slow performance

[kimberly8802]

My CPU usage is extremely high sometimes shooting up to 99-100% even when no applications are running. I have a Presario 700 running XP w/ 512M RAM. My computer performance is HORRIBLE! It takes forever to access the Start Menu and open programs. Also my computer screen locks up radomly, the only option I have when this happens is to remove my battery and disconnect all power. Can anyone help?

 

[nitti]

this could be several things so i will start with the simplest. do you use an antivirus and is it up to date? have you ran check disk, and defrag? you may have picked up spyware, download and run ad aware. post back and let us know. hope this helps.

 

[kimberly8802]

i did use Norton AntiVirus 2002; however, I now use AVG and it is up-to-date. I run Ad-aware regularly and currently am spy-ware free. I also run diskcleanup regularly as well as defragment my disk w/ XP's disk defrag. Still, EXTREMELY slow start up...(currently all that is set to start w/ Windows is my Lexmark Printer Program, MicroSoft Office and AVG) and even if I disable these programs no performance increase is noted. Any more idea?

 

[nitti]

when you say slow, how slow? xp rebuilds the registry everytime it starts, 98 and me did not do this so they may boot a little quicker. also it may be searching for network connections. there is a program called boot vis. it can check your boot process and sometimes speed it up a little, get it here;

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/fastboot/BootVis.asp

hope this helps.

 

[linney]

Try disabling any unrequired services that are running in background.

http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

HOW TO: Set Performance Options (Q308417)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/17.asp

Computer Speed and Performance May Decrease (Q310419)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q310/4/19.asp

A good shareware program for removing errors from your Registry which might be slowing things down.
RegVac from

http://www.superwin.com

BootVis.

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/performance/fastboot/default.asp

Some general things to try.

See if System Restore will get you back to a restore point before your problem with Windows.

Try Safe Mode (Do you have this problem in Safe Mode?).

Try running ChkDsk to check your drive for errors. Right click your Drive icon/ Properties/ Tools/ Error Checking.

Run the System File Checker program from the Run Box by typing.....Sfc /Scannow in it and have your XP CD handy.

HOW TO: Verify Unsigned Device Drivers in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/5/14.asp

If they don't work you could try repairing windows itself by running it over itself. You will lose all your windows updates but your files will be untouched.

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP (Q315341)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q315/3/41.a

 

[Takkie]

I've got exactly the same problem. I've got a dual boot system, and when I open XP I experience this problem, as soon as I boot up with Win 2000 the problem is something of the past