When my computer gets past the log in, it takes forever to load. When I check the Windows Task Manager it shows that my CPU is running at 100% constantly and when I try eliminating start up components when I run msconfig and restart it takes a very long time to shut down and restart and there are no performance changes. System restore won't make any changes for some reason. I recently installed the new Firefox, the IE 7, and I have up-to-date versions of Norton anti-virus and firewall. My entire system is running very slowly and it is extremely irritating because I have no idea what the problem is.
How do I get my computer to boot and run faster and smoother so I can run at least one program in an hour?
Brian N, Here are my recommendations for improving system performance
~ Disk Cleanup Utility ~ Use this to delete old, unused, and temporary files that clog your hard drive on an ongoing basis.
**Click Start%26gt;All Programs (or Programs)%26gt;Accessories%26gt;System Tools%26gt;Disk Cleanup. Analyze your hard drive for files you can eliminate.
~ Defragmenting The HDD ~
**Click Start%26gt;All Programs (or Programs)%26gt;Accessories%26gt;System Tools%26gt;Disk Defragmentor. Choose C:\ and expect to let the program run for several hours.
~ Uninstall Unused Software ~
**Click Start%26gt;Control Panel%26gt;Add Remove Programs to pull up a screen that allows you to simply select and uninstall all programs you know for sure you don't need or want.
~ Buy More RAM ~ Increasing your RAM, a computer's memory, can dramatically increase speed when running certain operations or programs.
~ Clean Up The Desktop ~ Too many icons on the Desktop can effect system performance. When you delete an icon, you are not deleting the program itself, just the Shortcut for it.
~ Managing The Application Startup Utility - System Tray Cleanup ~ This operation requires a bit more technical savvy, so proceed with caution. Many programs load into the System Tray in the lower right of your computer's desktop and consume system resources even if you never use them.
**Click Start%26gt;Run, type in msconfig then press Enter. Click the "Startup" tab to see a list of programs that automatically start with Windows. Clear the check box next to programs you know you don't want to load at startup. But don't clear any checkbox unless you are 100% certain of a program's purpose. Once you finish, click OK and it will prompt you to restart Windows.
~ Empty Recycle Bin ~ Do this frequently.
~ Delete Temporary Files ~ Windows creates temporary files whenever a file is opened. This is for the purpose of creating a mirror document that can be retrieved in the event of a system crash.
1. In c:\WINDOWS|TEMP delete every file within this folder.
2. Do a search for other temporary files. Type in the Search field *.tmp - you'll get a list of files ending with the file extension .tmp. Delete the entire list.
3. Empty Recycle Bin when through.
~ Clear History, Cookies, And Internet Caches From The Internet Browser ~
~ Turn Off Themes ~ If you don't mind sacrificing a little eye candy, turn off themes entirely. On some of my systems I have actually seen close to a 30% improvement in performance.
**Click Start, then "Control Panel". If your Control Panel is in category mode you then need to pick "Performance and Maintenance".
Then in either Control Panel mode%26gt;Administrative Tools%26gt; Services%26gt;Themes. R-click on it and choose "Properties". Click "Stop", set the Startup Type to "Disabled" and hit "Apply".
~ Clean Up The Registry ~ These tools have been a Godsend to me and I'd like to share them with you...
**RegVac is shareware - $29.95 is a suite of 8 Registry cleaning and tweaking utilities that got the lead out of my overburdened systems. Well worth the price!
http://downloads.zdnet.com/search.aspx?k...
**Registry Detective free download %26amp; Tutorial
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,737...
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,811...
~ Virtual Memory Management - Optimizing Your Page File ~
Optimizing your page file when you're running low on RAM is always a good idea. When all physical RAM in a computer is in use, Windows starts using the hard disk as if it were additional RAM. This is why we have a Pagefile (also called the swap file). Because RAM memory is a lot more faster than the hard disk, whenever the computer begins to use the Pagefile to relieve memory pressure, we begin to experience a drastic performance degradation.
How much swap space do you need depends upon the amount of RAM you have and the programs you use. The rule of the thumb is 1.5 times the amount of system memory, unless you have too much load on your system. Make its initial size as big as the maximum size. Although this will cause the Pagefile to occupy more HDD space, we do not want it to start off small, then having to constantly grow on the HDD. Writing large files (and the Pagefile is indeed large) to the HDD will cause a lot of disk activity that will cause performance degradation. Also, since the Pagefile only grows in increments, you will probably cause Pagefile fragmentation, adding more overhead to the already stressed HDD.
NOTE: If you use Windows XP and Fast User Switching, there are special considerations: When a user is not active, there will need to be space available in the page file to ‘roll out’ his or her work: therefore, the page file will need to be larger. Only experiment in a real situation will establish how big, but a start point might be an initial size equal to half the size of RAM for each user logged in.
WinXP Settings
1. From My Computer, R-click%26gt;Properties%26gt;Advanced tab%26gt;Performance Options%26gt;Settings.
2. Again click the Advanced tab and then in the Virtual Memory section click Change.
Now you can view and set the parameters you need.
3. Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
4. Under Paging file size for selected drive, click Custom size, type a new paging file size in megabytes (MB) in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, and then click Set.
****NOTE: If you decrease the size of either the initial or maximum paging file settings, you must restart your computer to see the effects of those changes. When you increase the paging file size, you typically do not need to restart your computer.
Reply:Things to look for, empty space on HD, check to be sure you have cleaned out all the cocokies and temp files (*.tmp) make sure in explorer you are cleaning cookies out. Check to see what programs are in your Start Up folder, remove any that you do not need or really use or are not necessary. How much memory do you have? If you are running windows XP check to see if the drive needs to be defraged. Right click the drive, then left click properties, then tools, defrag, analyze.
I would suggest getting the following tools first as they are free, they are what I use to keep my computer clearn.
Anti Virus
http://www.grisoft.com/doc/products-avg-... - AVG Anti Virus
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ - Trend Micro free online virus and spyware scan
Protection from BHO (browser helper objects) spyware, malware
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareb... - Spywareblaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareg... - Spywareguard
Scanning for spyware and removing
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-awar... - Ad-Aware SE Personal
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirro... - Spybot search and destroy
after installing and un installing programs be sure to delete the left over files.
Reply:could be these:
1. you need more memory
2. you need to defrag desperately!
3. you already have a virus that got past your firewall - norton won't catch it all - no program can.
Good luck!
Reply:When you check the task manager, have you identified the process that is taking most of the CPU? Look at that first, and search on the web for the image name to see if you can identify it as a process that should not be running (you may be running some spyware/adware that you need to get rid of). If this is the case, removing it is the next step, and it may not be straightforward, but cross that bridge when you get to it.
Of course, a drastic but certain measure would be to re-install the OS. If it has been a while since you installed it (years) that may be worth it.
Reply:This is what you need to know...What size Computer do you have...2.2 Gig +/- How much Ram is installed in it 512Mb +/- What program are installed and running all the time...What Operating system are you running...Do you use spyware... What are you doing using Norton....
Size need to be @ least 2 Gig to be running XP
1.8 ME
1.5 2000
How much Ram?
XP 512MB
ME 256
2000 128
Do you use Spyware? Have you Scaned/updated lately?
Do you run alot of programs...Try Window Defender-You can select Program that you want to Start at start-up which one to shut down and everything from Program Explorer It also is a spyware Program...
Last I recomment using that CA EZ Antivirus listed below it uses way less MB than Norton....
Reply:you may well have a malware problem, try using the following after booting up in 'safe mode'...
http://www.ccleaner.com/
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaw...
Also, make sure you have enough hard disk space, defragment your hard drive, set a large paging file (virtual memory) and try a utility such as autoruns...
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Au...
If you are using Windows XP, there are a number of tweaks which you can perform to get better performance out of your PC, depending on your requirements.
Many of these are very easy to do and can significantly speed up your system, particularly if you have a lot of unnecessary programs running in the background (loading with windows on startup).
For information on how to tweak your XP machine for optimal performance, go to:
http://www.podcomplex.com/pc/index.html
this will guide you through the main system tweaks for XP, including:
- set pagefile size
- set visual effects
- drive indexing
- startup programs
- tweakUI
- write caching
- spyware/adware
- disk defrag
Reply:"Computer Help"
For your questions about hardware, software, internet, general or for downloads
http://computerhelp-downloads.blogspot.c...
You an get AVG, ZoneAlarm and many reputed antivirus and antiSpyware software....can purchase or for free... visit.....
http://computerhelp-downloads.blogspot.c...
Reply:remove the fire fox program and reinstall it, see if the pc works faster,
then go to programs,accessaries,then to system tools, in the system tool box look for defrag, click the word and then click defrag again and just let it do it thing,it can take anywere from 20min to three days,depending on your last time you defrag/ if ever done. at all
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