5 replies to this topic

[fertigline]

Hi, My computer has been running sluggish for a while, any help would be very much appreciated. I have Windows XP , 1.67Ghz Processor and 960 Mb of RAM. Thanks, Fertigline

[Ztruker]

Hi fertigline.

We're going to need more information than that to be able to help you.

• Make and model of computer would be a good start.
• How long has it been sluggish? What did you do around that time? Add/remove any software or hardware?
• What Anti-virus do you use?

Also, please Run the PCPitstop Full Tests, here: PCPitstop Full Tests

You must use Internet Explorer as it needs to install an ActiveX program.

Note: Vista users with UAC must first Right-click IE - Select "Run as Administrator"

If you haven't already registered, Click - Sign up now! (left hand column in User Login)

Register and create a password
Accept the ActiveX component to allow your machine to run the Full Tests
Registering and accepting the ActiveX are both SAFE and FREE.

The Full Tests take less than 5 minutes for most machines.

Once you have your Results, please post the URL (the http:// stuff) back here into this thread for review.

Note: Vista users, please close your instance of IE "Running as Administrator" after you are finished reviewing your Results.

Caution: During the testing of Video Adapter, a variety of patterns, shapes, colors and text are “flashed” onto the users monitor screen. In the many thousands of daily uses of the PCPitstop Full Tests over several years, two individuals who suffer epilepsy experienced discomfort and temporary dizziness when viewing the flashing patterns.

If you know that you are susceptible to photo driven seizure, please look away from your screen during the Video Adapter testing sequence.

Note: The PCPitstop Full Tests Results is a free service, but is supported by various paid product advertisements for utilities that "could" remedy the OP's problem.

Since this site is a "free-help" forum, we do not recommend or endorse purchase of automated utilities, and will assist you in manually correcting any problems and settings necessary to optimize your machine's performance. Ask your questions here. We'll help you walk through any necessary steps.

[fertigline]

Hi Ztruker,
Thanks for answering my post.

My computer was custom built so there is no make or model. It has been sluggish for about a year now and during that time I have defragged, removed some programs that I was not using, and ran my spyware program(spybot). Also I use Notron antivirus.

Here is the link to my PC Pitstop test:
http://www.pcpitstop...?conid=24347679



Thanks,
Fertigline

[Ztruker]

There are some things listed under Summary / Fixes on the PCPitstop scan but I don't think they will make any real difference.

You have some heavy duty applications, including Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Symantec Anti-virus (Norton). I suspect you have a lot of processes starting at boot time. How many are shown in Task Manager?

How does it behave if you boot to Safe Mode with Networking? If better then something is starting at boot that is causing the problem.

Use msconfig to determine what is causing the problem

These are good tutorials on using msconfig in XP, Vista or Windows 7:
How to use msconfig in Windows XP
How to use msconfig in Windows Vista
How to use msconfig in Windows 7

Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Startup tab, record what is currently starting then click the Disable All button.
Reboot and see if it runs better.
If yes then use msconfig to enable several items at a time till you find the culprit.

If no, start msconfig and click on the Services tab.
Check the Hide All Microsoft Services box, record what is currently starting then click the Disable All button.
Again, do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable services till you find the culprit.

Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system. Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best.
Enable everything else you disabled.

[fertigline]

Ztrucker, Sorry it's taken me so long to post this. I did disable everything in startup and all the non-microsoft in services and my computer works alot better. My next question is do I have to enable the stuff I turned off if everything is working ok ? Thanks, Fertigline

[Ztruker]

Look at what you've disabled and uninstall any you don't use. Leave the rest disabled unless you have problems or something does not work right. If that happens then you will have to go back and look at what you disabled to figure out which one (ones) need to be enabled again. For sure you do not want to disable your Anti-virus software, on the Startup and Services tabs.