Sluggish PC?

Question

Takes ages to respond to certain commands, especially getting on to the net. Can be heard working busily when idling. Getting worse. Spyware and virus detector have found nothing. Any suggestions please?

Answer 1

yahoo spyware and spybot search and destroy,..

go to tools>internet options> programs> MANAGE ADD ONS,, and disable all the add ons that has unknown or blank publisher

Answer 2

Before you start on these, try to backup any important files. Everything should be ok, but since you are having an issue somewhere, try to backup and least the important stuff!

I’m going to list a number of thoughts and actions, this list is still a work in progress. Hope it helps!

Virus:
Make sure your virus scanner is up to date and scan the whole C: drive. If yours needs to be renewed, You can replace it with AVG or AVAST for free. Also run the free one-time web scan from Trend at http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-us/...
Reboot & see if faster
**Sometimes you need to turn off System Recovery to get rid of some viruses***

Cleanup:
Run "Disk Cleanup" in Accessories, System Tools (do NOT compress the computer). (Note: CCLEANER program listed below can also clean out these files.)
Reboot & see if faster

Spyware:
Download and install Microsoft Defender to kill and prevent most spyware programs. Also download, then update, and run SPYBOT (available at download.com).
Reboot & see if faster

Indexer:
Right click on the C: drive, Properties, and unselect the Indexer. Ignore any messages.
Reboot & see if faster

Registry:
Download and run CCLEANER
Let it fix what's wrong and clean things up.
Reboot & see if faster

Programs Autostarting:
There should be very few programs running down near the clock. If you have a bunch, try to go into the respective programs and not have them run when Windows starts, programs like Messenger.
You can Start, Run, MSCONFIG and uncheck all but your virus Scanner and Spyware program to see if that helps. If it does, recheck them, edit the Registry and remove them from the Local Computer RUN section. (If you don't know how, don't do this part, and don't edit the registry!)

Memory:
How much memory do you have? Run the memory selector tools at: http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/... to see if you can handle more memory. You can use up to 2gb of RAM.

Defrag:
Kind of overdone. You should do it every 4 to 6 months.
Reboot & see if faster

Drive Fitness:
If your hard drive is failing, your computer can run very slow. Download Drive Fitness Test (DFT) from: http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/do... and see if your drive is failing. If your drive is failing, I suggest replacing it with a new drive that is fast (like 7200rpm) and has a large cache (like 16mb). You can try to clone the drive (if it’s set up perfectly to your liking) with Acronis (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/produc... Hopefully your new drive will come with a cloning software.

If you want to start clean (I do this sometimes), replace the old drive with the new one. Boot from your XP CD, delete all partitions, and then let it format in NTFS and install.

PC Health:
Run the free test provided at http://www.pcpitstop.com/safe.asp... and it will check the health of your overall computer.

Internet Speed:
Set your Temporary Files to delete on every exit by Internet Explorer Propterties, Advanced tab, and close to the bottom, check the ‘Empty Temporary Internet files folder when browser is closed’.


That’s about everything I’ve ever done to repair my PC to make it work faster. Hopefully, something in here fixes your problem.

***If you find the problem, please email me so I can add it to the listm good luck.

Answer 3

windows one care for a full scan at www.windowsonecare.com it will give you a one time full computer scan including firewal, virus protection and defrag and the works , registry and malicious software and all that !! one time for free , it takes a few hours but its a great program! if that dont work then do a system restore back to a date when your computer was working great!! sounds like you got a tracker or a trojan tracking program in there or possibly even a phishing virus !! also get a free copy of windows defender from microsoft and set it to maintain and scan at certain time of day! they are making tracker and trojan viruses now that cant be detected by anti spy programs so give the one care live a try!!

Answer 4

It could be that your hard drive has become too cluttered I would suggest deleting any old programmes off your pc first, then clearing out all cookies and temp files off your pc followed by a hard disk defragmentation. Use Diskeeper it has a fully working free trial and works great. This should do the trick for you.

Answer 5

Run Ccleaner, use the Issues tool and then the Cleaner. Then go to Tools - Startup and stop non essentials like your office suite from loading on startup. Leave Windows, your security softeare, and anything you don't recognise!
http://www.ccleaner.com
You can also use Winpatrol to manage your startup and cookies;
http://www.winpatrol.com
Defragment your hard drive from start - programs - accessories - system tools - disc defragmenter, leave the pc while it runs.

Answer 6

Disk cleanup, and defragment. Re boot and it should be quicker. Check start menu on programs, and ensure there are no programs in there, plus check your taskbar by your clock, as these are programs running in the background. Disable any you dont need, such as quicktime, as this can be called up whenever you need it. Good luck.

Answer 7

increase your ram, those programs use a lot of it; and it is likely you do not have enough.