PC Performance

check for old devices, old devices that are slower then well...i mean no really old devices on it like an ancient hd or like a legacy isa card

Check the cabling ... something could have come lose inside. Make sure the drivers for MB and BIOS are up to date for the OS.

-Dave

how is the virus protection? many virus' will kill performance. and check the Performance tab to make sure she doesn't have any drives running in compatibility mode? everything is running slow, yes? not just opening my computer? good luck.,

Do some nosing around, check for and erase .tmp files, how many files are in the windows directory, over 512 is a performance killer, erase the temp directory files, Reset the virtual memory/ swap file to a couple different settings to reinitialize it. Down load and run adaware from lavasoft.de. What operating system again?
run sfc from the start/run command line to check out the system files. download and run regclean?
Run a copy of nortons windoctor.
And as a last resort, Backup important data, fdisk, format, reload. Make sure you have the latest drivers for all peripherals and the motherboard before you do this though.
Good Luck!

My guess would be a virus on system, probably "Klez and or ElKern" virus. Many system I have been working on as of late have same syntoms as you.

Try to boot with a Windows 98 Startup disk. Does it take long time to read the floppy?
If it does, you have either the HD or motherboard (M/B) gone bad.
To check if it is the HD, disconnect the HD and connect with a known good HD. Boot with a Win98 disk.
If it boots at normal speed, you got a bad HD.
If it is still slow, you got a bad M/B.

If it is the HD, save your data and do a low level format. It is worth a try to reuse the HD.

Hi

Is the hard drive running in DOS compatibility mode? Right click My Computer anbd select properties, click the Device Manager tab, drill down into disk drives then selct the relevant entry. If it is running in this mode your computer will c-r-a-w-l along.

To fix it, try renaming your config.sys and autoexec.bat files so that DOS drivers don't load, if this does not fix it search for the following TechRepublic article:

Solve MS-DOS Compatibility Mode problems on PCI IDE controllers with these troubleshooting tips

Also, make sure you only have the required network ptotocols installed - too much traffic can slow things down. Has the drive been compressed? I experienced a severe reduction in performance on a machine once after it was compressed.

Also, make sure that the Temp and My Documents folders are not filled with loads of files. If so, create new folders off My Documents and redistribute the files.

Good luck.

Make sure the CPU & other fans are running well & providing enough cooling and the room temp isn't excessive (78 degrees or higher). After grounding yourself on the case with both hands for a few seconds w/ the cover off and access to the CPU area, or using a ground strap properly. Try the finger temp. test by touching the heatsink w/ a finger, can you leave the finger there? Does it feel ike more than 104-106 degrees in temp? If you can't, or it feels higher than that the CPU is overheating and will run very slow (higher the temp, slower the performance). Intel has perfected that process to keep the CPU from smokin'& dyin'. Even the P4 has that great capability of slowing down if you remove the heatsink & fan whereas others go up in smokein a flash. You will notice that overheat problem w/ other CPU's due to that black screen, smoke pouring out of the box & polluting your immediate atmosphere, the coughing & cussing, & most of all the cost as you upgrade your entire system, etc.

With the intel CPU's that overheat you just notice that crawling pace & the cussing. Try the other suggestions, but this is my 2 cents worth.

Good Luck.

mmm... system slow? mmm... if we are using a win9x, winME and winXP... we can try to click on [start]... [run]... and type [msconfig] and then click on [diagnostic start up]... if this resolve the issue... this can be a startup program issue or a registry problem.... you can also try to trace the program that causing it by going to [startup] tab and enabling and disabling programs on startup... on can also enable autoexec and config.sys on msconfig... on w2k, we can try download a msconfig fileon the net and do the same....

if this didn't resolve the issue... could be bad IDE cable, or HD... or we can swap the connector of secondary and primary IDE controllers... if this work we have a bad IDE controller on the motherboard

we can try to run diagnostics on HD and other device such motherboard... we can also check device manager on this matter... we can also strip down the system and uninstall all the expansion cards... we can also swap IDE cable of the CDROM drive..

if everything fails... we can make a overwrite install / repair install on the OS... however this can lead to some data / setting lost... :D

I would go to system information/tools/start up and see what programs are running. delete the check mark against those that u do not want to run.

all else fails, f disk, format and rinstall your operating system. rmember to backup all your important files first

Check all removable drives for media first!!
I'd run disk doctor, sounds like your FAT tables might not match. If Disk doctor can't fix it, download the diagnostic util from the drive maker, sometimes that can fix it or, it might just tell you that the drive is a "former" drive. Antivirus and spyware scans are next, then a search for .tmp, .chk and ~*.* files.

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