ATTN: Anyone who knows anything about Computer performance ,memory etc.?

Question

My computer seems to be running extremly slow lately. I've scaned it for viruses and malware and everything seems to be in check. I've got Chater security suite, I run Adware, and I also have Winpatrol running in the background which is suppose to alert me of any changes in my start up etc. I need some advice from someone who knows a little about computers. All I know is that when I backup DVD's with 1 click copy pro and AnyDVD ,a process that a few weeks ago took only 30-45 Minutes to do ,now takes twice as long (2 hours sometimes). Also when I listen to music on itunes ,the sound comes out real slow and destorted and the person who's singing the song sounds like they're about to fall over dead (lol). Even right this second, When I open up the "Windows Task Manager" ,I see that 46 processes are running and I'm not sure what all of them are or even need to be running ,cause I know I don't have that many programs open right now. It should only show about 5 at most! PLEASE HELP!

Answer 1

Here's what I usually recommend to folks with a slow PC.

A major cause of slow PC's is fragmentation of the hard drive.
You need to defragment the HD at least once a week if not more depending on how much you use your computer, and what you do with it.

One way is to use the defragment utility built into Windows XP. It is slow but does the job rather well. Go to:
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and then click on System Defrag to run the tool. It will take several hours so let it run overnight or simply walk away from your PC for a few hours.

A great program for defragging automatically is Diskeeper 10. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the tech and user reviews. It can be scheduled to run automatically as the program deems necessary, and if you are using your PC and the program launches itself, it will take a backseat to whatever you are doing and give you the priority for CPU usage. I think you'll agree it's a good program to have. It precludes your needing to remember to defrag at regular intervals.

Also, another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Here's another really good Microsoft tool. Go to Start > Run > type in msconfig in the box and click OK.
This will bring up a window with several tabs at the top. Click on the “Startup” tab. It will list the programs that are running on your PC and eating up resources. Look them over carefully and turn off any that don’t absolutely have to be running. Simply click on the “check mark” in the little box beside the program name. Clicking on it will remove the check mark. Once you have edited the Startup list, click on Apply and then on OK. Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.

Another good thing to have is a little program called FreeRAM Pro. It is free and is available from www.download.com This program puts a little RAM meter on the System Tray and shows how much RAM you have remaining that you are not using at any given time. I think you may be surprised at how little RAM you have to run other programs. Also, once it is installed you can right click on the little meter, then click on RESTORE and it will open the RAM display window. You can tweak the settings so it will display your CPU usage also. Then just click “Minimize” and then “To System Tray” to return to the Task Bar.

What happens when you run out of or run real low on RAM is that the OS recognizes the low or no RAM situation and starts using a section of your hard drive as memory. This is called virtual memory, or a swap file. The PC is constantly writing and reading from your HD. Comparitively, it is a very slow process. Check your motherboard manual and determine how much RAM each slot can hold. It will also tell you what type of RAM you need. You can also go to http://www.crucial.com and run their analysis utility to determine what kind and how much RAM is installed in your PC. Depend on your MoBo manual to determine the RAM limits of each slot though.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

There could be multiple reasons for the problems you are having, but I could certainly tell you some things to try to ease your computers issues.

> try decreasing your internet cache size, the default size if entirely too large, and with today's bandwidth it's probably unneccessary. In IE (assuming you are using internet explorer), choose Tools > Internet Options - and under 'temporary internet files' choose 'Settings'. Reduce the size to 2 Mb (that should be plenty), then clear your cache.

> look at your desktop. do you have a lot of documents or programs that aren't shortcuts (with the arrow on the icon)? Move anything that is directly on the desktop to a subfolder and create a shortcut on your desktop. It eats up memory to have too much on your desktop.

> run system cleanup, then defrag. If you don't have defrag on a schedule, consider doing this to keep your system running optimally.

> finally, look at your free space on your c: drive. If you have less than 20% of your space open, your system performance could be suffering as it uses hard drive space as virtual memory.

by the way,46 running processes isn't necessarily a bad thing, so I wouldn't be too concerned yet.

Good luck, I know a slow computer is frustrating!

Answer 3

Working with a slow computer can be time consuming as programs/ applications take a long time to start. This problem is more pronounced in computers which have been used for 6 or more months. More information at http://fixit.in/slowcomputer.html

Answer 4

first, a process is not the same as an application program. there are always about 40 processes running at any given time. it looks to me like you might have too many programs that are designed to do the same thing running all the time. simplify. run adaware every once in awhile, and you should be fine. and , unless you have adaware pro, it does nothing unless you tell it to.

Answer 5

try useing msconfig

go to link to show you how

http://www.technophobik.co.uk/vxp_msconfig/001_config_gen.asp

Answer 6

visit this web sight
http://www.wikihow.com/Speed-up-Windows-XP-Without-Defragmenting