Why is my fast computer very slow?

Question

My computer:

HP Pavilion a1520n
1024 MB RAM
250 GB HD (Used 100 GB)
Only 3 applications at startup
Scan every week with Windows Defender, Ad-Adware
Use PC Tools Firewall Plus
256 MB nVIDIA Graphics Card
Genuine WinXP MCE 2005

Why is it soooo slow. It's not my internet that's slow

Any problems?

I cleared cache, defragged.

Answer 1

Using registry cleaner can fix your computer and then make your computer faster,Why?the reason is that there are some regsitry errors in your computer to cause "computer slow".
Everytime you install and uninstall software on your computer and surfing online you create junk in the computer registry.You need to scan and clean your computer with registry cleaner to make it fast.Good Regisry Cleaner will improve your computer and Internet performance dramatically.It even can speed up your computer by 300% or more!
There are some comparisons and reviews of TOP 5 registry cleaners.

http://www.registry-Cleaners.info

You can download and scan your computer for free.

Answer 2

"dragon..." gave you way to much info. Try the following it's pretty straight forward and will make your pc run efficiently if you keep up with good pc maintainence.

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 may 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. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to http://www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the Editor 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.

Another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Here's another really good Microsoft tool. It’s called Autoruns and it was written by SysInternals who were recently bought up by Microsoft.

Before you download the program create a folder under program files called Autoruns. Leave Windows Explore open.

Launch Internet Explored and go to the following Microsoft web page.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx

Go to the bottom of the page and download the Autoruns program. After it downloads open the file. It is a Zip file. Unzip the file and you will see 4 files. Drag and drop those 4 files to the Autoruns folder you created under Program Files.

Once you have the 4 files in the C:\Program Files\Autoruns folder you can double click on the file titled “autoruns”.

This will bring up a window with several tabs at the top. Click on the “Logon” 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.
NOTE: Leave items that show Windows; System 32; Program Files; etc. alone. Shutting them off may cause some things not to work.

Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.

WARNING: Don’t go into the other tabs and start deleting things. You will probably give yourself major headaches if you do that. Stay focused on the “Logon” List only.

Another good thing to have is a little program called FreeRAM XP Pro. It is free and is available from http://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 or http://www.4allmemory.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.

These tips should help you. Especially the defrag if you keep your pc defragged!!

Answer 3

Hi,
Ccleaner is the application I use to clean up my system when my pc slows down because of viruses, trojans or malwares. Free Download here: http://bit.ly/UrArsS
Try it out
Cheers ;)

Answer 4

Maybe try a few other scans. One of your scanners might be missing something.

Here are some simple tips & techniques to keep your computer running a great shape:
http://cleancomputerhelp.com/computer-tips-techniques

Answer 5

my pc used to b slow download this program it only takes up 3 mb and gets rid of temp files which can slow ur computer down..

http://www.ccleaner.com/

also if you visit adult sites you may have spyware or viruses on ur computer

Answer 6

whats you processor speed?
1Gb not bad but 2 would be better
windows defender is weak
Ad Aware is good
but you need others to complete your line up

you defnietly have more than 3 apps running at start up
CTL ALT DEL to see what else is running
the ngo to control panel--administrator tools-- services
and you see even more


99% of all internet problems can be attributed to the wrong set of Web browser and Email clients in coordination of the
AV/ Spyware / Firewall software.


Get the following, all are free for a safe surfing experience, with proven track records and do not take up
system resources like Norton or McAffee.
install in SAFE mode with networking ( hit F-8 at boot time ), run them all in SAFE mode
with networking as you'll need it for the updates all the programs below will need.
Turn off RESTORE and the RECYLE BIN temporarily as virii can regenerate / reinfect even if you delete
them with both services on. After all the scanning and cleaning after a 2nd reboot and one last
scan do you turn both of them back on.

ANTI VIRAL

AVG (free) http://free.grisoft.com/


FIREWALL

ZoneAlarm http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

WEB BROWSER - http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox

EMAIL use thunderbird. It has a good built in spam filter and learns when you teach it. http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird

SPYWARE

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Once you set it all up create 3 email accounts..

a hotmail or yahoo account for web "verification", this account you will not care if it get spammed

a sub account ( from the master account )to your ISP that you use for logons, this is the one you use for personal
emails only to trusted people and banking, ebay and paypal. Never use the account for anything else than that,
you find spam is low to non existant if you follow this rule, and even if it does become spam laden, then you
can delete the account and create a new sub account and do all the email updates to ebay, paypal, banks and your
freinds.

finally your master account from your ISP, this one you NEVER use, it's only kept for creating sub accounts since
changing the master account is a real pain.


and if you have a wireless router follow these tips,


1. Use WPA encryption (WPA-PSK) it's less crackable then WEP.

2. Make a passphrase that is upper & lower case and has some numbers thrown in there as well, again harder to crack.
some like mAkE1t5eCurE0rel53 and as long as possible.

3. Use MAC access control so only you or authorized PC's can connect (even if you do have encryption turned on)

4. Turn off DHCP use static addresses.

5. Turn off SSID (and change it) unless your card really needs it (some do)

6. Change username/password of access unit front end

7. Ensure you have the usual firewall enabled on your PC.

8. Paranoia rules, turn WLAN off if your not using it :)


one last tip
control panel---administrator tools--services--messenger

right clik on it
stop the service
then disable it
save changes


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