SLOOOOOOOOOOOW Computer

[mikem69981]

I need help with an extremly slow computer. It is a Dell D800, only about a year and a half old. I have done everything, cleared out TEMP Files, Defraged, Ran speed-disk and it is only at 20% utilization of disk space and I am at my wits end with how to fix this computer without totally wiping it. It usually takes 8 minutes to boot up, another 5-7 to log on and usually at least 2-3 minutes to open anything to include my computer. Someone please help.

 

[Atheus]

I bet it's full of viruses and spyware. Run the appropriate scanners.

 

[mikem69981]

That's what I thought too, but I ran the latest verision of Symantec and SpySweeper it came up with nothing significant.

 

[Lemon law]

To mikem69981,

I am fighting a similar problem but I am not nearly as slow as you---you make me feel better already.

But before you give yourself a clean bill if mal-ware health---go to the spyware warriors forums---download a copy of hijack this---and post a system log file there. Some malware is just very resistant to discovery by scanning.---but they will show up in a hijack this scan and then can be removed with help readily available there.

Then one should do some of the standard things---download a copy of memtest86 and run it. You could try bootvis---or a utility called tune XP---and start examining your services and keeping some un-needed services from starting.

It would also help for you to post exactly what you have on your dell in terms of processor, memory, and OS.---you may be very familiar with what you have---but that does not mean anyone else is.---but if you are running XP with just 256 MB of ram---go to at least 512 MB to find dramatic boot time reducations.---which by itself got my wifes computer to a 1.5 minute boot--when it was four minutes before.

But if you are booting that slow---it sure sounds like your computer is hunting for something no longer present on your hard drive.--or a file has been moved and the OS can't find it. And also check to see if all your device drivers are installed and properly updated---with a trip to device manager---and check your bios also--maybe setting it to system defaults.

 

[Medea]

Another possibility is that you've got a lot of apps that are unnecessarily loading on bootup which would definitely slow your computer down, especially if some of them are resource hogs.

Try using Startup Control Panel to configure which programs you want or do not want to run at startup.

 

[mechBgon]

Another issue that can make a computer slow, is if the ATA controllers have kicked down to PIO mode. This forces the CPU to spoon-feed EVARYTHING to/from the hard drive.

To check whether that happened,

1) log on as a Computer Administrator, right-click My Computer > Properties, then click the Hardware tab and open Device Manager

2) go down to the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and click the "+" to expand it. There will be multiple controllers listed.

3) for each controller, double-click it to open its panel, then go to the Advanced tab and make sure nothing's in PIO mode. If anything IS in PIO mode, then click the Driver tab for that controller, and click the Uninstall button. This makes Windows rediscover the controller and give it another chance at using DMA modes.


Also, as a second and third opinion, use these online antivirus/antispyware/antirootkit scanners (use Internet Explorer for these scanners, since they're ActiveX-based):

F-Secure online scanner
Microsoft OneCare online scanner

You'd be surprised how much stuff one antivirus product can miss. So run these other ones and increase your certainty about it being clean. Like Lemon law said, posting your HijackThis log is another good idea.