HELP, my desktop takes almost 5mins to boot. its pentium a 4, 1yr old 2.8ghz, 256mb ram?

Question

pls any suggestions as to what might be wrong. it just started this 2days ago

Answer 1

Go to Start Menu, click RUN.
Type msconfig and hit enter.
You should see a pop up box.
Go to Startup tab and uncheck all the programs that you do not want on your start up.
This will prevent those programs from starting up when you restart windows.
This will usually make your computer go a little faster if you have do not have much memory on your computer.
You do not want a bunch of things running in your background during startup if it is not necessary.

Answer 2

When your computer takes a long time to boot, check to see which processes are running.

If there are a lot of processes running, this could be a result of spyware. These programs can work their way into the Windows startup and slow the computer. Be sure to run your anti-spyware programs often.

Legitimate program can install themselves into the Windows startup in order to display quicker when you call them up. It is often unnecessary to have them running.

When you install software, pay close attention to what you agree to. If you see things like "Run at startup," select no.


Reducing the number of programs that automatically start with Windows will shorten the start-up/boot time.

To stop these programs: click Start, Run. Type in ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes) and click OK. Click the Startup tab.

You will see a list of programs. Many of the names are difficult to decipher. You can find a list of entries and their explanations at:
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

Uncheck the boxes for the programs you do not need. Click Apply and then click OK. Be careful not to eliminate needed programs.

Answer 3

including extra RAM will certainly help yet won't thoroughly resolve it. I used to have a working laptop or computing gadget with a P4 a million.8 and 256 MB of RAM and it replace into superb for many sites with some exceptions Your important concern is that in case you want to circulate to sites that has various lively flash ( classified ads on web content, Youtube, Myspace, etc). they are able to consume various Processing potential, extra so on older single center gadget like yours you will possibly have too many Browser domicile windows or purposes open. It additionally attainable which you have various spyware/spyware on your computing gadget slowing it down. If the RAM improve (to 512 or possibly a million GB) does not make your computing gadget responsive adequate then the only concepts left is to purchase a speedier computing gadget or attempt to discover and deploy a speedier P4 processor it is nicely suited which includes your Motherboard. An improve from a a million.8GHz P4 to a 2.6Ghz P4 or extra desirable provides you with a overall performance enhance

Answer 4

Nowadays, spywares are common reason why a computer starts to act strange. Consider also, that you might have installed a new device (hardware) that is creating conflict with your system. Or a device you already installed and it's just taking it's I/O to respond late.

Possible Solutions:
Download Windows Defender and scan your computer for spywares.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4-f7f14e605a0d&displaylang=en

Try installing an extra memory stick to speed up your PC. Nowadays, 512MB is standard.

Clean your computer, remove unnecessary programs, and defrag your partitions frequently.

Check all your cables and make sure all of them are secured, that includes your components.

And finally, do this...
1. Click Start --> Run --> type Regedit and find this key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
SOFTWARE\
Microsoft\
Windows\
CurrentVersion\
Run

2. Remove everything you might think you don't need. (I usually remove all)

Answer 5

Nothing could be wrong. Simple step is to make things lighter.
1. Do not clutter your desktop with files files and files
2. Not too many links
3. Not many start up programs
4. Not too many graphics to display at the word GO

Answer 6

Try defragmenting your hard drive, and getting rid of programs/files you don't need anymore. They might be taking up too much hard drive space if you have a small hard drive, so that slows down your computer sometimes. Also try running a virus scan and a spyware scan.

Answer 7

I agree, spyware is usually the problem. Download Spybot S & D and AdAware. Both are free and work very well. Once installed and updated then run a scan. Hopefully this helps you.