Very Slow PC?

Question

I have recently installed Norton Internet Security on my Home PC and now it takes 15 minutes to start up and is extremely slow. The PC is an HP Pavilion 7915 using Windows XP Pro with a 20GB Hard Drive (15 Used) 128MB 1 GHz Intel Celeron M chip. Can anyone suggest how to speed things up without deleting Norton Internet?

Answer 1

1) You may have spyware - even with anti-virus and internet security software, a machine with your spec, shouldn't take that long to load XP.

2) That said... your PC has got a piddling amount of RAM by today's standards. Get one or two 256MB RAM chips of eBay - you need PC133 SDRAM or PC100 SDRAM (either will do because your motherboard is 100MHz). Should cost about 10GBP for 256MB. Don't go for more than 2 x 256MB because you only have two slots and the maximum the PC can take is 512MB. The RAM upgrade should help a lot with all those extra apps.

3) Presumably, your PC didn't come shipped with XP Home... it's possible that the guy you got to install XP Pro used a dodgy key (not accusing anyone - 7 out of 10 times though that's what I see). In that case you may have difficulty installing Windows Updates - these updates are essential. If you don't have them you WILL get hammered by spyware - no matter what you might hear elsewhere. That could be causing the slowdown of your system. Use automatic updates, Microsoft is more tolerant if you do that than use the Windows Update website

4) Set your page file to minimum 768MB and maximum 768MB (or 1.5 times your system RAM if you've got less than 512MB) That will stop Windows from messing around with it. 8GB is way too much - I don't know why someone suggested that (maybe they've got 4GB RAM?)

5) Defragment your hard disk.

6) Go into the "usual suspects" in the system registry and stop all that nonsense from starting up every time (e.g. video tweaker, or super-duper mouse customisation thingy). Or use "msconfig" by typing msconfig in Start->Run

PS I too would recommend removing norton internet security and anti-virus software, but your question asked how to speed up your machine WITHOUT removing them...

Answer 2

Are you ready? Don't listen to the advice that Norton is the problem!

Yes, it is true that it slowed down your PC, but it's not because it's a bad program. Norton utilities require quite a few resources to run in the background, and your PC doesn't have much to give it. 128MB of RAM is extremely low for Windows XP. In fact, it's the bare minimum. I recommend you upgrade to at least 512MB. Because you have an older PC, there's no reason to go overboard on RAM, however. 1GB is the most I would bother upgrading to.

That should make a big difference, but another thing you should focus on is hard drive space. Your 20GB drive is quite full. Yes, you've got 5GB left, but hard drives begin to perform worse when they're more than 75% full. In addition, newer drives have higher densities lowering disk access time. They also have newer features such as large cache buffers of 8MB (make sure you get one of these when you upgrade your hard drive). More importantly, hard drives are dirt cheap costing as little as 50¢ per GB.

Like some others have said, your problem could also involve a combination of other factors including spyware and virus infections. Spyware is the most likely, and just about every PC gets it from time to time just from browsing the web. If upgrading RAM and your hard drive aren't enough, then consider backing up your personal data and starting with a "clean" install of Windows. Search on google or Yahoo! for info...

Answer 3

It's surely Norton because the machine wasn't slow before that program was installed but it would help a lot if you could give the machine more RAM; 128MB is too little and RAM is not that expensive. Don't expect much from a 1Gz Celeron either. If upgrading (or replacing) your PC is not feasible now, re-configure the Norton program. I don't think it's necessary to uninstall it; just don't have it scan everything for everything. Did you check the system requirements on the Norton box? It may (this I don't know) require that you have a good machine to start with maybe because Norton is a resource hog. One more thing: If another anti-virus program was already installed on the unit, you must uninstall it first BEFORE installing Norton. They don't co-exist nicely.

Answer 4

First of all i'd just like to suggest you ignore the people blaming Norton for just about anything and everything, with the correct resources the software is more than capable and in fact surpasses most of its rivals in many ways and cmments like "your problem is norton, get rid of it" arnt really helpful at all! I would suggest that ideally you would be best buying a new machine but if that isn't cost effective for you (PC's are still an expensive investment!) then there is a fair amount you can do with a few simple and pretty cheap upgrades to your current machine. The first and most cost effective upgrade is your RAM you should look at upgrading to at least 512mb and its an easy DIY replacment try looking on www.dabs.com for cheap bits n pieces, then also i would upgrade your hard disc and they are much cheaper now than ever, again look at getting around 60-80gb. Your machine is never going to be lightening quick but that, along with good PC maintenance such as monthly disk de-fragmentation, clean ups etc should get it running much more smoothly and for just around the £100-150 mark which is much cheaper than the other alternatives.

Answer 5

Norton here too! The problem with ANY anti virus software is that it slows your system down sometimes worse than the original malware would have in the first place! Ironic? Henceforth and towidth, in my 35 years of working on systems and 20 years on the net, I STILL dont use virus protection! It not only slows you down but sometimes creates big problems with software installation! The best virus protection you can get is internet intelligence! 99 percent of users are so naive about downloading and file sharing sites! DONT DOWNLOAD THIS CRAP! NOTHING IS FREE! File sharing sites such as limewire and bearshare dont store the files you download! They come from other users systems! How infested are these peoples systems? GET SMART and you wont need virus protection! Intelligence on the net? almost every answer above is from a user who aint got a clue except the few that told you norton was your problem! Oh and its not that norton isnt any good, it is simply doing what you paid for! ANY good antivirus software will slow you down! You have to keep in mind that it is double checking every move you make!

Answer 6

The Suite has a firewall, no? If it does, have you turned the XP wall off?

And if you have other system AntiViruses running, uninstall them and remove the checkmark(s) to it(them) - MSCONFIG Start-up tab.

My PC came w/ Norton AVS. I removed NAVS & replaced it w/ AVG Free - my PC (h/p Pavilion) was sluggish but after unchecking Norton, AVG took off MUCH faster.

XP WILL run w/ 128 mB RAM, but will constantly be "borrowing" HD RAM. The soluton is to have AT LEAST 512 true RAM

Answer 7

I agree with C Bass. Your hardware is not good enough for Norton which uses up a lot of resources. It is a resource hog of sorts. Norton may work flawlessly (NAH!!!:) in another more muscled system but not on yours. Get AVG for antivirus, it is free. For firewall, get the free Sygate Personal Firewall. Both should be adequate.

Answer 8

ok well honestly my uncle is a computer tech and he can tell u his self that norton is no good. You should uninstall norton and go to www.microsoft.com and in the search bar type in free trials then search the sites that come up til u see ETrust its free for a whole yr an its the best virus scanner out it does delete them also if anything is found also when ur computer starts running slow u might need to get u a registry cleaner that will make ur pc run faster! norton will make ur computer run slower

Answer 9

Generally just cleaning the rubbish out of the internet files will have a big impact, however to get the best out of the system you will need the help of software. System Mechanic will do all this and more to improve your system. Its not free but you can download the trial for 30 days and at least it will improve now. Check it out here http://www.iolo.com/sm/ Good Luck ::O)

Answer 10

If a whole pot of coffee could brew in time it takes to Boot for your Computer, it’s time to create some changes. Most probably your computer isn’t slow – it’s dozens of programs that are turning on during the startup which are slowing it down. So, download an inclusive tool to easily disable some programs during the startup. Restart your computer and watch it flying.
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http://www.macropccleaner.com/5-easy-methods-to-speed-up-your-pc/