msconfig

Hello My PC ran slowly after the last Windows updates but I am not sure this was the cause of my PC running like 'mud' out of nowhere as another third party update could have been the cause. Besides running slowly, I lost all my restore points but my settings are 9% and the box to close restore is not checked. It is a puzzle. Microsoft walked me through msconfig to dx the problem. I wanted to verify the steps for future reference. 1-msconfig>services and check, "Hide all M.S. services>also, disable all =check that box. Next, 'startup' and enable 3 boxes at a time until the program giving the trouble is found. Question, what do you do when you find the box that is giving you a problem? So, are my steps correct and can you please answer the last question? Thank you

Question, what do you do when you find the box that is giving you a problem?
So, are my steps correct and can you please answer the last question?

Question 1 the answer is you leave it unchecked so that it won't cause a issue. From there let us know what it is causing the problem and we can then continue with what to do with the offending entry.
Question 2 you are doing the right steps although i would say only check one item at a time and then reboot. That way you know exactly what the culprit is when you reboot instead of trying to guess which of 2 is the problem.

Lol. It seems everyone has a different twist on this diagnostic procedure. My preference is to check 50% of them, narrowing it down to half of the remaining selections every try. If the problematic item is in one group, you narrow that down by 50%, and so on. Here's a little tip though. Save yourself some wasted time, and turn everything back on and make sure that the problem resurfaces. I have many times disabled everything, had the problem resolve, wasted time turning on items and rebooting, just to find out that when I finally had everything turned back on the problem was still not present. The problem is the software causing the problem may not cause a problem after you disable them temporarily. Lots of fun.

The machine has slowed to a crawl again so I am going to try an image recovery. Could a noiseier, ticking hard drive on an 8 year old machine be the problem.

Any ticking hard drive is a problem, sort of like a time bomb waiting to go off. Probably getting lots and lots of errors which slows the computer down dramatically.

You may want to try doing a HD diagnostics.
Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.

Thanks to Broni for the instructions

I removed Norton as it took a lot out of this old machine and put in a MsE with Windows firewall and am behind a router with WPA2 and encryption.
I am curently out of town but will try the diagnostic tool when home.
I run Dell 5150 xp home, sp3, 8 years old. I am getting new lap and desk machines soon.
This old girl is now pretty peppy again with Norton out of it. My desktop still has Norton but it handles it well as it has more resources.
Thanx all for the help.
Whoops, I just noticed there is no diagnostic Dell.

Try the SeaTools ISO CD version.
It seems to work well with the most diverse HD manufacturers.

Iwill keep this email until I am home regarding the Sea Tools iso cd and thank you. I will post back.

No problem and we will wait for your results.
If the drive itself is indeed having the Click Of Death it would be advisable to backup your important data and start looking for a replacement drive ASAP.

I can't complain as this 8year old Dell has done a lot of work. It now sounds like a sewing machine so any day…. My desktop is the same age but behaving better. I backup the laptop's system with Macrium to my 1T external drive and my desktop's system with Acronis to my 2T external drive. I have all sensitive information in two seperate flash drives and never in the pc. I will either use DiskWipe or Eraser if this still works and I give it away, or will remove the hard drive if it fails, most likely the latter On a side note, I do notice that svhost.exe is using about 90% of my resources; likely as I only have 525 mb ram?. Thank you for the advice.

On a side note, I do notice that svhost.exe is using about 90% of my resources; likely as I only have 525 mb ram?.

I would agree with this statement.
When you have done the HD diagnostic test that will tell us a lot as to which direction we go from here. The replacement hd won't matter what manufacturer it is but hopefully you have recovery disks for the Dell still. If not then we can still save it since all you would need is a XP to load on it. The reg number should be affixed to the system on the side or the back.
I hope I'm not coming across as being pushy but only that I want to make sure of the sound you are hearing.

On a side note, I do notice that svhost.exe is using about 90% of my resources; likely as I only have 525 mb ram?.

I would agree with this statement.
When you have done the HD diagnostic test that will tell us a lot as to which direction we go from here. The replacement hd won't matter what manufacturer it is but hopefully you have recovery disks for the Dell still. If not then we can still save it since all you would need is a XP to load on it. The reg number should be affixed to the system on the side or the back.
I hope I'm not coming across as being pushy but only that I want to make sure of the sound you are hearing.

>>Pushy, not at all. Yes,I do have the two cds for formatting, installing the o.s and the cd for installing drivers also. I brought them with me just in case. I don't know if repairing an 8 year old pc with an o.s. that will soon be unsupported is a good idea as opposed to a new one. I am leaning toward the latter.

Support for XP will not completely end till 2014 I believe. There just won't be any upgrades to it as far as a SP being offered. If the system was booting into windows then you could run Win7 Advisor to see if it would handle it. Since it is not then reinstalling the XP would be your best option at this point. a newer system is always exciting and just to ask..are you wanting to purchase a name brand system or maybe thinking about custom building a system?

I was thinking of another Dell as these have gone 8 years plus. This time, however, I would have enough 'guts' so I could upgrade to newer operating systems. Sufficient ram- 8 gigs, solid cpu- i7, roomy hard drive1gig etc. Any suggetstions appreciated.