I know there are some techy computery people on here so hopefully someone can help me out.
My computer is a 1.8 ghz AMD, I’ve got 1.5gbs of RAM and a 256ghz ATi Radeon graphics card. Im just using the onboard sound card.
My computer has been fine for ages but recently it has been running fairly slow. When I listen to music with winamp, sometimes it will start going slow and the music will go slow for a few seconds and will sort of start ‘clipping’. Im not really sure how I can explain that better. Its like there is loads of programs running and using alot of memory but winamp is the only program open except firefox. I have used malware bytes and I have avast running all the time.
Just now I have used disk cleanup and uninstalled everything I never use aswell as some things I used occasionally but could do without. Now I just have firefox, Nero, Editstudio (Video editing), quicktime, windows media player, Malware bytes, avast and a few codecs for video playback installed. It seems a lot better now but how can I get it back to that ‘freshly reformatted’ state without reformatting?
Seriously, you can reinstall Windows without reformatting… just install Windows “on top of” your current installation. It should recognize that you’ve got programs installed already, and not wipe 'em out.
I reinstall windows yearly… always fixes any problems (especially performance) that accumulate over time.
It could be a virus. Then again it may not Try Avast
Its a free piece of antivirus software. It will scan and “kill” most virsus’ and trojens for good and prevent new ones. Ive foud it helps mine run faster but this may just be me. Ive been running this for years on a number of computers and laptops and have never had any problems unlike some bought software.
It is free as long as you supply an e-mail address so that they can keep track of the bumber of users.
If this doesnt work try using some system tweeking software.
Can i also suggest that you back up any important files. I have had experience with comps running slowly before they have stopped working.
Better safe than sorry.
Let me know how you get on
P.S. Just a thought. Have done a disk analysis or difragmintation lately?? This may be the simplest solution Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools and then Disk Cleanup followed by Disk Defragmentator
Hope this helps, if not give me a shout:) (Sorry for the bad spelling)
Check what processes you have running, and when your comp starts to bog down, check the processes again and see which one is using a lot of memory. Also, you can choose what processes to run at start up, which will help load time, and general performance as you wont have tons of programs sitting in the background.
What I would do first, is scan with a different view scanners. Spybot search and destroy, ad-aware, and there is one more like but cant think of its name. Ksprsky or something like that. Install those, run them, let them fix what they find (One program will find things another program doesnt) then uninstall them if you dont want to keep them.
Also, run a memory test, cause your cards may just be dying out on you.
If you know when the comp started slowing down, maybe it was a certain download or program that did it, and a system restore to before that point could work.
These are just some general ideas. Sorry for any selling mistakes. Im on a comp with a broken keyboard and a very dark monitor. Hard to type, hard to see. Ugh.
Usually problems acumulating on a computer have to do with virus or malware build up, in your case it would be; you getting rid of the viruses after they ate up all your .Dlls and .OCX files. Damaging them and leaving you with blue screens and slow performance. Do what that guy said to do, defrage, then re-install windows.
You can do a repair install. Given the specs of the computer I assume you’re running XP. Here’s the instructions for a repair install of XP. A repair install installs Windows over the top of itself. You don’t lose data. It is not a full reformat type of install.
Try running Process Explorer to see what processes may be hogging the CPU.
Try AutoRuns to see what is being loaded as Windows boots. Look at the “Logon” tab. You can stop something from loading by clearing the checkmark by it.
And I wasnt insulting you. I was insulting your post. Cause as a general fix to all computer problems, I see lots of people say “Get a mac.” and it is dumb, because that isnt the fix to everything or anything really.
Hmm, maybe if I want a better screen, less freezes, and no more pop-ups, ill go back to my PC.
Yeah it is a pretty general fix all but for a large portion of people i think it is a good move. mine never crashes and i dont get viruses. not only that but i feel like my mac 2 gigs of ram runs better than my pc 2 gigs of ram.
