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General discussion

Windows XP computer still runs slow even after a clean install?!

May 20, 2011 6:52AM PDT
Question:

Windows XP computer still runs slow even after a clean install?!


Is it possible even with a clean install of XP Pro that my computer
still runs slow with only the OS installed? Prior to the clean
install my computer was slow as molasses. I tried all the suggested
software solutions: Registry Cleaners; security scanners, and delete
all temp files and log files and Internet cache. Nothing helped. So I
deleted all partitions on the hard drive, did a clean install of XP Pro
System (Intel Motherboard, Pentium D 3.4 Ghz processor with 2GB of
RAM) and to my surprise my system is still dragging, how could that
be? Shouldn't it perform like it was new when I first bought the
system? I found no solutions that addressed hardware as a culprit. Is
it time for a new motherboard or what? Please help me out with this
mystery. Thank you.

--Submitted by: Bob W.

Here are some member answers to get you started, but
please read all the advice and suggestions that our
members have contributed to this question.

A Few Key Items for your Fresh Install of XP --Submitted by: High Desert Charlie
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6142_102-5135374.html

A Wide Variety of Possible Causes --Submitted by: tonyny77
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6142_102-5136102.html

Many May Have It Right --Submitted by: Hforman
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6142_102-5135399.html

XP Computer runs slow --Submitted by: compvis
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6142_102-5135261.html

No - will never run when first bought --Submitted by: DilbertE
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6142_102-5135257.html

Could be either hardware or software problem... --Submitted by: darrenforster99
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6142_102-5135419.html

Probably a Hardware Problem --Submitted by: Flatworm
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6142_102-5135513.html

Thanks to all who contributed!


If you have any additional advice or recommendation for Bob, click the reply link below to submit it. Please be as detailed as possible when providing an answer. Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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ROM BIOS corruption is VERY unlikely
Jun 1, 2011 12:36PM PDT

ROM BIOS corruption is extremely unlikely. I have never heard anyone complaining about that, anywhere (except after using the incorrect flash program, or when incorrectly using it, for example when using a Flashing program built for DOS but running it from within Windows). The Flashable BIOS chip is extremely well protected, and once it has been performed, the static data stored in it will last 10 years or more (you'll change your PC long before !).

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A couple of things
May 21, 2011 12:15AM PDT

1. I agree with rleitz. SpinRite is great at identifying failing drives.

2. Have you checked your cooling fans? Many system boards will throttle back their clock speed if the processor starts to heat above a certain point.

3. When you reinstalled the OS did you reboot after deleting the partitions and creating the new partition for the OS. I have had that would not restart properly following a full reinstall to correct boot problems if the computer is not restarted before creating the new partition. Changes to a partition table are not always written to the boot sector until you do a restart.

4. Finally, check the filter capacitors on the Intel board. If some of them appear to be bulged, you have a board that may be failing. Another symptom of bulged capacitors is a system that will boot and run for a short period and then lock.

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Your computer is only as fast as your.....
May 21, 2011 12:35AM PDT

Sounds to me like your hard disk could be near to the end of its natural life...over time access speeds will decrease....or check out you heatsink and fan...when processors run hot, they will slow themselves down to preserve
there life.

Hope its of help !!!

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You are looking in the wrong places
May 21, 2011 1:48AM PDT

Computers have an engine like a car. The more burden they have the slower they go. The OS should be snappy and quick. Large processor applications like photoshop require power to calculate but don't slow the OS unless prhotoshop is doing a rendering or simply hogging RAM causing the use of the hard drive as virtual memory. This is very slow. That being said you may have so many processes running that the memory is sapped and virtual memory is always being employed. This is bad and slow. More ram would help but the overhead will remain and the computer will be slow. Prime offenders include anti virus software especially in the 'suite' styles, programs that scan, especially at start up, and disk maintenance software such as Spin Rite. I do not even use an anti virus any longer since I do not ever allow risky emails to be opened nor do I venture near sketchy websites anymore. My 8 year old computer flies through everything. Now assuming you are unwilling to change anything except swapping your 'slow' computer for a faster model there is a simple and very effective way to rectify the speed problem for a lot less money than a new computer. Buy an SSD hard drive. The boot speed is incredible, paging is incredibly fast and performance is... well incredible. You will be very pleased and then your current drive can be mass storage, as it was intended to be. Not sure? I recently installed one in a laptop and XP boot time went to 6 seconds. Installation of software is lightning quick. Updates take moments. Buy a new 64Gb for about $75 on ebay. It will open a whole new world for you.

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Hardware-NOT Software

99.999999999999(well you get the idea)% of the time, a clean install will speed up your system DRAMATICALLY. I mean, as long as you have a struggling machine (you will see just about a 0% speed increase if you reinstall the OS on a brand new computer). Now, there is obviously NO help software can give you. Here are some suggestions:
1. Ever done a BIOS scan? If you've done any sort of hardware upgrades recently, it could be conflicting.
2. Have you gone to a technician yet? If no, DON'T call tech support or ask a big company-they will (1) overprice, (2) probably give you a wrong diagnostic, and/or (3) probably say you need to replace the computer even if you don't. So go to an independent technician.
3. Have you considered the possibility of a memory leak? These are rare, but can dramatically decrease system performance.
4. What hardware problems have you had in the past? If you've been through several hard drives-new motherboard SHOULD fix the problem (but it is SUPER EXPENSIVE). Have you considered getting a new hard drive? They are EXTREMELY cheap these days.
5. How much memory do you have? Over time, even with a new hard drive, and you have 2GB, 3 GB, 4GB or even 8GB of RAM, you can have a slow computer. Consider buying new memory chips, if not, also get a new hard drive-that will probably keep your computer speedy for awhile.
6. If all else fails, it's time to get a NEW (or refurbished) COMPUTER, and get a Windows XP CD off Amazon or Ebay.
That's all I have. I hope that helps you solve your problem.

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Don't buy any CD/DVD for Windows, download from MS!
Jun 1, 2011 10:48PM PDT

Instead, consider buying software directly from Microsoft, as downloadable ISO files that you'll burn yourself.
If you have several PCs or also need to install Office, don't buy each product, instead buy a Technet subscription (you'll get ALL versions of Windows, Office, and Server products, in ALL languages supported by Microsoft, with a lot of licences, up to 10 PC per Windows major version : you can choose between XP, Vista, Seven, Server Server 2003... and even find legally older versions of Windows and MSDOS but without support...).

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Some things to try
May 21, 2011 5:43AM PDT

1. See if there is a BIOS upgrade from the manufacturer. Check your BIOS settings. The advice above to check RAM and hard drive settings in the BIOS are good tips. Try removing the CMOS battery to revert back to default BIOS settings. (But you'll need to set the clock again.) Loading default BIOS settings is necessary before doing an upgrade anyway.
2. Check the number of processes running in the background. What else was installed besides Windows? To have a fast XP, you should have less than 40 processes. Also, does the performance manager show any process besides system idle taking up much CPU usage?
3. Update drivers. I recommend a program called DriverMax - it will scan and advise you on what driver updates are available. Not all driver updates are important, but an update for the chipset on your motherboard may make a difference.

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Windows XP computer still runs slow
May 21, 2011 6:07AM PDT

It is impossible to really know how to answer this question without more info.

Maybe you should just get a new PC?
The prices have gone way down for fast systems.

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Perhaps a closer look
May 21, 2011 6:15AM PDT

Since you have already gotten lots of good recommendations, I will suggest something to do only if they have not worked. There is a chance that the settings on your disc controller are set to Programmed I/O, PIO, mode instead of Direct Memory Access, DMA. This can bring a fast machine to its knees. If you run the Process Explorer, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653, instead of the Task Manager, you can see how many hardware interrupts your kernel is processing when the disc runs. It should be few. If it is not, open the BIOS manager at start-up (before Windows boots) and check your settings. If you do know what key to hit, just turn on the computer and immediately hold down as many of the keys on the keyboard as you possibly can. You will get a keyboard error message that will lead you to the BIOS settings.

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Broken Link
May 28, 2011 10:55PM PDT
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Steps to Re-install OS
May 21, 2011 7:28AM PDT

There's a lot of good advice listed here in the forum. You are right after a clean install your system should run as you expect. As has been mentioned you may have a HD with bad sectors that can't be repaired. However, lets assume that your problem is not hardware related. To perform a clean install there are steps you must follow in order for everything to work properly. Since you did not mention the brand of your computer; here's a generic guide to performing a clean install or more accurately a re-install.


1. Format the specific partition (usually C) on your HD that will run the OS
2. Install the OS
3. Install drivers specific to your computer model (these are usually on a disk that came with computer) *
4. Turn off Windows Firewall and ignore other security warnings (you can address them later as you won't be visiting any unsafe sites at this time)
5. Connect your computer to the internet via Ethernet cable for faster downloads (you can configure your wireless later)
6. Flash the BIOS with latest version (usually found on the manufacturers website)
7. Install Windows updates and/or latest Service Pack (this part will take some time so be patient)
8. Reboot your computer in Safe Mode (without networking or command line options) to verify that Windows systems and drivers are loading properly
9. If all goes well reboot your system normally
10(a). Load MS Office (or whichever productivity suite you use) and apply updates. At this point you should only have the OS, system drivers and Windows/Productivity software loaded. If your system is still running slow then you probably have a defective HD or at least some bad sectors - if so proceed to Step 10(b) - if everything is OK proceed to Step 11
10(b). Run Windows Disk Repair to fix any bad sectors.
11. Setup wireless connectivity (if necessary)
12. Load security software. If your security software has a Firewall be sure that the Windows Firewall is off.
13. Check Speed - If your system runs slow it's probably your security software.
14. If everything is OK to this point...load your other programs one-by-one and check speed after each installation. If after an installation your system slows down do this...
15. Type "msconfig" in RUN
16. Go to Start-up tab
17. Uncheck he box by the software program (while in this area uncheck the boxes for any other programs that are loading upon start-up that are not essential to your computer. You can always start the program later if need be from the "All Programs" list.

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Check CPU speed in BIOS
May 21, 2011 7:42AM PDT

May be you should reset the BIOS default settings. Some BIOS settings introduced by past tweaking programs that were installed may no longer work with the new setting.
For example :
- the CPU: clock settings, the emulation mode or virtualizatrion mode (not visible in settings, but stored in BIOS config data and manages by your OS when you install specific drivers, that are no longer there
- the motherboard: PCI configuration data for allocated resourcves or for remapping the hardware memory
- the HDD: DMA/PIO mode, or master mode
- the SDRAM memory clock settings (they may have been tweaked too high, and as this does not work, the BIOS has automatically restored a safe but very slow default)
Beware of some tweaking options in BIOSes, such as "Turbo Mode" that only works with some more experive classes of memory modules or processor types.

Also look at thje device manager, if there's no yellow /!\ icon on top of a device : this indicates a failure to start the device with the default driver, or an absence of a suitable driver. You'll get the drivers from your manufacturer.

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Two options are to be considered here.
May 22, 2011 5:18AM PDT

1. Buy the upgrade version of Windows 7 Home Premium x86(32bit) and, install it. Plus, download of Service Pack 1 and install it. Then let Windows Update download the other updates-upgrades and install those also.

2. Go onto Microsoft.com's Download page and make the search for 'Service Packs'. Download and install Service Pack 2 right-a-way. After a few reconfigs and reboots, go back to that same Download page and, remake the search for 'Service Packs'. You will need to flash a new Bios prior to installing Service Pack 3. Download + Install IObit.com's Advance SystemCare 4(Free version). Before running a Deep Scan and auto. Fix everything, Check all optional features available to this system tool of an excellent program. Run the Deep Scan on automatic Fix after the scan is completed.

I strongly recommend you do option 1. But, if you are as broke as you stated in your request for help within the initial post, do option 2. Option 2 will be long and patience driven but, will be free of having to buy anything new. Good Luck. Wink

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A Wide Variety of Possible Causes
May 22, 2011 5:42AM PDT

Bob W.,

Naturally, there are all kinds of exhaustive tests you can run, but I see you eventually gave up and resorted to re-installing your operating system (OS); many others would have done the same. After all the other remedies you had tried, I would have also been really surprised to see the system still running so slowly. However, a few other possibilities come to mind:

(1) A boot sector virus or rootkit -- Based on my limited understanding of how boot sector malware sustains itself, I'm led to believe such infections can hide and survive efforts to eradicate the problem even if the hard drive is formatted and the OS is re-installed. If this is the case, consider using a utility that specifically targets rootkits. Alternatively, if you have a spare hard drive, consider re-doing the system installation using a different hard drive. Similarly, BIOS rootkits -- meaning malware hiding on your system's CMOS chip -- will linger even if you replace the hard drive, of course. If your CMOS is where the culprit resides, I'm not sure whether re-flashing the chip will necessarily fix the problem. If a CMOS infection is your problem, this may require further research.

(2) Re-infection -- Hopefully you're not transporting hardware drivers or data using infected media. If you're using a thumb drive, external drive, or even a CD/DVD that was already infected with hidden malware, then using these infected media during your system re-installation could also be the source of your problem.

(3) Hard disk controller drivers -- Check for updates to your hardware drivers, PARTICULARLY for your BIOS and hard disk controllers. I would NOT depend on the driver check available through the Windows device Properties / Drivers tab; many times I've found that check to be inadequate. Instead, I'd visit the Web site for the manufacturer of the device driver you're checking. It will take longer, but you'll almost certainly get better results. I have first hand experience in a case where adding a new hard drive to my computer severely bogged down my entire system all because the hard disk controllers needed a firmware update. I'd like to elaborate on this point a bit.

My computer had two physical disk drives; one had the OS and all my installed software, and I used the second drive for all my data. I also backed up my first hard drive to my second hard drive. Eventually, I replaced my second drive with a larger one. Everything seemed fine until I tried to back up my first drive to the new second hard drive for the first time. I couldn't believe it ... The backup that previously required just 25 minutes to complete now took more than three hours!?!? Fortunately, a little searching through the manufacturer's knowledge base uncovered obscure mention of this extreme performance problem. The recommended fix: check and update the firmware for the hard disk controller. It was a little tricky ... I had never done a BIOS or firmware update before, but the firmware update did the trick.

Oh, one more thing ... The problem I described where the firmware for the disk controller needed updating was also an XP system. There could be other causes for your problem, but based on my experiences, these that I've described would be my best guesses. Good luck and I hope you'll tell us what eventually fixes your system.

Tony M.

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The Bios flashing that I suggested,
May 24, 2011 1:34AM PDT

did not imply virus infection within the chipset of the Mainboard.

It is, entirely, in the intention of upgrading the Bios programming of such Mainboard. Thus, enabling the newly reprogrammed Mainboard's chipset to accept a totally new type of O.S. command lingo(Newest generation of evolved development in the O.S. environment).

This has nothing to do with the Hard-Drive's content. This Bios Flashing will only prepare the Mainboard's chipset to accept a way higher standard of O.S. command protocol as it is required for Windows Vista(6). And, the Service Pack 3 for XP was made in the Vista era of Windows in late 2007 + released in early Spring of 2008. A lot of these old machines could not accept such advanced O.S. like Vista. Especially when it comes to get new designed drivers to work in XP environment when it is, really, meant for a new age O.S. such as Vista.

It must have taken me over a whole year just to be able to convert my old single core machine into a Vista capable one. And, that was in that very same time period of conversion era of 2006-2007(Using the revised edition of Windows Vista Home Basic of early 2007).

Have a wonderful day everyone!

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XP Pro using generic Drivers?
May 22, 2011 11:52PM PDT

When XP Pro is cleanly installed it generally will default to it's own internal generic drivers so all your hardware may run slowly (but run). Most important are Video and and special disk drivers needed. Your system is up and running so you should be able to seek out the newest correct drivers for the hardware, I'd start with Video. The default video driver has no 3D graphics so few games will play (apart from build in ones). The broswer and all updates may need to be installed, but the video is very important to what we often think of as the computer's speed. Then disk and io speed is important. Have you checked by right clicking the desktop background and selecting Properties, settings tab should show your graphics card, but Advanced and Adapter tab is the real full answer - is it right? As for the disk wearing out, the quickest way I know is to download Speedfan and use it's disk checking utilities under S.M.A.R.T. to get an idea of what's up with the drive itself as Lee Koo mentioned, ot the SpinRite as he also mentioned.

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Video drivers less important than mobo drivers for perfs
Jun 3, 2011 10:11PM PDT

The latest video drivers are much less important for the overall perfomance of Windows, than the specific enhanced drivers for your motherboard, notably for :

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Hardware, Ivory Snow sure
May 23, 2011 12:56AM PDT

Bob
Several quick thoughts here, mostly an angle of approach.

Memory and power supplies are the most likely candidates for random/spurious errors but are not indicated in your case. I guess a low voltage at the CPU "could" be a suspect. Check the BIOS values for power values.

COMPUTERS DO NOT LEAK MEMORY. Software may have memory leaks, not computers.

The primary assumtion I'm making is that this is not an electrical problem. Those problems tend to manifest themselves with blue screens, reboots and non-responsive machines. I also assume that BIOS changes are not the culprit.

You need to make sure the hardware you have is working as expected. This is most likely limited to the CPU, disk and memory. Others have suggested disk and memory tests and this is something that needs to be done at as low a level as possible such as floppy/CD boot based diagnostics. A tool that actually overwrites the entire disk should insure that there are no pesky parasites, viruses or root kits.

Now, assuming you have the 2GB you think you should have and the disk is behaving itself, the CPU becomes the most likely candidate for problems. The Pentium D has a thermal slow down feature to prevent melt down. Find a CPU benchmark test and run it multiple times to stress the processor. If the results don't match the expectations for a 3.4GHz CPU then more checking is indicated. If the results are as expected then you're a victim of the excess expectations that other have already spoken of.

Crack the case and get rid of the dust. It amazes me to see the amount of dust that can accumulate in a chassis and the silly thing will keep working. Check the fan and heatsink. Once all is cleaned, try the CPU test again. If there's no improvement I would go back inside and tear down the CPU/heatsink. I recommend this because it is not that uncommon for the thermal material to harden and then separate, reducing the effectiveness of the cooling system.

WARNING, this can get you into trouble so read up on the internet. Unplug the wall AC power from the power supply.

Remove the heatsink fan and clean it. In a perfect world, the heatsink should separate from the CPU easily with the thermal compound still pliable. If it's turned into hardened putty then it won't come apart easily, and gentle caution is required. Clean the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the CPU. Alcohol, lighter fluid and acetone have all worked for me in the past. DO NOT USE HARD SCRAPERS. The heatsink should probably be washed just to clean out all of the dust. A hair dryer works well to dry everyting off. The bottom of a heat sink and the CPU heat spreader are both precision surfaces. Scratches invite uneven and/or ineffective thermal transfer. Acetone is my solvent of choice to make the final cleaning to prepare the mating surfaces.

I personally use Arctic Silver for my thermal material. Read up on its use. Two squirts the size of a small grain of rice, one on each surface, is plenty. An old credit card makes a good spreader. All you want is to cover the bonding surfaces with the compound without any apparent depth. The purpose of this material, no matter what brand, is to fill the microscopic irregularities with a thermally conductive material so that the heat will move to the heatsink. More is NOT better. Cover the entire CPU heat spreader and your best estimate of the correstonding spot where this will mate on the heatsink. Get the CPU back into its socket, line up the final destination for the heatsink and mate the two. The Arctic Silver is, in my opinion, quite forgiving with small movements to get things aligned but try to minimize movements when the surfaces are mated. Put the fan back on, plug it in, plug in the system and turn it on. Watch to make sure the CPU fan is spinning as expected on this first startup.

Rerun the CPU tests. If you don't see an improvement then this wasn't the problem and you probably can't fix the problem at home.

I hope that this helps solve the problem.

Mike

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Don't use acetone
Jun 4, 2011 12:28AM PDT

Acetone, just like all oil based products, will leave traces of grease that will never evaporate, even with a hair dryer. Then when you will reapply the thermal grease, it will not fill the very tiny holes that augment the surface of contact between the thermal grease and the CP or fan metallic contact surface. This will create bubbles with poor thermal conduction to form between the contact surface and the thermal grease, and dislocation surfaces within the thermal grease, so that the thermal resistance will be much higher, and cooling will be much less effective (thermal conduction in bubbles of gas evaporating from the traces of oils are causing exactly the same problem as the biological greases left by your fingerprints).
You should reread the usage guide of thermal greases to sea how to prepare the surfaces.

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Always look to the Hard Drive First
May 25, 2011 8:59PM PDT

A 3.4Ghz Pentium D with 2 GB of ram should run very well under Windows XP. To give you a rough idea: I just performed a fresh install of Windows XP Pro SP3 this morning on a 3.0Ghz Pentium 4 Dell Dimension E1505 with 1.5GB of memory and a new hard drive. After installing all the latest Dell hardware drivers and some 122 Windows updates, it boots and opens Internet Explorer 8 to a Google home page in 38 seconds and turns off in 10 seconds. It is often difficult to determine exactly what to call fully booted so I simply put internet Explorer in the StartUp folder and used that as my benchmark. Even after installing Office 2003 Pro, Norton Internet Security 2011, iTunes, a Canon MX 870 AIO Printer and a bunch of standard utilities such as PowerDVD player, Office 2007 Compatibility Pack, Adobe Flash and Adobe Acrobat it still fully boots up in 51 seconds. Things like Word, Excel and PowerPoint all open in less than 2 seconds.

If after a clean install, your computer is still running slow, it is usually due to a failing hard drive. If the drive is over 3 or 4 years old, I would just replace it anyway. It is rather difficult to troubleshoot without knowing all the other details such as the make and model, what things are running slow and exactly how you reinstalled Windows. Other than the Hard drive I would recommend running a memory test and possibly try replacing the power supply but beyond that I would not recommend bothering to replace the motherboard. At today's prices for new computers, it may not make any sense to put a whole lot of money into it.

Try examining the Log files in Event Viewer which might have some clues as to what is wrong. Keep in mind that some security software such as older (Pre 2010) versions of Norton, McAfee or Webroot can really slow things down as well as many HP all-in-one printers. Running multiple antivirus programs can also cause major problems and slowness.

Good Luck!

Dana
Wayland Computer

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Windows XP computer still runs slow after a clean install
May 25, 2011 9:23PM PDT

Hi all,
What i did:
1 -Defrag my hdd
2 - Install Win XP pro SP3 in C:\ partition (100 GB) Grinocuments & settings, Program Files & Windows Folders.
3 - My documents folder in D:\ partition (300GB)
4 - Create an E:\ partition named Works (90 GB) to test new or demo software's
5 - Create an F:\partition named "Paging" (10GB) and Move the Pagefile.sys off the disk that holds your system and boot partitions to F:\
(Have the initial size of Pagefile.sys be at least 1.5 times bigger than the amount of physical RAM.)
My computer runs smoothly & fast .
Cheers!
Steve92230

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pagefile.sys
May 27, 2011 9:18AM PDT

I agree with Steve92230. My XP SP3 was sluggish too so I went from 1GB to 2GB's of RAM and noticed little improvement. Then I learned about the pagefile and moved mine to my other HD and the improvement is significant.

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Preferred location of the paging file on physical disks
Jun 4, 2011 12:55AM PDT

Bad suggestion ! If you have only one disk, the paging file should be located near where the most frequently used system files are located. Putting the paging file at end of the disk, will not only require longer access time, but also will benefit of a smaller rate of thoughput.

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Reload does help.
May 27, 2011 8:57AM PDT

I reloaded my XP machine and added just Service Pack 2. The machine does run better.
Every time you add a software a new service starts. Every security update you make adds to the toll.
When reloading a XP machine you really cannot go back to having all the software and services running. I shut down services not needed and add just the important software I need to run. If y7ou load it up again, you will have the same problems again.

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I think Microsoft is killing the old XP
May 27, 2011 9:18AM PDT

My expirience is if you do a clean install and stops putting service packs in right after service pack 3 then your computer will run as it did wen you got it, if you install all the rest of service/upgrades then the speed will fall very much..

And i think it makes sense, Microsoft don't want the old XP around anymore, and i don't think they make a great effort to get the last service upgrades to run fast.. If they just slow the computer with 0.5% with each upgrad and there are aprox. 100 upgrades after service pack 3, then the computer will be 50% slower after the upgrade..

Try not to go longer than service pack 3, and see the old computer run, i have helped some friends in that way and it works...

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Windows XP
May 27, 2011 9:20AM PDT

it's probably due to several problems
Have you checked the hardware itself out ... Hard drive .

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A QUICK ANSWER
May 27, 2011 9:25AM PDT

Hey Bob,

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slow computer
May 27, 2011 9:44AM PDT

You might try blowing the dust out of it with hair dryer on a cool setting.You will have to open the case and blow out the inside ,Pastalioni

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My list of things to do
May 27, 2011 10:03AM PDT

IMO, the most likely culprit of your problem is your hard drive. If you have a Pentium-D system, it must mean that is it 4+ years old. Hard drives are mechanical and fail over time. It usually don't drive all at once but the platter (spinning disk) get harder to read and write. The hard drive has to read/write a few times before it succeed. Here is what I will do:

1. download the diagnostic software from your drive manufacturer (eg: SeaTool if you have a Seagate hard drive). Run the program and see what it says. If the program says your drive is failing or if there are a lot of seek errors then you should plan for a replacement asap.

2. There is a program call spinrite from GRC.COM that will really check the health of your drive. It is expensive but it will give you a definitely answer to the drive's condition. it can even repair your drive if that is possible. it is $93 so it isn't cheap. You can get a 500 gb drive for $ 40.


Best wishes!

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Check the clock speed.
May 27, 2011 10:13AM PDT

I had a friend who's laptop was slow. He took a day to re-install everything.
Some software had reset the clock speed. When you re-boot F4 or F12 or whatever it is and check.
-m