Sluggish system

[Scarey]

Hey folks.Got a bit of an issue here.My system is very sluggish.I've done a defrag,scanned for viruses with mcaffee.I looked in Windows Task Manager.It says there are 63 processes going as of right now.Is that the norm?

If not that would explain it.Any advice would be appreciated.Thanks

 

[SunocoOil]

Ctrl Alt Delete

Are you the only User? IF not close out the others.

You should only have around 45 processes...so check those out in Task Mamager. If you got a bug in there..you can delete it, but it might pop back up.

Download free - 'Registry Mechanic'. Load it up and scan you files. It gets rid of Duplicates..etc etc

Download SPYBOT. Excellent program to dump spyware and pfishing stuff.

If all else fails...Look at Windows Task manager again. Do you recognize all the files that are open. If not..Google the file and you will find what its all about.

I also have AVG. free Antivirus..Download the free version. I got rid of Norton (Cause Norton and those others use a lot of Bandwidth). AVG free home version is excellent.

Finally...Is OS windows corrupt. You may want to reinsert the disc and reload windows...without a scrub. AMight be a small file missing that is slowing things.

Good Luck

 

[Scarey]

Thanks for the input.I'm running windows XP.Assuming that is what system you were referrng to with the 45I will try some of your suggestions.Thank you.

 

[thirdtime]

45 is still WAY too many processes running in the background if you're just on the desktop!!!
It should be around 30. Preferably less.

 

[WoodPeckr]

It should be around 30. Preferably less.

Agreed.
I have 19 processes running right now on desktop, 20 when a browser is launched.
I run XP Pro on an old Pent II 400 MHZ PC and it's running pretty nice.
Of course I keep it cleaned and tuned up.
CCleaner is a great free little utility that clears out much of the crap that accumulates while running Windows. It also cleans your registry.

Click on;
start > run > then type, msconfig in the box, then click OK, then click on the 'startup' tab, to see what's running when you startup your PC.
This will tell you what starts up everytime you bootup.
I have nothing checked here. I unchecked everything.

If you're running any 'widgets' or if you have several icons active on your lower right Taskbar next to the clock, that will slow you down. All that crap uses up PC resources.
Norton & McAfee are pretty bloated also. I dumped them both and use Avast now. Avast is free and uses less PC resources than Norton or McAfee.
Been using Avast since last September with NO problems.

 

[Craps7]

All really good ideas here, but for a sluggish system don't forget spyware being the most common problem.

I recommend adaware and spybot. Both are free.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,22262-page,1/description.html

 

[Radio_Shack]

Check your CPU and memory utilization. Control-Alt-delete and click on Performance tab. See if the CPU is busy or if you have exausted your memory. Maybe you need some more memory and you are paging/swapping to disk. Is the disk light going crazy when you try and do something (lack of memory)?

I have 1GB of memory and total used is around 600K on my system but I do a lot of stuff so I have lots of windows open. My system is tuned to perfection. It only really gets slow when i have a lot of torrents downloading (50+). I am working on this issue...

 

[ontheroadagain11]

I have somewhat of the same problem.
When I run Spybot or Avg after running so far my computer shut's itself off.
I'm prety sure it's some kind of adware but my Adaware doesn't catch it.
Any idea's?

 

[Scarey]

I downloaded windows defender from microsoft.The free version of spybot I got was good for scanning but for removing them you had to upgrade to the paid version.

Craps7, I could not see the link listed for the free adaware software.Most of the ones suggested were a free trial which consisted of a scan which provided evidence of spyware(for instance SPYBOT showed 26 seperated tags of spyware) but after that they ask you to buy it.Any chance this is just a hook to buy the product?.If i knew it was the real deal I would upgrade for sure.My system is running faster but you can still tell it's sluggish and the memory seems to dissappate pretty fast if you have say 4 windows open.It's a 330 intel processor, 256 MB,80GB

 

[thirdtime]

Are you sure you installed 'Spybot - Search & Destroy'? There is no upgrade to a 'paid version', it's totally free.

For Ad Aware;
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-20...045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5
During the installation it will ask for a serial number. Just click cancel for the free version.

 

[WoodPeckr]

My system is running faster but you can still tell it's sluggish and the memory seems to dissappate pretty fast if you have say 4 windows open.It's a 330 intel processor, 256 MB,80GB

Sounds like you have a Pent II like me.
Get more Ram if you can, max it out. 256 MB Ram isn't much, especially if you run XP. More Ram will help Win98 run better to. You can never have too much memory.
How full is your 80GB HD? When you get over 80% full you HD can bog down some causing sluggishness.

 

[thirdtime]

Sounds like you have a Pent II like me.

An Intel 330 processor is a Celeron D running at 2.66 GHz

I agree memory-wise, 256 MB is a little under powered for XP. More is better and memory is now relatively cheap. Add a stick of 512 MB or 1 GB. You won't believe the difference.

 

[Horney_Senior]

I haven't seen anybody yet advising him to clean out the 'temp' files. I'm not just referring to the temporary internet files here either, although you should get those cleaned periodically.

Location of the TEMP folder can vary by operating system, and there can be more than one.

I found three TEMP folders on my XP system.
1. C:\TEMP
2. C:\Windows\TEMP
3.The last one might be harder to find. Under Documents and Setting there is your user folder, and within that a folder called 'Local Settings'. This is one of the hidden folders, so you might have to do the old Tools/Folder Options/View and click on 'Show Hidden Files and Folders'. The last TEMP folder is hidden in there.

I try to make it a habit to clean out those folders on a regular basis, then run spybot, adaware and defrag in that order.

 

[ontheroadagain11]

Anyone have any idea's on how I can get mine running right?
I don't mean to hijack this thread,I was going to post my own problem's when I saw this thread.

 

[Horney_Senior]

Anyone have any idea's on how I can get mine running right?
I don't mean to hijack this thread,I was going to post my own problem's when I saw this thread.

Can you describe in somewhat more detail what is 'wrong'?

 

[ontheroadagain11]

When I try to run Spybot or AVG they run so far and then my computer shut's off.
No warning or anything it just shut's off.

 

[thirdtime]

Some of the worse stuff out there will try and protect itself from removal.
Boot your system in 'Safe Mode' (tap the F8 key during boot) and try running Spybot and AVG then.

 

[ontheroadagain11]

How do I go about getting into safe mode?

 

[Radio_Shack]

How do I go about getting into safe mode?

Use a condom.

sorry, seriously follow this:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm

 

[ontheroadagain11]

Well I tried to scan in safe mode doing it with both Spybot and AVG and my computer shut down the same way both time's.
Anything else I can ty?