what slows dowm my computer?

Answer 1

Spyware, virus? You may also need to defragment hardrive & clean out temp folders etc. Remove any unwanted programs.

Try these free programs. Run full scans with adaware, spybot, and avg, then remove anything they come up with.

Good luck

Answer 2

Okay here are the list of things which could be slowing your computer down (Windows XP)

Norton AntiVirus
Internet Explorer 7
TEMP Files
Virus
Malware
Adware
Low RAM

However you could be running to many demanding programs like IE ect.

What I Did/Do Is To Go To Control Panel And Get Rid Of All The Things You Dont Use.

There Is Guides On The Internet On How To Make Windows XP Faster. Just Google "How To Make Windows XP Faster" Also Another Good Things For Guides On Making Your XP Faster Is YouTube Just Search What I Told You To Google And Loads Of Guides Will Come Up.

Hope This Helps
www.piczotube.co.uk

Answer 3

Going online will bring in Spyware, nothing you did is the reason, ISPs do not clean the traffic on their networks which is the main reason for this happening.

You need to check many things when it comes to speed, but form my experience with customers, it's mainly too much spyware running in the background that causes this, next reason being Trojans.
Run a good SpyWare removal tool , a free one like SPybot from Safer Networking is good, update your Anti Virus and run a full system check. Do a System Defrag on your hard disk too.
This is all time consuming, so be patient.

PS: If you are still using a USB modem, time to BIN IT. Get a Router with a good Firewall built in, I find 3COM Wireless Firewall Router a good option and a leader, Model is 3CRWDR101A-75 , it blocked attacks that Syslink and DLink simply allowed them in with open arms. They also have great support that really knows what they are talking about.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

There are several primary reasons could cause your computer to be slow and also some softwares you can download to speed up it.
First,Corruption and Errors within your registry.The registry is a main part of your computer's Operating System. With time, as you use Windows and install and uninstall programs, your registry will get congested and full of errors. So your computer could slow down. So, if you can clean it up this problem can be solved.Sometimes you can speed computer up by 300%. To clean up registry,You can download a software called regsitry cleaner---Clean registry,remnant,corrupt files and temp files,history,cookies,etc.. This site:
http://computer-speed.info
lists top 5 registry cleaner,you can download and scan for free.
Second,Your computer is loaded with spyware/adware.spyware/adware hamper your computer's performance.It use system resources and slow your computer down.

So, to speed up your slow computer, use a registry cleaner software and clean your registry files first. It will make all the difference, and provide you with the immediate fix you need for your slow computer.Then,download a good anti-spyware to get rid of spyware/adware in your computer.

Answer 5

Different things. Adware and spyware, virus, not enough memory, not clearing your temporary files and cookies, etc. If you download www.pcpitstop.com they will run all kinds of tests (full test suite) and come back with a full report on your computer and tell you what you should do to speed it up. Of course it isn't antivirus software so it would not detect that, but provides very useful in "tuning up" your pc. Then at least you can rule that out as a possible if its still slow. I use it on multiple computers, its very safe. Also, the guy above me gave you very good sites to go to for the other stuff. I love ccleaner its awesome and takes seconds to download and seconds to use. It cleans out all the garbage that takes up space

Answer 6

Quite a lot of things.

I always suspect the following:

Not enough memory. 512MB minimum for XP.

Adware and Spyware. Use Ad-Aware and CCleaner to clear out the registry cobwebs and beat the spammers.

Lots of add-ons like a real time clock or a news/weather ticker at the bottom or top of the screen. Elaborate screensaver or desktop wallpaper.

And background processes that monitor system temperature and hard drive activity and bloated AV software like Norton or the like.

Also, you should actively uninstall programs that you have forgotten about or do not use frequently. You can uninstall prograsm from the Control Panel "Add and Remove Programs" icon.

Answer 7

Hello Amda,

There are alot of things that can cause your computer to slow down.
Things loading up when windows loads, things that you installed and then uninstalled , etc...

try these:
***************************************************
Scanning your system:

Go to these links in this order:

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WINSOCK
XP's Winsocket is allot different then 98se's.
You used to be able to remove the TCP/IP / Stack in 98 and reboot and add it back in.
However XP, you cannot do this without a complete re-install of the OS.

If you have ANY P2P (Peer 2 Peer) Software, you need to run this and do as it says.

P2P software usually relies on each others connections and therefor modifies the
windows socket layer, therefor editing the original socket that was install and made
by Microsoft. This puts it BACK to "normal". This socket (when edited to different P2P
programs, and removed without redoing the socket) can cause you to lose Internet Connection.
This also messes with your LSP's (Layered Service Providers).
Read more here:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/winsock.htm
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Popups:
You might have been infected with some sort of tracking cookie that is causing you to get Popups.
***************************************************

Spyware:
You might have clicked YES to something while on a web site, or entered your login info.

- This is a DIRECT link to that exe file.
If it finds a suspicious program, remove it IF you DONT know what it is.
http://www.xblock.com/download/xclean_micro.exe

This one is the same thing, but you go a different way to this program.
http://www.spywareguide.com/onlinescan.php

- Also, I use a program called Spyware Blaster. This program ADDs "ActiveX Kill Bits" to the registry to
help keep some if not most of the popups and parasites from installing onto your computer.
You can surf just about anywhere and watch this program do it's job.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html


- The download this and INSTALL it and update it, then run this and remove what it finds.
This is a DIRECT link to the exe file.
http://downloads2.superantispyware.com/downloads/SUPERAntiSpyware.exe

***************************************************

The you need a good anti-virus.
If you have AVG, get rid of it and use something else. Although AVG is free (so are many others) it has
it's problems and sometimes (more times then normal) reports false positives.

If you use Norton (Symantec) You need to get rid of that also. It isn't nothing but a resource hog and causes
problems that takes for ever to try and troubleshoot. Also, Norton has a removal tool in order for anyone to
remove it from their system (I say this is bad practice for ANYONE - the removal should have been included).
Norton Removal Tool here :http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

If you use McAfee, get rid of this as well. It is a resource hog.

All the above uses resources that you may or may not have available to your system and sometimes can cause
more sluggishness then someone else computer.

***************************************************

Anti-Virus
AVAST Anti Virus is FREE and you can also pay for it.
AVAST HERE http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html


And finally, you need to clean your registry out from all the crap that you may have installed and then
uninstalled. To do this, you would need a registry cleaner. MS has a nice one, but would not suggest any
one to use it as it is directed towards the advanced users. However, there is one that I would recommend
to normal users. A program called Reg Seeker. Simple, lite and does not stay resident. Meaning, you load it
and tell it to do it's job, then close it. Simple fast and useful.
http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm
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Answer 8

Check the memory on your computer. If it is <256MB, upgrade it to 512MB by buying another 256MB RAM.
If it is slow during starting the computer, you can try by clearing the startup icons by going to Start> Run> MSCONFIG. The last tab on the System Configuration window will say, Startup. Check them all and Disable All except for yur antivirus. Restart computer.
If it is slow during shut down of the computer, check for virus or spyware.
If it is slow during normal usage, it is due to the memory or a virus attack again….
Also, you can try by deleting some files and folders not frequently used… Music, fotos and video files occupy a lot of memory space and slow down the comp. Copy these on to a CD for yur further use.

Answer 9

You propably have multiple programs running at the same time or you just have a slow connection. It also can be because of viruses which can be a big problem. You can also be in an area with a low signal also how much ram affects your computer.

Answer 10

You might need to do a disc clean up and defragment files.

Also if you have programmes that you never use you would be better off to remove them.

Incidentally i removed all the google programmes from my computer including their Toolbar, Updater and (Out of date by several years) Map. This speeded up my computer no end.

Good Luck

Answer 11

Processes, programs, and whatever else uses your RAM (aka: memory). Your normal computer speed depends on how much RAM you have, how good your processor is, and sometimes on how much free space your have.

If you don't have about 500MB of RAM (even if you have 240MB of RAM) - if you don't have a REALLY good processor, it'd help to keep RAM-hungry programs (such as firefox) closed when you open a new application.

Also, usual things such as malware, spyware, adware, and viruses can slow down your computer.. but I think we all know about those. lol