Re: my computer is running slow too

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

At first I thought it was maybe a program running in the background,
but that wouldn't cause a slow start up would it?

A virus scanner is often set to scan when you boot. If it is Norton or
McAfee this can significantly slow progress. If you are using their
utilities the situation is much more draining on system performance.

Your RAM at 256 mb is minimal. 512 mb would be better, although it
depends on the type of programmes you are using. Observe how
much your system is using your swap file.

A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

Remember graphics and camera related programmes will bump
up page file usage.

Your free space on your hard disk is OK but more is always better.

To increase you free space select Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and
remove all but the latest System Restore points? Restore points can be quite
large.

You should use Disk CleanUp regularly to Empty your Recycle Bin and
Remove Temporary Internet Files. Whenever you remove redundant files you
should always run Disk Defragmenter by selecting Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter.

It is likely that an allocation of 12% has been made to System Restore on
your C partition which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right
click your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore.
Place the cursor on your C drive select Settings but this time find the
slider and drag it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get
to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

Another default setting on a large drive which could be wasteful is that for
temporary internet files especially if you do not store offline copies on
disk. The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to
offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer
select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings
to make the change. At the same time look at the number of days history
is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. On your drive
5% should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor on your
Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and move the slider
from 10% to 5%.

After making these changes run Disk Defragmenter.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"bryantyler" <junk419@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1164812119.906635.135620@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I didn't want to hijack anyone's post in case it might be 2 totally
different problems so I'll post my own.

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that at times my computer drags
greatly. Not only online (cable modem) but at everything. Sometimes
just clicking Start on the taskbar takes forever to pop up the menu.
Twice I have noticed that when it doesn't want to go any further and I
reboot, even startup goes super slow and may even hang somewhere in the
process before even getting to Windows. I will hit the reboot button
again and it will start up fine. Also, this whole problem seems to
come and go.

At first I thought it was maybe a program running in the background,
but that wouldn't cause a slow start up would it? And if it was a
memory problem (going bad) would it come and go like it does?

Windows XP Home version 2002 sp2
256 MB Ram
AMD Sempron Processor 2600+
HD: 37g total and 7g free
Using Windows Firewall

If there's anything else you need to know I'll be happy to provide it!
I will start checking into updating windows updates and
hardware/software updates until I hear back from anyone!



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