Hard Drive getting slow!

[BigOrangeMonkey]

Hi,

I am trying to repair a PC that is slowing down to an unusable level, there is plenty of free space and no sign of viruses, it doesnt always let you save or delete information. Any pointers?

 

[mainegeek]

Don't know what you have for a PC and OS, but a good
place to start is by running Disk Cleanup. Remove unwanted
Temp Files, Temporary Internet Files, Empty Recycle Bin. Then configure your Start Up with msconfig and remove un-needed items. Run Scan Disk and Disk Defragmenter. If there are no hardware issues then you might want to consider
adding more RAM. What do you mean by "a PC that is slowing down to an unusable level"??

 

[BigOrangeMonkey]

Sorry, this is a bit vague isnt it!

Basically I have been asked to look at a PC that has become unusable due to it getting very slow in recent weeks, I am due to look at it this weekend and am just after some possibility pointers as to what to look at, I intend to do the obvious first such as the items you have mentioned, if that fails I will do a full format, open up, clean & check and then re-install.

I believe the machine is a 500MHz with a 10 gig Hard drive, it shouldnt need more RAM as it is only running the same stuff it has ever run, i.e. no new fancy software, it just seems to be grinding to a halt

 

[paparazi]

It sounds like some software is using up all the resources and slowing everything down.
Probably running in the background and being automaticly loaded on boot.
It should be possible either to do a sellective startup or to run in safe mode, and by process of ellimination find the culprit.
There is also a software program that will do these checks automaticly but for the life of me I carn't remember it's name, I am sure someone will enlighten us. Martin Please let members know if there advice has helped any.

 

[BigOrangeMonkey]

Software using up resources would slow it down, but this wouldnt explain the system not allowing deletes and updates.

Dont worry, I'll mark everything that makes my life easier with one of those rather lovely purple stars