Slow computer problem?

Question

I inherited a 5yr old desktop and have been trying to optimize it's performance before I upload all my data and software. There seems to be a time lag I can't fix.

ex.) I click on My Computer or anywhere and it takes 62 seconds to bring up the menu. Ridiculous!

Same slowness occurs when I run multiple applications like web browser, text editor, TweetDeck, iTunes, whether it's simultaneously or one-by-one.

Ok, here's what I've tried so far with little results:

-Defrag
-Removal of Norton AV (replaced with Avast!)
-Added Comodo firewall
-Removal of many Firefox add-ons (helped by a wide margin)
-Full system scan of firewall/ malware scanner/ antivirus
-Cleared system cache
-Removed barely used programs
-Removed old printer drivers
-Performed obligatory reboots
-Switched to Manual any unecessary applications to keep from beginning at Startup
-Cleaned registrys

Problems still abound, although not as bad as when I started. Sadly, I find myself having to use Task Manager every day because even if I close down applications, they're still running under System Processes adding to the slowness problem. (I can hear the sounds continously running from the tower even if i have nothing open!) And of course, applications seem to freeze up daily. (sigh)

Open to any new ideas so let's hear it fellow geeks!

Answer 1

Free up disk space. A hard drive that is close to being full will drastically slow down your computer. You can clear up space by deleting temporary internet files, empty your recycle bin, remove programs that you do not use, put important files on an external hard drive.



Another way to free up disk space is to use "Disk Cleanup" on your Windows PC. To do this, click "start" and go to "Accessories", go to "System Tools", and click "Disk Cleanup".



Scan for Viruses, Adware, and Spyware. These nasty programs can slow down your computer worse than anything. I would recommend purchasing software that can remove all three of these common problems.



Don't automatically start up programs when you turn your computer on. Close any programs that you do not use that open when you start up your computer. These programs will run in the background and steal RAM (Random Access Memory).



Defragment your hard drive. Defragging your hard drive places all of your information for each file in one place.

Answer 2

It's a 5 year old PC

Of course it's gonna be slow, especially when trying to run multiple programs that use a lot of resource on a single core CPU.

And removing programs isn't going to make it faster jsut making more room on the hard drive to add more programs on.



Go to Start then run and type in msconfig

This will bring up a program where you can select or de-select programs to run at system start up

This will quicken your system some

Answer 3

You did a lot of good work there. As someone else mentioned, I recommend a clean install, if you don't have the windows CD that came with it, there might be a back up on the computer itself, although, a clean install from a CD generally does much better.

if you don't have this option, you may be able to run Linux on it, Linux generally runs with less resources than windows and might just work better on the older PC.



One of these videos will help you reinstall windows

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=reinstall%20Windows%20XP&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1



This will help you install Linux/Ubuntu (the newest Ubuntu version will come out it the end of this month)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvLeFIpnrqA&feature=related

Answer 4

re-install windows and format all drives.