My PC is so very slow...

N

NickN

Gawd
Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
757
My computer (XP Home) has been operating WAY slower than usual lately. It's an old machine to begin with, but it's been getting ridiculous lately -- for example, if I'm watching a youtube video in firefox and I click on an AIM window, the youtube video along with firefox will freeze up. Browsing through my hard drive(s) on Windows Explorer takes FOREVER; when I open a folder all of the icons just take their sweet time showing up for my clicking pleasure. And the start menu is even slow. I hit the windows key to bring up the start menu and there's a 2-3 second pause before it pops up.

Here's where it gets interesting. I'm running dual monitors, and when I disable my secondary monitor, things speed up a lot. There's still a lot of lag and general slow-ness compared to how it used to be, but it's a noticable improvement. I don't understand how having an extra desktop in 2D can slow down my computer that much, but ok... :confused:

I've googled and not come up with much useful info. So I turn to you. Is this a problem that anyone is familiar with?

Specs:
Chaintech ZNF3-250 (nForce3, s754)
AMD Sempron 2600+ mildly oc'd to 1.8
1GB G.SKILL DDR400 oc'd accordingly
PNY GeForce 6600GT
Seagate 7200.8 80GB SATA 150 HDD

I checked the hard drive with Seagate's diagnostic tool and it came out fine. I scanned for viruses and spyware and got rid of what showed up. I cleaned out the temp files and defragged the hard drive. All of this helped a little bit but not much. What do I do now? :confused:
 
Get a new rig.

I have a laptop with similar specs as yours (Athlon 64 S754 3400+, 1GB DDR400 RAM, 80GB IDE HDD, 64MB Mobility Radeon 9700), and whenever I do even light multi-tasking (for example, listening to music while web browsing, and then a video ad pops up and plays), it starts to slow down drastically. Add disc burning to the mix, and I even get an occasional BSOD. (The laptop is almost, if not over, three years old.)

The easiest thing for me to say is that the graphics card is buckling under the load of running two monitors. But given the overall age of your rig, you're really in a no-win situation in terms of upgrading.

(Why haven't I upgraded my laptop yet? Because I'm finishing the burning-in process on my new desktop rig. I can wait a while longer....)
 
Check and see if windows set your hard drive to pio. Device manager\ide atapi controllers\ if it did uninstall from the device manager and reboot.
 
tiraides: I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment. I'm unemployed for now and I have a whopping $7 and some change in the bank account (I'm 17 and living at home). As for the possibility of my parents buying me some new hardware for the holidays... well, they're Jewish -- that should tell you enough right there. :p Last year I got some books and some T-shirts. :D I can has employment? :(

S0m30n3: Nope, it's DMA.
 
NickN said:
tiraides: I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment. I'm unemployed for now and I have a whopping $7 and some change in the bank account (I'm 17 and living at home). As for the possibility of my parents buying me some new hardware for the holidays... well, they're Jewish -- that should tell you enough right there. :p Last year I got some books and some T-shirts. :D I can has employment? :(
Click to expand...

No can do... I had to buy all of the parts for my (new) rig piecemeal. In fact, I've just realized that I have to replace a couple of parts now (damn refresh cycle... :mad: ).
 
- Have you updated your drivers?
- Do a anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware scan?
- Defragged your hard drive?
- Google, download, install and run CCleaner to clean up leftover registry files and crap off your PC.
 
ccleaner all the old stuff out and have it clear up your pc, defrag, run all the spyware and adware you have. Do you have the latest drivers for your vid card and monitors?

Fresh install usually works wonders. Maybe even a repair install would work for you?
 
Danny Bui said:
- Have you updated your drivers?
Click to expand...

This is the first thing I'd look at, especially with the second monitor issue. Focus on video & chipset drivers for starters. It's not entirely unusual to have marked slowdowns for apps on one monitor when running two screens off one video card, but it shouldn't be as pronounced as you're describing.

Also try to get the dust out of your case, especially try to get the heatsinks and fans clean. Be careful not to hurt the components in the process. A round of Memtest86+ after all this couldn't hurt, either.

Danny Bui said:
- Do a anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware scan?
- Defragged your hard drive?
Click to expand...

If your system is in the state it is, you probably need to do these things. I don't know that they'll solve the symptoms you're describing, but they could, and they'll probably improve performance and stability to some degree.

Danny Bui said:
- Google, download, install and run CCleaner to clean up leftover registry files and crap off your PC.
Click to expand...

I mistrust this type of program because either they don't accomplish anything, or they're too aggressive and hose your system worse than it was to start with. Maybe this one's an exception, Danny's advice tends to be pretty reliable.
 
ashmedai said:
I mistrust this type of program because either they don't accomplish anything, or they're too aggressive and hose your system worse than it was to start with. Maybe this one's an exception, Danny's advice tends to be pretty reliable.
Click to expand...

Well CCleaner is the only cleaner I trust. I've used others and you're right, they do sometimes hose the system or don't accomplish anything. But with CCleaner, I do save some space and if it's a particularly old system that hasn't gotten proper maintenance over years, does provide a slight speed boost. Though if you regularly clean out your system, CCleaner may not have an effect for you.

Thx for the comment. :)
 
I will echo the sentiment that you need to check for spyware, viruses, rootkits and such. Many of them are very hard to identify and eradicate.

And as far as your parents being Jewish, give me a break. :rolleyes: Don't expect mommy and daddy to buy you new toys for Christmas then. Settle for the Hannukah gelt.

It seems like Windows has "creeping crud syndrome" and continues to eat up more of your HD space to store unnecessary data. I've use CCleaner before. It will wipe out stuff like last accessed docs in your Office apps. But it can free up hundreds of megs.
 
ccleaner hasn't messed any of my systems up ever so I can vouch for it. It removes all the unused files, clears all the windows caches and uninstall folders that get created also. I usually free a couple of hundred megs every couple of weeks when I run it.
 
Lethal said:
I will echo the sentiment that you need to check for spyware, viruses, rootkits and such. Many of them are very hard to identify and eradicate.

It seems like Windows has "creeping crud syndrome" and continues to eat up more of your HD space to store unnecessary data. I've use CCleaner before. It will wipe out stuff like last accessed docs in your Office apps. But it can free up hundreds of megs.
Click to expand...

QFT.
 
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