computer is lagging and i'm not talking about when it's on the internet...please help!

[jonnyjack]

hey,

i built my current machine around january 2001 and it's been lagging for a couple of months now...i don't really know when it started and i didn't bother to check it out for awhile cause i've been busy with school...

first off when it's booting up it takes like 8 min to finish loading to the desktop...i'm not exaggerating either it literally takes that long...also when i scan for viruses it will take about 30 min to scan with norton antivirus on just 800megs of stuff on my c: drive :|

it's really frustrating...when i first built the computer IE would load in about 5 seconds...now it takes like 60 seconds...and anytime i try to open anything, be it a folder or word2000 or anything it will lag...

i already checked for viruses and found nothing and i installed the latest via 4in1 drivers (version 4.33?)...i thought maybe it was my ram so i switched it with a stick of 64MB from my bro's computer...any thoughts? my specs are in the system rig link in my signature...

 

[John]

[*]Clean up the startup group
[*]defrag

 

[jonnyjack]

i already tried both...nothing changed

 

[John]

Pull all expansion cards except video and see what happens.

 

[Woody419]

You can try PC Pitstop for a diagnostic, or try a startup editor to turn off the extras.

 

[jonnyjack]

pulled out all expansion cards...no change

 

[John]

format c: /q /u

 

[jonnyjack]

::sigh:: didn't want to have to do that...but i guess i'll have to...i'll do it when i get winter vacation...school is hectic right now...

the computer is stable, maybe only like 5 crashes since jan. but it's slow as hell...

BTW what is the "q" and "u" switch? i normally just do format c: