my PC is getting slower

I would do the usual things, clean out the temp and temporary internet files, run defrag and scandisk also check to see what other task or processes are running that are sapping your processing power and stop those that are unnecessary. Hope this helps.

Fragmentation of files is what usually causes system slowdowns. Every time you run a program, open a file, it leaves data fragments on various sections of the drive. Over time, the data is dispersed in such a way that Windows needs to effectively seek out the corresponding data. Also, as previously stated, the temp files folder tends to backlog. Also, temporary internet files can get a little packed too. Depending on how often you reboot your PC also affects performance over time.

Windows Scandisk and defrag are a mere waste of time. Run Norton Utilities Speed disk, same concept as defrag, only more thorough and takes less time.

Good Luck! :)

Run the hard drive defrag tool

Format it. That cleans out all of the gunk (it also destroys the system) THings that are TSRs, like virus scanners, MSN, etc use some processing. Try and rempove the extraneous junk form the machine (Sorry if the typings bad, ive been doing assignments - and my fingers hurt) bu checking the CTRL-ALT-DEL list.

Have you checked you virtual memory settings?

Even though Window will tell you it's a bad idea for you to manually set the VM, you probably want to do it.

Window will not clean up the memory swapping place so it can wind up spending a lot of time thrashing even though you may appear to have lots of available RAM! (Go figure!)

Anyway, what I do on my machine is set the virtual memory space to be exactly double the size of my real memory. That means setting both the minimum and maximum size to that value. It's help my machines tremendously!

Good luck!
Steph

There could be multiple reason but i would suggest:

1. See if your PC's Memory needs an upgrade.

2. Your hard disk's condition too can be a reson. try getting a new one only if your h/d is been used for more than two years (it would surely need replacement if thats the case) try geetin one with a highr RPM
3. Well last but not the least May be its time to get some fine tuning done to your applications. Antivirus programs or other Memory Hog applications should be immediately tuned.

Hope it helps

You need to free up your system resources. You can check what resources are being used by pressing crtl+alt+del anything that is on the close program list is using resources. check them all any that you are not using close or even delete that fileif it is necessary. The more system resources you have the faster your computer will be. Usually you will find many unnecessary programs running. Hope this helps.

you've gotten a lot of good advice so far. Something else to consider is how many times has scandisk ran and have you ever cleaned up the files it leaves behind? These are files which start with the name file####.tmp where the #### is a number 0001, 0002, ... They will fall into your windows\temp directory or your windows directory or your c:\. Wherever they are they are a waste of your system resources. Next defrag is a good thing and the virtual memory setting being double your real memory is also a good rule of thumb with both max and min set to it. It also wouldn't hurt to have that swap file located on a drive seperate from your operating system.
Another rule of thumb is your hard disk should not be more than 50% full or you need more disk space. To know what is running hit ctrl-alt-del. It also wouldn't hurt to run ad-aware which you can download from www.lavasoftusa.com. And if you read a few other of the hard disk issues in here you'll see a url to get system-mechanic oryou can do a search for it, they have a free 30 day trial and the download is around 1.57 meg. It would probably do a good job on cleaning up your registry. I believe it was www.iolo.com but I'm not possitive on that. Hope this helps.

in and amongst the other answers, are the answers.
firstly with a cpu "processor" 850 its ideal if you have amin of 128 ram "sdram" reson being the cpu has room to work in.
to make sure your ram is not clogging click on "start" then "run" type in "msconfig" click on "startup" tab, if you have been running your pc for a while with all different packages on you'll most deffinatly find a list quicte long in there.
check "off" the ones you dont want running at startup ""this list is what the cputhinks the ram may need to hold whilst your using your pc, by checking off what you dont want to run this will reduce the cpu/rams running tasks so the cpu can run faster"".
if you don't have 128mb ram upgrade is recomendable you can try the cache/vitula memory but its not been proven to agreatly improve speed all this is for is if the cpu has a shortage of ram it will use a designated size and area of your hdd as ramthis is the next trick if not already done.
right click on "my computer", "properties" in device manager click properties for your main cd rom and hdd(not controllers) click on "setting"and then check on "dma" in both/all drives (if applicable).
this is known as direct memory access it basically giving the cpu permision to run the show faster ie cdrom, hdd.
finally when scandisking use thorough & auto fix click on advanced in the area labled cross link files select ignore this prevent causing damage to any of your file be it system or cv, then in the area of lost filefragments click on free reason being as you install or uninstall software the cpu leaves fragments of file behind be it just name or a number, this should be done 1 or2 times a month min.
then last but not laest make sure you remove any software by add/remove, if you dont look in that area for software you may have removed awhile ago and then re-remove this also can take up space.

hope this info is of any use to you.

I have the same problem and I tried almost above advices but improvement was very little. I would suggest you use Norton Win doctor which will remove unused registry entries they slow you down because they don't know where to go. It works for me for 1 month then my PC slows down again. Is it integrated motherboard? Check for conflicts.

If your machine is Windows 98, ME and even 95. Start/Run/msconfig and take any unnecessary files off the start up group. Even though you have nothing on start-up, it also have files starting in the background. Always clean up your temp files, and run defrag afterwards. Good Luck.

If you have tried all the usual: diskclean, scandisk and defrag and your system is still running slow, then the solution is to back up your data, fdisk, partition and reformat the hard drive, and reload the operating system. It always work to beginfrom scratch. Windows tends to retain a lot of junk files and unused registry entries regardless of what you do. Also, when you are installing new programs refrain from letting these programs place entries in your startup if it is not absolutly necessary. This reduces the speed and effectiveness of your random access memory.

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