How do I get my PC back in shape?

I tried a European program called "Ashampoo Winoptimiser 3", of which there is a newer version "4". Ths little program cleans out all old files in the registry, the hard drive and other storage spaces. I have found it speeded up my own computer dramatically! Like yourself I get annoyed at having to wait while things boot up etc. All I need to do is use this program about once a week to keep on top of things.
Maybe in the US you will have another type of file cleaner that could have the same job.
Happy cleaning!

i think that the first thing to do is sort all those file you have in your pc. you need select wht you consider important and what is not important to you; place those important files in a new folder and select them again many times when i intend to clean my computer i select plenty of files: docs,pdfs,mp3s and the list continues at the end i realize that i am just copying all those files that are not really important to me so i have to do it again and all of a sudden i find that the rest is just rubbish. So select 'em again and burn those files in a cd then delete the rest because they are occupying that vital storage space that your pc needs. Another necessary task is to uninstall all those programs that you no longer use them.
Once you have got rid of those useless files, you need to use a tool that comes with windows called defragmentation, you can find it doing right click on any of the hard disks, if you have more that one and then selecting properties after that you will see the name: tools make click on it and select defragmentation, but what does this tool exactly do? well you need to imagine a room very dirty and untidy where you can not find any more those things that you need to use, after several hours of cleaning you have assigned a proper place for every one of those items that at the beginning were scattered all over the place. So at the end you will save a lot of time and you will be able to find any item at no time, this is defragmentation. Bye the way, this process almost always takes some time so you have to let it work, i recommend not to use the pc when the program is running. This will help the pc to complete the task successfully. On the other hand, the other option is to give format to your hard disks and erase all the info and reinstall windows, but to do this you need to back up all your files and look for the cd drivers that comes with your pc or if you do not have any cd that contains the drivers of your pc, visit the manufaturer's web page of the pc and download all the drivers that you will need: video, sound, and lan drivers then you will be ready to do it, one more thing i forgot to mention that you need an xp cd to do it, jaja well good luck

Sadly, It's time to replace your existing system or seriously update it. Seeing how you claim you're not a tech head (I'm not also), I would have to recommed replacement of your system. Your computer is probably full of spyware and other useless programs which operate in the background "ALL THE TIME" utilizing valuable system resources.
You can download freeware such as "spybot" and others to remove spyware from CNET.

Another trick for you to try is:
1. Click Start
2. Select Run
3. Enter: msconfig
4. Select OK
5. Select "Startup" tab located in top of the box
6. Select Disable all
7. Click Apply
8. Then select re-boot now from the pop up box.

When the computer reboots it will point out that changes were made to your system. Just select ignore future messages "or something like that." What you have just done is stopped unnecessary programs from booting up with the operating system when you turn on your computer, saving vital resources for your applications. This should work for a while until you can purchase a new system.

Tom

Ok heres a small list of what you are going to need, first download these few titles if you havnt already got them :
Adaware SE Personal Edition
Spybot SD
Regcure
AVG Antivirus Free edition
And find your master XP disk if you have one.

1. Click on start and run and enter : msconfig ,go to the startup tab and delete any ticks, ok that and it will ask you to restart. when you get back to desktop you will get a notice that you have changed the startup ,just tick the box so that you dont get it again.

2. run Adaware SE and run any updates ,then run a full scan, this will remove any malware from your computer, this is a big culprit for slowing machines.
now, run Spybot SD and updates then run a full scan ,this when run aside Adaware SE will fish out any malware that tried to escape (no survivors).

3.OK so now thats the malware out of the way we need to address any viruses that might be lurking.
First it would be a good idea to turn off the System Restore facility to stop any viruses hiding after a scan so click start and right click my computer, select properties/system restore and turn it off

Fire up AVG Antivirus run the updates then run a full scan and remove them pesky little critters erm viruses yes.

Ok now were nearly at the end ,hopefuly you have a windows disk ,well put it in ,click start and run and type in sfc/ scannow ,it will then scan your computer and replace any system files that have changed or that are corrupt.

When that is done restart your computer ,click start and right click my computer, select properties/system restore and turn it back on again.

If you havnt already done so bring your computer fully up to date with microsoft updates ,once done you can set it so that it automaticaly downloads them and installs them ,I know it takes a while and theres a lot ,were talking about your security ,cummon get it done.

Ok there you have it ,your computers back as it should be ,now look after it ,keep them programs up to date and run scans weekly ,fortnightly ,its up to you. If you want to spend some money then most of the above programs gan be upgraded so that security is all run in the background without any intervention from you.

So theres no reason for your computer to get in such a mess again or I'l be back, have fun

Hi Sandy.
1) I would upgrade memory to at least 500MBytes.
2) Update Virus protection before running any software on the Internet. AVG Free is excellent and easy to install from the Grisold web site. Then use 'Windows uninstall' to remove old virus software - especially Norton or MacAfee which slow computers to a snailpace. 3) Buy 'Mechanic 7' at a store or from www.iolo.com - install it and run it to clean-up your machine.
4) You should now be OK. Go on line to Microsoft and update your XP operating system and any other important installed software.
5) Set XP,Mechanic 7, virus and anti-spam programs for automatic updates; then sitback and enjoy your revitalized computer! Matthew

Hi Sandy glad to know you are done cleaning your house. So now it's time to do some cleaning in your two-year old Dell computer. Before you upgrade make sure you have backed up all your important files that includes your pictures, music any thing that is important and you need them. You can back your files on CD or a DVD if you have a CD-DVD Writer or you can backup your files on a USB flash drive (a.k.a) Thumb drives. Once you have backed up your files now it's time to do some cleaning inside your computer. It's very simple just open your case and vacuum all those dust balls that have accumulated over the months. You can also use a air-pressured can to blow of those tiny dust balls ensure it's made for computers. Beside vacuum and air-pressured a brush is also handy. Just make sure you don't use any liquid to clean. When you feel that inside your computer is pretty clean you can shut the case but before you do that it's time to upgrade and make your computer mighty fast so it won't take XP an eternity. The best possible upgrade is to add more memory sticks or RAM. Your computer has 200MB I suggest you add another 512 MB at least to get the speed up. Before you purchase your memory sticks determine what kind of memory your computer support. Today's computer supports either SD-RAM's or DDR or DDR2. If you have hard time determining your type of memory you can remove you current memory sticks which are located front of the big fan you see inside your computer. They pretty much looks like thin chocolate bars with golden strips at the bottom. Well once you get your memory sticks you can add them with your current memory sticks therefore if you purchase a 512 MB memory you will have in total (200 MB + 512 MB = 712 MB) now you can add more if you want but you have to check the maximum your computer can support. Well now it's time to shut the case put the screws back and turn it on. Once you have turned on now you want to tune your computer little bit more use the defragment utility to defragment your hard drive. Defragment utility which can be found in your Start menu/Accessories/System tools. Also you can use disk clean up which is found in the same place as Defragmentaion to remove those un-used temporally files. I hope these few steps will give you the speed boost to your two year old baby Dell....

Several things you can do Sandy.
Run disk cleanup and disk defragmenter.Find both of these in accesories-system tools on your start menu.
Then click Start-Run.In the run box type %temp%,click ok.Delete the files you find there.If Windows says a file is in use,note it,then highlight and delete those files either side of it.Disk cleanup only removes temp files of a certain age.Doing this step clears a lot of junk out.
Click Start-Run again.This time type in Prefetch and click ok.Delete all the files in that folder.
Have you removed a lot of programs over time?Or are there any you can remove that you no longer use?Given that most programs can leave bits of themselves behind click Start-All programs-Accessories-Windows Explorer.Look for leftover files from the programs you have removed and delete those.
See if any of that helps.It usually does.Especially %temp%,that particular folder can get choked.

There a couple of free bits of software I have found very useful, namely "Ad-Aware se" and "Registry Mechanic" just type them into your search engine and it will give you numerous places to download them for free. Run them once a week and you will see a dramatic improvement. The free versions won't clean everything up but it is fairly cheap to get the paid for versions that are obviously better still. Get the free ones first and see how you go. Good luck.
Paul E

Hi Sandy,

I would guess you're saying the hard disk has 200GB capacity, which is a reasonable size. The first thing to do is to check that there is enough free hard disk space for your computer to run smoothly. Open my computer, right click on your hard disk (the C: drive) and choose properties. A window should come up with a pie chart showing how much free space there is. If the amount of free space shown is under about 500Mb (that's about 0.5Gb) Then you really need to free up some space. First thing to try is to run the disk cleanup wizard - click the "disk cleanup" button under the pie chart. Tick all the options and proceed. This may take a long time as it will compress any files on your hard disk that you haven't used in a long time. If you need to access these files again there will be a tiny delay in opening them, but compared to the performance improvement you'll get from freeing up hard disk space, it is totally insignificant.

If you still have a shortage of space, go through my documents and look for big files like photos, music, video etc that you can delete, or burn them onto CD/DVD before deleting them if you want to keep a copy somewhere but don't need to access them regularly.

Uninstall any programs you don't use, particularly games, which use a lot of hard disk space. You can do this in the "add/remove programs" control panel.

Next, when you're done freeing up hard disk space, go to the "tools" tap and click the "check now" button. I'd recommend that you tick both boxes and click start. This will take a long time but will check that your hard disk is healthy. Hard disk problems can cause long pauses when your computer has to access data on the hard disk and could be a cause of your problems.

Next, and again, in the "tools" tab, click "defragment now" and follow the options. Defragmenting the hard disk can really speed up computers, and should be done regularly, say once every couple of months if you don't use your computer too regularly.

Those are some free options, (though they can be time consuming) the next thing to try would be to upgrade the RAM (memory) in the computer. This is the memory that the computer uses to actually do things, and is emptied when the computer is switched off, whereas the hard disk stores things like documents, and the files needed to make your computer work.

Good luck,

Dave

first u can copy your file on to another drive and format the whole pc .after that make sure you run your anti virus update at least every morning .thanks a lot

Hello Sandy

What you need is a maintenance schedule, one you can run each week.

What I reccommend to people is Wincare One Click which will remove all sorts of junk from your system just by clicking on one button. It clears the temp and junk files as well as broken internet shortcuts, registry problems amongst others.

Once that program has completed, you then need to run Disk Defragmenter which you can access from the following: Click on START, then ALL PROGRAMS, go to ACCESSORIES and then DISK DEFRAGMENTER. When you have the program open, highlight your hard drive and click DEFRAGMENT. This will then compact all the files left on your computer back together so that they are easier to access.

After the other programs have run, you should then run your anti-virus program, deleting anything that is found.

You should then run this schedule once a week, EVERY week to keep your system running smoothly.

You may also want to consider getting some extra memory, although Windows XP will run with a minimum of 128Mb, the more you have, the better your computer will work.

Hope it helps.

Gillian Parkes

Dear cnet brother in arms. Your problem is one I have been dealing with for years for many people and i have found the best way to sort a pc out is to run your anti-virus program and ensure its virus free then get rid of spyware, you download spybotsd for free, update it then run it to get rid of spyware.
Next download a program by innovative solutions called advanced uninstaller it works for free for 15 days then you can opt to pay for it if you like it. Run the clean up options and the registry tools.
To be sure your pc is starting at its peak download microsoft bootvis and run that. On the bootvis program click on "Trace" at the top and select optimise system.
By using these programs i have never had a problem and 100% sucess in optimising PC's with minimal effort on my part. So off you go give it a try and enjoy 2 more years of computing. Incidently if you don't know the spec. of your system click on start button then "my computer" this should give you a screen from which you can see the hard drive size, and then select view system information and a window will pop up with your processor and RAM details.

good luck....follow my advice and you won't need it!

First and formost, the primary issue you have to address would be adding additional system ram. You likely have 256 megabyte, with whatever shared as part of the video memory. 256 meg is enough to get windows booted, but once you load even a few basic applications, 256 megabytes of ram is quickly consumed and your system becomes mired in page file usage, which is when windows runs out of physical ram (the sticks on your hard drive) and has to resort to virtual memory (pretending the hard drive is memory). Hard drives are obviously many factors slower than system memory so performance is severly affected. To find out how much ram your system ideally requires, load up the absolute most you ever do with your computer (a browser window or 2, any chat programs, and any other software you happen to use on a daily basis). When you're at a normal operating condition, open up windows task manager (press CRTL ALT DEL keys at the same time) and look at the very bottom right where you see "Commit charge". That is the amount of ram the system is currently in use of. If it's over 256 meg but under 512, then all you would need to add would be another 256 meg stick. If your commit charge on average goes over 512 meg, consider getting a 1 gig matched ram kit for around $75 from an online retailer such as newegg.com or tigerdirect. A second physical area in your computer you can see great speed benefits is installing a new hard drive with the latest technology (ie one with 7200 rpm spindle speed and a 16 megabyte buffer or "cache") in as a replacement of your current system drive. The hard drive is the slowest part of a computer, so installing a fast hard drive is always a good place to improve performance. The smallest hard drives with 16 megabyte buffers are 160 gigabyte (larger drives can be found of course) and can be had from the previously mentioned online suppliers for around $50. So less than $125 spent in total can provide an enormous raw increase in physical performance. On the software side of things, make sure you run good anti-spyware measures (spybot and adaware along with windows defender) are all excellent and free and available from download.com. Make sure your antivirus is up to date and scans are done regularly. Make sure all unnecessary programs are unloaded from startup via the "MSCONFIG" command from the start-run box. Defrag your hard drive on a weekly basis and run a disk scan once a month. Also find a good online guide for tweaking windows xp for more performance (things like turning off the disk indexing service and system restore can reap huge performance benefits). Follow all that and your system should be running like a million bucks. If it's still not sufficient, in the end it may be simply time to perform a more extensive upgrade, but if you do, you'll already have a new gig of ram and a fast hard drive so you'll be half way there!
Have a great day.

things to remember about PCs
1. Files and folders saved to the desktop take up RAM and slow down the system.
2. Deleted files remaining in the Recycle Bin take up RAM
3. TMP files created by the system take up RAM.
So, Move and/or remove them.

TO MOVE FILES AND FOLDERS FROM YOUR DESKTOP, BUT KEEP THEM IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE:

1. Right click on Start.
2. Left click on Explore.
3. Left click on Drive C:\
4. click on the File Menu at the left top corner of the screen.
5. Select "New" / "Folder".
6. While the "new folder" is highlighted in blue, Type in DESKTOP FILES and press Enter.
7. Right click on this new folder.
8. Click on Send To / Desktop (as a shortcut).
9. Close Explore window.
10. Locate DESKTOP FILES folder on the desktop.
11. Click once on each file or folder on the desktop that is NOT already a "shortcut" (indicated by the little upward pointing arrow)
12. Drag and drop the file or folder onto the DESKTOP FILES folder. When the name DESKTOP FILES is highlighted in blue, release the mouse button. Continue until all non-shortcut files and folders are moved.
13. EMPTY THE RECYCLE BIN AND KEEP IT EMPTIES REGULARLY.

TO CLEAN UP YOUR SYSTEM:
1. Double-click on My Computer
2. Right-click on Drive C:
3. Left-click on Properties. Locate the button below and to the right of the blue and fuschia disk: Disk Cleanup.
4. Click Disk Cleanup. This will calculate the files that can be safely deleted from your system which are currently taking up RAM.
5. In the resulting window, place a check next to any listing with "temporary" in the title.
6. Do NOT delete Office Setup files!!
7. Click OK and answer "yes" to the question.
8. When finished with steps 7, click on the "Tools" tab at the top of the previous Properties window.
9. Click on the first listing (to scan the disk). This opens a second window. Place a check in both items. A message will appear telling you that the process cannot be run because it cannot have exclusive access to your drive and do you want to run it the next time you reboot? Answer "YES".
10. Restart your system and let the Scan Disk process run its course. It will find and repair any disk errors and boot up to the desktop.
11. Repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 above.
12. Click on "Tools" and select the second option: Defrag or defragment.
13. Click Defrag again on the next screen. This has the effect of moving files and data contiguously back together, much like replacing all the library books to the shelves at the end of a busy day.
14. When defrag is complete, reboot the PC.

There may be programs that are starting up on the boot process that do not need to be there.
1. Click Start, All Programs, Startup. Remove everything that doesn't absolutely have to be there on the boot that can easily be started after the boot has completed, from the Start menu.

There will be program "shortcuts" listed in the Registry that are scheduled to "run" on the boot that can safely be removed. Installed programs tend to add themselves to the Registry, much as with the "Startup" menu.

Click Start, Run. Type in REGEDIT and press Enter.
From the top of the menu listed along the left side of the screen, Locate: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
1. Click on the + sign to the left, which exposes subfolders.
2. Click on the + sign next to Software, which exposes subfolders.
3. Click on the + sign next to Microsoft, which exposes subfolders.
4. click on the + sign next to Windows, which exposes subfolders.
5. Click on the + sign next to CurrentVersion, " " "
6. click on RUN. This lists all of the files scheduled to "run" at the boot.
7. On the top menu, position the mouse cursor on the narrow vertical line to the right of "Data". Hold down the left mouse button and drag this line further to the right. This will exposes the complete information for each listing.
8. Beginning at the top, scan down the list looking for programs (such as iTunesHelper.exe) that doesn't need to run at the boot.
BE VERY CAREFUL THAT YOU DO NOT DELETE SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE THERE. IF UNSURE, DON'T DELETE.
9. To remove a listing, right click on the name (under "Name") and left click on DELETE. when finished, return to the top of the left column.
10. Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Repeat steps 1 thru 9 just above.
11. Close out of the registry.
12. Reboot system.

You will notice an immediately improvement in the performance of your system.

You can also upgrade. PC's have become relatively cheap and most come standard with at least 1 gig of RAM. If you upgrade to Vista (I bought a new notebook) I would recommend 2 gigs of RAM. I love Vista. I have had very few compatibility issues. I do alot of graphics work so I have Adobe CS2. The only problem I had with that is you need to right click on your .exe file (Illustrator for example) and in the dropdown menu it gives you the option of opening it with administrative privledges. If you do this thje program will run fine.
More RAM for your machine is the answer for sure.

Guy

There are several programs you can use to clean up your computer and the best news is they work and they are free. I have helped numerous people with problems you describe and suspect the computer is running slowly because of one or more of the following problems.

My first suspect is spyware on your hard drive. Spyware slows your machine because it take priority for itself in reporting back to whoever installed it. The computer has to do that before it can do what you, the user, want it to do. The moer spyware, the more people your computer has to report to. Two good programs to clean up spyware are Adaware and Spybot, both of which are free downloads from download.com. You can have both in your computer at the same time without conflict, just run one program at a time. Run them both on a regular bases as one might find something the other missed (not often).

The next suspect is to defrag your hard drive. This should be done once a month or more, depending on how often you use your machine, but it is surprising how many people neglect this simple chore. Just go to start-programs-accessories-system tools-defrag.

While we?re at it, a good anti-virus program is essential. Avast! and AVG are two very good programs and are free, including free updates. Avast! Is my personal favorite because it automatically updates itself (compared to, say, Norton, which doesn?t) and it has a good, clean interface. Before installing Avast! or any other antivirus make sure you clean out any other antivirus program in your machine. If you have more then one antivirus program in your computer they will conflict.

Finally, protect your computer with a firewall so that hackers and other nasties have a harder time finding your machine. If you have a Dell computer you already have a firewall hardwired. Anyone else can download the free version of ZoneAlarm, which works quite well.

I know what it feels... trying to save your old Pc. You didn't mention what operating system you use, but there are 2 ways to clean your Pc and make it fast.

1.- When a Pc works slow, many times is the operating system. So, a quick answer to eradicate your problem is formating your hard disk. To eliminate everything you have into your computer: your files, programs, including your sick operating system.

If you have a WindowsXP installer disc (Professional is better than home edition), put it into your Cd-rom device before your pc starts, hit one key and after it loads, follow the steps: Choose install WindowsXP (don't choose fix), accept the terms and choose install a new copy. Currently you have a partition with some operanting system. A partition, if you don't know, is the space in your hard disk that you can use, but after you set a partition, you need to "prepare it" with a format in order to get it ready to be used.
Because you have an existing partition, when you choose install over the current, the installer will give you the follow options: To delete the current partition, or simply, continue and format the current partition. The difference between those options is: if you delete your current partition, you'll erase everything in your hard disk, you make it virgin (it's a suppose). If you apply a format, you will delete everything too, but only into the space delimited by the partition. It's something like to clean your house (format), or to demolish your house and build it again (delete partition).

I encourage you to delete your partition. Next the screen will give you the option to create a new partition and how much space you want to use. Choose the full an create the partition (Maybe the system requires from you 8 megabytes, there's no problem). After you created it, apply a format modality NTFS. Don't use a quickly format, the normal is better. After format ends, the installer will do the rest of the task, just keep an eye on it.
No matter what operating system you used, if you want to install WindowsXP, the steps before is useful.

2.- If you don't want to lose your information, and the idea to delete everything scares you, I suggest to you a full maintenance of software. There are many applications you can download from internet, like TuneUp, or some companies sell programs for that, like Norton Systemworks. You need to clean the temporary files, backups, cookies, the zero-byte files, clean and optimize your physical memory and, more important, to clean and optimize your windows registry, in others. After use the program for clean everything, update your antivirus. You can download some application for eliminate spy files. Some spyware like "Search and Destroy". I recommend you to run the defragmenter, right-clic on mouse over your local disk, properties, tools and defrag.
With all those steps, your Pc should be better than the beginnig.

Questions? send me an email to isai_201@yahoo.com.mx... Good luck!

You've already received lots of excellent information and suggestions to clean up and speed up your pc. Checking for spy-ware, doing a disk cleanup, and defragmenting should do wonders. But here are a couple of other suggestions.

I was recently in a similar situation, with a slow pc. I checked my pc, found it had only a little memory, but room for more. SO I contacted the vendor, purchased and installed more memory. That made a significant difference. The pc-maker should be able to assist you in all of the steps in this venture.

I also want to suggest that you update your operating system, hardware drivers, and software patches. Sometimes compatibility, security, or just plain fixes can improve a system's performance.

Sometimes, a system's performance is hampered by trying to use applications or hardware that are no longer there. To address this,you might want to use Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, and see if there are any applications that you recognize, but no longer use. (This could be tricky, especially if you have unrecognized applications/utilities/drivers for video or mouse or ...)

On your desktop, right click on the My Computer icon, choose Manage, then the Device Manager in the left pane. It should bring up a list of devices in the right pane. If any of the device groups has a yellow or red status indicator, you should investigate. Do you see indications of a printer or perhaps mouse that is no longer connected to your computer?

Is there anything in the System Tray that loads, but that you don't use or need constantly? Right click on the icon, open the service/application/utility and you should be able to identify it, as well as find a way to not load it when the computer starts or you logon.

Good luck. And if you can, why not let Lee Koo know what you did, and how it turned out.

First thing you should do is to do a disk cleanup (start - all programs - accesories - system tools - disk cleanup). When that comes up, it may take a moment or two, select all that you can and delete it. This http://reviews.cnet.com/Get_your_hard_drive_back_in_the_fast_lane_Clean_up_your_disk/4660-10163_7-6248668.html?tag=vid can help.

Next do a disk defrag (start - all programs - accesories - system tools - disk defragmenter). If you havent done it in a while us click defrag and dont evev bother to analize. Be sure to close ALL programs since defraging is a sensitive process. The defrag will take a while so just let it run overnight. After the defrag you computer should run more smoothly. It is best to do this about every month too help your computer. This http://reviews.cnet.com/Get_your_hard_drive_back_in_the_fast_lane_Defragment_your_hard_drive/4660-3118_7-6248670.html?tag=vid can help.

Next open add or remove programs(start - my computer. on the left side under system tasks click add or remove programs.). Give it a minute to load the progam list. Select any programs you dont use, need, or havent used in a while and click remove or change/remove than uninstall the program. Be sure not to uninstall any windows updates or components.

Also try downloading avg anti-spyware at http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Spyware/3000-8022_4-10610898.html?tag=lst-0-1. Once that is installed click on the analysis icon on the main window, then click on the autostart tab. Select all programs you dont need to run at startup then click delete selected item(s). This should help your computer boot up faster. Here is an alternative http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11319_7-6422934-1.html?tag=txt

I would also suggest upgrading your computers RAM (random access memory). Go here http://bestbuy.upgradebase.com/?h=488 and enter info about your computer. This will tell you how much memory your computer can take and what kind of memory you should buy. This link will help http://reviews.cnet.com/4660-12443_7-6511862.html?tag=vid.2

Hope this helps!

This is something I learned long ago as a support person working in an IT shop. In order to know how much memory you have, the easiest way is to open up Control Panel, then click on System. The first screen will tell you all sorts of important information about your system: the exact variety of XP you have installed, what sort of CPU you have, and how much memory your system has.

Now, as to cleaning up your system and making it run faster, my approach is to periodically play with two programs called msconfig and Windows Task Manager. I usually start by opening up the Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del)and opening the Processes tab. The processes tab shows everything that is running in the background and how much memory each takes. That should give some idea of why your system is running so slowly. Look at this as soon as the system has booted and is ready for input. Double click on memory and the system will sort it from most hoggish to least.

Msconfig controls what loads when the system starts up. There are two tabs that are important to this: Services and Startup. To access msconfig, click on Start, then Run and type in "msconfig" (without the quotes), then press enter or click OK. On the first pane, General, click the radio button Selective Startup. When you go to Services, it helps to turn off the Microsoft Services, so you can see what other services are available and loading. On balky PC's, I usually turn everything off, and then slowly start adding things back as I see what the various services do or don't do.

The same thing goes with Startup. Try running without anything, then adding things back one at a time. It is usually easy to identify things like firewalls, antivirus programs and stuff like that, if they're external to Windows. Beyond that, things can get really iffy about what a lot of these programs do. You can get clues as to the program's identity from the directory path. When you are finished, you will be prompted to reboot, and the system will restart, much more quickly than before.

You may find that adding one startup program really puts a drag on your system and it is something you can live without. Over the years, I have advised many users that they have something that they probably can live without, a "necessary" program that is really slowing their PC down (sometimes like a boat anchor); after working for several days, they've tended to agree that they don't need it or can live without it. Once you've gone through this process, it becomes a lot easier to do in the future, and can be done irregularly, whenever things slow down, often after installing new software that quietly installs boot programs you aren't aware of. You will learn what the various programs are, what they do or what they belong to and even which MS programs you don't need. A classic example is older versions of Microsoft's Office Task Bar, a memory hog. The original version had memory "problems," and had to be disabled, it was so bad. Good luck with this process. You may even find it educational as you delve into the innards of your your O/S and tweak it to improve your performance.

Finally, look at how much memory you have. It's so cheap today, think seriously about upgrading to more. It is very easy to install, and more RAM really improves your performance. If you just have 256MB, think seriously about upgrading to 512MB or even 1GB. Combined with tweaking your performance, you could end up with a very well-performing PC.

Hi Sandy, have you tried removing all old programs that you no longer use? Also, use a registry cleaner, then do scans for viruses and spyware. once this is done perhaps you can defrag your drives. I suppose it's just a form of housekeeping really, but it seems to work for me, good luck, Brendan.

There's a few things could be going on here: drive fragmentation, drive space filled with temp and junk files, registry bloat and registry fragmentation. Add to that the possible lack of memory on the box itself: you think you have 200Mb RAM, which is a bit small for effective running of XP and this is made worse by new applications that are resource-hungry, forcing more use of the paging file which is like added RAM but on the (fragmented) hard drive.

First step, run the Defrag tool. This can take forever if not done regularly but do let it run to completion. And you might have to run it again if there are still quite a lot of fragmented files left. if the drive is pretty full then fragmentation might not be possible. Which takes me to the next step.

Use a reliable and well-known tool, like System Mechanic to identify junk files which can then be deleted. A word of caution - look at where the file is as some applications create needed files with names or extensions that make the Junk Finder misidentify them. Anyway, clear out the junk files to the recycle bin (by the way, when did you last empty that?) and then check that all your apps are still working nicely. if so, then empty the bin. And defrag again. BTW - AV's tend to slow down defrags because they examine every file being accessed and soemtimes can misinterpret the file move, so turn off the AV while doing this and keep the PC offline/off any network while the AV is disabled.

Now, turn your attention to the registry. Uninstallers don't always clean up nicely so clean the registry - let the app create a backup file so if anything goes wrong then you can add the removed entries back into the registry. Personally, I've only ever had one problem with removing a needed entry and that was with an early version of RegMech that removed a default font entry, but they fixed that bug in later versions. Also, set the option to defrag/compress the registry hives on next boot.

Now, shut down and reboot the PC. After the registry compression has been done, which can take some time, let it boot fully then shut down and check the normal boot speed against what it was like before. If it is still slow, then there is a possibility that your user profile has become corrupt and that will need to be replaced. Simple, but out of scope of this answer.

BTW - I asume that you have an up-to-date AV loaded, and only ONE. Multiple AVs just start fighting each other. And some are slower than others. Personally, I find AVG Free to be less resource hungry than some of the well-known commercial ones. There are some other tweaks and hacks, like killing unrequired services, but if you kill the wrong ones then you might be left with an unbootable PC so be careful with that!