Lengthily loading up times/slow computer

[confused10]

I originally posted under the Virus, Spyware & Security thread (http://www.computer-juice.com/forums...s-inside-21834) thinking I had infected the computer. However following a few steps the advisor recommend that I post under this thread instead as no virus/malware was evident.

The problem is that the computer is running extremely slowly for the last few months and appears to be getting worse. It take an age for the computer to load and opening any program seems to be a considerable task. Once the program is open it runs ok. I haven’t experienced any problems getting access to the web but like everything else it takes and age to open but I haven’t got any pop ups or hijacks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Andy

[Hybrid]

What are the specs of your machine, what brand antivirus are you running if any?

[rbscooby]

as above specs help so please mention, also rough age of computer

[confused10]

Hi,

Thank you for the replies.

The computer is five years old and I appreciate that it is probably past its best but its only during the last twelve months that I have noticed a significant delay in switching the machine on and loading the various software and I haven’t added any major new software.

The spec for the machine is:-

Intel Pentium 4 processor 2.66 GHz
256MB of memory
80GB Hard Drive (25GB free space)
Firewalls/virus are updated regularly from the Internet i.e. AVG 08, SUPERAntiSpywarE, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.

Hope the above helps and thanks again.

Regards

Andy

[philthomas]

Assuming this is XP, when was the last time you installed XP ?

If it was 5 years ago, the registry is probably clogged full of old/unwanted entries.

Also 256mb Ram is not really enough to run XP properly and the system will start using your HDD as temporary Ram, much of the time.
Have you defragged the HDD lately ?

Have you installed all the Service Packs too ?

You might like to check also what is running at Start Up and in the background.

[confused10]

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry I am running XP and I have never re-installed it or anything. I am operating on service pack 2.

Looks like I am going to have to purchase more memory. Would another 256MB be sufficient and is this easy enough for a novice to upgrade?

Regards,

Andy

[philthomas]

Extra Ram will help, but if the HDD is heavily fragmented and the Registry is clogged, this may not show much of an improvement.

If you have an XP Installation Disk, you will be far better off, backing up your critical files and doing a reformat/fresh installation of XP. This will put you back to the same speeds, experienced when new.
The extra Ram would then make a fair bit of difference and is easy to install.

[confused10]

Thanks for the reply but I am rather nervous about re-installing. What exactly would I lose if I re-loaded? Would it be like going back to the factory settings/software and would I lose itunes, internet explorer info, photos etc?

Regards

Andy

[philthomas]

Yes it would take you right back ..... nothing will remain after a reformat, but Internet Explorer is part of XP, so you won't have to reinstall that.
You would need to back up all of your personal data, music etc.

Reinstalling, however is relatively easy, providing you have an original XP Installation Disk ..... We can walk you through that, plus reinstalling drivers and programs, assuming you have a means of getting on here, during the process, from another PC.
Just putting in more Ram, I dont think is going to solve your problem.

[confused10]

Thanks again.

Sounds like rather a big job especially given I am not that computer savvy. I will have a think about it as I have all the original back-up disks that came with the computer and have still got the necessary software for cameras, i-pod etc.

I have just looked at the size of my documents file and its 34GB which seems a lot to transfer onto disks, would it be worth purchasing one of those external hard drives if I go ahead with the re-install plus you highlight reinstalling drivers with the process, can you explain this procedure or what I will need to do?

Cheers

Andy

[Kano]

Phil has covered everything, if you follow his ideas you'd notice a significant increase in all round performance. Formatting and a fresh install is very very very easy, i did it myself last night as my girlfriends laptop died on me, i think i pressed a total of 5 keys (Example: 'key1' =Yes, 'key2' = No, 'key3' = Other) and the computer did the rest. That 34GB wont actually be all your data you use daily like music,pictures,programs etc, some of it will be things you probably forgot existed like system restore points, old files, unused software etc that's been collected along the 5 years. Instead of a external HD you'd probably be best of with a thumb drive 4-8GB or a pack of cds to burn your files to. I bet your pictures, music,videos etc would amount to no more then 10-15GB. But if you really dont want to go through these steps i guess bumping up to 1GB of ram, & running a few programs we could link you to which could help a little. As phil said, a few changes to the start up programs and the background programs which you dont use should also help with recovering some much needed speed. But all in all, there will be no amount of software or changes you could make that would match a fresh install. Let us know which path you'd like to choose.

[YRTNEG]

256 is not really future proof and u will need to upgrade it again soon anyway...i would suggest getting 1GB + as Ram is not that expensive

[YRTNEG]

4GB = £62

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-114-OC

[confused10]

Hi,

Thanks for everyone’s input. Following the recommendations I will go with the reinstall and will start the process of saving my various files to disk.

Is there any major things I should be aware of before I begin the re-install?

Thanks again for your assistance with this matter.

Regards

Andy

[confused10]

Hi all,

I have backed up my files and I am ready to start the re-install.

Can you please confirm it’s the reinstallation cd XP Home Edition that I need to use as I seem to have collected a number of cd’s over the years and is there anything I ought to be aware of or need to do before I begin the process?

Cheers

Andy