How come my computer is going super slow now?

Question

what can it be or how can I speed it up agian?

Answer 1

These tips will usually help. Give them a shot.

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.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

You may have A TON of spyware on your computer. Don't trust the "spyware blockers" that most Internet companies have or the spyware detectors on your anti-virus software. You can Download Ad-aware anti-spyware program for free. just look up the name on a search engine or try "lavasoft" which is the company that makes this program. Do a complete scan of your computer and delete all the spyware. It is really easy and effective. Also Internet Explorer attracts a lot of spyware. You should Download Mozilla Firefox instead.

Answer 3

1) If you haven't rebooted in a long time, do that.
2) You might be swarmed by spy/adware, run an antivirus program, and antispyware/anti-adware programs ( such as spysweeper, adaware, spydoctor. Hitman pro is an automated program that will run a couple of these for you with a single click )

3) Your perception of time has changed, and everything seems slow to your extremely fast brain.

Google for some anti-spyware programs, that's my best guess atm.

Answer 4

Super slow? Check to see if your anti-virus is doing a scan. Also your PC might be doing a defrag.

If you don't have an anti-virus program on your PC - get one and run a full scan.

Might I suggest AVG:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5#avg-anti-virus-free

Hope this helps

Answer 5

you have probably downloaded to much stuff just start deleting the stuff you do not use. or you computer may be getting old.