Windows XP Slow Down

[SoulRiva]

After I installed Windows XP i started to experience a slowing down issue. At first the PC is running fine with no slow downs at all. Then for some reason, depending on how many things i load things start to not work or slow down. I can't right click anymore and some programs freeze up. Then if i manage to close some programs off, some of the things begin to work again, like programs can now be closed or the right click function returns. I'm guessing it's a resource issue, but why does it constantly eat up so much resources, when I'm just doing some simple tasks. Browsing the web, using winamp, and downloading. ANy help would be appreciated, Thanx in advance.

 

[Bacinator]

How much memory do you have?
How big is your hdd, what is it's speed + cache, and how full is it?
Is your startup folder full of junk you dont need? Check in task manager, and see what processes are hogging your CPU time, slowing stuff down.

 

[Bacinator]

And it also sounds a bit like:
I drive a VW Bug, and the more fat chicks I put in it, the slower it goes. Any ideas?

Hehehe.. Couldn't help it, but it might also be normal, in your configuration. Windows XP is a memory hoe. I got 1 gig of PC2700 RAM, Overclocked and when I scope my resources, it is common to have only about half availible, while running NO programs other than XP itself, and the normal startup/background stuff.

 

[WildMonkeyLover]

XP slowdown after installing is a very real problem.
XP is power hungry for as much ram as it can use by itself. After loading
numerous programs and if the machine has only 128mb of physical mem
installed things slow down do the the paging file workload. With 512 mb of
ram you will see the performance speed pick up.

If you have 512 megs or more of memory, you can increase system performance
by having the core system kept in memory.

1.. Start Regedit
2.. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session
Manager\Memory Management\DisablePagingExecutive
3.. Set the value to be 1
4.. Reboot the computer

 

[Wiseguy69]

I'm having the same prob with 256mb, just bought 256 more due from Newegg next week. If you hit CTRL-ALT-DEL you can see your system resources... I had like 60mb left right after restart. No room for any programs to run well.

 

[SoulRiva]

hey thanx alot guys, but before anythign I tried upgrading my mem from 256 to two sticks of 512. ANd the problem is still persisting. Right now i'm trying the thing wildmonkeylover told me and see if that helps. Also do any of you guys know of any programs that can disable processes in the windows task manager. I'm trying out wintask and such, but it doesn't appear that wintask can disable them from start up. Again thanx for the help guys, Appereciate it.

 

[SoulRiva]

also, i'm not sure if it's supppose to be like this, but the system cache is constantly going up, even when the computer is idle it just keeps increasing.