Re: just plain slow

"Keith Manning" wrote

"Rock" wrote

"Keith Manning" wrote

"Bill James" wrote

First I would look at what 3rd party programs are loading at startup and disable startup for those that are not critical (very few, if any, are), or just uninstall programs you are no longer using. In my opinion, the cleanup programs are not worthwhile and may actually cause your problems. More information about the slow symptoms would be helpful.
"drewstein" wrote

forgive me for such a basic question, because i am a fairly advanced windows
user...
i just want to know how to troubleshoot a very slow computer. i'm sure it
just has to do with clutter over time, but beyond spyware/virus hunting, disk
cleanup, defrag, etc. i am stuck. when i bring up task manager there are a
billion processes running, but i am not sure if that's the problem or which
ones to stop. my computer is older, but still shouldnt be this slow
[emachine 1.8 ghz, 480 mb ram, win xp]
are any of the commercial "window washers' or clean up programs worthwhile?
just looking for some advice - thanks

Also remember that XP, especially XPSP2 is a very bloated, memory and resource sucking operating system.

This is total bull. Do you have anything objective to back this up?

I'm typing this from a 2.4MHz machine with Gb1.25 of RAM and I still get out of paging memory errors.

Maybe you just need to learn how to maintain a system properly?

I've heard that Vista is even worse. Most people will need a complete new machine, not just a new video card and some more RAM.

Another statement that has nothing to back it up. I'm typing this on Vista right now, on a machine that's set up as a dual boot with XP Pro. It runs just fine. Another bull statement.

May I suggest you go back to Win2000. It actually worked, it was basically the same as XP except XP had some pretty new features which got everyone buying it. But what XP has which W2K didn't was the bloated code.

--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]

All of what you've just said is perfect if you're a MVP - someone like yourself how has the latest state of the art PC and sits around tweaking it all day. And has done a 4 year course on Microsoft products.

This system which is set up as a triple boot with XP and Vista is 5 years old. I've added a router and external USB hard drives, and had to replace one DVD drive. Otherwise it's the same as when it was purchased. Not what I would call state of the art. Why do you make assumptions about what hardware I run on or what training I've had?

Most of us don't have the time to spend hours tweaking our operating systems - we've actually got work to do.

We don't have the time to read through and assorb giant manuals on just the operating system. Like a TV set or a stereo system, just want something that works

I have seen some darn confusing and complicated manuals for the operation of some TV's and other home electronics.

and is not going to be attacked by a virus or hijacked the very minute we don't open our wallets to fork out more cash for more software written by another company which is going to slow the system down even futher.

I don't get hijacked or attacked, and I use mostly freeware apps for AV, firewall and non viral anti-malware. Choose the right programs. You don't have to "fork" out a lot of cash to be malware free. The most important component to this is the operator using common sense and practicing safe hex.

Microsoft products are great if you work in a MS lab, connected to a MS network and someone comes in each second day to either upgrade your system or just check it for problems. But most of us out here don't have those luxuries, we all live in the real world, Rock.

Somehow I don't think you understand what the MVPs do. They all work in the real world. Most are not affiliated with MS at all other than the MVP recognition. Many work in computers and IT, but some don't. In fact my world is about as real as it gets. What I don't do is go around posting comments about things I don't have knowledge of, or make assumptions about what is going on behind the scenes of the post or with the poster.

--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]

.

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