XP running slow - new install only 4 months ago!

[Kerry]

It's been just 4 months sice I did my most recent WinXP/ SP2 install. Now my
system is back to running impossibly slow. My broadband connection is
running slower than a dial up connection!

In past times I've reloaded Window every year or two. Now I seem to be down
to about every 4 months. Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus checkers, firewalls
and other anti whatever software I'm told to run - but to no avail.

My friends tell me to bite the bullet and buy a Mac. Truthfully I'm about 2
seconds away from doing so.

OK, one last attempt with WinXP/SP2. What I'd like to ask is suggestions for
the lastest and best virus checker, scanner, spybot scanner, firewall and
whatever is the latest suggestion and cool thing to keep WinXP running
smoothly for more than just 4 months.

TIA

Kerry

 

[S.Sengupta]

Do some reading here:-

'Simple Things You Can Do To Speed Up a Slow Computer':-
http://familyinternet.about.com/od/teachingyourkids/a/speedupcomputer.htm

regards,
S.Sengupta[MS-MVP]

 

[Jon]

.......... Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus checkers, firewalls

and other anti whatever software I'm told to run - but to no avail........

This could well be the problem. If you have too many programs running in the
background, too many services enabled etc, then that would explain the
slowing of your machine.
You can see your current startup entries, via Start > Run > msconfig >
Startup (and / or > Services)

Jon

 

[S.Sengupta]

Forgot to mention earlier.
'How to perform a clean boot in Windows XP'
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q310353&ID=KB;EN-US;Q310353

regards,
S.Sengupta[MS-MVP]

Do some reading here:-

'Simple Things You Can Do To Speed Up a Slow Computer':-
http://familyinternet.about.com/od/teachingyourkids/a/speedupcomputer.htm

regards,
S.Sengupta[MS-MVP]

It's been just 4 months sice I did my most recent WinXP/ SP2 install.
Now my system is back to running impossibly slow. My broadband
connection is running slower than a dial up connection!

In past times I've reloaded Window every year or two. Now I seem to be
down to about every 4 months. Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus checkers,
firewalls and other anti whatever software I'm told to run - but to no
avail.

My friends tell me to bite the bullet and buy a Mac. Truthfully I'm
about 2 seconds away from doing so.

OK, one last attempt with WinXP/SP2. What I'd like to ask is
suggestions for the lastest and best virus checker, scanner, spybot
scanner, firewall and whatever is the latest suggestion and cool thing
to keep WinXP running smoothly for more than just 4 months.

TIA

Kerry

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Kerry

How about getting back to basics?

How much RAM memory?Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and
click the Performance Tab. What is the Total, the Commit Charge and the
Peak?

How large is your hard disk and how much free disk space?

What is your CPU processor speed?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Vagabond Software]

It's been just 4 months sice I did my most recent WinXP/ SP2 install. Now
my system is back to running impossibly slow. My broadband connection is
running slower than a dial up connection!

In past times I've reloaded Window every year or two. Now I seem to be
down to about every 4 months. Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus checkers,
firewalls and other anti whatever software I'm told to run - but to no
avail.

My friends tell me to bite the bullet and buy a Mac. Truthfully I'm about
2 seconds away from doing so.

OK, one last attempt with WinXP/SP2. What I'd like to ask is suggestions
for the lastest and best virus checker, scanner, spybot scanner, firewall
and whatever is the latest suggestion and cool thing to keep WinXP running
smoothly for more than just 4 months.

TIA

Kerry

Let me tell you that Macs are not the be all, end all to trouble-free
computing. My brother-in-law is a musician and he records 16 track audio of
his live performances to a portable hard drive attached to his iBook, except
that it would crash a couple times a night. The desktop (a G something er
other) he runs in his studio had a plague of hardware problems that were
fixed only after several frustrating trips to the local Mac World (or
whatever it was called). He was running OS 9 for the longest time because
he would have to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade all his audio
software and drivers to a version compatible with OS X.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure Macs are wonderful, but the little nagging
problems, expensive upgrade paths, faulty hardware and drivers don't just
vanish because Steve Jobs puts a little Apple logo on the box.

carl

 

[Kerry Brown]

It's been just 4 months sice I did my most recent WinXP/ SP2 install.
Now my system is back to running impossibly slow. My broadband
connection is running slower than a dial up connection!

In past times I've reloaded Window every year or two. Now I seem to
be down to about every 4 months. Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus
checkers, firewalls and other anti whatever software I'm told to run
- but to no avail.
My friends tell me to bite the bullet and buy a Mac. Truthfully I'm
about 2 seconds away from doing so.

OK, one last attempt with WinXP/SP2. What I'd like to ask is
suggestions for the lastest and best virus checker, scanner, spybot
scanner, firewall and whatever is the latest suggestion and cool
thing to keep WinXP running smoothly for more than just 4 months.

TIA

Kerry

Have you installed software for a digital camera or an all-in-one printer?
Some of this software will slow even the fastest computer to a crawl. Kodak
and HP are particularly bad. Often the software doesn't need to run all the
time and can be disabled and only run when needed.

Kerry

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Kerry

From what I have ascertained it is worth checking Undo options
in this type of programme.


--

Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Rock]

It's been just 4 months sice I did my most recent WinXP/ SP2 install. Now my
system is back to running impossibly slow. My broadband connection is
running slower than a dial up connection!

In past times I've reloaded Window every year or two. Now I seem to be down
to about every 4 months. Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus checkers, firewalls
and other anti whatever software I'm told to run - but to no avail.

My friends tell me to bite the bullet and buy a Mac. Truthfully I'm about 2
seconds away from doing so.

OK, one last attempt with WinXP/SP2. What I'd like to ask is suggestions for
the lastest and best virus checker, scanner, spybot scanner, firewall and
whatever is the latest suggestion and cool thing to keep WinXP running
smoothly for more than just 4 months.

TIA

Kerry

Slow Computer
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

Also look at what you have installed and running at all times. Use
these resources to check what's currently running to see if you need it.

www.google.com
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

 

[Kerry]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for all your suggestions, much appreciated. I'm going through each
reply and working on each suggestion. Give me a day or two and I'll get back
to you all with the result.

Thanks Again!

Kerry

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It's been just 4 months sice I did my most recent WinXP/ SP2 install.
Now my system is back to running impossibly slow. My broadband
connection is running slower than a dial up connection!

In past times I've reloaded Window every year or two. Now I seem to
be down to about every 4 months.

I don't believe in reinstalling Windows unless you have very severe problems
and no other solution works. Despite what some people say, Windows doesn't
slow down by itself time unless you've maintained it poorly. I've run
Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and
Windows XP, each for the period of time before the next version came out,
and each on two machines here. I never reinstalled any of them, and I have
never had anything more than an occasional minor problem.

Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus
checkers, firewalls and other anti whatever software I'm told to run
- but to no avail.
My friends tell me to bite the bullet and buy a Mac. Truthfully I'm
about 2 seconds away from doing so.

If you think that will make your life easier, then by all means do so. I
think you'll be surprised to find out you're wrong. The grass often looks
greener on the other side of the street.

OK, one last attempt with WinXP/SP2. What I'd like to ask is
suggestions for the lastest and best virus checker, scanner, spybot
scanner, firewall and whatever is the latest suggestion and cool
thing to keep WinXP running smoothly for more than just 4 months.

"Best" is in the mind of the beholder. There is no best, and you will get
different opinions from different folks.

That said, I'll tell you what I use and like:

Avast Anti-virus
Free Zone Alarm firewall
Spybot Search and Destroy
Adaware
Spyware Blaster
Spyware Guard
Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta

Note that I run *several* anti-spyware programs, since no single program
does a good enough job.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

......... Yes, I'm ruuning all the virus checkers, firewalls

This could well be the problem. If you have too many programs running
in the background, too many services enabled etc, then that would
explain the slowing of your machine.

Despite what many people tell you, you should be concerned, not with how
*many* of these programs you run, but *which*. Some of them can hurt
performance severely, but others have no effect on performance.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do is
determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what the cost
in performance is of its running all the time. You can get more information
about these at http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it
there, try google searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed
decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.

 

[Guest]

Jon,I have done all the cleaning and defrag ect. ect.This sounds more
vesonable. IWill try it and let you kinow what happens.