xp starting to run reeeally slowly recently

[Phillip]

recently my xp has been really starting to "chug". just basic stuff like a new internet explorer window taking up to 8-10 seconds to draw up the window, etc.

i am not entirely sure if this might be because i have facebook open more! (first opened in december) ore i have also just installed itunes within the past month.

i often have my hauppauge digital tv running at the same time, but this hasn't had much effect in the past.

i am running a quiet cpu fan, but the heatsink feels reasonably cool


http://i19.photobucket.com/alb...quartzpb/processes.jpg

xp pro, sp2
athlon 2400+ (2GHz) 1GB ddr ram)

windows desktop set to classic windows (grey, not tellytubby_, and a lot of the effects turned off

swap file installed on physically different HDD to the system drive (both are 320

geforce 3 ultra 64mb video

yeh relatively dated system, but it should work ok !! whether it matters or not it's using tabbed browsing IE, but i dont really use the tab, i just open a new one up

also im on a "relatively" new install, probably about 4 months old.

 

[greyeyezz]

Try cutting back on some of your startup programs from msconfig for starters. Defrag lately? Spyware/virus scan?

 

[Phillip]

just nortan AV 2003 running on startup, and sweetIM by the looks of it (because, you know, you need photographs of dogs talking in your msn conversations - but i only put that on a couple of days ago)

nothing else in startup menu.

right now typical userage i have 5-6 IE windows open, excel, winTV, and winamp.

actually i've seen some (i'm told) badly written flash adverts take up a lot of cpu time but I try and be careful to keep those off the screen

did a defrag yesterday

 

[greyeyezz]

How full is your drive? I notice when my drive gets more than 50% full performance starts to dive.

 

[VinDSL]

Try CRAP CLEANER... :thumbsup:

I run this utility every day - several times a day, actually - on every machine I use!

It cures XP of its evil ways - dittos for W2K Pro and Vista...

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Phillip
just nortan AV 2003 running on startup

Get rid of Norton 2003. That's a five-year-old antivirus engine you're using. Get an up-to-date antivirus product of some kind and do a full scan. Also use the Secunia Personal Software Inspector to fix vulnerabilities.

Also, check your hard-disk controllers in Device Manager to see if any of them have slipped into PIO mode.