It takes about 9 minutes for my old piece of crap to start up. I have ran all kinds of "cleaner" programs and while the performance gets better for a while the start just stays real slow. It feels like every program is starting up at the same time and lately simple multi-tasking seems to cause problems. Is there something that can be done about this or is the best advice just to buy a new computer?

Thanks,

CD

what OS is it running? what are its basic specs? what have you done to try to get it fixed up so far?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume from 'cleanup programs' that you're running Windows XP. Reinstall it and you'll be golden, aside from the annoyances of saving all your documents and programs. I don't know why XP is so much happier when reinstalled yearly...

While AnAppleSnail is probably correct and you need to re-install there are some other possible causes of your issue.

- Not enough RAM. Re installing won't really help much. How much memory are you using in task manager with all your usual programs running and how does this compare to what you have?

- Crappy Anti-virus or "security suite". These can kill your performance no matter how good your PC is. What AV program are you using?

- Infected with something? Goes with the point about crappy AV. Use something like Spybot Search and Destroy or Malwarebytes to scan your PC.

- Failing hard drive. A hard drive that is failing can make your PC seem slow before it actually starts reporting errors and losing data.

1. Clear your temp files manually.
2. Defragment your hard drive
3. Run msconfig go to the "Start-up tab" disable everything but antivirus.
4. I recommend either AVG (Vista, XP Home); but don't install LinkScanner because it slows the pc down more OR what I use, Avira. (XP Pro only)
_{the reason I recommend Avira for XP Pro is there is an annoying start-up screen you need the group policy editor to conveniently block it.}
5. Disable Indexing Services. (my computer...right-click...Drive:C...properties...UNCHECK "allow indexing services to index this disk for fast searching" ) The ONLY time you absolutely this enabled is when you use the windows backup wizard (this did throw me for a loop).
6. There are many guides as how to speed up your computer online. Google it.

Thanks,

I will try a few of those things first before I try the reinstall thing.

XP with 1.99 GHz 256 MB of Ram

Not exactly a Formula 1 machine but it has been good to me for many years

CD

You don't have enough RAM, plain and simple. If you want to get by on 256 MB you have to turn off everything that starts up automatically, including your AV.

Definitely not enough RAM. I wouldn't run Windows XP with less than 512mb.

If you've done nothing to the system since the last install of the OS, and it's getting slower, then, time for a clean reinstallation. Start from scratch. Preferably I do this one a year.

Oh and yeah, somre more memory would help.

I clicked off the start up stuff and it seems to work better and starts a bit quicker. For some reason both Yahoo and MSN messenger just crash after I start them now so I use yahoo 8.0 and no problems....

Guess I could try a lot of stuff and still come back to square one. Any special tips for reinstalling - I am like a newbie here figuring I will find a way to total the &#^$*%( thing!

lol

CD

I reinstalled, learned a few things, and everything is running fine now. Thanks to all who had some advise.

CD