Why My Operating System Works So Slow ?

[web_designer 7]

hi trappers,i reformatted my laptop a few days ago, my operating system is windows xp pro service pack 3, i have intel premium dual CPU 1.60 GHz and 1024 GB of RAM.usually after formatting everything work properly and fast. but this time the whole system is working real slow and freezes sometimes , even browsers freeze and show errors.?i have a trend micro internet security pro antivirus and scanned drive c:, but found nothing serious. i minimized the programs working in startup but also the same.?so if anyone has any idea or advice then i will be appreciated.?

[The Simpleton 2]

I believe this happened to me once during the 30+ times I had to format XP At that time I was too impatient to think of a solution and just went ahead and formatted it once again, and this time it worked fine. I'm guessing you're getting the errors because there might have been something wrong while the files were being copied/installed. There might be a faster method to fix this problem, but I'm just sharing my experience - another formatting session solved the problem for me. So keep that as a back-up plan if you don't get another solution

[Baniboy 3]

I'm not much of a hardware geek but maybe your hard drive is failing. Get software to check the condition of your hard drives. I think there are tools in the MBR to check the condition of the hard drives too, but I have vista and I'm not sure if those come with XP. ?Anyway, hard disks get things called "bad sectors" after some time in use. This all may of course be related to other issues. I also recommend opening up your laptop and dusting things out a little bit, once my computer couldn't run games properly because it had so much dust inside. And your laptop is getting pretty old (few years). You could however provide us with full specs of it if you can.?If you have an ubuntu LIve-CD, you can boot into it and select to "try ubuntu without installing" and then go to "System -> Administration -> Disk Utility". After the new window shows up, select your HDD in the list on the left and then look ?at the "Smart Status:" in the window. If it says healthy or is otherwise presented in green color, you're good.That's all I can say, I may be horribly wrong. I can smell the hardware geeks coming here to correct my mistakes already

[web_designer 7]

thank you simpleton and baniboy for your replies, i will wait for more suggestions and see what i am going to do. really don't want to reformat again but checking the hard for bad sectors seems a good idea. even i did that six months ago but who knows.

[OpaQue 15]

Do you have an Original up-to-date good Antivirus who gives SUPPORT?

If this ans is NO, Format your C Drive, Reinstall Drivers First and then Antivirus. Boot your PC. Install all NEEDED applications and Create a System restore point there. I recommend NOD or Kaspersky.

 

If this does not work, Go to PROGRAMS in control panel and un-install all programs which you no longer need.

 

Things you can Try :-

 

Defrag your PC

Remove un-necessary programs from Windows start Up.

Upgrade RAM

Get a Faster and Larger Hard-disk.

Go To System Control Panel and hunt for option -> Optimize Computer for Performance

Run a Windows Registry Cleaner (if you have changed a lot of programs in your computer - did lot of install/un-install)

I suggest having Partitions and 2 Windows Installations on your computer.

 

One for your SERIOUS work. ( can be linux too )

One for PLAY - installing games/applications/patches etc.

[rob86 2]

I don't imagine Webby could have done so much to her computer in a few days that it would require defragging and registry cleaning already.Some more information web_designer? Did you notice this slowness immediately after formatting? Is it worse or better than it was prior to formatting?Do you notice your "CPU Usage" shooting up when you experience the slow downs? You can check this in the windows task manager I think.. it's been a while since I've used XP. Does it seem like it's doing something when it's "frozen" or is it doing nothing? Keep that task manager window around and sort the list by CPU Usage so you can check it when you experience slowness for spyware, a virus or even a buggy software.You could try the Ubuntu Live-CD for a while to see how it works. It'd be a good way to see if it's a hard drive issue and it requires no installation. Just remember, running the Live-cd will be _a little_ slow because you're running an entire OS from your cd drive for testing purposes but it shouldn't freeze up.

[web_designer 7]

I don't imagine Webby could have done so much to her computer in a few days that it would require defragging and registry cleaning already.

true rob, i don't think that too, so mostly i will try the ubuntu live cd solution, but unfortunately, now, i found out that mine doesn't work so i will get another one and see.

about the slowness, i noticed it right after i reformatted, therefor i found it weird because usually my laptop still work great for months after formatting. and your advice about cpu usage is a good one, i forgot everything about that. i will check it and inform you the results. thank you guys you are always a great help .
Edited June 16, 2010 by web_designer (see edit history)

[Бојан 0]

Backup your most valuable data on USB or something simmilar... and format your system with new fresh copy of Windows XP. If you don't have original, you should use piracy one, download it on ThePirateBay via torrent. You PC cryes for new OS, because it has very very old registrys, data and stuff like that. Happy formating.

Notice from BuffaloHelp:

While we welcome any helpful suggestions, we do not recommend that you download pirated version of Windows to complete your task. Please use this user's comment with discretion.

[Saint_Michael 3]

Even though we somewhat talk about it and oyu had mention that you clean your computer out and reinstalled here are some factors to slow down.

Age -

Usually after 3-4 years your notice unexplainable slowdown and usually they can be pinpointed to the hard, especially the RAM and processor. These can replace easily on PC, laptops might require a little assistance, especially if its a name brand computer, well at least the Process you might need assistance for.

Registry -

Usually after years of uninstalling and installing software and what not the registry gets clogged up and can be part of the slow down. As for fixes there are no surefire programs out there that will clean up the registry effectively. However, CCleaner and Glary Utilities are some great, freee programs that do their job. Also, if you happen to be a McAfee Security Suite user, it can clean out your registry as well.

Running programs over a period time -

This issue is geared more towards browsers as they eat up memory over time and usually the quickest way to free up memory is to shut down the browser and start it back up again. Early versions of Firefox 3 had memory issues and so it is best to upgrade to current versions and turn off or uninstall extensions you no longer use. As for software it all depends on memory eating it does and so the best way to find out is to run Task Manager and note any programs that go over 50,000+ kb. Usually, if you running 4-5 programs that are over 50,000kb you will notice some slow down, but that of course depends on how much RAM your computer has. Remember Intel computers can have up to 3.5GB of RAM running while AMD can use the full 4GB and so remember that when it comes time replacing RAM.


Defrag -

Usually defragging your computer 6 to 12 months helps out in cleaning you computer out a bit, however, the windows defrag problem is horrible and so I recommend running Defraggler as it does a good job sorting files and making some room.


Boot -

Now hte boot process is were a major portion of the slow down happens and the best way to fix that is go through programs who run on boot and disable that. Or to do it quick and dirty download and install Soluto and it will let you know what causing the boot to take so long and give you the options to pause it or turn it off completely.

So these are some of the common problems to look out for and that is not including viruses, malware, spyware and if all else fails going with a fresh reinstall. Usually your do a reinstall every couple of years, but some recommend doing it once a year.

[bandias 0]

If you checked your hardware and it is OK , reformat your disk again , get a new clean version of Windows 7 (or XP if needed) , then try to install new driver updates ,defrag your partition , install anti-virus , scan all your partitions , and check if everything is faster.Maybe you got some crappy CD with bad version of your XP SP3 , specially if it has autoinstaller , and it has malware in it. It is very possible.

[anwiii 17]

WD- please just reformat again. i know it's a pain to reinstall everything but i can't possibly think that it is a hardware problem if you weren't experiencing this slowdown before the reformat. and make sure you reformat the hard drive and not just reinstall the operating system. there is a difference. the last suggestion saint michael had is also a good one. i always go through my startup programs and disable the ones i don't need to load. i don't know if you know how to do this manually or not. if not, use the program SM suggested.you need to know if your os and programs installed properly or not. i would reformat. if the slowdown persists, then you probably know it's something else that you need to be concerned about. reformatting and then reinstalling the os is your best option right now.

[web_designer 7]

WD- please just reformat again. i know it's a pain to reinstall everything but i can't possibly think that it is a hardware problem if you weren't experiencing this slowdown before the reformat. and make sure you reformat the hard drive and not just reinstall the operating system. there is a difference. the last suggestion saint michael had is also a good one. i always go through my startup programs and disable the ones i don't need to load. i don't know if you know how to do this manually or not. if not, use the program SM suggested.

you need to know if your os and programs installed properly or not. i would reformat. if the slowdown persists, then you probably know it's something else that you need to be concerned about. reformatting and then reinstalling the os is your best option right now.

thank you guys all of you for your help, i am really appreciated  .

till now i tried many of what you said but things still the same, i will try next the ubuntu live cd that bani mentioned, after that i will reformat again and see.

and anwiii, about disabling programs in startup is something i do every time i install a program, to prevent this program to work every time my windows loads, and it will be a good thing to do if my OS working slow only when windows starts, but the problem is my windows work slow all the time. anyway thank you for mention that and it seems that i will reformat again and see.

[The Simpleton 2]

till now i tried many of what you said but things still the same, i will try next the ubuntu live cd that bani mentioned, after that i will reformat again and see.

I know Bani mentioned the Ubuntu CD just to test your system configuration, but if you could switch to using Ubuntu that would be a much better option. Ubuntu never gets slow (it didn't for me in 2 years) and I've become so used to Ubuntu's speed that whenever I need to boot into Windows 7 I can hardly wait for the 30 seconds it takes for it to respond to commands (Ubuntu takes 2-3 seconds). Have you used/are you using Ubuntu (or Linux) before? If not, take a look in there when you're examining your system config. You won't regret it

[web_designer 7]

hi guys,i am happy to tell you that i reformatted, and did a registry cleaner and my laptop working fine now, at least much more better than before. maybe the wrong was in my windows installation. anyway,thank you all of you guys for your help.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

hi guys,i am happy to tell you that i reformatted, and did a registry cleaner and my laptop working fine now, at least much more better than before. maybe the wrong was in my windows installation. anyway,thank you all of you guys for your help.

That is definitely a possibility. I have had multiple times where I install an OS (even Linux) and it comes out corrupted or not fully installed. Sometimes it ends up in corrupted bootloaders (so the system won't load) and other times it's flat out missing required files to run programs.

Either way, you should reformat every 6-12 months to keep everything "refreshed."