G
Guest
I have been having difficulties with my laptop computer. It is a Dell
Latitude C640 with a Pentium 4 chip, 2.0 GHz, 512 MB RAM, a 20 GB harddrive,
running Windows XP Professional.
I have the MS Office 2003 suite along with some technical software. I am
connected daily to our home office server via a VPN connection. The troubles
occur when I start the computer and then try to open various programs. The
system now takes much longer to boot up, and programs take much longer to
open than they originally took to open. When I click to take an action, the
computer basically says, “You talking to me??â€, and the reaction time is very
slow.
1. I am running the following virus protection:
McAfee VirusScan Enterprise V.8.0i and McAfee Anti-Spyware Module 8.0.0, set
to automatically scan. Virus definitions are up to date. Often when I start
the computer McAfee runs for 20 minutes checking for viruses and I presume
downloading updates. McAfee often will be using 80% of my processor until I
guess, it is up to date.
2. My processor often runs continuously for 30 minutes or so after starting
up the system.
3. Checking the Task Manager, there are over 50 processes starting and
running on my system.
4. Often there are four or five svchost.exe applications running, and some
of them use 20 – 40% of my processor for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.
5. I empty the Recycle Bin weekly.
6. I delete Temporary Internet files and Cookies weekly.
7. I check and defragment the harddrive at least montly.
8. I will have on average six programs open at any one time (MS Windows
Explorer, MS Outlook, MS Internet Explorer, MS Word, MS Excel, Act Contact
Manager)
In general the system has slowed down over the three years that I’ve owned
it. What can be done to eliminate unused or unnecessary programs that simply
take up time and space? What can be done to speed this computer up?
Regards,
Latitude C640 with a Pentium 4 chip, 2.0 GHz, 512 MB RAM, a 20 GB harddrive,
running Windows XP Professional.
I have the MS Office 2003 suite along with some technical software. I am
connected daily to our home office server via a VPN connection. The troubles
occur when I start the computer and then try to open various programs. The
system now takes much longer to boot up, and programs take much longer to
open than they originally took to open. When I click to take an action, the
computer basically says, “You talking to me??â€, and the reaction time is very
slow.
1. I am running the following virus protection:
McAfee VirusScan Enterprise V.8.0i and McAfee Anti-Spyware Module 8.0.0, set
to automatically scan. Virus definitions are up to date. Often when I start
the computer McAfee runs for 20 minutes checking for viruses and I presume
downloading updates. McAfee often will be using 80% of my processor until I
guess, it is up to date.
2. My processor often runs continuously for 30 minutes or so after starting
up the system.
3. Checking the Task Manager, there are over 50 processes starting and
running on my system.
4. Often there are four or five svchost.exe applications running, and some
of them use 20 – 40% of my processor for 10 to 15 minutes at a time.
5. I empty the Recycle Bin weekly.
6. I delete Temporary Internet files and Cookies weekly.
7. I check and defragment the harddrive at least montly.
8. I will have on average six programs open at any one time (MS Windows
Explorer, MS Outlook, MS Internet Explorer, MS Word, MS Excel, Act Contact
Manager)
In general the system has slowed down over the three years that I’ve owned
it. What can be done to eliminate unused or unnecessary programs that simply
take up time and space? What can be done to speed this computer up?
Regards,