why is my computer running slow?

Question

why is my computer running slow?

i dont think its a virus becuss i got ,avast! Antivirus,Advanced Spyware Remover,Symantec Client Security,

and it is still slow


i have a 80gb harddrive and 1.50 GHz & 448MB of ram

what do i do...?

Answer 1

Top factors in slowdown of computers:

1) Viruses/spyware
2) Legal but unnecessary programs startup at boot time
3) Overheating / Cool & Quiet (& Slow)
4) Not enough memory (WinXP)
5) Disk badly fragmented or failing.

It sounds like you have 1) covered, but download Mike Lin's free Startup Control Panel (Standalone version) and see what you have running.

Answer 2

That is a two pronged answer. (Wont work on windows 2000) First, click on start / run / and type msconfig. Click on the start up tab on the window that pops up. This will bring ur all the programs that start up everytime windows boots up. Just uncheck the ones that you know for a fact that do not need to be started everytime. If you are unsure, leave it alone, or use a search engine to figure out what program it is.

The second part is to clean out the cookies and the tempory internet files. Open up my computer, click on tools / folder options / view / and make sure it shows the hidden files and folders. After that, click on the c Drive / Documents and settings / click on main user (whatever name that you operate under) / local settings / Temporary Internet files / Delete everythign that is in the folder.

After you shut it down, and reboot, you should notice a faster boot-up time, and a faster machine.

Hope this helps you.

Answer 3

448 RAM not that great, especially if you are running a screensaver and wallpaper, playing games, and have a loaded startup. May I suggest some home remedies:

- Are you using a complex screensaver - it runs in the background and eats memory. I had fun with mine, then changed it to blank.
- How many programs do you load at startup? Maybe you should check it out and ensure you are running just what you need.

1.From IE, click Tools, Internet Options
delete cookies
delete files (offline files)
clear history (set days to save to 0 if you want)
click o.k., and Restart
2.click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools – run Disk Cleanup
3.Temporarily close Quick Launch:
Right-click on the Taskbar, click Toolbars, deselect Quick Launch
4.Open My Computer
right-click on C:
click Properties
click Tools, select Error Check (check all and fix), when finished click defrag & run.
5.click Start, Run ipconfig renew (type ipconfig space renew)
6.Restart. Right-click on Taskbar, click Toolbars, select Quick Launch to restore

All these things should be done regularly. The more frequently they are run, the less time they take.
-Note: Games and videos are mostly graphics. Graphics create large files. If these suggestions don't help, you might need more memory.

Answer 4

Try:

Deleting cookies, temporary files, temporary Internet files, and all the other miscellaneous garbage you can find. Then empty the recycle bin, and defrag the hard drive. My husband gets paid big bucks to do just this when folks drag in their computers because they are running slow. You'd be surprised how often this fixes the problem. Lots of folks don't even know they are supposed to do these things. You probably just have a lot of junk gunking up the hard drive. Ever search through a drawer full of junk to find one tiny thing? That's what most folks ask their computers to do- and it takes a while to search through 80 gb of junk.

Answer 5

go to pandasoftware.com (antivirus) and get it scanned and disinfected. I bet it finds a few viruses. Panda is very good antivirus.

Do you have Windows Security Center running? Go to your Control Panel and click on Security Center and turn it on (Windows 2000 and XP only). It takes you to microsoft.com and issues much-needed security patches for your computer. You can go to microsoft.com /updates and it will see if your computer needs updates. This is as important as anti-virus software.

Make sure that you do not have two firewalls running. Windows Security Center has a firewall, and your antivirus probably has a firewall. Check both of them out, and turn one of them off.

Having Avast and Symantec sounds like having two antivirus programs so remove one of them if they are both antivirus.

Answer 6

Have you scanned for Spyware? If not download, update and scan with Spybot and Adaware. How long since you ran a diskcleanup? Is your drive free from fragmentation? This disease can slow things down. Keep a check on frag levels and also on the free space.

Answer 7

STOP OFF LIMEWIRE

no1 trojan killers
this will fix it
XoftSpy 4.22 is the Latest and Most Advanced Spyware Detection and

pop up spyware
Spyware
W32/Spybot
Browser Hijackers
virus
Adware
Malware
Keyloggers
trojans
worms
back door trojans
Malicious mobile code
MALICIOUS SCRIPTS
toolbar trojans that dont show up

download xoftspy422 and install it then run it stop the scan and click on scan settings tick every box and click on where it says >> click here to select a folder then tick the (c) thats your hard drive if you have 2 hard drives tick the 2 of them then click ok
then click start when the scan is done click on remove tab

http://www.paretologic.com/products.aspx


ewido anti-spyware 4.0
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/10/lng/us/tpl/tpl01?prd=ews


ad-aware professional 6.0 /ad-watch 3.0
http://www.lavasoft.de/
ad-watch 3.0 is a pop up & website blocker

spy doctor
http://www.pctools.com


Privacy Guardian
http://www.pctools.com


anti spyware blocker
spybot search & destory
spyware blaster
http://www.download.com

Answer 8

Take a look at this web site.

Answer 9

Need to buy more RAM.

Answer 10

not sure :)