Cleanup of computer [Windows XP]

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From: Huub on 5 Feb 2010 03:33

Hi,

I want to cleanup a Windows XP computer that has become rather slow. I
already ran defrag. What can I do more and how?

Thanks.

From: Pegasus [MVP] on 5 Feb 2010 06:44

"Huub" <v.niekerk_@_hccnet.nl> said this in news item
news:4b6bd7be$0$23917$e4fe514c(a)dreader16.news.xs4all.nl...
> Hi,
>
> I want to cleanup a Windows XP computer that has become rather slow. I
> already ran defrag. What can I do more and how?
>
> Thanks.

Defrag won't make much of a difference but weeding out the many unnecessary
startup tasks visible in msconfig.exe will. Remember also that your virus
scanner can place a big burden on your CPU, as can a third-party firewall
such as ZoneAlarm.

From: Craig Coope on 5 Feb 2010 06:58

On 05 Feb 2010 08:33:02 GMT, Huub <v.niekerk_@_hccnet.nl> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I want to cleanup a Windows XP computer that has become rather slow. I
>already ran defrag. What can I do more and how?
>
>Thanks.

How full is the Hard Drive?

If it's too full it can cause slow down as your swap file space gets
eaten up.

If you're comfortable with it I'd back up what you want to keep and
format the HD and reinstall Windows. Just remember to have all your
installation CDs ready and your Windows Key at hand.

--
The Zero ST

From: Jim on 5 Feb 2010 08:13

From: Daave on 5 Feb 2010 08:37

Huub wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I want to cleanup a Windows XP computer that has become rather slow. I
> already ran defrag. What can I do more and how?

Here are the usual causes of sluggishness:

1. Malicious software (malware). You need to rule this out first! This
page has excellent information:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Viruses_Malware

2. Certain programs that are designed to combat malware (e.g., Norton
and McAfee). Ironically, they can slow things down because they simply
use way too many resources. Sometime they cause conflicts with other
programs. And their default mode is to scan your entire hard drive each
time you boot up. Fortunately, there are other antimalware programs
available that use far fewer resources (e.g., NOD32, Avast, and Avira).

3. Too many of certain types of programs always running in the
background -- with or without your knowledge. (Then again, many programs
that run in the background have trivial consequences.)

To determine every program and process you are currently running, use
the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Processes tab. You should
be able to sort by CPU usage or Memory usage to get a good ideas which
ones are the resource/memory hogs. You should write down the names of
all the processes for future detective work (or take a snapshot and
print it out).

Use these sites to determine what these programs are and to learn how to
configure them not to always run at startup:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#THE_PROGRAMS
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

Sometimes it is recommended to use msconfig to configure the programs to
not run at startup. A better, more thorough program is Autoruns:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

But before you do this, you should use the preference settings of the
program in question. Otherwise, for some programs, they will return to
the startup list anyway!

If you do wish to use msconfig, it may be accessed this way:

Start | Run | type "msconfig" (without the quotation marks) | Enter (or
OK)

4. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the pagefile. A
quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager
(Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three values
under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit,
and Peak.

The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that
very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory you
used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of
Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM.
In case you want to explore this further, you may run Page File Monitor
for Windows XP:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

5. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode
didn't change from DMA to PIO:

http://www.technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/

and

http://users.bigpond.net.au/ninjaduck/itserviceduck/udma_fix/

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