My computer is NOT very old- but slow. I have NO virus's, No spyware- HELP?

Question

Its only about 2 years old, It still has lots of memory, but sometimes I get a notice saying my virtual memory is low. Even after rebooting it, its SO slow! It took 25 minutes to pull up a cell phone program last night. I cannot figure out what is wrong. Anyone know what would be helpful/ besides destroying it. Serious answers only pls. Thanks

Answer 1

Virtual memory is harddisk space. Your harddisk might be almost full, that could slow things up considerably. Start Windows Explorer, click on 'C:'. In the status bar (below left) it'll say how much available diskspace is left. If it's less then a few GB, that's the problem: clean up or [buy a new harddisk. If buying a harddisk, don't remove the first one. Use the new harddisk for all your pictures, music, movies, documents (move all of them from the old harddisk). Choose, for example, a 250GB SATA Seagate, Hitachi, Samsung or WD harddisk, and DO mount a harddisk cooler. Don't go for a Maxtor.]
If you have 5GB or more left, the virtual memory setting need to be enlarged:
1.Rightclick My Computer icon, click Properties.
2.Click the Performance tab, click Change.
3.Virtual Memory dialog box: you can change the parameters for your paging file (=virtual memory).

If cleaning harddisk: Open Windows Explorer, rightclick on 'C:', do a SEARCH for all files greater then 1MB or 5MB. This way you can find the files which take up all the space. Some might be unnessecary.

I'd recommend doubling your lots of memory anyway, esp. if it's less then 512MB. But 1GB is better.

Start/run/msconfig.exe: startup: disable the things you don't recognize. See if that helps. If not: disable them all. You can always enable them again.

Try sisoft sandra to check the hardware:
http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/files/san2007-1099-BQR.zip

You can do an online malware check, highly recommended:
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan
It does not REMOVE all malware, but warns you for it anyway. It'll advice you to buy Panda, but free programs will probably do the job, like www.hitmanpro.nl (it includes the famous adaware cleaning tool).

As a good general practice: don't install applications with default options. Always do a custom install, and ONLY install the things you're really going to use. If you keep the original CD's, you can always install additional options later. This way, you'll save MUCH harddisk space.
As an option, you could uninstall applications completely, and reinstall them. This time with custom install.

Oh, and ditch all those d a r n Ford Reflex wallpapers! Hehehe... (just kidding)

Answer 2

Over time, when you delete programs from your computer, not all of the data is actually erased and is stored on your hard drive. There are several things that you can do to get your computer to run faster. You should run defrag at least once a month.This will put files where they belong on the hard drive and free up space. You should also try a registry cleaner which will get rid of files that are no longer used. You can get a free one at http://www.promote-yourself.info/free-registry-cleaner/ . Also, the more programs that you have running in the background the slower your computer will run. These are programs that automatically open on computer startup. You should close any programs that are not necessary. Antivirus and anti spyware programs should always be running, but anything that you are not actually using should be shut down. You could also try adding additional ram to your system.

Answer 3

If your virtual memory is low, your computer will C R A W L! Your HardDrive might be getting full. If you get a hard drive more than 3/4 full, you're asking for trouble - longer load times, etc.

You might want to archive some old files, uninstall programs you don't use anymore, clean your internet cache, and run a defrag.

Hope that helps! :-)

Answer 4

Possible Problems (A) Internet Explorer is about the slowest browser out there. (B) 7 Years is too long; Sometimes when a computers hardware and OS become out of date its hard to handle newer things. (C) You may need to add some RAM, To allow you computer to do more; Faster. (D) Try iolo System Mechanic Trial and see if it helps, I have a Dell Dimension XP, 6 Years old. The same happens to it; But I get by using firefox because its faster and more reliable.

Answer 5

Grace there can be many reasons
why u have this problem
even though your comp is only 2 years old
it may of been out of date when you bought it
you may need to increase yur Ram
your processor may be slow or have a problem
there are many issue that could be or is the problem
If you dont know seek help from your local
Tech

Answer 6

Try pushing the alt control delete keys all together at the same time to bring up the task manager. Look and see how many applications and processes are running and see how many you can shut down without causing problems to your system or that you are not using. Thats what I usually do hopes this helps.

Answer 7

First thing to do is run a disk clean up on it.

Go to START>ALL PROGRASMS>ACCESSORIES>SYSTEM TOOLS>DISK CLEAN UP.

After doing this, defrag the hard drive or C drive on your PC.

Go to START>ALL PROGRAMS>ACC>SYSTEM TOOLS>Defrag Hard drive.

Then Open up your start page, click on TOOLS>INTERNET OPTIONIONS>Delete Cookies>CLEAR HISTORY>OK.

This should free up everything, now do a full restart, do this buy shutting the PC off all the way, wait 20 seconds, also if you have DSL, unplug your modem power for 10 mintutes, which will reset it with new programs which are faster.

Now that your PC is running so fast, you now have time to take me to lunch.

Answer 8

Hey.... run Disk Defragmentor and then Disk Cleanup options under System Tools in Menu and after that just clear the History of your I.E

Answer 9

Add more RAM and also go to www.lavasoft.com and download Adaware. It really catches all the stuff normal programs don't. Otherwise, you should go to your task manager (Control+ALt+Delete) and see if you have any programs hogging all the memory such as AOL or any program causing a memory leak.

Answer 10

Few thing to do
1:Delete anything off your hard disk that you dont need
2:Run disk defrag
3:Run scan disk

4:Delete any programs you dont use anymore
5:In RUN type "msconfig" and look under startup, disbale anything that you dont need ( eg ms money,works etc..)
6:Get ad-aware ( free of internet ) run it and remove all sypware
7:Run your anti virius and remove anything bad
8:Sit back relax, good luck

9:all else fails try getting linux-far better ( kubuntu )