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System Performance Terrible, what to do?

By PENGUINSRULE ·
Hi,

My computer system performance is terrible, and I could use some help with what to do. I am running Windows XP. Here is a list of things I've already done:

I upgraded my memory to 1 GB
I increased the size of the pagefile to 2048/4096 from 384/892
I went to msconfig and I tried to remove anything from the startup that I didn't think belonged there, and there's still quite a few processes, but almost all of them have to do with either the system, Norton, or HP (which is my scanner, and my all-in-one printer/fax/copier/scanner - both HP devices are must haves and I can't work without them.) I'm running Norton Anti-virus, Internet Security (but the internet security subscription expired a while back), and Norton Utilities.
I've removed anything from the system tray that I didn't have to have.
I've cleaned up my disk the best I can, I'm about 80% free. I run the defragger on a regular basis.
I've run the Norton Utilities routines that fix the disk and windows problems.
I've run Ad-Aware to remove any Spyware.

I think that's it, I've done a lot already. It still runs terrible, and the system is only about a year and a half old, so it isn't a really old system. Any ideas are certainly appreciated.

Thanks!

Rick

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by CG IT In reply to System Performance Terrib ...

performance is terrible relative to what?

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by PENGUINSRULE In reply to

Just plain SLOW, Super SLOW - compared to how I think the computer should run I guess, I don't know how to describe this I guess. But this doesn't help me, Answer #2 gave me lots of things to try.

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by Oz_Media In reply to System Performance Terrib ...

When you say it runs terrible, what do you mean exactly, it crashes, it hangs, it starts slow, it is just SLOW?

Personally, other than what you HAVE done already, I despise Norton anything and would ditch it for something more resoucefuil and efficient such as the FREE AVG antivirus, it doesn't expire and auto updates on schedule. You MAY have a trojan or worm in your PC still that is undetected. A good trojan scanner is always a good idea, or your browser may be hijacked.

AVG FREE Antivirus: (You'll never buy Norton again.)
http://www.grisoft.com

Protect against a browser hijack:
Hijack Blaster: http://tinyurl.com/2jd42

Also I would suggest performing some of the free online trojan scans (simple search for "Trojan removal"). Most scanners will scan for free but everyone expects you to pay for trojan tools as they are a big hit right now. Just identify the trojan and the search for the name with 'removal' after it. IE: "name of trojan removal"

You will get many options free cleaners and removal instructions.

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by Oz_Media In reply to

Firewalls: Zone Alarm used to be the way to go but the free version is nothing but a major *** pain now, unless you don't mind spending all that time training it and hoping it will not further slow your system as it usually does.

There used to be quite a few with good free versions but I haven't seen one worth my while in some time without paying for Pro versions.

I find the easiest way with a home PC is just to go and buy a cheap router $100.00 and use Port Address Translation or a built in hardware firewall. PAT has worked fine on my utility boxes for gaming surfing garbage etc. I wouldn't recommend it or other retail offerings on a server but for general home computnig where you are not storing documents for the White House, there's no real problem with hackers as there is with spyware and trojans. A simple PAT programmed router will stop most trojans being effective and will mask you IP from outsiders for the most part.

Many people go overkill with the whole hacker paranoia, but if YOU were hacking would you bother wasting time to get into some highly infected white box in somebody's basement unless you KNEW there was data you wanted?

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by PENGUINSRULE In reply to

Poster rated this answer.

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by ptreadway In reply to System Performance Terrib ...

Go to www. blackviper.com and check out windows xp services,the list will show a lot of services that are not needed.After that go to www.majorgeeks.com,click on miss. and download Boot VIS,this will speed up the start up.

Hope this helps.

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by PENGUINSRULE In reply to

Poster rated this answer.

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by thorbjorn.fredh In reply to System Performance Terrib ...

I think there is spyware or adware in your machine. Try to download and run adaware, pestpatrol, spybot or something else. You will find them at download.com

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by PENGUINSRULE In reply to

Poster rated this answer.

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by CompuDoctor In reply to System Performance Terrib ...

You may have a hardware conflict. Go to System Properties>Hardware>Device Manager, and see if there are any question marks/exclamation marks/red x's. If not, try downloading the latest drivers for all your periferal devices and reload them.

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