OT - computer speed

Backup the data and reinstall from scratch?

Running out of space on the 'C' drive? - Emptied re-cycle bin? Disposed of unwanted temporary files? Disposed of unwanted IE cache files?

The fact that it has crept up on you suggests something along those lines. Add to that the backup files left behind by the multitude of recent Windows updates.

Only one partition? If so the above will limit the ability of the swap file to cope. If you have another partition with space it might be an idea to relocate the swap file there.

Hi,

I'd definitely look at unwanted files. I had a problem with a users's PC running Windows 98, tha had suddenly slowed to a crawl. Turned out that she had a corruption in the Internet Explorer Cache. This meant it was not reducing in size, and there were thousands of files in there. She thought she had a virus as it went so slow. Deleting the files alone took over 25 minutes!! After that, like a new PC.

So check the WINDOWS\TEMP, \TEMP, and %TEMP% directories and clear them. Clear the IE cache. Empty recycle bin. Then defrag.

Check your event viewer - make sure there are no disk errors - had a laptop user with similar symptoms and turned out to be a failing hard disk - not uncommon on laptops in my opinion.

Last thing - 256MB is the minimum requirement for XP SP2. If your PC has automatic updates turned on, there are about 50 patches for XP. I have no definite evidence, but I'm sure that these slow XP down.

P.S. Just checked the %temp% (shorthand for C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp) directory on my Windows 2000 machine, found 3716 files in 101Mb! Typical IT consultants - we know what to do but we don't do it on our own machines!

Good Luck Graham Carter Carter Computer Services (Pvt) Ltd P.O. Box A1619 Avondale Harare Zimbabwe Tel: +263 4 300082 Cell: +263 91 329310 Fax: +263 918 329310 email: snipped-for-privacy@mweb.co.zw

"Richard Brookman" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net...

A bit suspicious that ad-aware always finds something, & removes it, yet it keeps betting more. Do you have any pop-ups appearing unbidden? I'd suggest a scan with Spy Sweeper just in case- you never know. I find the others seldom remove everything, so the spyware programs keep reinstalling themselves.

If that's OK, I'd go with the other suggestions re. swapfile, cache etc. How much empty space do you have on your drive?

Richard> Rule of Tim - somebody here will know. Richard> My laptop has been getting steadily slower over the last Richard> 6 months.

In addition to the other tips, clean out the Cache in Internet Explorer or whatever you're using for browsing the intraweb-thing.

After that, take a look at what's using the most memory on the processes tab of the Task Manager, and see if it's something that shouldn't be there (report back here or google for the name).

Andy

As usual, I agree with William on that. Most Windoze systems still benefit from a regular clean install on a regular basis.

On or around Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:33:01 +0100, Dougal enlightened us thusly:

that and defrag it, whether or not it says it needs it.

If a re-install is to much hassle, or that you cant be arsed, just make a new profile with a different name. use that to logon with from now on, and just copy the files you want from c:\documents and settings\olduser\desktop, my docs ets to the new user.

Its not a proper fix, but it works for a while - until it gets shagged again.... :) And you dont have to re-install all your programs.

Had the same problem with otjher halfs Dads PC last week, nothing I (or local PC boffin nwxt door) could shift it so he ended up starting from scratch, everything was back to as new after hae had done that, except for tha facr that he forgot to keep a copy pf all the pictures on it. Oooooooooops!

Dave

As has been commented, installing service packs can have a significant effect. I took a clean 2K machine, with just doze loaded it was using about about 50Mb. Downloaded all the service packs and updates and that shifted to nearer the 120Mb level, and this was before installing software.

I ahve also found some apps, particularly my sony DV cams app sitting idly while chewing up about 90Mb. Have a good look at your task manager and see what is using what. Then after performing all the tips already suggested, carefully go into msconfig and start removing apps, from the startup list.

This should free up quite a bit of space.

I also find regclean.exe (from MS website) helps things a little.

Regards Stephen

In addition to all that has been mentioned, 256MB RAM is nowhere near enough for an average XP SP2 machine these days. You really should have a minimum of 512MB. With the extra loads that XP SP2's firewall adds as well as the numerous service pack's and security centre, the more memory you can install the better and it is currently one of the cheapest upgrades you can perform. Ideally 1Gb would give your laptop a new lease of life.

On or around Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:40:48 +0200, "fanie" enlightened us thusly:

don't try installing X3 - Reunion, then it wants about 4.3GB of disk space.

I see I have 19.09 GB of software on this machine...

btw, for looking at yer hard drives to spot any monster files eating space I can recommend a nifty thing called "Scanner" from a chap called Steffen Gerlach:

|| On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:19:19 +0100, Richard Brookman || wrote: || ||| Rule of Tim - somebody here will know. ||| ||| My laptop has been getting steadily slower over the last 6 months. ||| ... || || Backup the data and reinstall from scratch? || || -- || William Tasso || || Land Rover - 110 V8 || Discovery - V8

That's the Final Solution - worked on my daughter's, when she had been spending too much time on kazaa and had a ton of malware. However, I'd quite like to know why a computer could slow down over the months with no (obvious) reason why, and fix that rather than reformat and re-install. As I said in my post, my work PC is incredibly fast by comparison and gets no regular maintenance at all. That hasn't deteriorated in a year of my daily use.

I'll keep your suggestion in my Last Resort file :-)

That would do it ;)

How long have you got? been plenty good suggestions in this thread - could take another six months to work out which apply and elimate the others.

Thought: The easy way is to buy a new HD unit, install onto that and then load the old HD as a slave [1] - gives instant access to your old data files and you get a HD upgrade to boot (pardon the pun).

||| Any ideas, chaps? I can't afford a new one at the moment! || || Running out of space on the 'C' drive?

Over 12GB free space.

|| - Emptied re-cycle bin? || Disposed of unwanted temporary files? Disposed of unwanted IE cache || files?

Done weekly.

|| || The fact that it has crept up on you suggests something along those || lines. Add to that the backup files left behind by the multitude of || recent Windows updates.

Didn't know they did that. Thay may be a possibility, as it seems to update itself every couple of weeks. Something else that was mentioned was Norton updates. These accumulate as you download them and eventually every process you ask it to do has to wade through tons of AV checks before it can be executed. I'm not very techy, though, so this may be eyewash.

|| Only one partition? If so the above will limit the ability of the || swap file to cope. If you have another partition with space it might || be an idea to relocate the swap file there.

Only one partition. The HD is 30GB with about 17GB of data - would I be better off creating a second partition of (say) 5GB and leaving that for the swap files?

Thanks for the response.

|| I'd definitely look at unwanted files. I had a problem with a || users's PC running Windows 98, tha had suddenly slowed to a crawl. || Turned out that she had a corruption in the Internet Explorer Cache. || This meant it was not reducing in size, and there were thousands of || files in there. She thought she had a virus as it went so slow. || Deleting the files alone took over 25 minutes!! After that, like a || new PC. || || So check the WINDOWS\TEMP, \TEMP, and %TEMP% directories and clear || them. Clear the IE cache. Empty recycle bin. Then defrag.

Only about 200KB of files in there - I clear it regularly.

|| || Check your event viewer - make sure there are no disk errors - had a || laptop user with similar symptoms and turned out to be a failing hard || disk - not uncommon on laptops in my opinion.

What would I look for? The list of events in event viewer doesn't seem to bear much relation to what has happened when I take a look - it doesn't even record when the machine is switched on and off. I'm missing something, obviously.

|| Last thing - 256MB is the minimum requirement for XP SP2. If your PC || has automatic updates turned on, there are about 50 patches for XP. || I have no definite evidence, but I'm sure that these slow XP down.

Aha - I think I have all the patches for SP2 installed, so that would account for the slowing down gradually. Is there a way to restore speed without reinstalling XP and not letting it update? I assume the patches are necessary for security, which is why I always let it update when it asks to.

|| Good Luck

Thanks!

Not really - best solution is to give the swap process a dedicated spindle (HD unit) to play with.

better still - install a RAM upgrade so that swapping is less frequent.

bestest - both the above :)

Quickest way to defrag a disc is copy all of the data off it and reformat, wouldn't recommend that for the C drive though, unless you copy it with something like Norton Ghost.

Natalie Drest wrote:

|| "Richard Brookman" wrote || in message news: snipped-for-privacy@individual.net... ||| Rule of Tim - somebody here will know. ||| ||| My laptop has been getting steadily slower over the last 6 months. ||| Now it's got beyond a joke - programs take ages to load, changing ||| programs or windows gives you 30 seconds of black white screen or ||| empty windows until it decides to play ball. I know that more ||| memory etc would improve it, but a) the factory memory is the max ||| it can be without ripping whole thing apart, and b) it was OK with ||| its current memory until recently. I haven't installed anything ||| (that I'm aware of) or use different programs compared to before. ||| ||| Dell Inspiron 2650 (2002), 256MB RAM, Pentium 4 1.6GHz running XP ||| Home with SP2 ||| Norton AV (I know this slows things down, but why so much slower ||| now with no other changes?) ||| ||| Weekly NAV updates and virus scans - always clear ||| Regular scans with Adaware and Spybot S&D, always find a few and ||| remove, no better ||| Regular defrags and disk scans ||| Tried system mechanic for a couple of months, but no better so I ||| uninstalled it ||| ||| My work PC has no regular maintenance (as above) and is as quick as ||| it was a year ago. ||| ||| Any ideas, chaps? I can't afford a new one at the moment! ||| ||| -- ||| Rich || || A bit suspicious that ad-aware always finds something, & removes it, || yet it keeps betting more.

I'm not too concerned - it's nearly always the same thing, and Adaware rates the risk as low.

|| Do you have any pop-ups appearing unbidden?

No.

|| I'd suggest a scan with Spy Sweeper just in case- you never know. I || find the others seldom remove everything, so the spyware programs || keep reinstalling themselves.

I'll try that, thanks.

|| If that's OK, I'd go with the other suggestions re. swapfile, cache || etc. How much empty space do you have on your drive?

Loads - >12GB.

Thanks Natalie.