PC computer slows as it ages

Of course computers don't actually slow down due to old age. In my experience as an onsite computer tech, when a computer slows significantly the cause is nearly always spyware/adware. Download Spybot Search and Destroy from http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ install, update and scan. This is free software but the developer appreciates donations.

Another common reason for slowness is running low on hard disk space. Free up space or install a larger drive.

Fragmentation can also slow a computer but seldom to the extent that adware/spyware can.

Of course, a virus infection can also cause slowness (among many other things).

As has been said, although a computer obviously ages, that doesn't necessarily mean it will get slower. It doesn't suffer from arthritis like I do,

My own Dell 8300 is now 5 or 6 years old, and it still runs well, with a bootup time of around a minute. I agree with you about Firefox. Mine is slow starting up, but I believe that is just Firefox itself. We might notice that IE starts very quickly after Windows has finished loading, but that is because Microsoft integrated IE into the Operating System itself, and so many components are already loaded. Other applications have to start from cold, and that's why they take a bit longer. But once Firefox has been opened once, the next time is usually quicker.

Also, with Firefox, if you have a number of Add-ons this may slow it's opening, as they connect to the internet looking for updates.

Don't use any Registry cleaners or optimizers. Frankly, they can be dangerous, and XP's registry is a much more robust database than previous versions of Windows. If XP's registry has unused keys and values there will be no slowdown in performance, because they are just database entries and will be ignored.

Also, I wouldn't use the Defragmenter that often. It isn't really necessary unless you are continuously installing and uninstalling software, or involved in heavy file editing with, for example, video files. Just once or twice a year. If the defragmenter says the file system does not need defragmenting, then it doesn't.

One thing you may want to try to improve startup times is to disconnect those 3 USB external hard drives before turning the computer on. It may be that your anti-malware utilities are scanning the drives on startup, and this may be slowing the system down. Remember though that XP expects you to disconnect USB media through the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the System Tray, (near the clock), rather than just pulling the connections out. Doing that with XP still running could damage the USB ports and also corrupt any data on the drives.

I agree that you need to check your disk space available on both internal hard disks. My Computer > highlight and right click each hard drive and select Properties will tell you how much disk space you have remaining on each. Anything less than 15% needs to be considered.

To further improve your bootup time, look at the icons in the System Tray, and see if there are any startup applications that you don't need to be loaded immediately. Hover the mouse over each to see what they are, and double click to open. Things like Real Player, Quicktime, Instant Messengers, etc, do not need to be loaded at Startup, and their options should be changed.

Also, check your System Configuration Editor, (Start > Run, type in msconfig, click OK), and see what entries there are under the Startup tab. There may be a number there that you don't need. Google will help you identify those you don't want.

From what you say it doesn't seem as if you have malware problems, but be sure that you have an adequate firewall, and anti-virus and anti-spyware utilities installed. They will impact on performance a little, but that is a necessary evil.

I hope that helps.

Mark

I deleted your post.

You appeared to be asking roofrabbit1 to contact you so you could charge him for fixing his computer.

Sorry, but these forums are not available to fix up your business deals or to look for custom.

That's why.

Mark