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Slow Computer

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Post #1
I have a forum that I had ask for help in Spybot because I thought the computer had a virus on it and the tech that was helping said that the computer looked good and said to start a post on this forum and mention that I had worked with Spybit and that they couldn't find any malwarewise. The computer is running very very slow, can't do anything in it on the web without it taking forever to load. The link to the spybot forum is http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=62080

The computer os a Dell Inspiron 1150, Windows XP home, Internet Explorer

No matter what I try to do, what website I am trying to look at it takes forever to load.

Thank you in advance for your help,
Wanda :)
Post #2
Hi Wanda, welcome to WhatTheTech.

I took a look at your Spybot thread and the first thing I noticed was that you are using Spybot Search & Destroy Teatimer. Please turn that off and see if anything changes.

If not, try the following, see if it helps:

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.
Post #3

Hi Wanda, welcome to WhatTheTech.

I took a look at your Spybot thread and the first thing I noticed was that you are using Spybot Search & Destroy Teatimer. Please turn that off and see if anything changes.

If not, try the following, see if it helps:

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.

Post #4
Thanks for your help, I've done all the things ask and it's still running so slow, I haven't even begin to recheck any items because unchecking them didn't help, noy sure what to do next, what should or should not be running. Is there anything I should try next. Thank you so much I appreciate all the help I cn get. Wanda :)
Post #5
Wanda, 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 our 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.
Post #7
Hi Wanda. Looking at your PCPitStop results, I see a few things that can be causing your slow perfromance.

1. You have a Intel Celeron processor. Nothing you can do about this but it's something to keep in the back of your mind. See here for info: Intel Celeron Processors - Wikipedia

2. Memory performance is terrible. You have 1GB of memory and it should be doing better then it is. I'd like you to test your memory (computers, not yours :lol: ) and see if there is a problem.

Download Memtest86+ (you want the 2nd one Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)). Unzip it then create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called ImgBurn which will do this easily.

Boot the CD and run for at least 3 complete passes unless it shows errors sooner than that. Letting it run overnight is even better.

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, though I don't see much in the list from PCPitStop.

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.

If none of this helps, when did this problem start happening? Do you remember what you were doing at the time? Did you install or remove any new hardware or software?
Post #8
[That's a good thing testing the computer memory instead of mine, the older I get the more I loose. I have down load the Memtest86+ and the CD/DVD burning software ImgBurn but could not get it to work, it kept telling me the disk I was using were bad. So I installed Roxio software that iIalready had, now just to get it to load. I try and open it and it will not load, so once I get it to work I will let you know what had happen.. Thanks a lot for your help, Wanda :)
Post #9
You have to boot the CD so you have to set it as the first boot device in BIOS Setup. Either that or press a Fn key (usually F12) if your computer supports it to bring up the boot options menu where you can select the CD/DVD drive to boot from.

How did you create the CD? You don't burn the .iso file to CD, you specify it as input the your burner software. With ImgBurn that would be Write image file to disc.
Post #10
Ok, I quote it to startup from the disk and let it run over night and have shut it down and brought it back up a fee times with the disk, the CPU usage seems to be better, not flickering all the time. It still appears something is happening to the memory, it never came up with any errors after starting with the CD boot. I'm beginning to think I'm so done with this computer. If there is any thing else I need to try your help is greatly appreciated, if not thanks you all you have done. Blessings, Wanda :thumbup:
Post #11
When did this problem start happening? Do you remember what you were doing at the time? Did you install or remove any new hardware or software?
Post #12
My son gave me his old laptop back in February 2011 because he said he couldn’t get it to come up. I started it in safe mode and went in and deleted some items, so I decided to reformat the hard drive and to reload back to when we purchased it. It wouldn't load so we tried to use a ghost of another system, it would not load it either. I used the Dell cd to run the diagnostics test and it showed slot B 256mb memory bad. In early March 2011 I ordered and replaced memory with (2) PNY OPTIMA 512MB DDR 333 MHz PC2700 Notebook / Laptop SODIMM Memory, which said it was compatible with the memory that was in the computer. Once system came up reinstalled the Dell installation cd. All seemed fine until I tried to check email, face book, etc., it would take forever to load or not load at all. Loaded Malwarebytes, ran it, it cleaned some tracking cookies, loaded ccleaner, ran it, tried a couple more free antiware, spyware programs, Microsoft Security Essentials, everything cleaned the normal items, loaded Spybot and ran it, nothing found. I had to disable the firewall, virus protection and Microsoft updates and the CPU usage came down some but still running high. Something is somewhere behind the scenes and I can't find it for it to constantly be running so high. I figured it was a virus since nothing was picking it up, but since the post with Spybot and now with whatthetech I’m beginning to think something is wrong with the memory. Your help would be greatly appreciated; I've tried everything I know to do. Blessings, Wanda :notworthy:
Post #13 last edited
Hi Wanda. Is this a different computer than the one this thread is about? If so, I'll split it off to it's own topic so it doesn''t get confusing.
Post #14
No it's the same computer, I was just giving you the run down of when it started and copied most of it from my post in spybot. Thanks again for all your help, Wanda :thumbup:
Post #15
Okay, thanks.

First, check to see if you hard drive is running in PIO mode instead of DMA. See here: DMA reverts to PIO

If okay, I think you need to start over again.

Reload the Dell CD and then test, see if things are okay or if you have a problem. If there is a problem then I think you have a hardware problem, either one of the two new memory sticks is bad or the hard drive is causing problems.

If all is okay, install SP3 and test again.

Download the .exe version of SP3 here: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers

If okay, install updates (about 100 currently), test again.

Don't install any applications, don't browse the internet or do anything other than what I've written above.

If still okay, download and install Microsoft Security Essentials for your Anti-virus.

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