slow computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter john townsley
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J

john townsley

Hi

I am running windowsXP home with nortons anti-virus, sygate firewall,
adaware, spybot remover, CWSshredder.

The problem is that my computer seems to be running a lot slower then when I
first installed everything. I have got a broadband connection as well.

Is there any other nasty that could be slowing my computer down, given that
the above software says my computer is clean.?
I cant see process that is chewing up resources abnormally.
 
Hi

I am running windowsXP home with nortons anti-virus, sygate firewall,
adaware, spybot remover, CWSshredder.

The problem is that my computer seems to be running a lot slower then
when I first installed everything. I have got a broadband connection
as well.

Is there any other nasty that could be slowing my computer down, given
that the above software says my computer is clean.?
I cant see process that is chewing up resources abnormally.
Click to expand...

To see what processes are running on your system, use Tools/Process List in
your Spybot S&D program; or for an even more detailed look, Process
Explorer by Sysinternals:
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml

Usually slow running is caused by too many programs that auto-start, or
simply sit in the system tray. Autoruns by Sysinternals can help you to
identify these:
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/autoruns.shtml

For more detailed help on your system, you can try PCPitstop:
http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/default.asp

Alternatively, the PC Troubleshooting forum at SpywareInfo may help:
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showforum=28
 
thanks for the info
I have a lot processes running with system idle seemingly taking up 70-90%
of the cpu. I havent a clue what I can get rid of without effecting the
computer too much. I have 7 things in the tray with
antivirus,firewall,volume being things I guess I need.
I have a look at the autorun program suggested and see if I can make sense
of it
 
from the said:
Hi

I am running windowsXP home with nortons anti-virus, sygate firewall,
adaware, spybot remover, CWSshredder.

The problem is that my computer seems to be running a lot slower then when I
first installed everything. I have got a broadband connection as well.

Is there any other nasty that could be slowing my computer down, given that
the above software says my computer is clean.?
I cant see process that is chewing up resources abnormally.
Click to expand...

If task manager isn't showing any process consuming a lot of CPU (or
doing a lot of IOs) then maybe you have a hardware problem .. disk
controller fallen back to PIO mode instead of DMA, P4 CPU gone into
'slowdown' mode due to overheating, etc. etc.

Try some benchmarks and see what the answers come out as (SiSoft's
Sandra used to have a reasonable set - google for it). It could also
just be the 'familiarity breeds contempt' problem .. i.e. it feels
slower because your expectations got raised.
 
Norton AV will be slowing you down too. The help you've received from
Robin T Cox is pretty thorough, but you'll be ignoring the processes
from Norton - experience tells me it slows you down considerably.
sh4d03
 
Hi

I am running windowsXP home with nortons anti-virus, sygate firewall,
adaware, spybot remover, CWSshredder.

The problem is that my computer seems to be running a lot slower then when I
first installed everything. I have got a broadband connection as well.

Is there any other nasty that could be slowing my computer down, given that
the above software says my computer is clean.?
I cant see process that is chewing up resources abnormally.
Click to expand...

It's not only protecting that counts.

You could decide to use a combined antivirus & firewall. Why not all
Norton? Or else - if you have little (1/2 gig) ram perhaps combine
Sygate with Pandasoftware avir.. or the Panda Platinum version to
replace Sygate.. Though SYgate is ok,... but I choose optimal
compatibility when advising antivir & firewall.

Besides that.. clean up your computer:

To try it out, I advice you the next programs thou there are many more
fine tools. Carefull not to download anything non-honest.
I've collected only trustworthy tools on:
http://www.nondisputandum.com

BeClean will clean out temp files, gently clean up the registry,
remove obsolete files etcetera,... Crap Cleaner is a good additional
cleaner. They make a fine couple like Ad Aware and Spybot do when
considering Spyware.
http://www.nondisputandum.com/html/registry___system.html

Perhaps download the 1 month fully working registry cleaner RegSupreme
or it's big brother JV 16 PowerTools (the suite) of Macecraft. Fully
trustworthy imho. Good for a profound secure cleanup... does more and
better that BeClean but digs more profound. After a month you can
remove it safely or register & pay. You'll be amazed how good it
works.

Besides AdAware & Spybot there are some fine additional scanners like
A2, Bazooka & SwatIt. But they only speed up your pc if the slowing
down is caused by malware.

Don't follow advice to format c your HD befor you tried to clean it &
defragment. And make enough space on your HD. I still keep an old
P2/266 128 mb Ram on Win ME that was heavily used on a daily basis
untill a few months ago. Now my kids torment it... and it still works
;-)

Consider installing Spyware Blaster to avoid some malwares entrring
your PC. It works fine & is updated regularly.

A fellow fellow security addictionary gives you some good advice on
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/tshoot.htm

IF you use outlook a lot,.. clean it up...

More advice on my pages:
http://www.nondisputandum.com/html/___resume_tips.html



greetz


--
www.nondisputandum.com

Protect, clean, tools, office, webbuilding
newsfeeds, entertainment, searching
+ the internet addiction test!
 
john said:
Hi

I am running windowsXP home with nortons anti-virus, sygate firewall,
adaware, spybot remover, CWSshredder.

The problem is that my computer seems to be running a lot slower then
when I first installed everything. I have got a broadband connection
as well.

Is there any other nasty that could be slowing my computer down,
given that the above software says my computer is clean.?
I cant see process that is chewing up resources abnormally.
Click to expand...
 
john said:
thanks for the info
I have a lot processes running with system idle seemingly taking up 70-90%
of the cpu.
Click to expand...

if system idle process is taking 70-90% of the cpu then you've got
plenty of spare cpu cycles (70-90% of them, in fact)...

therefore if your system is slow there must be some other bottleneck...
what exactly is it that seems slow...
 
from the said:
Huh? Sounds like 9% to 29% spare to me.
Click to expand...

That's because you don't comprehend the meaning of 'idle' I guess.
'system idle process' means 'spare cycles' 'nothing useful to do'.
Actually it's even better than 70-90% idle, since most CPUs these days
slow down, or HLT, when they are in the idle loop.
 
That's because you don't comprehend the meaning of 'idle' I guess.
Click to expand...

I see that now.
'system idle process' means 'spare cycles' 'nothing useful to do'.
Actually it's even better than 70-90% idle, since most CPUs these days
slow down, or HLT, when they are in the idle loop.
Click to expand...

Here's one interesting explanation:

http://www.osnn.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-783.html

Seems that a high system idle % during "high" cpu load times is a very
good thing :)


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg
 
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