Windows XP is Slooooooooww.......Help 1

[bpatters55]

I have a Dell P4, 1.3Ghz PC with 256MB of Ram. I am running Windows XP Pro and my PC is running like a dog. The main symptom is the PC is constantly reading from the Hard Disk.

I am also running\Using the following:

Norton Security
Norton Anti-Virus
Netgear Router

Here is what I have tried:

- Removing all Spyware
- Running Anti-Virus both from the installed application and by going to Norton's website
- Removing unnecessary programs
- Removing unnecessary applications that load into RAM

Other than switching back to Windows 2000, I have thought about upgrading the RAM to 512Mbps.

Any other ideas?

Thanks, Bill

 

[jdemmi]

Upgrading your RAM will only help if the HD reading is page file related. Go to the performance tab of task manager and see if the PF usage graph corresponds to the HD reading you are noticing. If it does, then you can either adjust the PF size, which may help some, add more memory which WILL help some, or both.

If it does not seem to be related. Boot up in safe mode and see if the symptom persists. If it does not then there is more than likely some program creating the disk activity. While you mentioned that you removed unnecessary programs the offender could be a program which you consider necesasary. Perhaps it's a scheduled task or an auto-updater of sorts. I know that Sun's JVM, for instance, loads an update engine at startup.

Couple of questions....

1. Did this just start or has it happened since you loaded XP? If it just started you MAY have a virus or spyware that you did not catch. Try the free "housecall" scan and trendmicro to check for viri and use a different spyware catcher to see if your program missed something.

2. Is it constant or does it "come and go"?

3. Have you checked the task manager to see what process(es) is consuming large ammounts of processor and\or memory at the time the disk activity is high?

 

[rotaman]

You're on the right track. Win XP should run fine on 256 of RAM anyways. I'm sure there are either processes running in the background which are taking up memory for nothing. What I would also look at is your hard drive, maybe try a hard drive defragmentation, and also a hard drive cleanup (Temp files, etc). Jdemmi is right, get into safe mode and see if anything is better there. If there is, you can isolate the processes which are bogging down your pc. get back to us!!

 

[bpatters55]

Thanks for the ideas. I tried a few things last night including running a registry cleaning program and another program which helped me idenify programs which were not necessary. The registry program cleaned up a bunch of entries and the the other program allowed me to disable 5 programs which were not critical. I have been testing the computer and it seems to be running better.

One other thing happened that got me thinking. My Norton Firewall picked up a "Master of Paradise Trojan Horse" which it blocked. I did some research on the internet and I will need to modify another line in the registry to disable the Trojan Horse. The timing of my Firewall was suspect as I had just run the two programs listed in the paragraph above and all of a sudden I get a Trojan Horse. May be just a concidence. Then again, modifiying the registry may have exposed the Trojan somehow. Who knows.

Since you asked:

1. The slowness has been recent so you may be right about the Spyware

2. Once the hard drive starts cycling it seems to go on and on and on....

3. I have checked the task manager but I will check again when the hard drive is spinning.


Thanks, Bill

 

[jdemmi]

Keep us posted...

 

[piracydontsux]

had the same problem! Nortons internet security and nortons antivirus turned out to be the problem with mine! too many definitions in anti virus

 

[bpatters55]

piracydontsux,

Did you modify NIS and NAV? Thanks, Bill

 

[piracydontsux]

no threw them both out of the system and got myself pccillin instead