beal

iTrader: (1)

I've done the obvious,
Deleted history
Disk clean
Defrag
Ran wise disk cleaner(which got rid of a lot of files)
spyware program
It has norton security
It says there 66gb and 53gb unused space?
But its still slow,and its showing a lot of memory available!
I just dont get it(its XP 512mb)celeron
cheers

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

Two things to do .....

1) get more memory - XP will be using nearly all of that 512mb just to load itself into so the rest of your programs will be running in the pagefile instead. 2gig should be ample for general use, 4gig better if you can afford it. Check out the "Crucial" website - Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com good stuff at fair prices

2) if you can, ditch Norton and use alternatives instead. Heavily documented that Norton presented many issues including performance drops under XP. Personally i used to run AntiVir as a virus scanner (free) and used the microsoft firewall before i ditched XP completely


Finally, if you're looking to improve performance for some other application that's a little more specific then provide some more details - different apps performances can be improved with specific hardware upgrades


EDIT : just noticed you have a spyware program too - which one as some are "janky" lol!

hodgy0_2

tbh sometimes the only way is to completely reinstall the OS (after formatting and re-partitioning the drive)

to make things easier in the future-- keep all you program msi installer files on a separate partition say d:\

redirect your "my documents" to d:\ as well

if you use an email client like outlook keep your .pst file on d:\ too

keep a .txt file of all your licence codes etc -- so that reinstalling the apps is easier

then its a 45 min job -- clean system again

i do this every 3-4 months

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Get rid of Norton and see how much quicker it is.

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

you must be adding and removing shed-loads of programs or something - i ran the same build of xp with no performance degradation for nearly 2 years n didn't need a rebuild once .... it finally did keel over courtesy of some malware which was my own fault since i ignored the warnings.

beal

iTrader: (1)

Thanks mate but im not brilliant on computers really..
the program was superantispyware.
I have bit comet and all the related software on my pc,will this be worth removing?cheers

hodgy0_2

yes -- but it is the familly computer so is used by 4 different people, including my 12 yr old daughter and my 10 year old son

and tbh rather than police it all with "bloatware" I just do as I said above and wipe it -- takes me 45 mins

yes i work in IT and on my work laptop I dont "surf" the internet and dont load "freeware" and hence have the same OS image for years

Dedrater

First thing I would do is> START>RUN type MSCONFIG then on the STARTUP tab, uncheck all the boxes and restart.

Then remove Norton.

beal

iTrader: (1)

The laptop i have has got norton built in and ive heard its harder to get rid of?

SCOsazOBY

Ive just been having the same problems, so i did a factory reset, deleted norton, deleted all desktop icons and shortcuts, put what i needed in the task bar and cleared my start up tab. Its running like a dream again

As for norton it is a pain and you need to delete all norton files plus they are crafty and leave Symentec files aswell so make sure you get rid of these.

You wouldnt want to start your car and want all the lights flashing/wipers on/alarm sounding/horn beeping/radio on would you. So think of your pc start up, you just want it to turn on and then you choose what you want to access, so disable Adobe and friends as you dont need them starting everytime you turn your pc on.

beal

iTrader: (1)

How do you do a factory reset mate?

SCOsazOBY

Save everything you need such as music/photos etc on to a memory stick or external hard drive. Then you either click system recovery in your program list (if you have it) Or you can put in the factory reset disk or the disk you made when you bought pc (if you was asked to make a recovery disk) then restart the pc. Or i think you can keep pressing F11 when you first turn your pc on to take you in to the factory reset mode.

If you decide to do this then it usually is a last resort as it will be like getting your pc all over again from when you first bought it. So dont forget to save everything you dont want to lose, even your favourites list and display settings get reset. If using outlook express for your emails then forward the ones you want to an online email account.

SCOsazOBY

Or you could download C.Cleaner available free from filehippo.com

This will get rid of unused files and repair broken registries. You can also see what your pc is operating on system start up.

Try that to see if it makes it run better first before you do a factory reset.

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

beal : Don't need to be brilliant with computers to tweak em a bit - promise

Memory upgrade is a simple 5minute job (there's a fair number of step by step guides knocking around on the net if you're not too sure about how to actually do it) n the upgrade cost itself is only about £30 - you'll notice the difference pretty much straight away with that one (Just so you're aware if you do this one, the existing memory you have will be removed and thrown away - it's not always strictly necessary but even still, it's considered good practice to upgrade the memory in matched pairs. Going to 2gig generally implies 2 x 1gig modules)

Removing Norton is as easy as going to the Control Panel, selecting add/remove programs, scroll down the list to Norton then click Remove. Do make sure you put something in it's place though so to speak - virus scanner at the minimum. I'd recommend AntiVir as i said above but i'm sure others can/will suggest alternatives

"Bit Commet" is a torrent app looking at the google matches for it. Might be worth checking the setup of that to see if and how its seeding files on your system. If you're seeding lots of files with little or no configured control over it, that may also be causing some of your performance problems Personally i'd make sure it wasn't running or alternatively, configured not to seed at all

Also, given that you've got a torrent downloader, have you checked your system recently for spyware / malware? You may find the original source of your problem there I'll freely admit I'm somewhat out of date with which is the current flavour of the month scanner for this since i don't tend to bother too much about it on my system (running linux so most of the nasty stuff doesn't work on it anyway and even if it does, it doesn't matter since i use my machine as a "dev" box anyway and it tends to get rebuilt from scratch quite often). Sure the other guys in this thread can suggest some capable scanners for your needs though

Finally, if you run something like the suggested c.cleaner be aware that it is a registry editing program. There's no problems with this but, make sure you make a backup of the registry before allowing the program to do its stuff - if for any reason something goes wrong and your registry gets trashed then it's ground up rebuild time.

hodgy0_2 : why would surfing the net or installing freeware cause any problems to general performance assuming a basic level of maintenance is applied mate? i,e, clearing cookies, cache, tmp files etc

hodgy0_2

pass mate -- i,ve been working in IT for 20 years, qualified MSCE in NT4, 2000,2003 2008 Cisco ccna and ccnp

and i cant work out why a modern PC takes 5 secounds to open up Control Panel -- when my 486DX33 with Windows 3.11 would do it instanstainoulsy 15 years ago

but what i do know is that a brand new install of Windows XP is ALWAYS faster than one thats been around for 3 -4 years (its something to do with .DLL's)

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

MSCE? ... typo methinks ... btw, what course did you do for the 2008 qualification mate? - thought that one was called MCTS now rather than MCSE? Reason for asking is my mates looking to bump up his qualifications at the moment (i'm a network and linux man these days so i don't look so closely at the m/s ones anymore )

Oh n your 486 loaded control panel faster because it wasn't loading through a registry - back in those days (brings back the memories ) all the apps ran with .ini files that held the info they needed at a local level rather than a centralised one The registry is also what relates to the Dynamic Link Libraries problem you refer to - the performance issues are caused by applications not removing themselves properly and leaving invalid registry key entries that cross-link the dll's. Despite the fact that they're un-required, the o/s (xp in point of case) still tries to deal with them due to the entries being there. A simple registry clean out usually deals with this although on some occasions it may be necessary to do several passes to weed out all the dead cross-links

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

beal: one other question regarding your spyware program ..... may sound weird but, what graphics card do you have in that machine?

beal

iTrader: (1)

Im sorry i dont know,it does' nt say on the computer information page

hodgy0_2

yep -- you right mcse

and yes it's the MCTS in 2008 -- I did the exam 70-649, which upgraded my MCSE 2003 to MCTS 2008 -- i just need to do 2 more to get the MCITP

I dont really do the courses - just self study then take the exams (to be honest i dont really need to anymore)

Dedrater

Download EVEREST Home Edition 2.20 - FileHippo.com

beal

iTrader: (1)

Thanks alot every one its running much quicker(i'll just have to keep on top of it from now on)

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

hodgy0_2 - all helps with the paygrades though eh?! lol! I only ever did one mcse test and that was years ago back in the days when they were still testing dos knowledge lol! Think i was about 16 then I have the advantage of being a contractor employed on recommendations rather than qualifications these days though so if i don't deliver what i say i can / will i don't get paid - proof is in the pudding for me at all times Plus side is i haven't had to worry about keeping upto date and keeping m/s in business by doing their exams though lol That said, was thinking about doing the UCP one that's around now .... suspect that might prove beneficial over the next year or so

anyways, enough thread-jacking there! beal : Reason for the question was, having scrounged through a few forums there's a few people reporting issues with the spyware program you have and NVidia graphics cards. They haven't been able to detail why but it seems that over a period of time, the application gradually chomps up more and more cpu cycles / resources for no apparent reason. Only appears to be NVidia cards affected though. If it turns out you have an NVidia card then this is yet another potential cause perhaps

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

What did you do in the end?

p.s. can't stress this enough - get more memory for it!!!

GC8

If its become slow then there are only one or two causes and it isnt lack of system memory. To start off you need to see whats running: if you have 60 processes running then of course your PC will grind to a halt. The best advice to give a novice user (by definition: a person who gets into this situation) is to back up anything that they dont want to lose and to re-format the fixed disk and re-install the operating system.

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

beal

iTrader: (1)

Ive ran the antispyware,the cleaner disk & the malware program and deleted programs such as all the divx ones which was'nt really used anyway

scoobymad555

iTrader: (1)

take it the anti spyware app found a few bits and the cleaner disk tidied up the registry a bit then?

beal

iTrader: (1)

Yes mate there was loads.........+ loads!

jpor

iTrader: (1)

Seconded on the memory. But note XP 32-bit will only see up-to 3.6GB if you opt for the 4GB option. Done this recently myself, in readiness for dual booting into Vista X64. Also you are best checking out the site scoobymad has given you and put in the make/model of the system/motherboard you have, as this neccessarily may not be upgradeable up-to 4 GB. Also I would look at upgrading the CPU if you can, to something a little more beefy like a core-2-duo CPU. Have a look at the manufacturer of your system/motherboard to see what CPU's it will support. Unfortunately running Anti-virus/Spyware can impact your CPU, especially single core ones

Another option is to buy something like this:

Play.com (UK) : Yoggie Firestick Pico Hardware Firewall : Computing - Free Delivery

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Good advice here

To summerise, my order of priorities would go:

Norton - bin it. Use something less resource hungry like Nod32

Remove/disable all the junkware that hogs the memory: Helper tools like Google Toobar, Yahoo toolbar (note CCleaner; use the "slim" version without yahoo toolbar ), Adobe quick launch, Java update scheduler etc. And whatever non-essential processes you find runnning in task manager.

Disable needless services: Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Pack 3 Service Configurations by Black Viper

Fit more RAM, or replace your existing RAM if you don't have enough free slots (check with your motherboard manual as to what maxmimum capacity it can take- don't want you buying 4gig when the system will only work with 2gig).

Backup data, make sure you have all the program disks, XP serial numbers. Then reformat hard drive and do a clean slate installation of XP (only of any real use if its a proper XP disk not a OEM (manufacturer branded) pre-install disk (like that supplied with Dells and HPs etc), as the latter usually installs a load of junk as well as XP, still it can help).

Failing the above; buyer a better PC