshop elements. Some files i could not delete. It gave me a
little
bit more memory . I tried restore again,and it takes hours to go thru,but
it
did reboot finally ,and then I got a window showing restoreing files, then
it
locked up ,i think. it styed that way all night,and was the same in the
morning. Is there anything I can do to recover my files .at least? I
really
am afriad to go into dos and try to delete more progrms that i do not use
and
intern make the situation worse. I know, it was a ID 10 T error!

After you get things recovered with Malke's excellent advice, don't use
Norton's. Also know that deleting files of installed programs messes things
up. Programs need to be removed via Add/Remove programs or their own
uninstall utility.

Memory and disc space are two different things. Removing programs frees up
disc space. It doesn't free up memory. If you're running short of disc
space get a larger drive. They are very inexpensive.

 

[Baloo]

I did a very dumb thing. I was already getting very low on memory on my
PC, then I added Norton Anti Virus. Now it is super slow. I tried to
delete programs.. no luck.

Deleting programs doesn't free memory, only hard drive space. Not running
more programs than necessary saves memory. Check your Startup folder and
remove items you don't need at startup or continuously from that folder.
Find ways to disable or remove system tray programs you never use. You
might consider getting more memory installed.

It seems that you might be slightly confused about the difference between
memory and hard disk space. Memory (RAM) is like a scratch pad your
computer uses to keep track of what's running right now. The hard drive is
like your computer's filing cabinet where it keeps everything. Installing
a larger hard drive does not give you more memory (just more room to put
stuff).